I met Charles Hoffmaster at Monkey Town Brewery in Dayton, Tennessee. In retrospect, I guess a place with a name like that is as good a place as any to meet a clown. But Charles didn't strike me as a clown at first, just an affable guy with a big smile and a cool hat. He had been talking to some guys down the bar while I was working on writing my next podcast, and while their laughter made me smile, I was paying more attention to my work than to the people around me. His friends got up and left about the time that I was finished writing for the evening, and he came over and introduced himself. It was then that he told me he was a professional clown who worked for Hawthorne's Circus Bizarre Sideshow at the carnival that just pulled into town. The carnival was part of the annual Tennessee Strawberry Festival to be held in Dayton the following weekend. He said they had just arrived and set up their tent so he thought he'd go for a wander and see what was happening. As a traveler myself, his story certainly caught my attention...
Hello my friends! It has been a great first week in Tennessee out here on the road. When I wrote last week, I was on my way out to the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountain National Park in far western North Carolina. Today, I'm writing from Knoxville in north eastern Tennessee. It's been an exciting week of festivals and hiking in the park, and the weather has been just beautiful. Strawberries are coming into season and I love good, local strawberries which I'm thankful I've been able to find. I've also been trying to wrap up a few things from South Carolina and begin writing my next podcast. Thankfully the days are getting long down south and it seems like long ago and a million miles away that I was sitting in sub-freezing temperatures in the dark at 4:30 p.m. in West Virginia. Daylight and sunshine really do make a difference - I hope you are all getting outside and enjoying both. Anyways, this is what I've been up to this past week. I didn't quite get it done in time for my Thursday newsletter, but it has been busy out here…
I was surprised at how hard it was to find live music in South Carolina. For a state with such a rich musical tradition, there weren't a ton of live music venues outside of the big cities, and even many of those only had shows closer to the weekends. I had so much success finding great live music in North Carolina (read about it HERE) and even in West Virginia (and HERE) that I was a little surprised at how difficult it seemed to find a good show. From the state that brought us the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, James Brown, Darius Rucker, Edwin McCain, The Marshall Tucker Band and so many others, I had hoped it would be easier. Maybe I was just spoiled by the wonderful resource that is blueridgemusicnc.com that I didn't dig deep enough. Either way, I did see some great music in the state, shows were just a little fewer and further between than I would have thought…
Well, darn. Here I thought today was Wednesday and I still had today to get this done before my newsletter went out on Thursday. But today is actually Thursday and my newsletter came out this morning. It's easy to lose track out here sometimes, but I'm going to write it anyway. I have enjoyed this the last few weeks - it reminds even me of what I've done and where I've been and lets me just write without having to stop and look up facts and figures.
The wisteria is in bloom here in South Carolina. This beautiful, purple, sweet smelling, flowering plant hangs from vines around the region and I have found myself stopping often, literally to smell the flowers...
