Pep Bus

Ever ride one? I went a few times. I remember Lenior City once, and I think Clinton, and one of the McMinns (not sure if it was County or Central), and I think Rockwood... or was it Harriman? As you can see these memories aren't all that strong.

All I can remember is they were louder than heck going and the mood coming back depended on whether we won or lost. Once I can even remember sleeping most of the way back.

The thing is, I don't really remember how we got to any of those places. It was before the interstate so it was all backroads.... or at least what might be called backroads now... back then they were "highways". Kingston, Harriman and Rockwood were all down 72 (I think). I couldn't get there now without taking I75 to I40.

Do they still have pep buses? I figure more kids drive these days so maybe they're not as common as they were. I think most of us depended on someone else or rode a bus to school so we had more need for a pep bus. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it just seemed that way, but the parking lot at school is sure a lot bigger now.

Spooky II

There is a crossroads below the house that is a 4 way stop. Three sides of the intersection are wooded. Early in the mornings when I come to work and the moon is out, the road in almost every direction is a shiney ribbon of light grey between the dark, black shape of the trees. It reminds me so much of some of the spooky old country rounds than ran through woods out in Steekee or Piney or down along River Road.

Once when Mervin Cook and I were walking through the woods behind his house, and since it was so dark we started telling ghost stories to try and scare each other. Suddenly, we heard something running thru the woods beside us and it was getting closer. Before we could make up our minds whether we were going to fight or run, these three guys came busting out of the woods. Two of them were brothers. I forget their names but they lived down behind Mervin and one of them was fairly small with a cloudy eye. Anyway they scared the beejezuz out of us.

Another time we were frog gigging down by Philadelphia and was walking thru these woods to a large pond. When we got to the edge of the woods near the pond, one of the guys said they hoped there was no bulls around. About that time one of them shined his light over near the pond and we saw a glimmer of something shiney and someone yelled, "Bull". We started to one before someone figured out it was the light shining off the wet nose of a cow who was standing there patiently chewing her cud.

The last one that comes to mind was one day when we were in the woods along the ridge just south of the high school. I remember David Clark being there along with someone else, I'm not sure if it was Mike Littleton or not. Anyway, we had come to this notch in the hill that had steep banks on both sides and we were walking down in the notch while David's dog ran along the crest of the bank above us. We heard a shot and saw the dog jump and yelp at the same time. We stood there frozen while 3 or 4 more shots went zinging over our heads, hitting David's dog. Finally we yelled and the shooting stopped, but David's dog was running and yelping way back into the woods. It was a couple of the Harper boys (it was their land) and they said they thought the dog was a stray and couldn't see us since we were down in the notch. Believe it or not, about a month later that dog found it's way back to David's house. You could see where he had been shot, but I guess it missed anything vital.

It Takes Me Back

The reason behind this week's poll is that over the years I find several things will whip me right back to high school, but mostly it's a song. With a lot of songs, I can see a particular person or event, including the marching band's almost continual playing of... what was it?? Watermelon Man?

Anyway, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, Love is Blue, Theme to Good, Bad and Ugly, Make It With You... just to name a few. When I hear them I'm right back there walking the halls.

Smells do it too. When I walk into a library or bookstore, and catch the smell of printing ink and binding paste, I can still see Mrs. Goode walking around, making sure there wasn't a peep out of anyone, and since I was on the cleaning crew after school, the smell of Windex takes me back too.

If I'm drinking a hot cup of coffee on a cold night, I'm right back in the football stands, and when I visit my kid's school and see the girls huddled around giggling or hear the squeaky shoes on the gym floor as the teams practice, I'm back there too.

The sights, the sounds, the smells. Anyone of them at any time can trigger a memory. It's almost like a flashback! :)

My Mentors

According to the dictionary a mentor is a wise and trusted counselor or teacher. Not all teachers are mentors, and not all mentors are teachers. To me it's what they taught me, something I could actually use, something much more than what was "in the book." Unfortunately, I didn't always learn to apply it correctly at the time. I still wondered through high school, doing just enough work to get by.

Ms. Stallings -- It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of you, it's what you think of you.

Mrs. Arp -- Apply yourself. Yes, sometimes it gets hard. It's supposed to, that's how we learn.

Clyde Wagner -- Show up on time, if not earlier, and give it all you've got.

Coach Dutton -- There's nothing wrong with having fun, it's knowing when to have fun.

Mrs. McCall -- Not every authority figure has to be a pain in the keester all the time. She actually had a friendly side. Granted, she didn't show it often, but it was there.

The Wonderings of a Pubescent Mind

The folks over at yesbutnobutyes.com had a list today that brought back a ton of memories, and fully demonstrated the workings of a pubescent male mind. I won't say girls were the only things we thought about back then, but as the old saying goes, they were way ahead of whatever was in second place.

Anyway, sometimes the situation offered choices --- and sometimes those choices could come from anywhere. Like, which do you choose...

Betty, or Veronica?

OR

Jeanie or Samantha?

OR

Marsha Brady or Laurie Partridge?

OR

Nurse Chapel or Yeoman Rand?
OR

Lilly or Morticia?

OR

And probably the most contentious one of them all....

Ginger or Mary Ann?

OR

Listening to the Football Game

Last Friday night I listened to the football game on the internet. I hadn't done that in awhile, but it was actually good to listen. The announcers, I didn't catch their names, will never be on TV announcing NFL games, but they did a pretty good job. They gave it that small town feel. They got excited when the team did well, and complained a couple of times too, but while they were 'homers' they also made some fair comments about both teams. All in all a good job.

