Settling back in...

Back in Greenville. Easing back into my Greenville routine.

It's good to see mountains on the horizon again. Driving up from Cheraw is like climbing a 150 mile-long hill. Travelling northwest, there's always higher ground ahead, and then you reach Greenville, and you see the Blue Ridge on the horizon, and you have to catch your breath. There's a spot on Pelham Road here where you hit a small rise and then you can see, ahead, over the trees, the hazy blue hills of the Blue Ridge, not more than 50- 60 miles away. It's the kind of view that I always took for granted in Knoxville, but that I think I will never again be able to ignore. After the oppressive flat dullness of West Tennessee, altitude, or the promise of altitude, always seems to grab my attention, at least momentarily.

It's good to be back in a food-town again, too. Cheraw was eat up with kuntry kookin joints and fast food places. Not that I have a problem with kuntry kookin, by the way, but after a few days of it, a person starts to crave something different. Had me some falafel Friday night, prepared by the nice Lebanese gentlemen at Pita House; it's the Middle Eastern hamburger, y'know. Was pretty damn good. I love that they top the falafel pita with pickle spears and that they include a bag of tater chips with the order. It's like, yeah, pickles and tater chips really go with everything. Hell, you could have a meal that was just pickles and tater chips, and I'm pretty sure that I have in the past.

Mostly, though, it's good to be back because it's good to be back. It's good to be home. It feels like home here now. I like Greenville a lot. It actually reminds me a lot of Knoxville, maybe a little better in some respects, slightly lacking in others. I think Knoxville may actually be cooler than Greenville, if it's possible at all to quantify coolness. On the other hand, Greenville has a certain confidence about itself that I tink Knoxville lacks. Downtown Greenville looks the way it does because Greenvillians didn't see any reason why they couldn't have an attractive, bustling downtown. (RANT ALERT!!) If Knoxville had as much faith in itself as Greenville does, it would be a showplace of the southeast. Knoxville always seems ashamed to make a big deal of itself. It always wants to showcase what it's close to, what it's a "gateway" to. "Gateway to the Smokies". Close to Oak Ridge, Pigeon Forge, lakes, historic sites. Stay in Knoxville on your way to some place more interesting. The fact is, Knoxville's got more going for it than cities twice its size. What it lacks is a certain confidence in itself. Maybe part of the problem is that the last time Knoxville dreamed big, it ended in embarrassment (I'm looking at you, 1982 World's Fair). Too bad. Chattanooga, Asheville, and Greenville are kicking your ass. At least you still have that giant golden phallus, and that's something, right?

Oh well, about time to go grocery shopping at one of the half dozen grocery stores within a ten minute drive of here. We won't have trouble finding buffalo meat today. Hell, I think I know where we could get some ostrich burgers, if we wanted some.