Day 14 – The Day Everything Changed (Part 1)

Day 14 was supposed to be the final day of the Barbecue Road Trip.

Ps. There’s no photos (nobody had time to take them)

As it turned out, the universe had other plans.

The morning began quietly enough in our cabin near Sevierville. Breakfast consisted of finishing off the leftover sandwiches we’d assembled the previous day after our unsuccessful search for a decent lunch following Dollywood.

Not glamorous.

But effective.

More importantly, we’d woken to some excellent news.

A message from Qantas had arrived overnight confirming that we’d been successfully booked onto the Dallas to Sydney flight on Saturday the 13th including an upgrade to premium economy. Yay.. That meant we only needed a single overnight stop in Dallas before heading home to Australia.

With the flight sorted, I immediately turned my attention to accommodation and secured a room at the excellent Hotel Vin in Grapevine, conveniently located near Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

Problem solved.

Or so we thought.

With travel plans neatly tied up, we loaded ourselves into the Smoke Wagon and decided to make the most of our final day in Tennessee.

The plan was simple.

Take a leisurely drive through part of the Great Smoky Mountains, enjoy some scenery, soak up the last few hours of the road trip and then head towards Knoxville Airport for our flight to Dallas.

After nearly two weeks of barbecue, blues, country music, whiskey, thunderstorms, coffee hunts and more smoked meat than any four Australians should reasonably consume, it seemed like a fitting way to bring the adventure to a close.

The weather was beautiful.

The roads were winding.

The mountains were calling.

And for a brief moment, everything appeared to be going perfectly according to plan.

Unfortunately, this is where the story starts to get interesting…

Day 14 – The Day Everything Changed (Part 2)

With our flights sorted and our overnight accommodation in Dallas secured, we pointed the Smoke Wagon towards the Great Smoky Mountains for one final Tennessee adventure.

The destination was Cades Cove, recommended by one of the guides at the Jack Daniel Distillery.

“You’ll see bears,” he said.

That was apparently all the encouragement we needed.

So off we chuffed, winding our way through the Smokies on beautiful mountain roads for about 40 minutes. The scenery was spectacular, spirits were high and everyone was enjoying what we thought would be a quick detour before heading to Knoxville Airport.

What we didn’t fully appreciate was what happens when you actually get to Cades Cove.

At the end of the road sits a famous 11-mile one-way scenic loop through a broad mountain valley. Once you’re on it, you’re committed.

There is no turning around.

There is no shortcut.

There is only the loop.

And the hundreds of other vehicles doing exactly the same thing.

Before long we found ourselves crawling along at approximately three miles an hour behind a seemingly endless convoy of tourists. Every second vehicle appeared to have people hanging out of sunroofs armed with cameras and binoculars, all desperately searching for bears.

Meanwhile, I was watching the clock.

And becoming increasingly nervous.

The original plan had been a quick scenic drive before lunch and then the airport.

The reality was an involuntary wildlife expedition moving at the speed of continental drift.

Every few minutes another car would slow down dramatically because somebody thought they might have seen something furry in the distance.

Traffic would bunch up.

Everyone would crane their necks.

And then we’d all move another twenty metres.

No bears.

Just more paddocks.

And more traffic.

The longer it went on, the more stressful it became.

At one point I found myself actively hoping not to see a bear because if somebody actually spotted one, the entire valley would probably come to a complete standstill for the next hour.

Thankfully, the bears cooperated by staying hidden.

After what felt considerably longer than advertised, we finally escaped the loop and emerged from Cades Cove at around 11am.

Relieved, slightly frazzled and now very conscious of the time, we pointed the Smoke Wagon downhill and headed towards Knoxville Airport.

Lunch was next.

And that’s where things started to get really interesting…

Day 14 – The Day Everything Changed (Part 3)

Having finally escaped Cades Cove and its slow-moving wildlife safari, we headed down the mountain knowing we were now operating on a fairly tight schedule.

Fortunately, we had one final mission before returning the Smoke Wagon.

One last barbecue stop.

Because obviously we did.

Just outside Knoxville Airport we found a small barbecue joint called Hatchers BBQ on Target.

To be honest, our expectations weren’t particularly high. At this stage of the trip we’d eaten at famous barbecue destinations, award-winning pitmasters, competition champions and places that had appeared on every “best barbecue in America” list imaginable.

What we found instead was one of the biggest surprises of the entire tour.

The ribs were outstanding.

The sides were fantastic.

The service was warm, generous and genuinely welcoming.

Everything just worked.

Mikey and I both agreed that somehow this little roadside barbecue joint had forced its way into the top three barbecue stops of the entire trip.

Perhaps it was because we were hungry. Perhaps it was because we’d just survived the Great Smoky Mountains traffic crawl. Or perhaps it was simply because the food was that good.

