Back roads Tennessee

In her song Tennessee Shawn Colvin talks about the back roads of Tennessee.  She mentions hot summer nights and the songs of banjos.  So far my favorite thing about Tennessee has been the back roads.  We've taken drives out of town on multiple occasions with a map and a general direction but no solid plan.  We find a pretty little back road and see where it takes us.  On our first day out we came across the cutest little vegetable stand you ever did see.  We took pictures and walked up to the veggies and started looking at them and talking only to have the bejeezes scared out of us when a little old man who probably fought in the Civil War suddenly came to life in a rocking chair and started talking to us.  We weighed our vegetables on a hanging scale in the back of the barn and headed off.  Just a mile or so down the road we stumbled upon a vineyard.  You don't just find a vineyard and keep driving.  You stop and sample.  Not only is this a vineyard, it's a gathering place.  There is live music in the afternoons and people bring big picnic lunches, buy a bottle of wine and spread out blankets and drink and talk and enjoy the music.  It was a fantastic find.  And the wine was good too.

On another occasion we went to a little town called Bell Buckle.  It was a train stop in the Civil War and the little row of store fronts are all from that time.  We wandered amongst the houses and shops and then had dinner in the Bell Buckle Cafe.  It's a "meat and 3" kind of a place.  Apparently this is how you describe these diners in the south.  You choose your meat and 3 vegetables.  I had pulled pork with spicy barbeque sauce with broccoli salad, potato salad and green beans.  Yum.  And the whole time we ate there was live bluegrass playing in the background.  Wonderful.  After leaving Bell Buckle we drove back up the road and decided to stop for a slice of pie at Miller's Grocery.  Another little cafe.  Delicious french silk pie still warm and yet another bluegrass group playing.  

Tennessee is still odd to me.  It doesn't really "fit" me quite right yet.  But I feel a draw toward those roads and they meet me in a new and different place.  I'm finding that I have been somewhat determined to not like Tennessee.  I was sure it could never compare to Alaska, Montana, Colorado or Scotland, but those roads are cracking my resolve and I'm glad.  I am choosing to live in the present and enjoy this adventure along with the rest.   Like Shawn Colvin says, "you know you should have told me that I'd never be the same, after riding down your back roads, Tennessee."