Memphis Last Night and Little Rock Tonight
You know how Hansel and Gretel left cookie crumbs to find their way home? Well, Bubba and I left barbeque rib bones.
We are eating our way back to Texas.
I have a story for you. Yesterday we spent two hours roaming backwoods Tennessee looking for two wineries. I drink wine but Bubba drinks sweet tea. But he’s a sweet man and lets me stop at wineries.
We were so deep in the backwoods that we had no cell phone reception. Hell, Onstar couldn’t even find these little towns. The first winery was run by two women and it was real cute but
wine was secondary to bedazzled tee shirts.
We start looking for the second one and just about the time we started hearing banjo music we find it. It was in some guy’s garage.
A guy who put the gerrrr in grizzled came out of his house. There were rocks in his yard younger than he was. Big guy. Callused hands. Lotsa gray hair.
The winery was in his his garage and he came down on the non decorating side of HGTV. Vern Yip would have cried.
He gave me sips of something he labeled Rotgut. It was on the sweet side but very drinkable with spicy food. I tried a couple other ones and was impressed with some very decent $12 wine made by a guy in overalls and a gimme hat.
He chatted up Bubba and me asking where we were from and hardily approving of Texas. Bubba, who never comes down on the safe side of interpersonal relationships, spurts out that we are returning from the Democratic National Convention.
Holy crap.
Doesn’t Bubba know where the hell he is? Is he goofy on sweet tea and rotgut fumes?
The owner slams his hand down on the counter with such force that I suddenly understood why there were no pictures hanging on the wall. I head for the door because I do not mess with snakes, alligators, and grizzled old men.
He then roars, “Goddam it, son, I want to shake you hand! That sumbitch Romney scares the crap outta me.”
I thought he was gonna hug Bubba. And probably break him.
We then stood stunned as he cussed Republicans right, left, and sideways. We were treated to a sparkling 15 minute rant about Republicans. He loves Bill Clinton, thinks people who don’t like Obama are racists, and wants Hillary to run in 4 years because she’s tough.
Bubba went out to the car and got him a rally sign from the convention. He loved it and headed to show it to “the wife.”
As we left, he shouted at us that he likes Texas okay but those Bushes are sumbitches.
I left with six bottles of decent wine and a smile on my face.
Just thought you’d want to know.
Big grin. You just never know. Great story. Don’t drink all the wine in one sitting.
1I got a similar reaction, for the same reason, from my redneck neighbor when I stopped by on horseback the other day. Surprised and delighted I was. I didn’t want to get down (can’t get back up without a step-up) but let him pet my horse.
2That is wonderful. Just shows that you CAN’T “trust” a book by it’s cover.
Though it appears that Romney want us to “trust” him from the cover he’s created.
More power to the grizzled dude!
3Great story. You are now in charge of doing door knocks on wineries.
4I love that story! Just goes to show that old adage, “You can’t judge a book by its cover” (or where you find it) is true.!
5Love it, love it, love it.
6Bubba’s tactful and courageous.
7Awesome!!
8Thank you for the story. And a hearty Thank you to Bubba for his boldness. What a surprise! And is my face red @ the prejudice I became so sharply aware of. Good lesson!
9JJ, where in Tennessee was this? I lived in TN for a while years ago, and my poor deluded daughter (Repug) lives there now.
10Be nice to know where this man lives, and where they make wine.
not ‘shine.
Probably made that guy’s day too.
11Hot damn! Where’s his winery, and does he do mail order? I’ll buy his entire 2009 Rotgut vintage. People like him should be encouraged.
12What an inspiration! Wife, family dog and I will be wandering through central Ohio and southern Indiana next week. We’ll see if we can find a few more grizzled old men!
13There are several wineries here in TN. One or two close by..right off the interstate around here inKnoxville. Kix Brooks, of Brooks & Dunn has Arrington Winery near Nashville. These conservatives certainly DO LOVE their wine. Just don’t want to sell it in grocery stores.
14And yes…you’d be surprised at the undercover liberals you’ll find here. There are NOT that many ROMNEY signs on cars around here!!
For those traveling through Tennessee I recommend going North from Nashville to see the Corvette Museum and factory at Bowling Green, Kentucky. Also the Opryland Mills Mall and Opryland Hotel in Nashville (they are adjacent). The historic Gore HQ of 2000 was on Main Stream Drive in Nashville (it’s now an insurance paperwork office). Also the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and Clinton Library in Little Rock. The State Capitol in Little Rock is worth seeing, too.
15Well that only goes to show you, there are fine Democrats in all the States even the bloody red ones, of course that shouldn’t be a suprise to a Texan like you.
16Whenever someone does a rant on Texas being red I always defend my good friends there who are Progressives there and how difficult it is to be true to your feelings when there are so many who don’t share your opinions.
It’s pretty easy to be a Progressive here in Bernie Sanders country, the right wingers are few or hidden so you don’t have to confront them, BTW Bernie does talk to them and says ,”Don’t just talk to the people who agree with you.” and funny thing about that, several years ago there were a lot of lawns in the North East Kingdom with both a Bush and Bernie signs on them.
This had me bust out laughing …
He then roars, “Goddam it, son, I want to shake you hand! That sumbitch Romney scares the crap outta me.”
Best laugh I’ve had just about all day long!! Thanks JJ & Bubba
17Leave it to JJ and Bubba to find a progressive in backwoods TN. Let us know how to buy some wine from that guy!
18Now that is awesome! Reminds me of the woman that went door to door around here for Obama the last time and wasn’t having an easy time of it. Wanted to talk to my independent son. She was so tickled to be able to check that a registered republican was absolutely going to vote for Obama. Going to again too. Be nice if I could put a sign in the yard and ticked off the neighbors but they don’t allow them. sigh.
19Great story.
20“Be nice if I could put a sign in the yard and ticked off the neighbors but they don’t allow them. sigh.”
Norma, could you place an Obama sign inside one of your windows, facing out to the street?
21Great story! Never forget that East Tennessee voted against the Secesh back in the summer and fall of 1861. I’m proud to say that all of the boys in my ancestors’ family left their Soddy farms, near Chattanooga, and walked to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap to enlist in the Union 5th Tennessee Infantry. Hundreds more did the same, despite the Secesh trying to capture them, and then harassing all of the womenfolk left behind.
My ancestors who lived made their way to Texas after the war. Now those were some Republicans we could be proud of. No more!
22“That sumbitch Romney scares the crap outta me.”
As a Texas voter, that voted Rep. the last few times, that man in Tennessee expressed my exact feelings. He scares the crap out of me too.
So does Ted Cruz et al.
The Republican party has lost it’s way.
23Legion357, welcome to our world. If we don’t laugh, we’ll cry. So we work at changing things, little by little.
24I’m picking up on a lot of that “Romney makes me uneasy” amongst my kind (Reublicans who haven’t drank the fundamentalist Kool-aid) coupled with “Obama isn’t as gawdawful as I thought he would be” (I’m in the oil&gas industry so you can imagine the folks with which I surround myself) which makes me think that Romney is going to have a harder time of it than perhaps he thought. I come from a family where my siblings range from Yellow Dog Democrat at one end of the bell curve to Rush Limbaugh Fan at the other end so I get it from both factions. I like to think I am the sane voice of reason in the middle.
25Too bad you did not film him- that would have been a great commercial. More importantly, where and how can we buy this wine and support such a fine upstanding citizen!
26I finally made Bubba search the car for my wine from there. Sadly, he does not ship but the name of the winery is Holly Ridge near Livingston, Tennessee. Drop by when you can. Damn good wine and even better conversation.
27Terrific tale~been telling ya’ll that the Democrats in Tennessee are really serious Yellow Dawgs – it just ain’t me~roflmfao
28Tom Blackwell,
I got married in Bowling Green, KY. It is a very nice town. Also, while traveling to Bowling Green, go to the Gate 4 entrance and take a picture of the 101st Air Assault, Airborne, Screaming Eagles, Clarksville, TN – same town as Ft. Campbell, KY.
Land Between the Lakes is also a fun trip for anyone. There is all sorts of Civil Warry stuff around these parts, TN claims to be “least southern of southern states, last out, first back in Union” cuz they LOST one of the first big battles.
29I like the wine story. Most of all, the part that your husband saying to much part. It is nice to know that what we receive can be our own. Chuck sang it best. ” Say La Vee, said the old folks, it goes to show you never tell”.
Virgo/Leo all week.
30What a shame…. the winery doesn’t ship.
Loved the story, and can’t wait for more…… because I know there are more to come.
Just speculatin’ …… if you couldn’t get cell phone service….. chances are…… maybe he can’t get Faux on his teevee….
31Which may be why he has not had his mind polluted.
The winery may not ship…. but they have a lovely website.
http://www.hollyridgewinery.com/
Grow their own grapes. Make their own wine.
Juanita, you found a jewel….. in the hills of Tennessee.
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