Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

Today we walked through Lenoir City and Loudon, Tennessee. We covered 18 miles for the second straight day. The skies were clear last night, and the temperatures plummeted to 30 degrees F. Thankfully, it wasn’t windy during the morning. It was windy in the afternoon, but the temperatures had climbed to almost 50 degrees.

Frost this morning. That is the first time we have seen frost on this walk. There is a glorious half hour in the morning when the sun hits the frost and the golf courses and pastures sparkle with silver. We started at a golf course at the western edge of Knoxville and then quickly went into rural areas as Route 11 actually turned to the south.

Here is a photo of a big house on the north side of Lenoir City. This seems to be three or four houses connected, but it is one big one. This is the biggest house I have seen on Route 11. I have no idea who owns it or why they would build such a place. It is beautiful.

Route 11 goes right down the middle of Lenoir City as the main street.  Here is a photo of downtown. It is well maintained and eight of ten shops are occupied with current businesses. They have a large city building that houses a career training center, a community college, and a public library. I like libraries on main street. They seem to belong there. The funny thing about the downtown area is that it has pedestrian crossing lights. You know, push the button to cross the street, wait until the sign says it is okay to cross, don’t cross when the sign says stop. I cannot understand why they need such in this city. It must have been some type of urban renewal grant.

We crossed the Tennessee River into the town of Loudon. The Tennessee River is big at this spot, and the bridge is big as well. Here is a photo of the Loudon County Courthouse right off Route 11 in Loudon. Loudon has a small downtown area, but it is a good one. The storefronts are occupied and the stores are open.

We ended the day at this barn with a “See Rock City” ad painted on it. This barn shouldn’t last too many more years. It is mostly gone on the sides hidden from view in this photo. That is a shame. Why do barns collapse first at the bottom? It seems the tops would fall out first.

One last item. We bid farewell to Interstate 40 when Route 11 turned south. Route 11 nows runs parallel to Interstate 75 as it crosses Tennessee from top to bottom.