East Tennessee Boy
If you have followed my blog for a few years, awhile back I posted about where my home country is. Yesterday Kim and I took a little trip up to the Cherokee National Forest and it reminded me again that I am an east Tennessee boy. We loved our time in the middle of the state and Nashville was great, but the topography and culture of the southeast of the state is a place I love. It was a beautiful drive on a gorgeous day. We first went up by Parksville Lake and up on Chilhowee Mountain (a friend from Alaska once told me that what we have here are not really mountains, but thats ok). The play of the cloud's shadow across the valley below was awesome, and we watched the shadows move across as we ate lunch at an overlook. After lunch we headed off the mountain and up highway 30, turning north from the lake. though there was not as much color as other years due to the dry season, it was still a great drive. The overhanging foilage along the roadway was lovely. When we lived here before we were often in the National Forest, and this was not our first foray since we have been back. But each week something seems to confirm that we are in the right place in this season of our lives. Things like passing over the Tennessee River towards evening, hanging out with family and friends, Jordan's Barbecue, and a whole host of other stuff point to how this is home. Home is not a place you stay forever, but it a wonderful place to be right now.