What a Change

 All the snow is gone!

Besides the weather, we had some adventures. We went off to drive, without Boma, the "Devil's Triangle", a 44 mile scenic drive in the steep hills. We decided to take a short cut, actually a scenic detour, before we got there. It started out as a well-graded two lane gravel road. About 10 miles in it degraded to a less well-graded, one lane road. Beautiful scenery. No problem.

The puddles in the road got more serious, so I would get out to test their depth. Always less than six inches, no problem. 

A tree had fallen across the road, so I broke off some branches to make it easier to pass. No problem.

A convoy of serious ATVs, all encased in mud, with winches, shovels, etc. passed by on a nearby trail. They waved and looked at us a little funny. 

Another few miles, and we are almost back to the paved road of the Devil's Triangle. The "road", now a rough trail, dropped off steeply. It had been paved decades ago, so hunks of asphalt were between deep ruts, and lots of rocks. We surveyed, and proceeded carefully. No problem.

One section had about a foot drop-off from the old asphalt to the muddy gravel, too much for the car. We built a ramp of rocks. No problem. 

The hill was very steep, and I seriously doubt we could have turned around and get up the  hill. We were about 20 miles in, and very slow going. We were about 100 yards from the Devil's Triangle paved road. I never found the name of this trail, but I'm calling it the Devil's Pubes.

Reconnaissance, discussed the path, proceeded carefully, but we slipped off the asphalt ledge into the rut. WHOOOSH! Tire was totally flat in five seconds. Now, this actually is a problem.

The Tesla does not have a spare. Normally one just pings the Tesla app and they send someone out.  We were out of their coverage area, and the Service Center, in Knoxville, was closed on Sundays. The Tesla person in the call center did not have information for this neck of the woods about tow companies. We made an appointment for the next day.

There is very limited internet/telephone up in the hills. We started calling and getting disconnected. Lots of no answers or messages, and several "so sorry, but have you tried ...". A few hours later, we do get a local tow truck up the mountain to flatbed us to Knoxville. "Howdja find me? I'm not on the Google, don't believe in it."

He was very professional and competent, had an 18-month old, very clean truck already with 91,000 miles. We all crammed into the cab (Pemba in the car) for the hour plus ride into Knoxville. We wore our seat belts; he didn't. I don't remember the last time I saw a driver not wearing a seatbelt on trip. Not my problem.

We dropped off the car at Tesla and spent the night at a motel. Of course we didn't have toothbrushes or meds or change of clothes or dog food, but we managed just fine.  By 11 the next morning we had new tires and were on our way back to Boma. No problem, but not cheap.

So, today we decided to do the regular paved section of the Devil's Triangle. Wonderful drive. The road is the twistiest and steepest either of us remembered, with almost no guard rails. The road was in very good shape, no potholes, good painted lines, and the curves were well banked.  Occasionally there was a speed limit sign like 45 mph. Ha! Not sure we ever went over 30. The very little traffic was also driving very conservatively. 

Gorgeous views, but do it when there are no leaves on the trees to see the view.

Highly recommended, but word to the wise: stay on the paved road.

And now, a little local history. Coal mining used to be the major endeavor here.  We saw all the historical markers and read the local information on these incidents below. Unfortunately for us, the local museum was closed.

After Reconstruction, Tennessee, like most of the South, started re-enslaving aka convict leasing. The Coal Creek War in 1892 was a rebellion by "free men" (in this case, free White men) whose jobs were lost when the coal company leased slaves aka convicts and fired the local workforce. The governor sent out three militias, complete with cannons from the Civil War. The 2,000 miners won, and as a result Tennessee stopped enslavement for the second time. (First time was the 13th amendment)

Convict leasing was almost entirely African Americans convicted on trivial charges and given very long sentences, then sent out to effectively be slaves. When the Coal Creek War ended convict leasing, Tennessee built a prison in 1896 at Brushy Mountain on top of a coal mine, and used the convicts/slaves for mining. Coal mining by slaves/convicts was very profitable for the state. 

Slaves/convicts continued to mine coal at the prison until the 1960s, when Tennessee stopped enslavement for the third time. I hope it is the last time.

Really grotesque, sounds like something out of the Roman Empire.

The Devil's Triangle road goes by Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, now closed. James Earl Ray, the murderer of Martin Luther King, Jr, was imprisoned and escaped. We stopped; pretty dreary. There appears to be a distillery there, but it was closed.

The Fraterville Mine Disaster on May 19, 1902 killed 216 coal miners (men and boys) out of a total village male population of 219. There were heart wrenching notes to their families found on the miners' bodies. Some miners survived for several hours until they suffocated.

The Cross Mountain Disaster on December 9, 1911 killed 84 miners, and five were rescued.  It was the first mine disaster that some people were rescued using self contained breathing apparatus.  

Happy Trails,

Krem and Barbara