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Good Morning Family and Friends

Its time for another update from the Evergreen-Travler.  Today’s post comes to you from the wonderful town of Clinton, TN.  Yes, we are still here enjoying our time with family.  In fact, family is what this post is all about.

The KOA we are in is in the same town that Sarah grew up in and the town that was my first experience in Tennessee living, Clinton.  It’s a small town along the Clinch River that at one time was known for its oysters and hence, pearls.  Now it is known for its downtown which is loaded with Antique stores.  The surrounding area was Coal Mine country and that’s what Sarah’s dad did from the time he was a little boy going with his own dad to the mines right up through his retirement (ok, there were some years spent in Cleveland, OH but I’ll skip that for now). 

I’ve been coming here for over 40 years now and I would love to say that I’ve seen the town grow and expand, but alas, not the case.  While it has not grown, it also has not shrunk.  Sort of just stayed.  The downtown, except for the Antique Stores, is mostly gone.  The K-Mart is gone.  But a Wendy’s just opened and the business road called the Clinton Hwy is still the main shopping road. (but I think most of that is actually in Knoxville) 

A few years ago, Sarah’s mom and dad moved from Clinton to the nearby town of Oak Ridge.  Now, there’s a town with a history and its atomic!  The Oak Ridge National Laboratory makes it home there and it was heavily involved with the Manhattan Project.

Alright, enough of the history lesson.  Let’s move on to some pictures and updates.  Sarah’s mom and dad live in a nice house that was built as part of the Manhattan Project build up.  One story house with full cellar.  Please note, it is a cellar not a basement.  I was informed that a basement has access from the inside of the house where a cellar does not.  So it is a cellar.  The house sits on a ½ acre of sloping land that has a creek, ok its actually a drainage ditch but it always has water in it so we’ve named it the River Goins.  Sarah’s dad has plenty of room for a veggie garden and he’s even able to have a stand of bees. For as long as I’ve known him, he always has bees and a garden. The size of the garden depends on the amount of land but at times it was more of a farm than a garden and as for the bees, he is an expert bee keeper and we have the honey to prove it. If you are wondering what the photo is of Jay’s hand, he is holding the box that you put a queen bee in when you are moving her to a new hive. The bees must really trust him because if you notice, he is not wearing any protective equipment and did not get stung, even once.

The photos you see are of the back yard (I’ll try and remember to get some photos of the front yard today) and of Jay (that’s Sarah’s dad) tending his bees.  For a 91-year-old man, he gets around better than I do.  Sarah’s brother, Tom, helped get the riding mower running for the first time in 2 years.  But that’s ok because I think Jay would rather push a mower around the property than ride (says it keeps him young).

Sarah’s Mom, Donna, is in one picture and I’ll get some more photos of her today and it will take at least one full post just to describe and talk about this wonderful woman.  Yes, I am one of the lucky ones who loves his in-laws.

Oh, before I forget, Sarah’s birthday is tomorrow!  She will be, &* years old and still as beautiful as the day I met her.  We will be having a game night at her sister Margie’s house with all her siblings.  I hope to get some good pictures and introduce you to all of them.

Well, enough for now.  Enjoy the photos.

TTFN