There are few places in East Tennessee that are flat and level. Most of this part of the state is made of steep mountain ridges, and the city of Chattanooga is arrayed among them. Most folk in the city live in houses perched on wooded hillsides, and many other people live high up along the tops of the long hills. "Signal Mountain" is an alpine town adjacent to Chattanooga city, and I visited this place when my host took me to visit her parents who live there. Signal Mountain got its name not only from the Indians who would post signals there for long-distance communication, but from Civil War fighters who used the high vantages to send visual messages to their far-off cohorts. They didn't have radio communication back then. After the parental visit, my friend and I visited the historic site of Signal Point, overlooking the spectacular Tennessee Gorge. This photo depicts the site, with its informational plaque.

As I looked down into the blue vast air of the Tennessee Gorge, I wished that I had the wings of an eagle to fly into the open space above the rushing river, riding on buoyant currents of clear mountain air. I often daydream that I am flying like a bird, or gliding in some magic airboat, over majestic landscapes and cities. There towards the horizon was the scene of what was once the American Promised Land, as inviting as the romantic painters of that era could depict it.

I'm currently in Nashville, staying with more friends, touring around and shopping. One of our destinations was Nashville Used Music, where I looked at synthesizers and software, and where we picked up a MIDI connector for one of the friends' new keyboard. Then we went downtown and had a splendid Southern diner feast at Rotiers Restaurant near Vanderbilt University.

Soon I will be setting off towards the east, where my next destination is Asheville, North Carolina. I've never been there before, but it is a town about which I have heard only good things.

Posted at 3:47 am | link