Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

Today we walked through Johnson City and Jonesborough, Tennessee. The temperature only ranged from 55 to 60 degrees F as mist and drizzle fell all day.

Route 11E misses downtown Johnson City and any interesting things there. It starts at I-26 and does the usual Golden Mile things. Then there are some nice suburbs, then a fading business area on the west (by the compass) side of the city.

Funny thing about cities is there is money on the side of the road. I picked up over 50 cents today in Johnson City. In rural areas the only of value on the side of the road are lone gloves. I think they blow out of the back of pickup trucks and other work vehicles.

I walked in front of another Starbucks coffee in Johnson City. This is the second in three days and only the second on the entire Route 11. Tennessee has a 9.5% sales tax on coffee at these places! Whose idea was that?

Jonesborough is another historic town that Route 11 bypasses. All that is on 11 are fast food places, other restaurants, shopping centers, and gas stations. To dry out from the drizzle, we ate at a Bar-B-Que place on 11 and then took a quick drive through downtown. It is worth visiting in better weather.

We walked another 7 or 8 miles from Jonesborough towards Greeneville. The weather was still lousy, but the countryside is beautiful. There are farms and pastures and hills with colorful trees to rival any we have seen so far.

Something new today – the speed limit on Route 11 is 65 MPH. This really is like walking on the side of an Interstate highway.

Drizzle – yes a wet day. Half the water that hit us was thrown by the cars and especially the trucks. It wasn’t comfortable, but not miserable like yesterday. It was fun in some absurd way.

The day ended in yet beautiful absurdity. We were parked next to a patch of cactus. What else would you see on a drizzly day in the hills of Eastern Tennessee but cactus?