“I’m walking in sunshine”.

It was quite a shock to step out of the hotel this morning into a thick blanket of fog but, by the time we had breakfast and repacked the car, the sun had taken over and the heat was beginning to climb. In fact, a beautiful sight awaited us as we left Chattanooga and we looked at the surrounding mountains. The mist was clinging to the valley but the mountain tops were clear. A truck passed us loaded up with rocking chairs and we have seen hundreds of them in these parts, in cafes and bars, on porches and in hotels. Just plain wooden rocking chairs, devoid of any trimmings and, it would appear, devoid of any comfort, too.

We had a quite spooky experience with the mist en route. As we started a fairly steep descent into a valley, banks of thick mist appeared to climb towards us and we were quickly surrounded, albeit briefly. They make movies about that sort of situation!!

It was a relatively short journey to Cookeville, which is not that far from Nashville, our destination tomorrow. That is a story in itself because we had cancelled 3 hotel nights to accommodate our re-routing provoked by Irma. Having pre-booked all our hotels through Booking.com, I thought it would be so easy to add an extra night to our stay in Nashville. It would appear that I had got some fabulous deals through booking early and the hotels with vacancies tonight were either hundreds of dollars or described as “just passable”. The hotel I booked from tomorrow was full. So, Cookeville it was and we arrived in time for me to find a Starbucks (great wifi) to FaceTime my youngest grandson, Oliver, on his second birthday.

We then set off to explore the area and feeling in need of a walk (about 30 degrees of hot sun with high humidity) we happened across Cummins Falls State Park. This offered a walk through fairly dense trees to some beautiful waterfalls. You could choose to take the upper paths and overlook the falls or climb over rocks and boulders to go swimming. Tempting, but looking was good enough.

With music much on our minds we set about discovering where we might enjoy a live performance this evening. Spankies, near the University…..perhaps not? Most of the others we have checked are offering non-stop juke boxes, so maybe we save ourselves for Nashville, where we are booked for a concert tomorrow.

As Carolyn posted on Facebook, we went for a very late lunch to sample the American true version of KFC. No fries but creamy mashed potato with gravy, and a ‘biscuit’ with butter or honey. So much nicer. People may say, “You didn’t really go to KFC?!” But we did and I loved it!

Carolyn’s Curios & Musical Notes 🎼🎶🖌

My new hip had a good workout today! Kath underplayed the walk to the falls. Over rough terrain and for a good distance both uphill and down dale.

Punctuated by brief “Hi”s to other explorers and a lengthy conversation on the way back with a group from South Carolina. Needless to say, the topics ranged from Beatles’ music in the 60s through to the inevitable, for me, it seems, politics. On a musical front, I upset the Vietnam Vet (he wore the cap and told me his background) by not worshipping Elvis as a teenager and barely got away with my pacifism and disquiet about The Donald! Actually, it was very interesting to hear about the political situation and how Trump’s votes were often merely anti-Hillary. We also discussed the Charlottesville protests and responses. Despite husband and wife voting different ways in the Presidential election, they were united in their view that Obama was a divisive figure who, they felt (strongly) had encouraged ‘Liberals’ to want something for nothing. Was it racial? I fear it was and this was confirmed by our hotel elevator-sharing guy at the hotel who confirmed the same, as well as suggesting to Kath that he suspected, “You w*nkers are going out to get p*ssed”. Apparently, he has a Welsh friend who uses this phrase repeatedly! His views on the last eight years in the U.S. were also that blacks had become emboldened. Racial segregation is still an issue for the ‘South’ and the Civil Rights struggles are far from over. When discussing ‘Dreamers’ and the Mexicans, we agreed that all U.S. citizens, except Native Americans, were immigrants in some form. We parted amicably with the obligatory, “Have a good day!”

(On a lighter note, why do we feel that by replacing the odd letter by an asterisk in words like w*nkers somehow renders it more acceptable?!)

Anyway,… another quirk is when, on our Road Trips, we come across familiar names in unfamiliar places… Birmingham, Salisbury, … and today, Sparta! We’ve even found a town called Kathleen in Georgia (and another in Florida)!

And, for a chuckle, how about…

So to music… Spankies didn’t have live music until 10 and others, including Crawdaddy’s West Side Grill, Father Tom’s Pub and Hooligan’s Half Irish Pub didn’t have live music – I rang them to ask! My last hope was where I fancied going because of one of my musical favourites from the 60s: Wooly Bully’s. Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs had a huge American hit in 1965 and, although only getting to No.11 in the U.K., was, and is, a favourite of mine partly because of the repetitive and offbeat lyric with thumping beat. I didn’t know until today that it was written about his friend’s cat!

As we discovered, we’ve changed time zones and Spankies would have been too late. So, live music – other than our own singing along to the radio in the car – is off. Tomorrow, we’re in Nashville and have tickets for the Grand Ol’ Opry with various artists including Crystal Gayle.

Before I finish, the sign at Cummins Falls ends with a useful epithet which would be worthwhile for all politicians, including the President, to take on board. #justsaying

“Water flows over these hands. May I use them skilfully to preserve our precious planet.”