Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

Today we walked through Cleveland and McDonald, Tennessee. The temperatures ranged from 35 degrees F in the morning to 70 degrees in the afternoon. We walked a little over 18 miles.

We started north of Cleveland and walked the first hour of the day in the fog. That is interesting. It is a good thing that you can hear the cars coming. The cows look funny in the pastures. No word from the cows on how we looked in the fog.

Route 11 sort of skirts through one side of Cleveland. It is a four-lane divided highway full of fast food and all other sorts of suburbia. Today was Saturday, and the suburbanites were out running their errands in earnest. I have done this myself many times. I know it is necessary, but it is awful boring to walk down the middle of it.

One tidbit, I stopped in a Chick Fil A for a cup of coffee. Several mothers were there with their children (indoor play place). These women were wearing their flannel pajamas and bathroom robes. I know some Saturdays are tough to get started, but really.

On the way out I read a sign that advertised a special they were having – free breakfast if you come in your pajamas. Okay, but didn’t Hugh Hefner used to do this pajama kind of thing?

The walk became interesting after we left Cleveland. Back to a two-lane road with almost no shoulder – but no fog. First up is this race track. I think it is a dirt track.

Next up is this lighthouse next to a church. This is a memorial to a couple of members. I have seen people plant trees and erect small monuments to departed ones, but never build a lighthouse in the hills of Tennessee.

Oh the hills, beautiful to see. Winding road with lots of up and down. We met maybe a dozen people out on motorcycles. A good Saturday afternoon ride in the country. This section of Route 11 must be a local secret.

I was all set for a quiet, nothing-to-see afternoon walk. Wrong. I walked past the Bachman Academy. This is an exclusive ($$) private school that specializes in kids with ADHD. That is challenging work. It is a large place with 200 acres and horses.

Did I mention horses? I was shocked to find that we were on a road that has two large horse farms – Bendabout Farm and Manderleigh Farms. I found little on the Internet about these two. I know that Bendabout holds polo matches. I think Manderleigh raises and sells race horses. Both places are large (several miles of road front) and both places are immaculate.

I saw a group of young horses (someone who knows horses tell me the correct noun) running full speed through the pasture at Bendabout. Nice animals. Again, big $$$.

Then there is the wide spot in the road of McDonald. It has one store, two churches, and a post office. Here is the post office. For once, the Feds didn’t flatten a spot, pour concrete, and drop the building in the middle. Someone did a good job of nestling the Post Office up in the trees.

Here is a photo of the local Methodist Church. This building has great windows. I hope you can see the details here.