Okay, haven't done this in a while, so give me a little time to get back in the grove!
Yes, I've been down and out for the last four and a half months, recovering from back surgery. So, blogging hasn't been on the front burner. Also, my photography has taken off and what little time I've had to get out this rainy summer, I've spent it taking some shots and posting them on my photographic art page, Paul's Art!
Also, last year, before the surgery and rain, I purchased a toy that I have always wanted. Granted, it isn't the '69 version that began the lust, but it is a GT 500, and a beautiful Grabber Blue 2010, I've dubbed "Thunder Mule".
He, it's too mean to be a she, loves the road, especially those with lots of banked curves and frequent straight stretches. Last winter, about a week before my L4/L5 fusion surgery, "he" did an admirable job on "The Dragon"! He ate up the 318 curves in 11 miles.
My wife and I loaded up some snacks, my camera, and headed out for a four hour tour of Morgan/Scott Counties, Tennessee. The whole circular trip was about 140 miles, from Harriman to Rugby, Jamestown, Pall Mall, and Crossville.
I loved the trip up to Wartburg the best, because the road is winding, and new. We rolled through Wartburg and on down hill (seems like even though you are traveling north) through Sunbright, and on to Elgin, where we made the turn toward Rugby, Tennessee.
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| Rugby Visitor Centre |
Nestled among tall pines and oaks just
south of the Big South Fork National Park, lies Historic Rugby,
Tennessee; a British-founded village whose Utopian dream of a better
life in America has never quite died.
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| Christ Church Episcopal Rugby |
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| Kingstone Lisle House |
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| Rugby School |
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| Rugby Library |
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| Christ Church Episcopal Rugby |
British author and social reformer Thomas Hughes, famous for his
classic novel Tom Brown’s Schooldays, dedicated the Rugby Colony amid
great fanfare on October 5, 1880.
It was a beautiful day, rolling along, windows down, and listening to the engine make that beautiful Shelby noise. No, it ain't noise, it's something else to this "sixties kind of man", it's music to the ear, and the reason I rarely play the radio, or a CD. The back-off sound alone is worth stopping at a red light or stop sign, and then, another opportunity to go through the six gears! Even this 67-year old loves working the clutch and effortless movement of the shifter.
So, we roared on to Jamestown, took a hard right and headed north to Pall Mall, Tennessee.
Alvin C. York & Sons General Merchandise
What is in Pall Mall? Not much, but it is near the home place of Alvin C. York. Sgt. York, a hero of mine since I saw the Gary Cooper movie years ago. It was an inspiration for my "let's play war" days as a kid, and to be where he breathed the East Tennessee air was down right cool!
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| The York Roller Mill and pond |
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| Roller machines that were belt driven in the York Mill |
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| The Alvin C. York Roller Mill, with intake in foreground |
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| Alvin C. York (roller) Grist Mill |
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| Alvin C. York barn and silo |
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| Alvin C. York Minneapolis-Moline tractor |
Trips like this are made much better if you look for the little things, things that you expect to never find, but you have to look up and down, and take in the entire experience.
It's the small things that make a trip, like the slab of sandstone leaning against the general store, on which someone had painted the Ten Commandments!
Or maybe it's the little Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) growing down my the pond behind the York Grist Mill.
Or possibly the vines about to overgrow the R. M. Brooks service station residence. You have to get out of your "Thunder Mule" and walk around a little to see it all, but it's there. However, it won't be there long. It will either be over grown or decay and fall, and you will have missed it!
And, you must walk all the way down to the York Grist Mill pond and falls. The water fall is spectacular, especially on such a summer's day as we found it. The intake has long since been closed and the pond overflows almost constantly during rainy seasons.
Ignore the Statue of Liberty on display on the York property. It seems so out of place, but I guess someone was trying to convey Sgt. York's love of country. However, there is no need for it...if you saw the movie, or read about him, you know he loved his country, even though he saw no sense in leaving East Tennessee to go off to fight. After all, he barely knew about the world situation.
M247 Sergeant York
Yes, there is even a tank there, but the most important small find there is the 1969 Lincoln Mark III behind the house. Like I said, you have to get out of your car and walk around.
The world has to look hard to find you in the East Tennessee hills...only a draft can find most young men (like York) like it found me.
Swinging back around through Crossville and down I-40, you again come to Roane County, Tennessee. There are lots of overlooked items of interest in your own backyard.
1954 Federal Fire Engine
Like the vintage fire engines I found on the way home!
