Tire Tracks

No, Alan and I don’t start our day with whiskey. . .Whiskey Before Breakfast is my most favorite Old Time Music tune. Alan plays it on his mountain dulcimer and I accompany him on my guitar.

Alan plays a little “Whiskey Before Breakfast” for Daisy

Recently we had the opportunity to learn a lot about whiskey and the difference between whisky and bourbon.

Quality Products.  I’m truly tired of mass production.  And I have an immense respect for craftsmanship and quality products. I even subscribe to a couple of Etsy Shop Facebook pages just to see the beautiful things these artisans handcraft. On our way up to Nashville from Alabama, it was downright refreshing to find a spot where traditional quality and production pride still exist.

On a spur of the moment whim, after seeing a billboard for Jack Daniels Distillery, Alan decided that we should detour to Lynchburg and tour the place. Not being much of tour person myself, nor a connoisseur of fine spirits, I had my doubts. But I was pleasantly surprised.

Quality Production. Whether or not one appreciates Jack Daniels, or alcohol for that matter, it’s difficult to not appreciate the way the distillery produces its product right there on the premises.

• a pure, deep source of spring fed water
• handmade charcoal from local sugar maple lumber
• corn from Illinois and its neighboring states
• impurities filtered out through charcoal, drop by drop
• handmade barrels (no nails or screws!)
• barrels are recycled to the Tabasco Co. in Louisiana in making their sauce

Eco-friendly. Sustainable, renewable resources. And they even recycle!

The Tour. The tour guide walks you through the various production buildings while imparting the nuts and bolts of the process, as well as some tall tales about Jack Daniels and his kin.

Jasper (Jack) Daniels stands guard over his spring, the source of pure water for his whiskey

The Museum. The museum walks you through the history of the distillery and imparts some wisdom regarding the importance of music, the difference between whittlin’ and the carving of wood, and the game of checkers.

“Mr. Jack had an enthusiastic appreciation of music and the folks who played it. This may explain why there have always been so many able-bodied pickers employed at any given time.”. . . . . .

The art of playing checkers

. . . . .and apparently the importance in a game of checkers is in “a comfortable chair” and “room for plenty of fishing stories and weather forecasts”. And for heaven sake, “If your checkers opponent appears to be focusing too hard on the game, or even going so far as to keep track of wins and losses, you can bet that you’re playing a novice.”

The Jack Daniels Distillery was both interesting and fun!

Local Culture. As we travel, Alan and I keep a sharp lookout for local culture; the way people “do things” in their region of the country; why they do things the way they do them. Whiskey-making is very much a part of the cultural history of Tennessee and the whole Appalachian region. In fact, I probably descend from some of those Kentucky moonshiners who ran their white lightnin’ down Thunder Road with the revenuers in hot pursuit. I think my dad, having been a connoisseur of fine Kentucky bourbon, would have thoroughly appreciated this tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery, although I don’t imagine he’d have been impressed enough to give up his Jim Beam bourbon;)

The Grand Ole Opry. It was grand indeed! We love live music, especially live radio shows, and this one was no exception.

The Backstage Tour. We began our Grand Ole Opry experience with the backstage tour, entering the stage area just like the stars do–through the backdoor. Continue reading →

Working with MDS. We cannot say enough good things about the organization called the Mennonite Disaster Service. It’s very well organized and well funded. And the MDSers we met are just plain nice!

We spent the month of April living and working with an MDS RV group in Alabama. Continue reading →

“Rascal", Marauder of Food and All-Shoes-Not-Nailed-Down

We left Alabama last Saturday and sadly, I’ve had to leave my lil’ homeless beagle-buddy behind, there at the top of the hill overlooking his home called Sleepy Holler. Sturdy and independent. No matter what I tried, he was determined to remain physically detached from me, but at least I’m leaving him a little better off–much more socialized, both doggie- and human-wise. Not much else I can do. Continue reading →

 “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go. I’ve seen it on TV, but when it happens to you it is unreal.  I just feel lost.”

These were the words of Yvonne Tucker, in Wichita, KA after leaving a tornado shelter a couple of weeks ago to find her home blown away by the storm. I imagine those same words were spoken over and over again here in Alabama a year ago yesterday when, on April 27, 2011, people faced “the most costly convective storm in US history,” according to Kevin Knupp, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. And he doesn’t just mean costly in terms of property damage — 316 people lost their lives in the storms that day. One person has described the disaster as Alabama’s Katrina–only without a 3-day warning. Experts say it will take anywhere from 5 to 10 years to rebuild. Continue reading →

“Rascal”, our local campground marauder of all food and shoes-that-are-not-nailed-down, seems to be succumbing to Daisy-dog’s charming hospitality here at our campsite. Guess the regular chow and some sweet doggie talk aren’t hurting any either.

• Rascal now knows his name and the sound of dry food in the dish.
• He now comes for food in our screen room. (Just not when there’s a human nearby.)
• Instead of his 25-foot people distance, he’s down to about a 10-foot comfort zone.
• Yesterday we all went for a walk and he romped around us, something he hadn’t done before.

Countdown: 6 days left to woo and capture this little guy to whisk him off my local contact and a home with lots of love and regular chow. Otherwise I think he’ll be chasing rabbits for a living:(

Stay tuned:)

My lobster flip flop still seems to be his favorite chew toy.

Alan and I are fast approaching the 3rd anniversary of our first music-chasing adventure together to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. It’s the first time we configured our travels in order to dig into a local culture and it’s music. When we returned from the trip I shared our trip in the Scamp (travel trailer) newsletter and put together a slideshow of our trip.

The scenery on Cape Breton is breathtaking. Our webpage picture above is one we took in the Cape Breton Highlands. The people and music are lively and fun. If you’ve never been to Cape Breton, it’s definitely one to add to your list of places to experience!

Below is a link to the article and slideshow.

Chasing the Music on Cape Breton’s Ceilidh Trail

We’ve landed in a magical, musical spot! Gentle rolling hills; gently flowing people.

Chugging up the hill to our campsite

Our campsite is set high, by Northwest Alabama standards, on a hill overlooking a little church set on the edge of a vale/dale. As we chugged up the steep incline to the “mountaintop”, hoping we’d make it to the top pulling our heavy load, it’s the first thing we saw. Continue reading →

. . .apparently isn’t going to take much research effort. Look at what the tourist bureau provided for us:

Sweet Home, Alabama

Continue reading →

. . .and everything in its place. In plain language: decide where you’ll most likely need to use the item, put it there, and always put it back. These words of wisdom came to me from my dad when he began taking me out on his boat at an early age. Continue reading →