Whatever the reason, it was an excellent final barbecue meal before our journey home.

The owner was incredibly friendly, the portions were generous and the whole experience felt like the sort of authentic local discovery that makes road trips worthwhile.

If we’d stumbled across Hatchers on Day 1, we’d probably have spent the next two weeks telling people about it.

Eventually it was time to say goodbye to Tennessee.

We climbed back into the Smoke Wagon for the final time and headed towards Knoxville Airport.

The Alamo return process was mercifully painless, which was a relief considering our relationship with the rental car had begun two weeks earlier with a frantic search for a misplaced driver’s licence.

The old girl had carried us through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee without complaint.

Thousands of kilometres.

Countless barbecue stops.

Several navigation disagreements.

One near-constant search for decent coffee.

And somehow all four passengers were still speaking to each other.

Not bad.

With the Smoke Wagon officially retired from active duty, we made our way into Knoxville Airport.

The clock read exactly 12:30pm.

For once, everything was running according to schedule. Which, in hindsight, should probably have made us suspicious. Because this is where the day stopped being a road trip and started becoming an adventure.

Day 14 – The Day Everything Changed (Part 4)

At Knoxville Airport, the plan was straightforward.

Liddy and Mikey were booked on the earlier 1:54pm flight to Dallas.

Ro and I were booked on the later 5:30pm flight.

Simple.

Or so we thought.

Since there were seats potentially available on the earlier flight, we put our names on the standby list and wandered over to the desk to see what was possible.

The staff member was incredibly helpful.

“No worries,” he said. “We’ll put your bags on the earlier flight as well. That way, even if you don’t get on, your luggage will already be waiting for you in Dallas.”

Excellent.

Everything was under control.

We settled in and waited.

Eventually boarding began.

Liddy and Mikey successfully made it onto the aircraft and after hugs and tears disappeared down the jet bridge.

Ro and I, meanwhile, were officially denied standby seats because the flight was completely full. Well, they had one seat available but I thought it would be prudent not to leave Ro at the Knoxfield airport by herself for 4 hours so I diplomatically declined the seat.

Fair enough.

We resigned ourselves to several more hours at Knoxville Airport and began preparing mentally for a long afternoon.

Then everything changed.

An announcement came over the airport speakers advising that severe storms had moved over Dallas-Fort Worth.

Not just ordinary storms.

Texas storms.

The kind that come with tornado warnings, lightning, dramatic weather maps and television reporters standing in paddocks pointing at clouds.

Dallas Airport had effectively shut down for two hours.

Suddenly flights weren’t departing.

Aircraft weren’t arriving.

And, most importantly for us, the passengers who had already boarded were now being removed from the aircraft.

Including Liddy and Mikey.

Within minutes the four of us were reunited in the terminal, looking at each other with the sort of cautious optimism usually reserved for lottery tickets.

We immediately marched back to the standby desk.

“Any chance now?” we asked.

The agent looked at the screen.

“You’re number one and number two on the list.”

Now we were interested.

All we needed was a couple of people to decide they no longer wanted to fly into a giant thunderstorm.

The waiting game began.

Minutes crawled by.

Passengers wandered around looking confused.

Airline staff stared at computer screens.

Weather updates appeared and disappeared. Mikey reviewed the weather radar and agreed with the airline officials.

Nobody seemed entirely sure what was happening.

Then, about two hours later, the announcement finally came.

The flight was going.

And Alan and Rowena had seats.

Victory. We would save hours. Could get the 4 hours earlier than originally planned.

Well, partial victory.

Because while Ro somehow landed an emergency exit row seat with enough legroom to host a small conference, I found myself assigned somewhere near the rear of the aircraft with the rest of the travelling peasants. How dare they do this to a premium economy customer.

To make matters worse, Ro was now in a completely different row.

After two weeks travelling together, the airline had finally separated us.

The injustice was obvious. I was pissed.

Nevertheless, we were all heading to Dallas several hours earlier than expected.

At this point we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves.

The storms appeared to be clearing. We had seats. Our luggage was already heading to Dallas.

What could possibly go wrong? As it turned out…

Quite a lot.

Day 14 – The Day Everything Changed (Part 5)

Having somehow secured standby seats and survived the Dallas weather chaos, we settled into our unexpected flight and prepared for departure.

Or at least we thought we did.

The aircraft pushed back from the gate and joined what appeared to be every other aeroplane in eastern Tennessee waiting for permission to head to Dallas.

Then the captain came on the intercom.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re looking at approximately a one-hour delay before departure.”

Not ideal.

But manageable.

After all, we’d already won the standby lottery.

How bad could another hour be?

The answer, as it turned out, was “quite bad.”

An hour passed.

The aircraft remained firmly attached to the ground.

The cabin gradually became warmer, stickier and less pleasant.

