Tennessee: my 39th state!

On Sunday, December 3rd, I drove from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tennessee. I entered the "Volunteer State" and counted them up: I've officially been in 39 of the 50 states in the Union. Once I entered Tennessee, my destination of Chattanooga was barely over the border. It is also the city my mother was born in back in 1956. But she really has no recollection of this place - her family moved from there to Florida when she was only two years old. So, I figured since it was Sunday, I'd explore the historic downtown area of the city that I was staying in.

First, I had lunch a block from my hotel at brewery. (I'm forgetting the name off hand). I had a sandwich and a local lager which they microbrew right there at the bar. It was pretty good. Then, I went to the Chattanooga Regional History Museum, which took me maybe an hour to go through. I learned a lot! (as usual) I didn't realize how much influence the Native American population had on the city... that is before they were forced out of there and onto the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. After that, the white man settled the land and it became an industrial boom. The city prides itself that it was also the first bottler of Coca-Cola. Ironically, I had just come from the town that invented Coca-Cola.

I was overall very impressed by Chattanooga. The city seems to be doing a good job keeping its historical elements as it becomes something new. I also thought it was pretty scenic with the Tennessee River going through it and the mountains nearby overlooking it.

Sunday night I had dinner with a former ISI student who is now a secondary school teacher, Carter Todd. Carter had been in touch with me for a while and he often requests ISI Student's Guides to pass out to his high school students. Now, he teaches middle school. He was also a former student of UT-Chattanooga professors Bill McClay and Lucien Ellington, who met me for breakfast on Monday morning. Professor Ellington and I have been in touch for quite some time as well. I help provide him with some complimentary ISI Student's Guides for his classes each semester (which he uses as part of the curriculum) and he helps promote ISI by encouraging interested students to sign up for membership.

I had an enjoyable breakfast and conversation with professors McClay, Ellington, and one of their colleagues, before we ventured over to the university, where they set me up with an ISI tabling opportunity in their student center. For about 2 hours during the lunch period, I passed out ISI materials to students and faculty walking by. I only signed up about 5 people on the spot, but I passed out nearly 100 copies of the Intercollegiate Review as well as some ISI brochures. Planting the seeds, planting the seeds. It was great to see how committed these professors are to the ISI mission. They went out of their way to help me out and even to hang out with me at the table for as long as they could.

About 1pm, Professor McClay (who is the author of the ISI Student's Guide to U.S. History) and I went to lunch and then I was off on my way towards Nashville, where I met up with my friend Dustin Hawkins and did an ISI soiree at Vanderbilt University. More to come on this...