Anyway, as I sat there I started thinking about some of the names I was hearing and wondering if I knew their parents, or heck, grandparents by now.

One name was McNew. The only McNews I knew were Mack and Allen.

Another one was Brown. There is a boatload of Browns, so I don't know if I knew their people or not. The same with Russell and Davis and Hawkins.

One was Green. Darlene, is that one related to you?

There was also a Ward, a Watson, a Lawson and a Wallace. I am related to one set of Wallaces on my Mom's side, so that one might be a distant relative of mine. :)

Stormy Weather

I love the wind and rain. The more blustery it is the better I like it. I love the thunder and the lightning too. Sometimes I’m like a dog with its head stuck out the window of a moving car. I turn my face into the wind, close my eyes, and let it whisk away the stress and tension. It never fails to do the job.

Loudon made me that way. Remember how the rain would seem to linger for days, if not weeks at a time? It was almost like the rain clouds would get hung up in that valley and not know the way out. There were countless weeks when it seemed that if it was raining on Monday it would still be raining on Friday, or it started on Friday and rained all weekend long.

I used to hate it. When I was younger it was another day we couldn’t play, or I would have to walk to school in it and be soaked by the time I got there. After awhile though, I found myself enjoying it. There is a quiet to a steady rain that muffles noise and makes it so peaceful, and thunderstorms would leave the air smelling fresh and sweet from the ozone.

I bet you didn’t know that the trees’ moving is what makes the wind blow did you? Yep, they do! And thunder and lightening are from the clouds bumping together. That’s true too. Ask any kid. ;)

It's a Matter of Life

Life isn’t fair is it? When I was small, a boy who lived in our neighborhood drowned behind the hosiery mill. I was old enough to know what ‘drowned’ meant, but I’m not sure I fully understood the impact of it all. Later, in the 4th grade, a friend named Tim Brantley died. He had leukemia or something, I don’t really remember, but it was very upsetting to lose a playmate. Then just before senior year, Lynn was killed. I didn’t really know him all that well, we moved in different circles, but we knew each other in passing… you know, you pass in the hall and say “Hi”… but his death was still shocking and sad, and made even more so by the way he died.

Where am I going with this? Yesterday my youngest daughter found out one of her closest friends has a tumor on her liver and the doctor said he’s pretty sure it’s malignant even though he hasn’t seen all the tests yet. She’s 15, a beautiful young lady with a dazzling smile and personality to match, who just happens to be an excellent basketball player with a killer jump shot. She’s spent countless sleepovers at my house, and you know how it is, you sort of adopt the kids who hang around, even though they’re not yours.

I can see the confusion in my daughter's face. Older people die, not young ones. Behind her sad eyes she’s looking for Daddy to make it better somehow and I can’t help but feel a little impotent. I’ve never had to deal with this as a parent before, even though I’ve been a parent for almost 35 years. So I tell her not to just expect the worst, that it’s far from over, that she should be there for her friend, be upbeat and strong, and wait and pray. Pray a lot. And when she wants to talk about it, I’ll listen, day or night. And when she wants a hug, I will give her that too because I know she will need it. So will I.

Spooky Places

Brenda mentioned Carmichael Inn and it got me to thinking of the spooky places around town. Besides, Halloween is just around the corner.

I guess Carmichael Inn tops the list. The Best family lived there for years, and before that were the Lantern family who were friends of my brother. There were times thought that it stood empty. We used to dare one another to walk the bridge and go over there. It was definitely a spooky place, and if the light was just right or the wind made just the right noise, the hair on the back of your neck stood up.

On the Friendsville side of the dam was another old house. I don't remember exactly where it sat, but it seems to me it was just down a dirt road on the right side of the highway not too far from the bridge. It was two stories and inside some of the plaster and boards had been ripped off the walls. It was another place that made you uncomfortable when it was getting dark outside.

Almost across the highway from that old house, and along the bluffs north of the bridge was (is?) an old cave. I don't recall it being very deep, but it could get spooky too. There was another cave northwest of Lenoir City. I can remember turning left off 11 onto Old Sugar Limb Road, not far from where the Justice Center is now. But I can't remember exactly where the cave was, but it was much larger than the other one. A mobile home would fit in it's opening and there were several spots inside it where you had to crawl on your belly to get through it, and it went back a long way... or seemed to when I was a boy.

On Main Street just above Greer's old warehouse, along the railroad spur, was an old wooden water tower platform. The reservoir that held the water had been gone a long time and all that was left was the platform it sat on. Someone had climbed up there and suspended a noose from the platform, so there were stories of the ghost of whoever used the noose to hang themselves.

Out beyond the Junior High school was a spot called Lover's Leap. It's where someone built the A frame house. (Is it still there?) Anyway, there used to be a path off River Road that led down to a bluff that overlooked the river and it was pretty much a sheer drop of about 75 feet or so down to the water, and of course there were stories of those lovers who "jumped".

The woods along the bluff from Robinson's Mill on old 72 to Poplar Springs were said to be haunted. I don't know if they were or not, but they sure as heck got dark in a hurry.

There were also haunted woods west of Steekee School and there was an old house between Steekee School and old 72 that was said to be haunted.

I guess if I thought longer I could come up with a few other places. Do you know of any?