Some Trip Comments

This weekend, I went driving around a little bit. Here are some random comments:

Highway 111 N -- The Tubes sang the song "What a Beauty" and boy is the drive along highway 111 a beaut.

Crossing two plateaus, a descent into the stunning Sequatchie Valley, and a lot of open land.  From about highway 8 north of Cagle to the exit for Fall Creek Falls, there is major construction on highway 111.  It is being transformed into a divided 4-lane highway.  There is already a divided 4-lane from the Fall Creek Falls exit into Spencer. So once this is done, 4-lane highway from Spencer to highway 8; two-lanes from highway 8 through Cagle, and then a 4-lane highway from the tippy top of Cagle Mountain to Soddy-Daisy. And going north from Spencer, after breaking speed records descending Spencer Mtn., 4-lane highway to I-40 in Cookeville.

I agree with Soddy-Daisy: it would make more sense to extend highway 111 on across the Tennessee River to highway 58 for that toll bridge ole Jim Cobb used to tout.

I-40 W  to Nashville--People coming down from Spencer Mtn. just think they are done going down hill when they get on I-40 W at Cookeville.  There is quite the drop going off the Eastern Highland Rim on I-40. They built the descent on I-40 W with the least amount of money building a tall croncrete barrier to separate the divided highway going down.  But they spent a ton of money building 5 bridges to cross the winding Caney Fork River in very quick succession after the descent.

Climatologists have mapped the wind flow from the equator and some of it comes back down from the stratosphere on a line between Nashville and Cookeville.  A little extra cold moisture, anyone?

I-40 in Wilson County needs some serious renovation. Especially betweent Lebanon and Mount Juliet. The traffic is crazy. The interstate is packed. The roadbed is pockmarked. There is a need for a 6-lane divided interstate here.

Nashville 24/40 split--Not enough words without profanity to describe this engineering morass.That's why I took Briley Parkway north to I-24 N.

I-24 N to Clarksville--The trucks on this part of interstate must think they own the road. Because they sure act like it. A driver feels trapped in between the thicket of trees not only on the side of the road but in the median as well. Very eery feeling when a semi truck comes up on you at night streaming headlight beams into your space and then veering off into the passing lane. The trees hide everything.

Too me that wasn't a very good idea to leave a dark path of an interstate among the wild.

2010 Chatt State Students on 1st Amendment

Despite that these two videos in this playlist were created in 2010, I think they are still a great listen and still makes me ponder when I hear these college-student responses to what the 1st Amendment means.

Water rolling in a circle in mid-air: February 28, 2011

2011 had eventful days where tornadoes touch down in the Chattanooga area. One of those days was February 28.  I left my work at 1:30 that day in order to get over to Lookout Valley High School to pick up my child when school let out at 2:15.  The drive over from Amnicola to the LV was a trying experience with wicked winds. Going around Moccasin Bend in between Lookout Mountain and the river was a huge down force.

I got in line behind other cars on Lookout Valley High School Drive. Unknown to me at the time, dismissal at 2:15 was delayed.  There was a possible tornado spotted nearby.

I found a video on YouTube that someone actually filmed the rain-wrapped tornado coming across Raccoon Mountain pumped storage station. This would be above the car line and a little to the north.  The video is embedded at the bottom of the post, but it was described by one tornado chaser as one of the best audio capture of tornadic activity.

Back to the parent line of cars waiting outside of the school, many parents, like me, did not know about the incoming tornadic storm. Suddenly, a fog descended upon the area. Rain and wind mixed rocked the cars. I saw the water rolling in a circle mid-air and then splashing with force onto the windshield. The water kept slamming down. And the car was rocking to and fro.

Suddenly, the fog and rolling water had moved on. I could see big tall trees lying on the ground.  At the time, I didn't know what I had gone through.I am thankful to the person who took this video. The sound, the wind, the water reminds me all over again that day.