The Road to Gatlinburg by Nandan Kamalakannan

 The Road to Gatlinburg by Nandan Kamalakannan

With my dad steady at the wheel, the tires hummed a constant rhythm

against the asphalt as we left the familiar sprawl of New Jersey in the

rearview, the GPS firmly locked on Gatlinburg. While he expertly navigated

the endless stretch of highway, the road trip fell into a natural, comfortable

rhythm for my sister and me—a chaotic mix of fierce debates over the

Spotify playlist, rehashing decades-old family jokes, and those easy stretches

of silence that only happen with someone who has known you forever.

As we pushed south down Interstate 81, the flat stretches gave way to the

stunning, dramatic ridges of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. My sister and

I spent hours pointing out the window, mesmerized by the way the afternoon

sun hit the Appalachians, turning the endless canopy of trees into a sea of

gold and green, while my dad kept us making incredible time. When the

highway fatigue finally set in and he declared we had driven far enough for

one day, we pulled off the interstate and checked into a completely random

hotel somewhere deep in Virginia. It was one of those perfectly average

roadside stops with a humming ice machine down the hall, faded floral

carpets, and that profound, heavy sleep you only achieve after a long day on

the road.

The next morning, Dad had us back in the car early, chasing the horizon until

the geography shifted again and the mountains grew taller, wrapped in that

famous blue haze. Just as we hit the Tennessee border, hungry, cramped,

and laughing at a joke that wouldn't make sense to anyone outside our car,

Dad pulled us into the parking lot of a massive roadside buffet. It was a

sprawling, unapologetic Southern feast—heaping pans of fried chicken,

macaroni and cheese, warm biscuits, and endless refills of sweet tea.

With our plates cleared, spirits high, and my dad fueled up for the final

stretch, we made the push into Gatlinburg. The quiet mountain highways

suddenly opened up into the bustling, vibrant energy of the downtown

Parkway, nestled tightly in the valley and surrounded on all sides by the

towering peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains. Taking in the lively mountain

town lights after days of highway driving, it was the perfect realization that

the best part of the trip was the beautiful blend of the miles in between and

the family adventure waiting at the end.