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It was nice that we left the aerie of The Domain for a lunch down in Tennessee proper. Being up there is being in a Xanadu as it disappears in the clouds. I could never see it from below and in all directions it is separated from the rest of the state some mountain road.

For me, however, it renewed the interest in driving back ignoring the interstates. I had hoped to do as much but didn’t dare think about it or plan it for fear of it not happening due to my hyperactive caffeinated state kicking in and for some reason having to make time heading back.

Eating in Cowan and seeing a part of the state that was so different from the Domain that I wasn’t even sure that it existed, had me wanting to go further.

I did finally place Sewanee when I saw the memorial cross on the return trip..

So after an evening at the concert with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and getting my free tea from Stirling’s. I packed said good bye to the P.M. – heard champagne corks popping - as I said that I would be off at first light.

First light brought the coldest day so far, frost on the machine, this car had been everywhere now, which I had to chip away. Then a back way through town, stopped at Shenanigan’s as I saw a nice formal arrangement then down the mountain stopping along the way in the hopes that I could look back at Sewanee – nope – and down into the rest of the state – no problem.

I had not to rush, I had plenty of time, but soon became overwhelmed with things that I wanted to photograph knowing that if I stopped everyplace, the trip would take a month.

At the same time it seemed that all the towns were running together, I could not get up to any speed and was getting impatient. Thanks to the interstate I was alone more or less on the road but seeing the distance I had to travel, felt that I should choose my stops wisely and make notes for some future time when I could return and make more snaps.

I had wanted to do this with US 12 to Minneapolis knowing that I would rather go through towns than bypass them and interstates are made to bypass everything. This could be like spring training US 41.

US 41 as it goes through Peasants Pissoir meaning I could stay on the road and be not six miles from the house.

This was the reason that I packed Joãozão even in its extreme delicate state. I wanted rectangles I wanted building that would be centred nicely in the frame, I wanted them to refer to older photographs of trips.

A great cinema in Winchester, the downtown looked interesting also but thought about making it home.

Stopped a few places before Nashville. Since I haven’t seen the snaps, the places are a blur. Normally when I stop I pull out the map and make an annotation marking where I stopped and what I saw. This time I raced out without the maps needed – the one in the machine for New Brunswick didn’t seem to help at all – and there was a paucity of free maps along the way in the welcome centres entering the states. On the back roads they don’t make such a fuss crossing over. Wanted to stop in Nashville but it was too big it seemed though like a big northern city – bought my New York Times Atlanta edition at a Starbucks just outside of town – surrounded by the South.

Was more interested in the strips along 41 than I was in the town itself. Made a diversion to see where the Nashville Sounds play – pretty dilapidated for a class AAA ball park. Was taken by the flea markets, the local businesses that were along the road but the trip really didn’t start until Kentucky.

In Guthrie I stopped to make a few snaps of the Kentucky/Tennessee border, then kept stopping. A drive in, a pink elephant – one of many, playing tag with the railway, lone outbuildings. It was here that Joãozão caught the cold and started acting up. It was noon and about -28C.

Ah then I remember the time on the ice of Geneva Lake when the shutter wouldn’t open.
Ubaldo is pressed into service but then in a moment of lucidity think of warming Joãozão and seeing if that will help.

So between outings away from the machine, I would place the camera on the dashboard in plain sun warming it until it was needed. When needed I would race from the machine camera under my sweatshirt until I was near where I wanted to make a snap, and then hurry. Joãozão would allow four snaps maximum before wanting to be back in the warmth.

I realised in Kentuky that I had slowed down one time circling the block to photograph the Paradise Cinema. The only people I ran into were those piling out of church and driving away. Trenton, Pembroke, Hopkinsville, Madisonville.

“Trapped on the wrong side of a long train while photographing a ball park in Sebree.

My fear of going too slowly was modified as I realised that this being winter it wasn’t that the pace would keep up until Chicago but I would run out of daylight. That freed me some bit as I modified the route to staying on 41 until dark then heading back via the Interstate.

Tennessee’s talk Stopped in a town with a great ball park complex just in time to be cut off from the road by a lengthy coal train, Joãozão under the sweatshirt while I was making dashes hither and yon.

NPR kept me company into Indiana.

Progress hit Indiana in a bad way. I was alone on the roads in Kentucky – I realised that there was a four carriageway bypass – a parkway - that most motorists were using leaving the US routes to us northern gawkers. Crossing the Ohio was impressive again this time I could see it. Evansville looked a right pit but with promise photographically but US41 from then on was an interstate wannabee fast not really bypassing anything but everything on both sides cleared far enough away that it might as well be.

NPR lost out to Jesus Stations and I turned into the football playoffs.

The last image of the day was a giant illuminated JESUS SAVES cross outside Terre Haute.

Being a man I forgot to pack a map since the Pilot gas bar had none I made the mistake in thinking that heading into Illinois for I-57 would be faster in the dark – in truth I should have stayed on 41.

The mistake added 30 miles to the return trip, 25¢ a gallon to the price of fuel and a slower maximum speed.

I did forget out flat Illinois is around Champaign-Urbana. There were always lights on the horizon and no modulation in the land at all. Chicago was more pleasant coming in this way than via Indiana but it was still Chicago.

The Packers Giants game ran out just as the state did.