The list of Skynyrd members who are Resting-In-Peace gets longer and longer. I imagine (and hope) that BP's departure will mark the end of Lynyrd Skynyrd. 5 of the 7 members in the above photo (from '76-'78 time frame) have moved on....
I know who will be on the iPod later today.....
This is one from last January, when I was sojourning in Southeastern Washington State. This is the "hill" overlooking Lewiston / Clarkston, at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers. Of course, you can't see that here, as I'm alimed along the fencline, looking to the southeast.... I've been looking over some of my images from last year, since I only had a laptop to process them last year....
I just finished reading "A Walk Across America", which was a Christmas gift this year. I remember being struck by a National Geographic article exerpt many (many) years ago, but had never gotten around to reading the whole book. Despite being a 30 year old story, I really enjoyed it. But I've always been a sucker for these "discovering America" stories, from "Blue Highways" to "The Cannibal Queen"...... and even "Into The Wild".
What can it mean?
It doesn't get much better than that!
Yesterday was the PAck 34 Pinewood Derby. My son's a "Bear Cub", and here's his car:
This year's car carries a Steelers theme! We're hoping the football team does as well today as the race car did!!
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At the start: I added the "Go!!" to make it clear the fellow wasn't yawning!
Most of the races were quite close.... But the Steeler car won almost every race it was in.... It finished 2nd twice, and 1st all the rest of the time.
a "photo" finish?
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After a victory lap, it's time to face the press!!
OK, not really on the "face the press" part... But it is ojn to the next level. The top 3 cars from each Pack go on to regionals. So we have to keep the car in one piece for a while...
According to the plaque by the door: circa 1860, renovated 1976. 
This huge tree had fallen across the creek, in Eastern TN... I had fun poking around the base, scrambling and ducking through the branches. I had crossed to the far side of the stram, and this tree was pretty much blocking the way....
Another view of the same tree:
There's not a lot of sweeping vistas hiking around the woods of eastern Tennessee... But there's certainly a lot of interesting stuff to look at, when you pay attention to details:
This pine cone was one of 3 on a bare twig, all were missing significant chunks. Were they eaten by birds, now scattering the seeds?? Or were they shed? I don't know, I'm no botinist.....
I'm always struck by the mottled designs on tree branches and trunks, but seldom seem to capture thme to suit my vision. This comes close... A couple of parallel trunks of small trees, each with its own character.
The Phelps' homestead, in Tennessee:
We call it a farm, though they don't grow any crops that I've ever seen... They do have a couple of oxen, but I don't think thye've been yoked in years.... They had some chickes foe a while, but that was a while ago... None of which matters, it is still a wonderful place to visit.
There's quite a few trails on the property, and in the area, I'm often unsure if I'm still on their land or not. I was really struck by the little area shown above. The trail is a bit above the stream, and there was a wide flat area between the stream and the hillside. I imagine it floods with some regularity.
We ain’t got no diamond studded Cadillacs
We ain’t got no furry minks across our backs
We don’t worry ‘bout the things that we can’t see
We got all we need, we got Tennessee
We spent New Year's with my wife's family, at her sister's place outside Maryville Tennessee. It was good to see all the "kin", and good to spend some time in the mountains. This is the view down their driveway, towards the barn.
I was able to spend a bit of time wandering in the woods, I'll plan to post more photos as they get processed. The title, btw, is a reference to an old CDB song...
