Okay, I'm at the Exxon station on hwy 84. How do I get to your house? --Me
Did you go past DeLoach? --Julieanna
Yes, do I need to turn there? --Me
Um, ya. You went too far. --Julieanna
Does Madison intersect with Deloach? --Me
Well, there's a sign for the subdivision called Crawford but it's down because the kids pulled it down and they haven't gotten it put back up again. --Julieanna
Yes, but can I turn onto Madison off of Deloach? --Me
I can walk to Deloach from Madison. --Julieanna
Yes, but does Madison cross Deloach? --Me
It runs into it. --Julieanna
Ok, I'll see you in a couple of minutes. --Me
It was 2:30 in the afternoon on Saturday October 23. The trip odometer read 5,073 miles. I had been traveling for 15 days and been in 13 states. I saw some really awesome sights and ate some great food. Absolutely the trip of a lifetime. Rucio handled the entire trip without any problems at all. I'm in Ludowici, GA now until October 30 when I fly home. I'm spending my week hanging with Monster and watching Sponge Bob Squarepants. We've done a bit of sightseeing and I've got some pictures of GA to share still. Also will do a posting about the food. Yummy yummy food. MMMMMM, food. My favorite! Hard to believe that three weeks is almost over and I have to go back to work on Monday.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
From Here to Pigeon F$&k
Left Memphis early Thursday headed for Pigeon Forge, TN to visit Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It was less than 450 miles but took me over 3 hours longer than planned because well....TN drivers are NUTS!! Have they NEVER heard of cruise control? Ever? Most freeways are 70 mph here but you can't do that not because the traffic is heavy, it's not. It's because the drivers seem to be unclear about what SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT means. Seriously, YOU in the Red F-150 limping along in the left lane like you are a soccer mom driving a mini van full of kids to school. Learn to drive it right or get a Chevy PLEASE! They come screaming up on your tail pipes, pass you then SLOW DOWN!!! Unbelievable and totally annoying. Needless to say, I was not all that amused when I finally reached Pigeon Forge. All day long I'd been trying to recall why that town was so familiar to me and finally remembered: Dolly Parton (The Grand Tetons of Tennessee!!!) located her amusement park Dollywood there. I was completely unprepared for what a nightmare of a crap tourist place it was. Dolly didn't do that town any favors. On the way there though, I found Wears Valley which is about 10 miles away from Pigeon F$&k. After I went driving through the Great Smoky Mountains, I stopped in Wears Valley and attended their 4th Annual Pumpkin Festival and Ockoberfest. Now the pictures. Again, Mother Nature does a better job of this part than I ever could:
Great Smoky Mountains:
After visiting the Great Smoky Mountains, I went back to Wears Valley for lunch and a walk around their little Oktoberfest gathering. Wears Valley is what I pictured towns in Tennessee mountains to be like (unlike that horrifying mess in Pigeon F$&k) and I ended up spending about 4 hours wandering around the town.
First pictures are of the pumpkin festival. It's held at a Farmers Market with a small BBQ place called The Smoking Pig. Excellent bbq - had a pulled pork sandwich and fried green tomatoes.
These are from the Oktoberfest festival going on up the street. It was more like an Arts and Crafts festival. Just some fun pictures of the crafts available. You could get homemade baskets, quilts, soaps, cider, furniture, lawn decorations and even a pet bunny:
Great Smoky Mountains:
After visiting the Great Smoky Mountains, I went back to Wears Valley for lunch and a walk around their little Oktoberfest gathering. Wears Valley is what I pictured towns in Tennessee mountains to be like (unlike that horrifying mess in Pigeon F$&k) and I ended up spending about 4 hours wandering around the town.
First pictures are of the pumpkin festival. It's held at a Farmers Market with a small BBQ place called The Smoking Pig. Excellent bbq - had a pulled pork sandwich and fried green tomatoes.
 |
| I didn't but only because I had a pound and a half of fudge in the car |
 |
| Nice rooster for the front yard |
 |
| I fully expect these to be the last words I hear from a friend of mine |
 |
| Homemade baskets |
 |
| Holiday decorations |
 |
| This is Jerry. Jerry asked me if I would take his picture. I did. Later he stopped me, gave me his name and number and invited me to visit him in Florida. Oh yeah, Jerry. I got yer number.... |
 |
| Furniture AND holiday decorations. One stop shopping. |
 |
| Wow, hard to decide. Rabbit or fish...... |
 |
| Awwwww, bunny for sure! Only $5!! |
 |
| Quilts and other assorted goodies |
 |
| These were yard lights. Rather intriguing idea. |
 |
| The leaves were changing all over town |
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
The Man in Black
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash --Johnny Cash (duh) at the start of every concert
From my mom, I got Simon and Garfunkel. Listened to their albums so many times growing up that I not only could name that tune, I knew all the lyrics and I could tell you what track of what side of which album it came from. From my dad it was Statler Brothers and Johnny Cash. The last stop I made on my mini musical tour through the land of the Blues was in Hendersonville, TN where John and June Cash are buried. Two other stops I had on my list were the burial sites of Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. I'll leave it up to you to figure out why they would be of interest to me. They are both buried close to here so I can pick that up on my next visit.
From my mom, I got Simon and Garfunkel. Listened to their albums so many times growing up that I not only could name that tune, I knew all the lyrics and I could tell you what track of what side of which album it came from. From my dad it was Statler Brothers and Johnny Cash. The last stop I made on my mini musical tour through the land of the Blues was in Hendersonville, TN where John and June Cash are buried. Two other stops I had on my list were the burial sites of Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. I'll leave it up to you to figure out why they would be of interest to me. They are both buried close to here so I can pick that up on my next visit.
