Several months ago, I bought tickets to see a band I love, Trampled By Turtles, play outside at the Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee, 20 minutes away from Monteagle Mountain, my second home. A former client and old friend, Todd Mayo, owns and operates the Caverns. The Caverns hosts Bluegrass Underground, syndicated on PBS, and when the pandemic hit, he pivoted and built an outdoor concern venue and just started staging concerts there.
The Turtles are special to me, for sure. When Joe was little, he and I used to listen to "Stars and Satellites," an awesome Trampled By Turtles album released in 2012. When we were into it, Joe would have been two or three, so it was 2014 or 2015. He - and I - loved that album, especially the first four songs. Carley and Joe listen to it a lot, too, on my iPod (those were the days), which makes the Turtles even more special to me.
I have video - probably on this blog - of Joe singing along to "Alone," as we left Gentry Farm in October, a lifetime ago. Damn, those days.
I rented a cabin, invited my oldest friends, Doug and Mike, and this weekend, we found ourselves here in Monteagle, on the Mountain, my favorite place in the world.
Thursday night, Doug cooked ribeye steaks for us at the cabin. We stayed in, drank a couple of bottles of red wine, and, really, just enjoyed our time together getting caught up.
Friday morning, Mike and I went for a run on the Trail of Tears greenway. Mike didn't feel great, so I ran six miles, running back on the trail so we could keep running together. Afterwards, we sent to Stirlings Coffee House, one of my favorite places, for coffee and breakfast. Doug drove over and had breakfast with us, outside, on the side porch.
I gave Doug a tour of Sewanee's campus, we hung out at home, then drove to the Caverns for the Trampled By Turtles show. My friend, Todd, set us up with a tour of the caves, which was amazing. Unique, different, cool. I can't wait to bring the boys up here for to see the caves. Our guide, Jet, designated me as the "light engineer."
I'll laugh at that reference 20 years from now.
The concert was, well, amazing. I had arranged for us to have a Yeti pod. As part of the package, we had Yeti camping chairs already set up and a Yeti cooler, with ice and beer, waiting on us when we arrived. Pretty cool.
The Turtles were phenomenal. They're amazing musicians. There was something special, I think, for many of us there, last night. Finally, together, we shared a communal musical experience. Life music, at its finest, outside, under the stars, in a beautiful setting. It had been so long since many, if not most, of us had seen live music. So memorable and near the top of my list of concerts, for a variety of reasons.
This morning, Saturday, I ran nine miles on the Trail of Tears greenway/Dimick Trial, with Trampled By Turtles playing the entire run. Amazing run, amazing music. Really, it was a top 5 run in 2021, a top 25 run all time. That's how good it was.
Mike went back to Franklin today, so Doug and I hung out. We hiked the Fiery Gizzard Trail early this afternoon and had dinner at High Point tonight. A few drinks and a lot of laughs. That's what 40 + years of friendship gets you.
Tomorrow, back home and into the real world. At least, until I return to the Mountain again.
These times Doug, Mike, and I get together are singular. And important. You get to a certain point in life, and you're so busy with what's going on in your immediate circle, that you don't make the time to be - really be - with your friends. Something gets lost if you don't find the time - or set aside the time - to spend together. I'm so glad we did that this weekend. I tried to be in the moment and I think, for the most part, I succeeded. I hope we get together soon.
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