Well,
this will likely be our last opportunity to see the some of the high points of
sightseeing that are a convenient flying distance from Chicago. So, we each made our list of “must sees” and
what emerged was this eclectic list:
- The Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee
- Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
- Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, North Carolina
- The Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Florida and
- The Space Center in Huntsville Alabama
Okay, I
hear the laughing. If you don’t like our
list, go buy a plane and make your own damn list!
For those
who are still with us, Saturday morning at 5:00 AM, we launched from Waukegan,
Illinois and flew South past the Chicago skyline just as the sun was rising in
the East. Here’s what we saw:
And here’s the view
from inside:
This was
an even more remarkable and rare sight than the glorious sunrise over Chicago;
Jolene smiling at 5:00 in the morning!
By 9:30,
we were on the ground at Tullahoma airport, being marshalled into our parking
spot on the ramp and our rental car was driving up to meet us. By 10:00 we were driving to Lynchburg, home
of Jack Daniels. For those of you who
know me well, you’ll of course know that I’ve been doing my best to support the
residents of Lynchburg for the past 35 years through the purchase of their
product. (It’s just not in my heart to
see poor Tennesseans starve).
So, we
drove from Tullahoma to Lynchburg to see where this elixir is produced. Jack Daniels started his distillery in 1875
at the age of 25 years old. His product
was, and continues to be very popular and, in 2013, they shipped over 11
million cases (apparently there are other good hearted folks who can't bear to
see Tennesseans starve.)
Jack
Daniels himself died at the age of 61.
His demise started about 5 years before.
He came to work one morning and tried to open the safe in his office (he
had trouble remembering the combination).
After several tries, in frustration, he kicked the safe. This resulted in a badly bruised toe which,
in turn led to an infection. Over the
next several years, the infection spread leading to the loss of the toe, the shin,
the leg and eventually his death in 1911.
Here’s our tour guide, (a bit too cheerfully) showing the safe:
Lynchburg
itself, is somewhat underwhelming. It
consists of a very nice town square formed of buildings selling virtually
anything you might care to imagine emblazoned with the Jack Daniel’s logo. (We took home our fair share (remember, if
not for us and our boundless charity, those poor starving Tennesseans.)
The next
morning, we returned to the airport and flew to Knoxville where again we were
marshalled into our spot and our rental car drove up to meet us. After a brief respite (I’ve been all the way
to the back of our plane and have yet to find the rest room), we drove to
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, home of Dollywood, Tennessee’s answer to Disney World.
Now,
before the inevitable snickers start, let me just say, I admire Dolly Parton
(and no, not for why you think)! I have
found that for any of us who live long enough, a legend begins to develop about
us. Like all legends, it is always based
in some truth. Like most legends,
generally the legend takes on a life of its own and is much grander and much more
interesting than the truth. Many of us
begin to embrace or just tolerate the legend without bothering to correct because,
as Theodore Geisel once so eloquently put it, “Those who mind don’t matter and
those who matter don’t mind.” To
paraphrase, those who believe the legend don’t matter and those who know the
truth don’t pay any mind to the legend.
So it is
with Dolly. She has embraced the legend
that has surrounded her, having once famously proclaimed, “It takes a lot of money
to look this cheap.” The truth, while
not as grand or interesting is that she is a wholesome, down to earth person
who never ever forgot her roots. She is
a person of character, integrity and morals and this comes through in her
museum.
One of
the most touching and defining stories is told in her song “Coat of Many Colors”. It tells the story of when Dolly was a little
girl and getting ready to first go to school.
Her family was so poor that she had no coat to wear. A friend gave them a pile of cloth scraps that
her mother began to sew into a coat. As
she sewed, her mother told Dolly the story of Joseph and his coat of many
colors, from the bible. Dolly wore that
coat to her first day of school and all of the other children began to laugh
and make fun of her. As she tells it:
And oh I
couldn't understand it, for I felt I was rich
And I
told them of the love my momma sewed in every stitch
And I
told 'em all the story momma told me while she sewed
And how
my coat of many colors was worth more than all their clothes
One is
only poor, only if they choose to be
Now I
know we had no money, but I was rich as I could be
In my
coat of many colors my momma made for me
And THAT’S
who Dolly Parton really is. And here’s
the coat:
Dollywood
is a wonderful place. Go, if you
get the chance.
The next
morning we drove to Asheville, North Carolina (wasn’t far enough to make sense
flying). Asheville is known for Biltmore
mansion and gardens. Biltmore was built
by George Vanderbilt, grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Now being from the East Coast, we have toured
many Vanderbilt estates; Newport, Rhode Island, Hyde Park New York, Centerport,
New York. The house in Asheville is the
largest and grandest of them all. Built between
1889 and 1895 it is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at
178,926 square feet of floor space and featuring 250 rooms. It took us virtually the entire day to tour
the house and gardens. Here is the
house:
The next
morning we drove back to the airport and flew to Pensacola, Florida, home of
the Blue Angels and the National Museum of Naval Aviation.
Now, if
you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have noted that each place where we land,
we are met by a line person holding two orange batons and guiding us into a
spot to park our plane and then another line person drives our rental car up to
the plane so we can unload our luggage.
Upon
landing at Pensacola International, I was pleased (pleased doesn’t begin
to do it justice) to see that our “line person” was a perky blond young lady
dressed in a pair of “Daisy Dukes” and a snug tee shirt PROUDLY proclaiming her
association with Pensacola Aviation. At
the risk of TMI, what was going through my mind were two thoughts:
- Jolene, could you park this plane, this young lady would like me to follow her and
- What more effective way to say, “Welcome to Pensacola, Florida!”
(I’d post
a picture of the line person but “my co-pilot” had some issue with taking the
picture.)
The museum
was amazing. There is literally every
plane the Navy has ever flown, many cockpits to sit in, and many full motion
flight simulators (been there, done that, and been sick the rest of the day). I think if I could afford to buy the fuel,
this just might be my next vehicle:
Jolene
picked out her own. Perhaps we could
have “his and hers” or would that be TOO decadent?
The next
morning, we flew to Huntsville, Alabama.
(I thought of bringing my own line person but, alas, the co-pilot
objected.)
As you’re
driving from the airport along the expressway wondering where the US Space and
Rocket center is, you see this:
To give
you an idea of scale:
…Jolene’s
about 5’4”.
Again,
spent the day touring the museum.
Amazing stuff. If you’re lucky,
while you’re there, you’ll even run into a real live astronaut:
The next
morning, as we pulled into the airport parking lot to leave for home, we passed
a T38 on the ramp.
I
happened to run into the pilot in the men’s room and I commented, “Pretty cool
plane you have”. His response was
priceless, “Actually, it’s not my plane but I sure do appreciate your paying
your taxes and letting me fly it.”
We
launched back for Chicago and ran into the first clouds we saw all week
long. Coming up from mid-Indiana on, we
were in and out of some tall cumulus clouds.
Not a bad ride and very impressive views.
Just a
fabulous vacation. Again:
1,713
nautical miles, 15 flying hours, 5 destinations in 7 days!
A few
more weeks and we’re off to Colorado, Cheyenne, Mount Rushmore and Crazy
Horse. Stay tuned!
