South Carolina to Oregon

South Carolina to Farewell Bend, Oregon- May 17-May 25, 2014

We are making our planned progress through the south and midlands of our great country.  On a whim (Tim’s), we stopped and did a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery.  What a place!  Lynchburg, Tennessee has a population of 341 and the fresh water spring, which was the enticement for Jack to put his distillery there, has been delivering spring water to make the mash since 1866 and has never gone dry.  The tour was about an hour and a half and we observed the process from start to finish.  Corn and rye are delivered 24/7 by truck from railroad cars about 3 miles away.  We saw two in the few minutes we were at that station.   Behind here was the charcoal process.  They make their own charcoal from sugar maple trees.  There were stacks of pre-cut wood and two ovens that are used to make the charcoal.  Once it is burned into about one inch cubes, it goes into a crusher and turned into pea size pieces for the filtration process down the line. The corn and rye are cooked and then yeast is added and the mash sits in fermentation tanks to get all of the ingredients to the proper mash consistency.  It is then put into the still and heated to a vapor and then cooled into a liquid.  We saw 140 proof liquid pouring at 26 gallons per minute through two sight glasses in the line.  From here it goes into large vats to await the filtration process which takes 10 days to drip through the pea size charcoal. Once filtered, it is put into oaken barrels which are also made and cured at the distillery. They are then stored for  5 to 7 years in buildings that are not heated or cooled so that nature’s seasons provide temperature changes that insure the liquid takes on the flavors of the oaken barrels. 

Two things were really impressive.  First, they produce no waste that is not recovered for cash.  The charcoal used once is sold to a company in Florida which turns it into briquettes for backyard grilling.  The 80 percent of the mash that is not alcohol is sold to the farming community for beef and pig food.  The barrels are sold to other breweries for wine and other liquor distilleries.   The second thing we noted is that customers can come to Lynchburg and buy a single barrel and have it bottled with their own label.  You do a tasting of three barrels and choose the one you like best.  You get the barrel and about 240 bottles with your name or anything you want etched into a plaque on the brass medallion on the bottle. All this for a mere nine to twelve thousand dollars ($9,000-$12,000).  We were surprised to learn, as they have a score sheet on the wall of who purchases these barrels, that there were several repeat customers including many units of service men and many businesses as well as private citizens or groups of citizens.

Alas, Lynchburg is a dry town, so no samples on the tour.

Our next stop was Nashville, TN.  We did not get to see much because we arrived late and there did not seem to be any formal Visitor Center or tour company that would show the sights.  We also had some trouble finding a parking space for our RV towing a car totaling about 50 feet.  We did get to see music Alley which was basically a bunch of bars with live music.  It reminded me of New Orleans, but was not as historical.  The Music Alley Street was closed and they were filming a Budweiser commercial for lite beer.   The locals were on both sides observing and, of course, drinking.

We stopped in St Louis to go to the Arch. We met a camper from St Louis the night before and he told us where we could park the RV and get to the Arch easily.  Unfortunately, he did not know that the whole riverfront was under repair and construction so we had to again try to find a place to park.  We had to disconnect the car twice because of the road closures and repairs.  We did get to ride the top of the Arch and got some pictures of the city and the riverfront. Wonderful views!

We won’t be driving into too many other cities, however! Twice was enough for us!

Next stop.. Cheyenne, WY where we spent two nights to rest up a little from our continuous trek. We toured the city on a trolley getting all of the history of the good ole western days including the very important Union and Pacific Railroad which played a major role in connecting the east coast to the west coast. We even toured the museum which has one of the best model railroad displays done by a Harry Brunck who is world renowned for his models and has authored books books on the subject. Very impressive.The Frontier Days are in July, so we missed out on seeing the daring dos of the cowboys!

We drove through Utah with a one night stop in Brigham City just north of Salt Lake City  and then on to Farewell Bend, Oregon. We stayed at the State Park there which was a really comfortable and relaxing experience. Great place to spend a couple of days. Farewell Bend is on the Oregon Trail and is where the pioneers would rest before continuing their journey through what they called “landscape with no soil” or much water for that matter.  From our last journey west and again this trip, we are truly in awe of the stamina and strong will it took for them to make their trip across the mountains through all kinds of terrain with little rest. Believe me, it’s long enough riding in a comfortable RV!

All in all we drove over 2300 miles in eight days! We’ll be slowing a bit now to take in the beautiful northwest regions of Oregon and Washington.