Birthplace of Shannen Doherty AND Davy Crockett

Greetings from somewhere in Tennessee. Many things to report:

Time in a Bottle
In case you thought I was being an ultra whiner about the time in Kentucky, when we stopped at some point (somewhere) to grab a carbonated beverage, the first thing a young man said to me was, "Hey, do you know what time it is?" I laughed and said, well, my watch says 11am, but it's really 10am because they are on Central Time." He apologized and said, "Well, I don't know WHAT time it is...I'm from New York." I told him I was from Michigan and I totally understand.


It's Cool Because it Rhymes with Scooby-Doo
Still in the midst of I don't know where I am Tennessee, but damn, I need food FAST, we drove past a pile of traffic traveling (or really just stopping and not moving at all) in the other direction. It was only later that I realized this was the famous Bonnaroo Music Festival, which, looking at the webpage, looks like a real blast. In the world of odd coincidences, my co-worker from TunaU was going to that festival and I most likely passed him on the road.


Boom!
Dear Tennessee: Do you do anything else here besides blow stuff up? Seriously, the vast number of enormous fireworks joints is only rivaled by Cracker Barrel Restaurants, which seem to pop up every two or three miles. That's a whole lotta rocking chairs and bacon grease, if you ask me.


What About Moaning Myrtle?
I have to wonder what the connection is between psychological disorders and mass marketing. Today we drove past no less than three prime examples:

1. Sad Sam's Deli -- And the Sam in the picture was really crying!
2. Crazy Ed's Diner -- No picture of Ed, but I would have taken their word for it.
3. Nervous Charlie's Gas AND FIREWORKS -- My favorite of the day (since we really got gas there, but passed on the fireworks), it had a big cement gorilla by the entrance.

I wondered why on earth all the disturbed people were opening up shop, and then the answer came to me as I looked at my gas receipt. We were in the town of White House, Tennessee. Yeah, I'd be sad, crazy and nervous too. Not necessarily in that order.