This job has given me my first in depth experience with construction crews. Their lifestyle is interesting but it's got to be rough. They move to a job site for a couple of years while their family stays back "home". They head back for visits but they mostly stay in hotels or travel trailers and send the checks home. It must be the location of this project but most of the crew here is from Louisiana. I've become friends with a bunch of them and every time they head home, I ask them to bring me back some gumbo. A couple of guys have gotten tired of me asking them so they have whipped me up some good Cajun fare. So far, I've had chicken creole, shrimp gumbo and chicken and sausage gumbo. A construction buddy is leaving next weak for his next assignment in Edmonton. He's threatened to make a pot of gumbo while watching Nascar this weekend. yummy
Since the first part of July, my runs on the country roads were like running down cramped hallways in a building. All I could see on either side of me for miles and miles was a row of corn stalks. Between last week and today, the farmers of middle Tennessee have been busy. All of the corn is gone as well as the tobacco. Tobacco might only get to about 2 ft in height but the fields seem empty without it. The denuded tobacco fields mean that the tobacco barns are in full smoking / curing mode. On a cool, calm morning before the sun comes up, the smoke from the barns collects in the valleys. It makes breathing interesting but it looks really cool. The empty corn fields were a shock. All of my walls were gone. I felt so unprotected - so exposed. giggle
All of my long runs take place in the countryside to the east of town. It's all two lane roads and there is very little traffic. I always run on the left side of the road - facing traffic. When I do encounter cars, they are really good about moving all of the way into the other lane as they pass me. I've been pleasantly surprised and I always give them a wave of thanks.
I can't say the same for bikes. Even if it is a couple of bikes coming my way, it's a game of chicken. I exaggerate slightly but they seem to enjoy some close time with me as they pass. I ran this past Saturday and I ran right into the Labor Day Century ride. Hundreds of riders riding a hundred miles. A few would shout out "runner up" and move to their left but others enjoyed watching me sidestep into the ditch. Maybe they were acting out their roid rage. giggle.
I attended a Nashville Sounds game a couple of months ago. They are a Triple A farm team for the Brewers. It was fun but the overall experience was kind of blah. The crowd wasn't into it. The players weren't into it. I chalked it up to the hot weather.
Today I drove 65 miles to Bowling Green, KY to see the Hot Rods play. The Hot Rods are the Single A team for the Tampa Bay Rays. The entire drive was through farmland on country roads. Bowling Green has a population of 50,000 and is the home of Western Kentucky University. I went to a Sunday day game and when I got to town, all of the little freshman were moving into the dorms. They were cute.
The baseball team is called the Hot Rods for a couple of reasons - my favorite is that General Motors has been using Bowling Green as the lone manufacturing site for the Corvette since 1981. Who knew? The Hot Rods stadium is really nice. There was a lot of energy for a small crowd. All of the players had birthdays in 1991 or 1992 and they were having a grand time. I wish I had discovered them a little earlier in the year. Play ball...
The summers in middle Tennessee are hot and humid. The past two mornings however have been unseasonably cool. It's early August and it's supposed to stay toasty for a while longer. However, it was 62 on Saturday and 59 on Sunday morning. I've had a rough time running this summer so this was a pleasant surprise. On most mornings, I've been reduced to a puddle after the first couple of miles. I ran 15 miles on Saturday and I felt like I could have gone further. I'll probably have my bubble burst on the next warm morning but I really enjoyed this weekend.
Where do I send the thank you card? giggle
I discovered Moon Pies last year. They originated in Chattanooga and they passed them out as finishers medals at some runs I did. Goo Goo Clusters are advertised throughout Nashville so I did some research as well as some taste testing. The Standard Candy Company began making them in Nashville in 1912 and the recipe really hasn't changed much over the years. The Goo Goo Cluster has 4 of my favorite food groups - marshmallow, caramel, peanuts and chocolate. If you see old photos of the Grand Ole Opry, you'll notice that they were a big sponsor. As for the name, the story is that it was selected because goo goo are the first words that babies speak. This way, everyone asks for Goo Goo Clusters from birth. The Standard Candy Company is still churning them out and you'll always find a few in my refrigerator. yum
Here's my assessment of water activities in middle Tennessee. They have got to exist but I have not seen a municipal pool since I moved here. There are a lot of lakes in Tennessee. I get the sense that most of them are the result of the TVA. Boating seems to be pretty big. The Cumberland River runs through town but it's mostly used for barges. I rarely see a personal boat on it. People go out of town for their boating fun. At the risk of sounding like a snob, there are not any spring fed pools here. sigh
