My Mountain Boy and my dog and I decided to go for a long drive one day last weekend.
Setting out on a cold and barely lit early morning we headed north and east towards such towns as Livingston and Pall Mall and Jamestown and Sunbright.
Driving what turned out to be a very huge loop through rolling hills, mountains, part of Big South Fork National Park, small towns and smaller communities.
By the time we returned home early that evening we had spent an entire day doing far too much driving and far too little looking.
There are many times when we - or I - head out somewhere and I find myself easily take 150 pictures without effort.
On this trip I took all of 45 pictures. Yuk.
We saw places that were new to both of us and that answered many questions we had about what kinds of places the towns were, what the terrain looked like, what isolated cabins we had seen online looked like.
But the day was too long and we were again reminded of a lesson that we should have known by now but one that we had apparently forgotten.
Don't try to see too much in one day because you ultimately end up seeing nothing.
We need to go again sometime soon.
One section at a time.
This picture was taken high in the mountains and on a deeply rutted out and narrow dirt road that dropped off steeply down into the gorge.
It reminded me of the road leading up Rattlesnake Mountain just outside of Cody Wyoming, and this one led to a very rustic dry cabin.
It had been cold all day but by the time we got to this place it was absolutely freezing and both LC and I were surprised to even see light snow falling.
It did not last long but was snow none-the-less, and after being away from Tennessee for almost two years it is still a shock just how changeable the weather can be.
72 degrees and sunny last week.
Tornado and thunderstorm warnings in our area by last Friday with multiple tornado touchdowns around us, light snow on the weekend, and I went running early this week in complete sunshine and freezing cold.
The entire area in the mountains we were in by this point in our overly long journey could only be described as inhospitable, rugged, very isolated.
Aside from terrain inside the many state and national parks in Tennessee I did not know that such places existed.
They do.................
We made only one extended stop throughout our entire journey and that was to the small community of Pall Mall.
The area is gorgeous, with rich farm land and rolling hills...............
We stopped in Pall Mall because it is the home of Alvin C York, the most decorated soldier of WWI..............
More on Alvin York:
Behind this barn and stone structure, and 1/2 mile down a grassy trail is a swinging bridge and the burial site of Alvin York.
We were stupidly under dressed for the weather, it was too cold to walk a mile round trip, we were far away from home and needed to begin thinking about heading back, and again for the hundredth time that day I resolved to take trips in chunks in the future....................
After a too brief and too hurried visit around the grounds of the York home we drove across the road to also briefly visit the gristmill that was built in the 1880's, was run by York after his return from war, and then operated by his brother.
Cold, beginning to get tired, and overly ready to begin working our way home, LC and my puppy stayed inside the truck while I took some pictures of this lovely place................
Surprisingly the sun came out briefly.
And then quickly disappeared again.................
The Wolf River alongside and behind the mill, that is apparently a favorite trout fishing spot for locals...............
Some more information about the mill:
The York Mill, located at a bend in the Wolf River just downstream (and across the street) from the York house. Built around 1880, the mill consists of a two-story frame millhouse mounted atop pillars of stacked rocks. A milldam diverted water through a millrace, where it turned the mill's large turbine (when it was operational, the turbine was almost completely submerged). After the state purchased the mill in 1967, a new roof and a new coat of paint were added. The mill is no longer operational.
A long and cold and rushed trip through beautiful portions of hilly and mountainous country.
But next time we need to take our time.
There is so much to see and I feel like we missed it all in our rush to cover miles and towns.
Thankfully everything will still be there another day. Or two. Or three...............
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