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April 07, 2009
Tennessee time
Flight over Knoxville, originally uploaded by Dan Lyle.
Today I'm in Knoxville... It had been an unpleasant trip for awhile, but then things brightened up quite a bit. Due to the whims of the airline industry ($1000 flights to Knoxville from Chicago), I had to catch a flight to Nashville last night. Nashville is 160 miles west of Knoxville, which doesn't sound too bad... Except my flight arrived at 11 pm, during a blizzard. A blizzard in Tennessee? Really?
No sweat, I thought. I'm from Chicago, I can handle a Tennessee blizzard. This was only partially true, because unlike Illinois, Tennessee is a state of hills and mountains. It was so mountainous they needed a freakin' gap to get through the place. Trucks complicated the mess, because their tires sprayed water and ice all over my car anytime I approached within 100 feet of one.
But I made it. I was happily surprised to learn Nashville had a Jack-In-The-Box. Fueled by the Clown and copious amounts of Red Bull, I made it to my hotel 10 minutes before my target time of 2 am. The Holiday Inn, however, wasn't going to make it easy... When I got there, the desk clerk had left for an "emergency," leaving my fate in the hands of a security guard. He called the desk clerk, who did not answer. His solution was to give me the room that was reserved for someone else, and I gladly accepted, although I was afraid that I was being set up for some kind of No Country For Old Men style ambush. My presence here says that did not occur.
So when I went to court in the morning, I spent a total of ten minutes there. That was aggravating.
Meanwhile, the weather forecasts said it was going to snow, rain, and sleet all day today. Only I could go to Tennessee and be followed there by bad weather. Luckily, the result was not as dire as the forecast, and I was able to squeeze in a lovely 5 mile run through downtown Knoxville and the University of Tennessee campus.
Two thoughts on that: Knoxville is hilly. Not San Francisco hilly, but enough to frustrate a guy who doesn't want to run up hills all day. Secondly, Knoxville is nice. I expected the worst coming here, because all I knew about Knoxville was that it was full of raging Vols football fans. But, it is a neatly-kept city, with lots of interesting people, and although there is lots of Volunteer orange about, I don't think it rises to the sheer idiocy of Ohio State scarlet and gray.
Kudos to you, Knoxville.
entry no. 1347
Posted at April 7, 2009 01:41 PM
Comments
I love Knoxville! My husband's best friend from college lives there with his wife...next time you are there, make sure you go to Buddy's for barbecue!
Posted by: Candi at April 11, 2009 11:30 PM