Pine Mountain News
It is the third week in July. Here at the ranch we are joining in a sci fi adventure with Captain Argus. It is called Star Voyage.
In this episode they go to a medieval planet so they need horses and armor and carriages and such to blend in with the local population. It should be quite an adventure.
Local News
The local library in Frazier Park is cutting the library hours from 5 days to 2 days because of budget cuts. The new hours will be Tuesday from 11 AM to 7PM and Saturday from 9 AM to 5 PM.
In other news some people on Tejon Ranch were getting higher than just the altitude. An interagency task force shut down a marijuana operation valued at over 37.5 million in street value.
Well enough about Pine Mountain. Next is our Poem of the week.
Poem of the Week
It's midnight in Mexico
by emily d stine
and the resort crew cleans in white linen
uniforms, swiftly sweeping through the dark,
ghosts in the salty night.
I'm back from a night of misusing mojitos
and mai tais... side.stepping my way
to the beach. The paper yellow
pollution that foams and spits at the tip
of the waves is sight unseen, the ocean
instead dark, soothing, serene.
The next morning, the tourists return
with the sun, staking spots at umbrellas,
sipping cervezas, sunning their skin.
But something about midnight mexico,
returns me beachside each night,
watching the waves disguised by the moon,
a brief moment of silence in this
margarita resort of a town.
And now it is time for our feature story.
Tennesee A Little Bit Country
Last time we traveled through the state of Kentucky. Now we are in the state of Tennessee. In this state is the city of Nashville. It is the country music capital of the world and home of the Grand Ole Opry. Nashville is also the capital and second largest city. The state is the 14th fastest growing state in the country. It also ranks 17th in population.
Tenessee shares borders with 8 other states. To the north are Kentucky and Virginia. The southern border is shared with Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. The eastern border is with North Carolina and the western border is with Missouri and Arkansas.
The highest point is Clingman's dome at 6643 ft ( 2025 m) and the lowest point is at the Mississippi river on the Tennessee border with Mississippi.
Tennessee is also known as the cave state with 8350 caves registered. The eastern part of the state is mostly mountainous and is home of the Blue Ridge mountains. Average elevation is 5000
ft.This area is sparsely populated and is mostly National park. Cherokee National forest and Great Smokey Mountains National Park.
The first people to live in the state were Paleo indians 12,000 years ago.When the first Europeans, the Spanish arrived in 1540, the people of the state were the Muskogee Indians. The disease that the Spanish brought decimated the Muskogee and the Cherokee Indians from Virginia moved into the population vacuum.
The next Europeans came over the Appalachian mountains in the late 1700's. The revolutionary war brought sieges and massacrees. After the revolutionary war, more settlers came and the area became a state in 1796.
The Cherokee nation was removed from the state in 1838 and 1839 and forced to march west on what became known as the trail of tears. The Indians were mistreated and starved and more than 4000 died along the way to reservations west of Arkansas.
Tennessee succeeded during the civil war and many battles were fought in the state. Lincoln's vice president Andrew Johnson came from Tennessee and when he became president after Lincoln's assasination,he made sure Tennessee was the first state to rejoin the Union in 1866.
The depression of the 1930's brought government programs and the creation of the Tennessee valley authority. Dams were built on the Tennessee river and the state became the largest supplier of cheap electric power. The cheap electric power lead to the establishment of Oak Ridge where the material for the first atomic bomb was produced.
We travelled to Nashville in our motorhome. We toured the home of country music then headed west on Interstate 40. We stopped in Memphis and toured Graceland the home of Elvis. We crossed the Mississippi river and left the state of Tennessee.
Three weeks from now we will continue our journey. Next week Jordan will be back with a story from south of the border. Everyone have a great week.
Pine Mountain Evening
We have just finished another evening meal at the ranch. We are in the family room relaxing with this weeks sample coffee from http://www.coffeefool.com . We are trying a brew called Smooth Sailing. This Vienna roast acid reduced coffee is just the ticket when things get a little crazy like they have been this week with the Captain Argus and Star Voyage productions.
Well my coffee is finished now and it is time to get some sleep. Everyone have a great week and we will see you next week with another adventure.
resources
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee
