Bourne's BIG Trip: An Interesting Excursion to my Grandfather's hometown

My grandfather spent most of his schools days in a nice southern town of Union City, TN. He moved from Union City about 60 years ago. Most of his childhood memories are about that place. Just a few days before going, Pop shared with us a list of things to see, given to me a few days ago over the iPhone note app (not exactly word for word, shortened for bullet use):

Legend: [ -are ones I'm putting now; (-were ones I put then

*Goodyear Tire Plant

*Art Decor Shop

*Cool Lake from Earthquake (Reel Foot Lake)

*Antique Car Museum

*Nice Southern Town [this is just saying it IS a nice southern town]

*Downtown School

*511 Exchange Street Baptist church, where Pop's [grandfather] house used to be

*High School [torn down, saw replacement]

*Grammar School
*Capitol Theater

These are the things he listed. And so, we left that small R.V. Park and got food and water in the jeep, plus my dogs, Rocky and Emma. They were distraught and nervous to be in the jeep, jumping and wagging their tails, because the last time they were in the jeep they went to a grooming place, away from us, which I don't think they liked. We were to go on a one hour excursion to Union City, past all the forests and seeing Reel Foot on the way. Then we were to find Pop's (that's what I call him) house and then his school, and so on and so on. This was to be an...interesting excursion.

The first few miles were Jackson streets. But by and by we left it. We got on a highway, with trees and farms and flatland on all sides. It was a good thing I brought a book; I would have been B O R E D otherwise. An hour or so passed, and now it was more forest. It was a cloudy day, with rain sure to come. We got on muddy and wet roads, and then even dirt ones. In some instances we would see deer, hit pot holes, go under long branches, and it was raining pretty hard by this time. The trees were damp, leaves all wet and piled, and us so dirty you would've mistaken us for a brown jeep instead of a black one. I'm glad we had a stick-shift jeep though, one of the best jeeps for this kind of driving. We saw a sign with one of those historic markers, saying Reel Foot Lake was formed from an earthquake that happened in the 1800's. It said to just follow the road. Well, we didn't want to "follow the road" anymore, after all the dirt and mud, rain and leaves, and dead ends. We retraced our steps and got on a main road again. At one point we saw Reel Foot Lake. It was pretty big and had trees and ample plant life. The blue water was slightly swaying in the rain. Drip, drop, drip drop, drip drop, drip, drop. On and on, and on.

We finally found the real entrance to Reel Foot, the area they call a state park. It was deep in the forest, but had a brochure and post where info and a map was. We took it, but it only had hunting things to offer. We drove on, and came to where boats go into the water, with a little concrete slanting down into the water. And this part of the lake, it was amazing. Trees in the water with roots coming up in a slanting way, swampy green water with vines and cranes and a grey sky, it was a very eerie picture. We walked on a board walk and went up to a high height and looked over through the trees into the open water. This looked like some weird world, the swamp lands of Florida. It was really beautiful, on some levels. But it was also creepy. When something is both, it is very strange. We left after a few minutes of this solitude and idleness, and then left for Union City.

It was somewhat of a big town, with regular buildings, nice little homes, with shingles and windows and brick and stone. There was a courthouse, some little restaurants, although all were closed. We were very hungry, and we saw Sub-ways and Sonics and Dominoes and such, but we wanted real food. Before we did that, however, we saw Capital Theater, where Pop went to the movies many times. It was cool to see where my grandfather walked and drove when he was my age. Really interesting, it was. We tapped in on our GPS 511 Exchange Street, and went through houses and churches of all kinds. We then saw a large red brick flat roofed building that had one tall part and another part connected to that. In the back was a courtyard and playground. This was the baptist church, where Pop's house used to be. So many memories there also.

We saw his grammar school. It was old, red brick, and had vaguely the words: GRM(barely visible)AR SCHOOL. It had white, dirty columns and a two story figure. On both sides of a courtyard was a connected building, kind of behind and to the side of the column. It was a very interesting building. We also saw his old high school, which was now a green grass field. There was a replacement, newer, modern, and pretty, with a football field and auditorium. After that we tried to find a restaurant and succeeded and ate at an Applebee's. We then walked the dogs and were about to leave Union City. We then saw a closing Goodyear Plant. It was very large and factory-like, of course, and it was sad to see it was closing. After seeing it we left Union City and made it home. We sadly didn't see the museum or art shop, but you can't do everything. I will here insert that list again, only this time will show you the ones we did and the ones we didn't do

Legend: [ -are ones I'm putting now; (-were ones I put then; Y for check; X for not done

*Goodyear Tire Plant-Y

*Art Decor Shop-X

*Cool Lake from Earthquake(Reel Foot Lake)-Y

*Antique Car Museum-X

*Nice Southern Town[this is just saying it IS a nice southern town]-YYYY

*Downtown School-Y

*511 Exchange Street Baptist church, where Pop[grandfather] house used to be-Y

*High School [torn down, saw replacement]-Y

*Grammar School-Y
*Capitol Theater - Y

Although we didn't see the art decor shop or antique car museum, we saw about everything associated with my grandfather. I had a great time in Union City. I'm glad we went there. It was cool to see where my grandfather spent most of his childhood.

We got home late, at night, and watched "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" That was fun. I also read a lot. It was a great day.

Even a tycoon, high school teacher, and rocket scientist weren't smarter than a fifth grader,

Andrew.