Tennesse Plates
Music and lyrics by John Hiatt
I woke up in a hotel and I didn’t know what to do
I turned the TV on and wrote a letter to you
The news was talkin’ ‘bout a dragnet up on the interstate
Said they were lookin’ for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates
Since I left California baby, things have gotten worse
Seems the land of opportunity for me is just a curse
Tell that judge in Bakersfield that my trial will have to wait
Down here they’re lookin’ for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates
It was somewhere in Nevada, it was cold outside
She was siverin’ in the dark, so I offered her a ride
Three bank jobs later, four cars hot wired
We crossed the Mississippi like an oil slick fire
If they’d known what we was up to they wouldn’t ‘a let us in
When we landed in Memphis like original sin
Up Elvis Presley Boulevard
to the Graceland Gates
See we were lookin’ for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates
Well, there must have been a dozen of them parked in that garage
And there wasn’t one Lincoln
and there wasn’t one Dodge
And there wasn’t one Japanese model
or make
Just pretty, pretty Cadillacs with Tennessee plates
She saw him singing once when she was seventeen
And ever since that day she’s been living in between
I was never king of nothin’ but this wild weekend
Anyway he wouldn’t care, hell he gave them to his friends
Well this ain’t no hotel I’m writing you from
It’s the Tennessee prison up at Brushy Mountain
Where yours sincerely’s doin’ five to eight
Stampin’ out my time makin’ Tennessee plates
I woke up in a hotel and I didn’t know what to do
I turned the TV on and wrote a letter to you
The news was talkin’ ‘bout a dragnet up on the interstate
Said they were lookin’ for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates
Since I left California baby, things have gotten worse
Seems the land of opportunity for me is just a curse
Tell that judge in Bakersfield that my trial will have to wait
Down here they’re lookin’ for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates
It was somewhere in Nevada, it was cold outside
She was siverin’ in the dark, so I offered her a ride
Three bank jobs later, four cars hot wired
We crossed the Mississippi like an oil slick fire
If they’d known what we was up to they wouldn’t ‘a let us in
When we landed in Memphis like original sin
Up Elvis Presley Boulevard
to the Graceland Gates
See we were lookin’ for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates
Well, there must have been a dozen of them parked in that garage
And there wasn’t one Lincoln
and there wasn’t one Dodge
And there wasn’t one Japanese model
or make
Just pretty, pretty Cadillacs with Tennessee plates
She saw him singing once when she was seventeen
And ever since that day she’s been living in between
I was never king of nothin’ but this wild weekend
Anyway he wouldn’t care, hell he gave them to his friends
Well this ain’t no hotel I’m writing you from
It’s the Tennessee prison up at Brushy Mountain
Where yours sincerely’s doin’ five to eight
Stampin’ out my time makin’ Tennessee plates
Walking in Memphis
Put on my blue suede shoes and I
Then I'm walking in Memphis
Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Followed him up the gates of Graceland
They just hovered 'round his tomb
But there's a pretty little thing
Waiting for the king
Down in the jungle room
--Marc Cohn Walking in Memphis
I touched down in the land of the Delta Blues in the middle of the pouring rain. Seemed appropriate somehow. The next day was a gorgeous sunny day and I spent it walking around Memphis. This is the city where country, blues, jazz, gospel and soul came together and gave us Rock and Roll. The is so much musical history here I was on overload. The food was great too! I could spend a month here just to listen to the music on Beale Street. Here's the tour in pictures:
boarded the plane
Touched down the in land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain.
W.C. Handy - won't you look down over me
Yeah, I've got a first class ticket, but I'm as blue as a boy can beThen I'm walking in Memphis
Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel?Saw the ghost of Elvis
On Union AvenueFollowed him up the gates of Graceland
Then I watched him walk right through
Now security they did not see himThey just hovered 'round his tomb
But there's a pretty little thing
Waiting for the king
Down in the jungle room
--Marc Cohn Walking in Memphis
I touched down in the land of the Delta Blues in the middle of the pouring rain. Seemed appropriate somehow. The next day was a gorgeous sunny day and I spent it walking around Memphis. This is the city where country, blues, jazz, gospel and soul came together and gave us Rock and Roll. The is so much musical history here I was on overload. The food was great too! I could spend a month here just to listen to the music on Beale Street. Here's the tour in pictures:
 |
| "Without the cooperation of total resentment On the part of the parents Rock n Roll would have had A much rougher time makin' it." --Sam Phillips Sun Studios |
 |
| Beale Street |
 |
| Oh yeah!! |
 |
| More on Beale |
 |
| I took their word for it...... |
 |
| Beale Street |
 |
| The Orpheum |
 |
| November 6, 1934 - Memphis joins the Tennessee Valley Authority |
 |
| How do they know they are Irish? |
 |
| If they still make the guitar you've wanted since you were 14, is it ok to spend $5K on it? Even if you can't play it? |
 |
| The Beale Street Blues Band playing in the W.C. Handy Park Good band to listen to while drinking a cold beer |
 |
| The Mississippi shining like a National guitar |
 |
| WDIA - the first all Black radion station |
 |
| Now that's lawn deco I can relate to!! |
 |
| Jazz player on Beale Street |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)