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Old 01-24-2008, 08:54 AM
 
Location: Hometown of Jason Witten
5,985 posts, read 4,376,536 times
Reputation: 1922

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Last night I drove from Nashville to Knoxville. The full moon revealed the Plateau's beauty to me in a way that I had never before experienced. As I descended the eastern escarpment I thought about how deeply my roots are embedded in these mountains. If you were to follow the outline of Walden Ridge, you would eventually reach Cumberland Gap and continue on into the region of Virginia where I grew up. Fom the ridgetop behind our house Cumberland Mountain could be seen only a mile or two away as the crow flies. To the north was Black Mountain, the rooftop of the Plateau at 4,145 feet of elevation. It was there in Meadow Fork hollow where my friends and I explored, played, swam, fished, fought, and practiced laboriously on our guitars in a vain attempt to emulate Maybelle Carter's technique on Wildwood Flower. It was where I became immersed in the writings of Jesse Stuart and Mark Twain and Frost and Riley and the 1611 King James version of the Bible. Last night I remembered all these things and more. And as I crossed the Clinch River bridge on I-40 it occurred to me that a miniscule part of the water flowing beneath me came from the creek that flows from Meadow Fork hollow. And that the full moon was also standing watch over lonely hilltop graveyards where so many of my ancestors are planted. How I love these mountains.
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Old 01-24-2008, 10:31 AM
 
Location: Beautiful Lakes & Mountains of East TN
3,454 posts, read 7,407,212 times
Reputation: 882
Your words make my heart yearn to move NOW!

Just lovely...
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Old 01-24-2008, 02:59 PM
 
Location: Seattle
7,534 posts, read 17,219,213 times
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Thanks for sharing, Ridgerunner. Your words really spoke to me, I grew up in Southern Greene County along the mountains that you cross going into Madison NC. Sounds like we had lots of the same experiences...
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Old 01-24-2008, 03:58 PM
 
Location: Atlanta suburb
4,725 posts, read 10,130,980 times
Reputation: 3490
Thumbs up What a beautiful scene you have painted, Ridgerunner.

Thanks for posting your thoughts for all of us, Ridgerunner. I really felt what you were so eloquently saying as I often almost feel at the point of tears when I see the mountains of home come into view.

I don't know how those who didn't grow up around the majestic beauty of the Appalachian or Smoky or Rocky Mts. feel when they first see them over the horizon, but for me, it is a call to come home. Gladly!
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Old 01-24-2008, 11:01 PM
 
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow in "OZ "
24,766 posts, read 28,505,227 times
Reputation: 32860
Smile move NOW!

Quote:
Originally Posted by bbkaren View Post
Your words make my heart yearn to move NOW!

Just lovely...
I second that......
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Old 01-24-2008, 11:21 PM
 
219 posts, read 810,777 times
Reputation: 60
Wow. That was really deep and I envy you. I was born in California and spent 12 years there and then moved all over the United States. Yes, I might have seen more of the USA then the average person but I have no "roots" so to speak. I envy people that are born in a certain area and live there or live close to there for their entire life. Being old and wrinkled with your child hood friends is quite cool. I find that so neat and wonder what it is like to experience that since I never can.
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Old 01-25-2008, 02:54 AM
 
Location: Signal Mountain, Tennessee
849 posts, read 2,954,001 times
Reputation: 364
That was a beautiful reflection and one I hope to one day enjoy myself. My roots are not there, but my heart has always loved the mountains. One day, one day...
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