“My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior from violent men you save me.”
(2 Samuel 22:3)
(2 Samuel 22:3)
It all started with an idea that stemmed from us guys at work getting together for a weekly Bible study & a time to hold each other accountable for how we were living our lives. We got to talking one day about planning a camping trip just a time to goof off & fellowship…that turned into a decision to take an overnight canoeing/kayaking trip. During the planning I was nominated to find a place that would accommodate our plans. The plan was to take our camping supplies with us on the canoe & camp out on a sandbar then finish up the next morning. I searched the net for just such a place. It wasn’t long till I found one in another state & from the looks of the pictures on the site, it was awesome. Beautiful mountains, clear cool water & a few small rapids. That was the place! I called & made reservations & the trip was planned…or what we now like to refer to it as…“Vern’s stupid place he picked that could have cost us our lives but by the grace of God we lived to tell about it, trip"…a little long & wordy, but it works.
We all piled in a 4 door truck with our junk in the back & headed out early one morning for Tennessee. It was a good trip, everybody was cracking on each other as normal & Map quest was handling the directions. But as we got into the Tennessee town…Map quest wasn’t much of a help. Where Map quest ended…our destination was not, so we stopped to ask directions from the only person we saw, a little old man sitting on the front porch of an old store front, that may have been condemned if it were in any other town. I rolled down my window & asked if he knew where we could find our location, his words were just what I expected, “Turn right, right here, head on straight…you’ll see it unless you miss it”.
We all piled in a 4 door truck with our junk in the back & headed out early one morning for Tennessee. It was a good trip, everybody was cracking on each other as normal & Map quest was handling the directions. But as we got into the Tennessee town…Map quest wasn’t much of a help. Where Map quest ended…our destination was not, so we stopped to ask directions from the only person we saw, a little old man sitting on the front porch of an old store front, that may have been condemned if it were in any other town. I rolled down my window & asked if he knew where we could find our location, his words were just what I expected, “Turn right, right here, head on straight…you’ll see it unless you miss it”.
As we headed down that road the cab of the truck started to get very quiet. If I said that this place looked just like the place the dudes went canoeing, in the movie “Deliverance”…I wouldn’t be exaggerating…it was freaky. We got to the place & it was one of those old gas stations with gas pumps out front that didn’t work…someone had hand-painted, with a very shaky hand, I might add, a sign on the side of the building, we were there…whether we wanted to be or not.
Not a lot of customers, handful of locals…who stared…a lot. We walked in & looked around. It was a rough lookin’ place with some rough lookin’ people. They had that "Our parents were 1st cousins" look…they didn’t seem happy to see the business. There was one very normal looking person there…she was working behind the counter, very attractive girl, I approached her & said that we were there for the overnight canoe trip. She just looked at me for a second & said…in her deep southern tone… "Ye are?”. That kind of set me back, the look on her face was a very puzzled one, but I said "Yes, it was listed on your website". I told her that we were going to go about halfway & then camp on a sand bar. She looked very disturbed & said, “People round here don’t like people on their land.” But she said we could stay at the campground about half way down. Sounds good I thought, it wasn’t far past the store there & we could just leave our stuff in the truck & get it when we get back from our first run.
Not a lot of customers, handful of locals…who stared…a lot. We walked in & looked around. It was a rough lookin’ place with some rough lookin’ people. They had that "Our parents were 1st cousins" look…they didn’t seem happy to see the business. There was one very normal looking person there…she was working behind the counter, very attractive girl, I approached her & said that we were there for the overnight canoe trip. She just looked at me for a second & said…in her deep southern tone… "Ye are?”. That kind of set me back, the look on her face was a very puzzled one, but I said "Yes, it was listed on your website". I told her that we were going to go about halfway & then camp on a sand bar. She looked very disturbed & said, “People round here don’t like people on their land.” But she said we could stay at the campground about half way down. Sounds good I thought, it wasn’t far past the store there & we could just leave our stuff in the truck & get it when we get back from our first run.
