I was born and raised in Tennessee, seventh generation Tennessee through my mother's side of the family tree. We moved just after my junior year of high school.

I recall long having a photograph that our neighbor across the street on Roland Ave. -- she worked for the Jackson Sun newspaper -- arranged to have a photo taken of me and four classmates just before we started first grade. Unknown what happened to that photo that I recall being in a frame. So, I had called the library in Jackson to see if they have the Jackson Sun on microfilm from August 1960. They do. Thus, I planned to go there to get a print of that photo. What I had not planned on was the library being closed on July 05 for the holiday. So I had to rearrange my trip to come back thru Jackson -- an extra 80 miles on my route home plus 2.5 hours (including being in the library) to handle the detour. Worth it!

About a half hour south of Jackson is Chickasaw State Park. My two siblings (before the third one came along just before we moved from Jackson) and I loved that park. Mom or Dad would often drive us and our popup-camper-that-sleeps-four for a weekend camping trip there. Since we all were scouts, we knew how to camp. So the parent at the park had little to do. Worked out well for all. Anyway, I decided rather than spending the night in a hotel in Jackson, which I have done 2 or 3 times in the past, I would stay at one of the cabins in Chickasaw. Thing is, it is a minimum of two nights so I had to pay for the second night although I left early the morning before that. Oh well. The cabins are nice but show their age based on the kitchen and bathroom appliances. No paper towels, no kleenex, no clock and no shampoo provided but everything else is provided. And, the cabins are quiet -- you feel on your own! although the lake is in view from the windows.

Just an hour east-southeast of Chickasaw is Shiloh National Battlefield. My Jackson boy scout troop once camped in that park for a weekend. Since I had yet to start my photograph-the-national-park-signs project, I went here just long enough to photograph the sign to make it "official" that I was at that park.

After going through Alabama, I came into eastern Tennessee. In Cleveland, where I spent the night, was Lee University. I added it to my photograph-college-signs project. From there, the next morning, I headed into the Smoky Mountains to drive along the winding highways that zig-zag between Tennessee and North Carolina. Coming out at Gatlinburg (and photographing that national park sign to again be "officially there" despite having visited it as a kid, I headed west to Nashville and back to Jackson before heading home.