Passengers began checking watches.

Then phones.

Then watches again.

Nobody looked particularly happy.

Eventually the captain returned.

“Good news,” he said, which is generally a phrase that immediately makes airline passengers suspicious.

“We’re now looking at another thirty minutes.” A collective groan rippled through the cabin. Thirty minutes later, he returned once more. Unfortunately, he had become the messenger nobody wanted to see.

“Just another thirty minutes.”

At this point people had moved through the traditional stages of flight delay grief.

Optimism.

Concern.

Frustration.

Acceptance.

Somewhere around the two-hour mark we all simply gave up caring and stared blankly out the windows.

The weather over Dallas was still causing havoc, aircraft movements were heavily restricted and nobody seemed willing to commit to a firm departure time.

The only thing we knew for certain was that we weren’t moving.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity sitting on hot vinyl seats watching thunderstorms ruin everyone’s travel plans, the engines finally spooled up for real.

A cheer almost broke out.

At 5:33pm, our aircraft finally lifted off from Knoxville.

The irony wasn’t lost on us.

Remember, Alan and Rowena had originally been booked on the 5:30pm flight.

After all the standby drama, all the gate negotiations, all the weather delays and all the excitement, we ended up leaving Knoxville at almost exactly the same time we would have departed anyway.

Air travel has a sense of humour.

The flight itself was uneventful.

The four of us were finally together, heading towards Dallas and feeling reasonably confident that the day’s dramas were behind us.

We had seats.

We were airborne.

Our luggage was supposedly already in Dallas.

The Hotel Vin was booked.

Everything was finally falling into place.

Or so we thought.

Because Dallas still had one more surprise waiting for us…

Day 14 – The Day Everything Changed (Part 6)

Once airborne, life suddenly seemed much better.

The storms were behind us.

The standby drama was over.

The flight attendants distributed the traditional American Airlines gourmet dinner of a small packet of pretzels and a cup of water.

Nobody complained. At this stage, morale was remarkably high. An hour and fifteen minutes later we began our descent into Dallas-Fort Worth.

The city streets appeared below us, the landing was smooth and for the first time all day it genuinely felt like everything was finally working out.

In fact, we’d even seen our luggage being loaded onto the aircraft before departure.

We knew it was there.

We’d literally watched it happen.

What could possibly go wrong?

After landing, we said our goodbyes to Liddy and Mikey, who needed to continue through to their onward flight. They disappeared towards their gate while Rowena and I headed for baggage claim.

We arrived at the carousel.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Suitcases appeared.

Golf clubs appeared.

Random boxes wrapped in tape appeared.

Our luggage did not appear.

At first we remained optimistic.

Then mildly concerned.

Then suspicious.

Eventually I pulled out my phone and checked the Apple AirTags.

This was the moment things took a turn. According to Apple’s tracking system, our luggage wasn’t in Dallas.

Our luggage was still in Knoxville.

Still.

In.

Knoxville.

The same Knoxville we had departed several hours earlier.

The same Knoxville where we’d specifically been assured our luggage would be loaded onto the earlier flight.

The same Knoxville where we had personally watched the bags heading towards the aircraft.

At this point there was a brief period of silence as our brains attempted to process how luggage can simultaneously be loaded onto a plane and still be sitting in Tennessee.

The technology, however, was quite clear.

The bags had not made the journey.

“Oh my God.”

That pretty much summed up the situation.

Meanwhile, Liddy and Mikey were sending cheerful messages advising that everything was fine, they’d made their connection and were preparing for the next stage of their journey.

Good for them.

Somebody should have a happy ending.

After accepting that there was absolutely nothing

we could do about the missing luggage at that moment, we decided to move on.

The bags would eventually catch up.

Probably.

Hopefully.

Maybe.

So we ordered an Uber and headed towards Grapevine and our overnight accommodation at Hotel Vin.

Despite the luggage drama, it felt good to finally be on the ground.

The road trip was effectively over.

We’d survived nearly two weeks of barbecue, thousands of kilometres of driving, thunderstorms, flight delays, airport drama and enough smoked meat to shorten our life expectancy.

All we needed now was a comfortable bed and a quiet night’s sleep before tomorrow’s flight home.

Surely the travel gods had finished with us by now.

Surely.

Right?

Day 14 – The Day Everything Changed (Part 7)

While Liddy and Mikey continued their journey through the airport system, Ro and I headed to Grapevine and checked into the excellent Hotel Vin.

After the chaos of the previous twelve hours, it felt like arriving at a sanctuary.

A huge king-size bed.

Soft pillows.

A hot shower.

Air-conditioning that worked.

At that point, we didn’t care if the luggage was still in Tennessee.

We were asleep within minutes.

And for the first time all day, absolutely nothing went wrong.

Eight glorious hours later we woke up refreshed, relaxed and cautiously optimistic.