I went to the restroom before we left & just before going in, I saw a movie poster hanging on the wall…yep, you guessed it…“Deliverance”, with the caption, “This is the weekend they didn‘t play golf.” I yelled at the others & told them to look. Needless to say…we all were feeling as though we fit the part, but my plans were to be Burt Reynolds & no way was I gonna squeal like a pig...sorry bout that reference. But anyway...we hurried outside to wait on the drivers that would take us up river.
It was hot & we were becoming kind of uncomfortable as we waited on our drivers. I thanked the Lord when they finally showed up…until I saw them get out…two boys about 16 or so with cigs hanging out of their mouths & very red eyes…they giggled a lot too. They were in an old, white, rust spotted, 12 passenger van, with about 16 passengers & pulling a trailer of canoes & kayaks. We loaded up & I quietly prayed for a safe trip to the drop off & away we went. If they weren’t doing 70 to 80 up the winding hills of Tennessee, the Pope’s a Baptist.
We got to the drop off point which was behind someones house, & as we piled out, I wanted to kiss the ground. But we had to hurry & get a canoe & follow the dude that showed us where to put in. Did I mention that he had a Mohawk & a large tattoo on his back of a skull & crossbones? But in place of the crossbones there were paddles & over the top of it so beautifully etched into this dudes back was, “Paddle or Die”. Well we felt as though we were in good hands…but glad it wasn’t for long. When we hit the water we went guideless, two canoes & one kayak & we paddled as fast as we could to put distance between us, the “Paddle or Die” guy & his motley crew of drunken buddies.
When we got on down the creek, we slowed down. Man, was it beautiful. There were places with high mountain cliffs on either side, all kinds of plant life & the water was awesome. But paddling along we ran into several people who frankly…made me go back in my mind to that poster in the store. We passed one guy who was up against a high bank in his beat up, flat bottm boat. He was facing out toward the creek with his dog sitting beside him. He was kind of in the bushes but visible. Chris, one of the guys with us called over to him, “Catching anything?” His reply was… “I ain’t fishin” with a sour look & a scruffy cigarette smoking voice. So we paddled a little faster. We came across a couple of intoxicated parents, trying to give away their child & some old guys in lawn chairs in the middle of the creek with a strong smell of pot in the air. Of course Chris feels the need to strike up a conversation with these guys too. When one of them asked if it was going to stop raining…Chris told him, “It has to start raining, before it can stop” …it hadn’t rained the whole time we were there.
We had a good time until we finally got to the take out point for the camp out. The take out point was in the middle of the rapids…go figure. When we finally got out, we tiresomely pulled our canoes up on the bank & started looking around for the campground. We didn't see it...because there wasn't one! We found that out when we asked the old man with a glass eye, who was loading up our canoes. We asked him where we could camp, he said, as he looked around, as if he was looking for a place, "Well, guess you could go down there somebody's been burning stuff down there". We were standing in a small field beside some type of old factory that was very loud. The field looked like it was a city park, about two hundred years ago with old rusty swings & stuff.... I think one of the swings read, "George Washington swung here"...sorry that was bad.
We walked around that park debating with each other, "were we staying or going?", we made up our minds when the young kids...like very young kids, came riding by on four wheelers with cases of beer strapped to the front...& drinking one as well. We decided that one day in that town was enough. We remembered Davey Crockett State Park that we passed on the way, the decision was made...camping at the Crockett it is.
We returned to the canoe place to ask if they would refund half of our money since we were only staying one day. I told the girl that there was nowhere to camp. She graciously gave back the money & looked very relieved...kind of like she was on our side...I almost wanted to ask her if she was being held against her will. While she was refunding our money, there was a guy behind us, he was a short balding guy with suspenders & a super tight Star Trek t-shirt that didn't quite cover his belly, he informed us that we could camp on down river. He said "It gets really nice down there. There are waterfalls & rainbows..." We just said live long and prosper & pretty much ran out, jumped in the truck & headed for the state park.
