This Is Me--2024 A to Z Theme

My A to Z Themes in the past have covered a range of topics and for 2024 the theme is a personal retrospective that I call "I Coulda Been" which is in reference to my job and career arc over my lifetime. I'll be looking at all sorts of occupations that I have done or could have done. Maybe you've done some of these too!

Friday, April 23, 2021

Tennessee River ( #AtoZChallenge )

      Tributaries are the streams and rivers that feed into larger rivers.  Many of the rivers that I've mentioned in my Rivers of America series are tributaries that feed into other larger rivers that are also tributaries of other larger rivers.  It's an example of the motto of the United States "E pluribus unum" or "out of many, one"...


#AtoZChallenge 2021 April Blogging from A to Z Challenge letter T


Tennessee River

Toms River
By John F. Peto - Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Colección Permanente, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17349280

     

         Not too far from my old home in Maryville TN runs the Tellico River which  starts in the mountains of North Carolina then runs into Tennessee where it dumps into the Little Tennessee River which in turn is a tributary of the massive Tennessee River.  All these rivers have TVA dams for flood control and power generation.  It makes for a network of lakes used for all sorts of recreational activities.  

          Back around 1972 I borrowed my mother's station wagon so my friend Vernon Clouse and I could drive down toward where the Tennessee River heads toward Chattanooga. I'd seen on the map where there was a ferry crossing--near Dayton perhaps--and since at that time I'd been trying to find every ferry crossing within a 100 mile radius of where I lived we decided to take that adventure.  We found that ferry and rode across what seemed to be a very wide river with a rather swift current at one point.  It was a small boat that only carried 2 or 3 vehicles.  I'm sure it no longer runs, but if it does I'm not sure that I'd want to cross it again.  

         In the fall of 1974 I set out walking westward from Maryville and the first night I camped under the Hwy 411 bridge spanning the Little Tennessee River near where it is joined by the Tellico River.  This was before the new bridge had to be built when they dammed the river to form Tellico Lake.  I walked onward after the first night encampment, but that's a bigger story to be told elsewhere at another time. 

          If I were to tell a river story in a song then the Tippecanoe River of Indiana might be a nice choice.  It's a musical sounding name with a lot of rhyming possibilities.  After all, Bobbie Gentry found river name magic in her "Ode to Billy Joe" in which she sings about seeing a couple throwing something off a bridge spanning the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi.  Even the Trinity River off Texas offers a lot of potential--I think there's a good country song in that name.

                       This summer I'm hoping that I'll be able to visit my three daughters who live in or near Toms River  in New Jersey.  This city sits along the Toms River.  What a surprise! One of my sons-in-law who grew up in Toms River (the town, not in the river) is named Tom.  Never asked who he was named after.  He did grow up in Toms River so I guess it could be so.  And I named his wife (my daughter) after a street in Knoxville.

              Have you ever traced tributaries to the final destination of one leading to the other?  Have you ever tipped over in a canoe?   Do you know anyone who was named after a place?





21 comments:

  1. Lovely part of the world you come from Lee. Many lovely rivers.
    I do hope you get to see your daughters in the summer.

    Have a great weekend.
    Yvonne.

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    Replies
    1. Yvonne, there is so much to see in the world, but for most of us not enough time or money.

      I hope nothing arises to mess up my summer travel plans.

      Lee

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  2. Tipped over in a kayak. My daughter has several names one of them is Andorra named after the country.

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  3. Replies
    1. Alex, I was probably more adventurous due to certain friend associations than I might have been on my own.

      Lee

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  4. My grandfather would put trotlines in the Tennessee river back in the thirties. He would bring home the best fish and sell the rest in Scottsboro Alabama after he got home from work each day.

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    Replies
    1. Ann, I've heard of people fishing like that. I sure don't know anything about it from any personal experience.

      Lee

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  5. I hope you will be able to see your 3 daughters this summer! Fun fact about Tom 😉

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    Replies
    1. Frederique, I'm looking forward to traveling this summer. Hope the plans are able to be carried through.

      Lee

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  6. I crossed the Tennessee River twice last weekend, going to and from Nashville.
    I could tell many stories about the Tallahatchie River, and one of its bridges, but that would take a while. And today, most of those stories would only serve to make me sad.

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    Replies
    1. Michael. now you have my attention. Tell us a story!

      Lee

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  7. In India its sometimes a practice to include the place and the ancestory as part of the surname ...my husbands name starts with Madurantakam which was the native place of his forefathers

    Visiting here from A to Z

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    Replies
    1. Jay, name origins can be an interesting topic.

      Lee

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  8. Replies
    1. Jo-Anne, thank you so much for stopping in.

      Lee

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  9. These fantastic adventures of yours would make an excellent movie!

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    Replies
    1. Diedre, I guess if some things were elaborated and exaggerated then it might make for a movie that would satisfy today's audiences.

      Lee

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  10. Toms River has had a great deal of success in the Little League World Series....

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    Replies
    1. CW, I do remember hearing that. Sports seem very big in that area.

      Lee

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  11. Tom,

    I knew of the ferry near Dayton but we've have ever taken it and like you I don't know if it still makes runs. That has me curious to know now just for information. I've been in a canoe only one time and that was on our honeymoon. The experience terrified me. I was so afraid the motor boats wakes would turn us over which never happened but I couldn't wait to get back on land. I remind him every now and then to this day, that he'll never get me back out on the water again like that. Once was enough for me. I don't know of anyone named after a place but our oldest daughter's middle name is also a city. We didn't pick it for that reason but liked it as it went well with her first name.

    Tweety Looney Tunes A-Z Art Sketch

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Lee