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SPRING 2019 ISSUE 01 / VOL . 04
A picture-perfect Tennessee morning !
at Andersonville and gassed up at a combination grocery store , hardware store and lunchroom with a gas pump outside . Paying inside , I asked the cashier — who resembled one of the gray-bearded members of ZZ Top — why there was a piano next to the front door . “ Well , we like to cut loose on it every now and then ,” was the deadpan response .
At U . S . 441 , I turned north to Caryville , stopping at Norris Dam State Park . The dam was constructed by the TVA ( Tennessee Valley Authority ) between 1933 and 1936 , bringing flood control , electricity and much-needed jobs to the region . At Norris Lake , a tourist from Knoxville offered some well-meaning , if misguided , words of advice . “ Be careful up there ,” said the lady , pointing at northern Tennessee on my map . “ There ’ s some hillbillies that don ’ t like Northerners .” The fact that my home in Florida — at least geographically — qualifies me as a Southerner , too , didn ’ t seem worth arguing . She raised a good point , however . While residents of rural Tennessee might be seen as somewhat insular and reticent with outsiders , they are truly a proud and generous people .