It was hot & we were becoming kind of uncomfortable as we waited on our drivers. I thanked the Lord when they finally showed up…until I saw them get out…two boys about 16 or so with cigs hanging out of their mouths & very red eyes…they giggled a lot too. They were in an old, white, rust spotted, 12 passenger van, with about 16 passengers & pulling a trailer of canoes & kayaks. We loaded up & I quietly prayed for a safe trip to the drop off & away we went. If they weren’t doing 70 to 80 up the winding hills of Tennessee, the Pope’s a Baptist.
We got to the drop off point which was behind someones house, & as we piled out, I wanted to kiss the ground. But we had to hurry & get a canoe & follow the dude that showed us where to put in. Did I mention that he had a Mohawk & a large tattoo on his back of a skull & crossbones? But in place of the crossbones there were paddles & over the top of it so beautifully etched into this dudes back was, “Paddle or Die”. Well we felt as though we were in good hands…but glad it wasn’t for long. When we hit the water we went guideless, two canoes & one kayak & we paddled as fast as we could to put distance between us, the “Paddle or Die” guy & his motley crew of drunken buddies.
When we got on down the creek, we slowed down. Man, was it beautiful. There were places with high mountain cliffs on either side, all kinds of plant life & the water was awesome. But paddling along we ran into several people who frankly…made me go back in my mind to that poster in the store. We passed one guy who was up against a high bank in his beat up, flat bottm boat. He was facing out toward the creek with his dog sitting beside him. He was kind of in the bushes but visible. Chris, one of the guys with us called over to him, “Catching anything?” His reply was… “I ain’t fishin” with a sour look & a scruffy cigarette smoking voice. So we paddled a little faster. We came across a couple of intoxicated parents, trying to give away their child & some old guys in lawn chairs in the middle of the creek with a strong smell of pot in the air. Of course Chris feels the need to strike up a conversation with these guys too. When one of them asked if it was going to stop raining…Chris told him, “It has to start raining, before it can stop” …it hadn’t rained the whole time we were there.
We had a good time until we finally got to the take out point for the camp out. The take out point was in the middle of the rapids…go figure. When we finally got out, we tiresomely pulled our canoes up on the bank & started looking around for the campground. We didn't see it...because there wasn't one! We found that out when we asked the old man with a glass eye, who was loading up our canoes. We asked him where we could camp, he said, as he looked around, as if he was looking for a place, "Well, guess you could go down there somebody's been burning stuff down there". We were standing in a small field beside some type of old factory that was very loud. The field looked like it was a city park, about two hundred years ago with old rusty swings & stuff.... I think one of the swings read, "George Washington swung here"...sorry that was bad.
We walked around that park debating with each other, "were we staying or going?", we made up our minds when the young kids...like very young kids, came riding by on four wheelers with cases of beer strapped to the front...& drinking one as well. We decided that one day in that town was enough. We remembered Davey Crockett State Park that we passed on the way, the decision was made...camping at the Crockett it is.
We returned to the canoe place to ask if they would refund half of our money since we were only staying one day. I told the girl that there was nowhere to camp. She graciously gave back the money & looked very relieved...kind of like she was on our side...I almost wanted to ask her if she was being held against her will. While she was refunding our money, there was a guy behind us, he was a short balding guy with suspenders & a super tight Star Trek t-shirt that didn't quite cover his belly, he informed us that we could camp on down river. He said "It gets really nice down there. There are waterfalls & rainbows..." We just said live long and prosper & pretty much ran out, jumped in the truck & headed for the state park.
We spent the night camping in a safe beautiful area...at that time we did not know, that we had just survived the most notorious city in the south, we didn't know they had no type of law enforcement. We didn't know that there was a blues song about this Tennessee town. These things we didn't know until we returned home & looked up the site that started it all. I noticed a video that I missed the first time. I watched it, then yelled for all the others to come in & watch it...we all were shocked. You can watch it too & see why I can no longer pick the place for our get togethers.
Click here to see the video
Vern
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