Tennessee Hospitality

Sat 7th
Drove down the I81 to Knoxville through light snowstorms and visited Matt Credich and his wife Kim who is the Swim coach at Tennessee University. They came us a big inkling about the type of hospitality you get in Tennessee, they are the friendliest people I have ever met down here.
It was freezing though, turned out to be an all time low temperature by 4 degrees.
After a great evening with the Credichs we continued to Townsend which is at the base of the Smokey Mountains. Mary had booked some cabins there for us there. Got in about 11pm and crashed out.

Sun 8th
In the morning I felt well enough to run and got out at 8am and ran for an hour and half up to the Tuckaleechee Caverns. It was freezing cold, probably about -5 and my bare fingers were burning, but I ran it OK probably at 4.5mins/km. Distance about 15k. Still suffering the flu and coughing up plenty of phlegm but on the mend. About 10am we headed to church, which turned into an adventure as we tried to locate the only Catholic Church in Maryville. Then we headed for the McCroskey home where Jim's daughter Mary Lois, her husband Sam, and Mum Joyce had planned a wonderful Easter lunch for us. All their family and friends came and we had a big feed, and southern hospitality.
It turned into an all day affair and we finally got back to the cabin about 10pm.

Mon 9th
Sam McCroskey very kindly invited Neil and I out on his Sea Ray boat to run down the Tennessee River. There were a few adventures along the way before we got the boat under way but it was all fun, and the boat ride was a magnificent way to see the Tennessee Valley. This waterway was the Tennessee River which was dammed in the thirties to provide Hydro power. I remember studying it at School as part of FDR's New Deal I think. Now it still produces power but is also a link in a canal network which allows barge traffic to go across Tennessee and connect to the Mississippi.
It was a great day out but we didn't get back till about 6pm so I gave running a miss today. i didn't mind since I only had a half hour on the program, and I am still feeling pretty crappy. Honor stayed with the McCroskey's and their girls Erin and Rachel kindly offered to take her to the school for a day.

Tue 10th
Managed to get out about 8am and run the SWEAT routine that I was missing. I did the warm ups and choose a similar hill to the Wild Wally's. Ran six hill intervals each about 500m long. Made each one faster and felt pretty good. I think the flu is just about behind me.

Afterwards I went with Kath, Martha and Ron to the top of the Smokey's with the intention of running a few miles back down the Appalachian trail. Once we got up their though we gave it a miss because the trail was covered in ice and snow. Very spectacular views though. Caught glimpses of bears in the distance occassionally. Unfortunately the Fraser fir trees which dominate the area have all died back due to an introduced bug infestation.

Later we visited the Heritage Museum which had some very high quality displays of the history of the Indian and White settlement of these mountains. It was very similar to the settlement of NSW, with predominantly Protestant white farmers pushing out the native Cherokees. Incredibly the Cherokees were pushed all the way to Florida and Oaklahoma. The many little white hamlets are picturesque with their distinctive churches, the area reminds me of the Mullimbimby and Nimbin area.

In the evening we were given treated to another wonderful meal at Mary Lois and Sam's home in Maryville. Made fond farewells to everyone and thankfully the girls went straight to sleep as they were both cranky and tired. Tomorrow we head off for Boston!