Last night was one of the craziest nights in quite a while.  My great friend Melissa was flying down to Tennessee to help me pack and move and go on another road trip up to the north.  However, when we bought the tickets over a month ago we didn’t know it would be during one of the worst storms in history: Tornadoes Ravage South.

The craziness began at work where we had a “stay in place” drill around 4pm because of a tornado spotting.  That only lasted about half hour to forty minutes and I left pretty swiftly afterwards with the weather looking fine.  Her flight got delayed an hour once it reached Charlotte but we weren’t too worried.  I was home skyping with Rich for a while until it reached 8pm and I decided I should venture to the airport, not thinking too much of the weather even though it was thunder-storming.   I was going down i-40 and it was horrendous.  It looked like I was driving into hell and was going to die any minute.  Then it started hailing golf balls and so I pulled over under an overpass and waited it out.  Finally half of an hour later (since I had to drive at 30mph) I reached the Starbucks by the airport.  I figured a hot drink would be better than waiting in the airport and when I walked in people looked at me as if I was insane.  “Welcome to the club” is what I was greeted with.  I ordered a tea and the barista began asking me why I was braving the storm and I explained that my friend was visiting and so I had to be here.  She asked me if I realized a tornado had just passed through and another one was coming in fifteen minutes (that explains the hail).  She handed me my drink and the depression sank in when I realized that this night was going to be a lot more than quickly picking up Melis.

Then I was trapped in the Starbucks for three hours.  We had to hide in the back with the barista giving everyone weather updates.  The others that were stuck had been there for a while and were very confused as to why I appeared in the middle of the storm.  “You just though coffee would go good with a tornado?” is what I was asked.  Then it started hailing baseballs and we had to stay in the back some more.  It was pitch black outside except for the lightning that was continually striking.  A tornado hit the airport and broke the radar, soo clearly Melissa was not going to reach Knoxville.  I was hoping they never took off.

My night was spent trapped in Starbucks and then I found out that Melis flew from Charlotte to Knoxville, until they realized the radar was shot and couldn’t land, so they flew back to Charlotte. Once she was back there she told me they were going to try again to fly out, so I waited a while before going to the airport when I thought she would land.  Again, they flew to Knoxville, decided they couldn’t land, and flew back to Charlotte.  Finally, she said she would find a hotel so I went home.  Then United decided they wouldn’t be able to everyone hotel rooms so once again, they flew to Knoxville. By the time I got back to my house I had an hour before I went back and finally got my friend from the airport.  And that was our night.

It’s my last weekend day in Knoxville so I had to go out and try to get all the pictures that I saw in my head while driving around but never actually took.  Yeva and I got Starbucks and then went down Karns Valley Road which is the main road on the way to work.  So these farms are what we get to see everyday on the way to work.

The cows loved staring back at us.  We usually see many donkeys and horses too.  We almost couldn’t find the horses but then stumbled on this lovely bunch.

Note the “Caution: Guard Mule on Duty” sign. 

We also stopped to take some pictures of this barn that is part of Apple Tree Nursery.  I didn’t take pictures of the rest of it, but it looks like a really nice landscaping/nursery business.

This creek usually has horses drinking from it but unfortunately they weren’t very thirsty today.

Finally, I will post the two most comical establishments in Knoxville, TN:

Papa Dom’s Pizza: the unloved son of Papa John’s and Dominos

Where do they cook the food???

8th wonder of the world.

I just realized I never posted about when Rich and I went to Nashville!  We saw Bright Eyes play at the Ryman Auditorium.  It was a great venue with so much history.  The concert was great, but I always love seeing Bright Eyes so that’s not too big of a surprise.  Anyway, the next day we went back to the Ryman for a tour.

The hallways were lined with posters from previous performers and included possibly every great musician.  We got to see backstage dressing rooms and hear about the thirty years when the Ryman was home to the Grand Ole Opry.  They had some showcases with memorabilia from past events.

This was in the Johnny Cash and June Carter case.  The last picture is of a song that Johnny Cash wrote for the students at Vanderbilt to sing to them but then took these verses out.
Overall it was a great trip and I suggest touring the Ryman to anyone visiting the Nashville area =)