Then came the message. American Airlines had finally located our luggage. Apparently our bags had eventually remembered they were supposed to be travelling with us and had successfully found their way to Dallas-Fort Worth overnight.

Even better, the airline was happily offering to send them directly to Australia.

Now, this was all very thoughtful.

But after watching our luggage spend a night alone in Knoxville, our confidence in the baggage handling process wasn’t exactly at an all-time high. A brief discussion was held.

The decision was unanimous.

We wanted visual confirmation.

So I jumped into an Uber and headed back to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to personally rescue the missing suitcases before they could embark on any further unscheduled adventures.

Fortunately, the recovery mission was successful.

The bags were located.

The AirTags agreed.

And for the first time since Knoxville, humans and luggage were reunited.

A touching moment.

Meanwhile, Liddy and Mikey were somewhere further along in their own travel adventure.

With the luggage finally secured, we sent them a simple text message.

“Hey guys, how was your flight?”

At the time, we were expecting a fairly ordinary response. Something along the lines of:

“All good.”

“Bit bumpy.”

“On our way home.”

Instead, the reply we received suggested that our travel drama wasn’t even close to finished.

In fact, compared to what had happened to Liddy and Mikey overnight, our missing luggage was about to look like the easy part of the story…

Day 14 – The Day Everything Changed (Part 8)

With our luggage finally recovered and safely back in our possession, Ro and I were feeling pretty good about life.

The storms were behind us.

The bags were found.

The hotel was excellent.

The road trip had survived its final challenge.

Or so we thought.

The night before, at around 10:30pm, we’d received a text from Mikey.

“Just boarded.”

Excellent.

The flight to Reno was underway.

Everyone was where they were supposed to be.

We went to sleep assuming all was well. The following morning, however, a new message arrived.

It simply said:

“Fake news. We’re still in Dallas.”

Wait.

What?

Apparently, while we were enjoying our luxurious king-size bed and fluffy pillows at Hotel Vin, Mikey and Liddy had been starring in their own aviation disaster movie.

Their flight had boarded normally. Passengers took their seats.

The doors closed.

Everyone settled in and waited for departure.

And waited.

And waited.

After sitting on the aircraft for about an hour, the captain delivered some unfortunate news.

His allowable flying hours had expired. He’d timed out. The airline needed a replacement pilot. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find one.

At which point the entire operation descended into chaos.

Everyone was removed from the aircraft.

The flight was cancelled.

Passengers were herded back through the terminal and eventually dispatched to airport hotels for a few hours of sleep.

Meanwhile, in a perfect example of airline efficiency, their luggage continued the journey without them.

While Mikey and Liddy were trying to work out where they were sleeping, their bags were apparently making excellent progress towards Reno.

The following morning they were dragged out of bed at around 6:30am and sent back to the airport to try again.

And all the while their luggage was sitting patiently in Nevada waiting for its owners to catch up.

At this point we’d all come to the conclusion that the luggage was actually better at travelling than the humans.

Our bags had successfully visited more destinations, missed fewer connections and generally demonstrated superior navigation skills.

Eventually Mikey and Liddy would make it to Reno.

Eventually.

But as the messages rolled in, it became increasingly clear that Day 14 had transformed from the final day of a barbecue road trip into a masterclass in travel disruption.

Storms.

Standby flights.

Missing luggage.

Timed-out pilots.

Unexpected hotel stays.

And somehow, despite all of it, everyone was still laughing.

Mostly because by this point there wasn’t much else you could do.

The Barbecue Road Trip might have been ending.

But the travel stories were still writing themselves.

Day 14 – The Day Everything Changed (Epilogue)

And that’s where we’ll leave Day 14.5

What was supposed to be a simple drive through the Smoky Mountains followed by a flight to Dallas somehow turned into one of the most eventful days of the entire trip.

We had scenic drives.

Bear hunts.

Barbecue discoveries.

Standby flights.

Thunderstorms.

Airport closures.

Missing luggage.

Recovered luggage.

Timed-out pilots.

Cancelled flights.

Unexpected hotel stays.

And enough uncertainty to keep even the most seasoned traveller entertained.

When we woke up that morning in Tennessee, we thought the Barbecue Road Trip was coming to an end.

Instead, the travel gods decided we weren’t quite finished yet.

Thanks to Qantas changing our travel arrangements, Ro and I suddenly found themselves with an unexpected bonus day in Texas.

Rather than sitting on an aircraft somewhere over the Pacific, we’d be spending another full day in Grapevine and Dallas.

To be honest, there are worse places to be stranded.

The Smoke Wagon may be gone.

The barbecue tour may officially be over.

But the adventure isn’t quite finished.

We’ve got one more day.

One more city.

And, knowing us, probably one more story.

See y’all tomorrow.👋