Well, instead of another 'yay look at me 5k posts', I will share with you my experience in TN.

It was more than memorable, since upon arrival we went straight to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge where I saw snowfall for the first time (and further extended my Snowball Fight Champion Title, 2 and 0 bitches) and pegged my friend in the side of the face, and we are just friends now, and thats cool with me, but enough of my personal life.

This is the first time I ever left my own house by myself, and I would do it again. It totally rocked. I took tons and TONS of pictures and shot some video with my dad's digital cam. I went by Greyhound bus and had a wonderful time, we got to Gatlinburg and walked through the shops and just kinda spent time with each other, but lemme tell y'all something, I have never seen so many good places to ride a bike, for real, Florida doesn't have paved sidewalk parks locally (aside from the myriad of golf courses and that one park in Union Park, 70 miles away ) However I saw nobody riding bikes up there, but maybe the 30*F temperatures outside had something to do with it.

People in Tennessee are different. Nothing like what we have here in FL, a lot of good kind people, and everywhere you look in TN, theres a church on the corner, much like the local Walgreens / 7-11 phenomenon. People are kind, they say 'thank you', and in a restauraunt everyone puts their napkins in their laps like you do when you are 5 or 6 years old. People are, um, what's the word? Polite. There are actually billboards on Highway 441 that say 'Read the Bible'. Sh*t, if a billboard like that was put up here in Florida by I-95 people would raise bloddy hell about it, lawsuits would fly, and everyone would be in such a huge fuss over three simple words, much like the tittie fiasco in the 2004 Superbowl.

Lemme tell y'all another thing about people and that's people on the bus. Contrary to popular belief, 98% of the people on the bus are NOT insane and are NOT drug dealers and weirdos and sex-crazed psychopaths like what was preached to me by my parents and co-workers. The majority are people like you and I just tryin to be with family or travel for the holidays. Hell, I was in the back with some darker-skinned fellas that could have passed for Three Six Mafia's children, complete with doo-rags and chains and we was leaving the bus station in Jacksonville singin' 'On the Road Again' by Willie Nelson and we was laughin' our fockin' asses off and being overall goofy.

I brought my Gateway mod with me and carried it with me everywhere in the bus stations when we got off because obviously I didn't want it lost by baggage claim or stolen. Everytime we stopped and I went to use the bathroom or get my drink on someone always would say something like 'Hey nice computer' or 'Awww look at that it's so cute!' Lots of turned heads, hell if you saw Jess carrying her Vash mod through a bus station you would probably say something too.

Lucky me Ana had a TV with S-video input, I didn't feel like carrying around a monitor or even a flat panel, so I just hooked it up to her TV. The Gateway was my more-or-less compact fragpad that not only fits under a Greyhound bus seat but plays UT2K4 at max res and HL2 at 10 x 7. It also doubles as a photolab, giving me the ability to take as many pictures as I wanted regardless of the 256mb SD card. I had a SD Card-to-USB adapter that turns an SD Card into a thumbdrive, and used that to transfer pictures off the cam onto my rig, and it's a good thing I did because Windows wanted to install software for the cam that I didn't bring with me.

While she was at work, I was either out taking pictures and shooting video of TN on foot, or playing UT or Viper Racing, for those of you who remember Viper Racing, it was an older Sierra game that ran fast on a Rage Pro Turbo 8mb, so imagine how well it ran on a 9600 Pro. There are tons of mods for it, add-on cars and add-on tracks that kept me busy while it was rainy outside. When it wasn't raining, I was out shooting cam and taking pictures. And obviously, after Ana came home from work, we spent time together. I have learned a couple things from her while up there. Rum balls and candy does not a good driver make, as if she isn't a bad enough driver to begin with. When it's cold, wear a fookin' jacket and stop trying to act all hard because a West Coast Choppers tee isn't exactly what you would call warm when the snow outside is falling sideways. If four trucks come to a intersection in Tennessee, the one with the biggest tires goes first. Nobody on 441 does the speed limit, even police. The speed limit is 35mph + 20 or 25 over, depending on the weather and visibility. The fastest way through Gatlinburg is by foot. And somewhere in Maryville off Highway 19 there is a Japanese steakhouse that makes some totally wicked sick awesome chicken teriyaki that was so good I brought it home with me on the bus.

Above all, I learned there are people that have it MUCH worse than you. On the return trip we had a 1-hour layover in Atlanta where we had to switch buses and we were loading and the guy in front of me had an epileptic seizure and fell over and almost whacked he side of his head on my Gateway mod. Whilst in Macon at a stop, the Macon Police paid us a visit and arrested someone who decided to lock themselves in the bathroom because the police had a warrant of some sort for their arrest. I mean, come on, if I murdered someone and was gonna getaway on a bus the LAST place I would hide is the restroom, I would rather strap myself to the roof while hurtling through the 30-degree mountain air at 70-plus before I locked myself in a bathroom.

Ana is having a hard time herself because her mother has fallen deathly ill and she can't see her for another 6 months because she's tied down in Tenessee with life and bills. Her mother is all she has left She has been through so much and gotten so far it's hard not to care about someone when you know them like I do. Even though we are just friends, we still care for each other. That's what Christmas is about, being with people you love and care for. Whether it be your grandmother, your niece or the really unusually hot redhead you went to prom with, you care for them and that's what matters.

So here's to another 5K with PR, rambling on about my Schwinn Sting-Ray and my Voodoo collection, it's been great so far and I can't wait to finish my Choppers mod.

(I'll throw up some Tennessee pictures later today, got to go to work now)

yep, most places are like that.
where i live, we have leprehcauns, and we play hide and go seek with fairies.

I hope ana's mother gets well soon.

you should see an old mining town in the mountains called leadville, once a year they celebrate the returning of veterans of war.
they do mining events, have parades, and everyone is in a good mood.
i go up there every year because my best friend has a cabin up there and hes got a gocart (Fun for everyone).
leadville would be considered a small town, but it is very modern, and it has a radioshack.
down mainstreet, they have lots of old fashioned looking buildings that have been refurbished. The town is only about a mile wide, but they actually have a lowrider club. There are about 10 low riders in the town, which would make you suprised.
that town is a very cool place.

Glad to see you had a great time and learned to appreciate things a bit more.
I gotta say though that not all of FL is as you stated about the church thing. The county I am from (Santa Rosa) actually used to be in the Guiness book for most churches per capita. Then again, SR county may as well be southern GA or AL.

Thanks, J-Dogg.

Rob

Tennessee pictures as promised...

EDIT: Added a couple more, and YES that's me in the shades....

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Quote: Originally Posted by j-dogg ... where I saw snowfall for the first time...

[I can't even begin to imagine that perspective.] Hope you had fun!