If anyone had told me a week ago that I would spend yesterday bushwhacking my way through the spiderwebs at Ensor Sink Natural Area in Cookeville, TN, taking a tour of Andrew Jackson's house at The Hermitage, and then stopping off at the National Corvette Museum, I probably would have doubted them.
But that is the extraordinary way that life works.
Needless to say, my impromptu trip to Tennessee provided a great opportunity to add TWO states to my geocaching map, and that's what took me to the stone that I would have otherwise left unturned, the Ensor Sink. It's one of many caves in the KY/Tennessee vicinity. You are aware that these states are cave-rich if you have ever been to Mammoth Cave National Park, where I myself have not yet been. Hiking around in the natural greenness of Cookeville and doing math for an Earthcache were peaceful and relaxing ways to begin my day.
I hit the road for home late, but determined to stop at The Hermitage. I had NO IDEA that my route would take me directly past it! Another auspicious coincidence.
For me, Andrew Jackson is the embodiment in U.S. history of the dichotomy between the liberty enshrouded in the founding documents, and the amazing adventuresomeness of the few that advanced the country to the place of greatness that it found post-WWII, in stark contrast to the oppression of many of the people who called America home.
Here's a photo of a guide in period dress welcoming people to the tour of the plantation mansion.
The mansion tour is the kind where the rooms cannot be entered by tourists, but peered into through plexiglass. Since I loitered to better see the family parlor, I was able to ask one of the guides if the staff get to hang out inside the plexiglass rooms, and she said YES! She clarified that they enter the rooms for study meetings, to make sure that they're up on all of the latest information about the artifacts. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!? She said, "Oh it's really fun! It's not so fun on payday, but it's great as a part-time job, after you're done doing what you're meant to."
Good to know. [Adds Nashville to potential retirement destinations.] The down side?
"Summers here are always hot and sticky," reported the upstairs guide, before announcing that in the summertime in the early 1800s, guests would vacate their stuffy rooms and come sleep on the floor in the hallway. I asked whether any foreign dignitaries did this, and the guide responded, "Sam Houston." Heheh.
My only regret about the side trip is that I didn't have a full day to spend there.
I didn't make very good time on I-65 headed north, but I can't have a geocaching map with Indiana, Tennessee, and NOT Kentucky colored in. When I saw the sign for the National Corvette Museum, I knew that I would at least find a micro cache. Turns out, I found an ammo can. Sadly, I wasn't able to enter the museum and photograph myself with any Corvettes, because I pulled into the lot...at...5:02 p.m.
Ah, well.
I'm overnighting in Indianapolis now, and I'm already late for a party. The summer just keeps getting better and better. :)
Let's see if the book of Andrew Jackson's lessons on leadership, which I couldn't resist buying at the Hermitage, has any appropriate closing thoughts for this inaugural entry of my repurposed blog!
While I do that, allow me also to invite feedback on the new format.
Here's one. There may be better ones, but I feel that this is pretty good for a quick, random perusal:
"The enemy is near," he cried, "his 'sales cover the lakes,' but the brave are united, and if he finds us contending among ourselves, it will be for the prize of valor and the rewards of fame."
Well, alrighty then.
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