Jack Daniel's Barrel Houses are all over that little town, I think the guy said that there are 50 of them!!!
I'm almost done with the tour of the Distillery, we are now in one of the Barrel Houses where the barrels of Whiskey are stored to age, I wish I could remember all the numbers the tour-guy told us, I wanna say 50'000 barrels but who knows, but what I do remember is that, depending on where the barrels in the Barrel House are is stored, the Whiskey is taking on it's character. The higher in the house the darker the color, and that is because of the heat in the houses, the further up you go, the warmer it gets, the more the charred oak barrels release their magic, and the darker the whiskey gets. The bottom floor produces the Green Label, higher up the Black Label No7 and then the Gentleman's Jack, of corse thee is a lot more to it but you have to read-up yourself on Jack's website.. Now being in one of them Barrel House is amazing, stacks of stacks of rows of rows of barrels and more barrels, and the air is thick of Whiskey. So they can't sell it but you sure can breath it, I remember when we where looking at the charcoal filter system, the tour-guide fanned the lid open and close very fast and we're all sticking in our noses and tongues to get the flavor of it without drinking it. No wonder that the guide talks like a drunk most of the time, he breathes this stuff all day long...
At the end of the tour we all get a glass of lemonade, yes that watery stuff with fresh lemon-juice in it, instead of a shot of Jack, but the irony of this whole thing is that the Distillery is in a dry county, that means you can't sell any alcohol in the whole county of Moore County in Tennessee, welcome to America once more, no not Moore...
A Barrel House on top of the hill...
The tour-guide that is always drunk from the air he breathes!!!
Okay, enough of this touristy stuff, it's time to get some to eat, I drive the half a mile back to the town of Lynchburg, park my car and walk around the square once to see what's here to eat. I thought I was done with this tourist stuff... ohh no, this whole town is a tourist trap. Souvenir store after souvenir store, boutiques and more souvenirs, not a "real" bar anywhere and a few places to eat. I pick the Bar-B-Que Place "The Caboose Cafe" order myself a pulled pork sandwich with a side of baked beans and another side of potato-salad, some more lemonade with that please!!! Lets not talk about it too much, it was all okay, but now I really need to leave the tourist trap behind.
Downtown Lynchburg, a tourist's heaven...
I drive a different road out of Lynchburg to get via the back-roads to Winchester, I pass the Tims Ford Dam, stop for an inspection and find the following...
Tims Ford Reservoir is overflowing... over the spillway that is...
A small dam with 1 turbine to produce some electricity that gets send with these power-lines to Winchester!!!
Come back later to see the video of the dam later...
I continue on the back-roads to Winchester and from there back to Hwy-63 towards Huntland, the home of the Schaub Clan in Tennessee. But before going there I stop by at my old buddy's home here in Belvidere. I called Ralph Cunningham, to make sure he's home. I haven't seen him since my last visit in 2006. The highway is now finished by his house and he lost most of his front-yard to it, but still, he lives way out in the country.
Visiting Ralph and his wife...
It was an interesting experience, he forgot to put in his teeth and we all had to out-talk the TV!!!
11 miles later, back at the Schaub Ranch, things where quite. Devonna and the boys are not back yet form the Basketball Tournament in Franlin, so I took a few pictures to kill time...
Back in the town of Huntland...
The old poultry factory of Schultz, a great barn across the street from Devona's house!!!
The Schaub Ranch in Huntland, TN...
We're talking country here!!!
Minutes later the gang arrived, we hung out in the house, went to visit Devona's mom up the driveway, inhaled a ton of smoke from her cigarets, scored a freshly baked strawberry-pie and went back to the house. I send Andrew and Taylor to go for some pizza and they also pick-up another movie to watch. Ahh, some real hardy pizza, the gang is watching "Slumdog Millionaire" while I edit some more photos and write a few more things for this blog. There is no internet out here, Devona's mom' husband has a dish to receive it and Devona has a dial-up system on her computer, so I do it all off line. I hadn't any luck finding an internet cafe anywhere around here, in these parts of the world people might not even know that such a thing exists...
After all that is over we all go to bed, it is a school-night, that means they all have to get-up early and go places, all I have to get done is to repeat a photo I took last time I visit with them, we have to do that in the morning.
A growth comparison from 2007 and now...
I don't think that I shrunk, but sure looks like it!!!
Off they go, Andrew is driving Taylor to one school and then himself to another one, we hope, Devona goes to work to Winchester, crunching numbers for a company. Me, I hit the road and head on north-east, on smallest road possible.
I leave the house after having some breakfast and tea, packing-up the car and off I go.
Back to Winchester via Hwy-63 East, then a short piece out of town on 41 North, and 127 North to the town of Voila. Skirt the town of McMinnville to hit Hwy-70S to Hwy-111, cross Interstate 40 by Cookville where I gas-up, add some more oil and get hot water for tea. I get 9.481 Gallons for 2.079 $/G. A few mile later I pass the Russell Stovers Candy factory in Athens, I had to think of Susan Meyer back home when I helped her making chocolate candy, what fun I had, what mess it is and what a delicious product she produced. Now this place would be interesting to tour too, but the product is only so so, specially compared with Susan's. Hmm, I want some chocolate with that Susan right now...
The Town Hall of Voila, another house and later into Kentucky...
At 12:30 I slip into the State of Kentucky and into the Eastern Standard Time of America, I loose one hour and then I'm in Albany, but somehow I don't know where I really am and what time it really is, my eye-sight is giving up and I can't see the small symbols anymore, specially while I'm driving. My cell-phone shows me one time the car clock another, I should trust the cell-phone but can't find the time-line on the map, finally hours later, past the town of Somerset I stop to figure everything out... Because it is 3 o'clock somewhere... I'm just not sure where!!!
Hwy-90 crosses the South Fork of the Cumberland River in Bronstone, KY...
Anoterh 3 o'clock EST at the junction of Rt-80 and Ky-461, confused as ever...
No comments:
Post a Comment