Knoxville & Tennessee
1998
 
The BACKSTORY
My high school friend, Bob Luedeka, the progenitor of BNEA to a large extent, disappeared from my life until he resurfaced in Knoxville. Bob and I took my very first road trip when we stole his dad's car and drove to Houston to visit his girlfriend, away back in 1968. He came over to my house and asked me if I wanted to drive down with him. I took a can of Right Guard, a carton of Marlboro's and off we went with a Pure Oil (before Union 76) credit card and 20 bucks in cash. I wrote my dad a note saying that I'd gone to Houston with Bob and would be back in a week. Bob, however, forgot to tell anyone and soon we were dodging the cops because the Pure Oil station where he worked thought he stole the night receipts.
 
The BNEA Connection
 
Anyway, fast forward to 1998 and it's "ROAD TRIP!"  time again. With nothin' up our sleeve, presto... we're on the way to Knoxville to visit. Bob, like Bruce, cannot let an occasion such as this go unembellished and the next thing we know we're trespassing and scaring the hell out of a security detail at a nuclear power plant. 
 
Sounds good, right? But wait... there's way more high points than that, the greatest of which was Bruce catching his first fish (I got to drive the boat, drink Diet Coke, smoke okedoke cigars and never moped). However, getting smoked by a troop of Mennonite school girls on the go-cart track at Pigeon Forge was wayyyyyy up there, too. Also, Bruce the Human Fly was pretty funny.  "Bruceeee.... he'll try anything!"

(Click on the little picture to see the big picture.)

Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant. They really freak when you drop in uninvited.

The control room we're not supposed to be in.

Two of their towers.

Heck... no visitors were allowed at all.

Nowell takin' a movie from the bridge.

The view down the road.

Nowell mulls some deep thought with a good cigar.

A jelly fish at the Chattnooga Aquarium.

Early morning fog on the Tenessee River.

A scary big fish in the river.

Bruce spooked by something in the night.

Some guy got really pissed and threw his boat into a tree.

The river looks really calm because it is.

More jelly fish.

Skaters at Pigeon Forge.

Yet another jelly fish.

The Lost Sea underground cave.

Bob demonstrates form neither of us can emulate.

Bob and Bruce fish. I sits and watches.

Wait... what is this?

BRUCE CAUGHT A BRANCH!

This is what a bucket full of fish would look like if it were filled with fish.

It's small, but it is a fish!

Waiting for the Lost Sea lights to turn off.

More skaters at Pigeon Forge.

Bruce demonstrating good fishing form.

In the Lost Sea boat.

A little skater.

I know we're around here somewhere.

On the flight down.

Lost Sea.

Boats on the river.

Getting ready to cast off.

"I'm ready to fish."

Bruce learns the bungee is harder than it looks.

After a short fight, the bungee lands Bruce. He was too big to throw back.

Bruce tries to outrun the bungee.

The Human Fly sticks to the wall.

Bob keeps on teaching.

The Human is ready to Fly.

Bruce gets prepped to outrun the bungee.

The Human is suited up. Almost ready to Fly.

What a power plant looks like in principle.

The back of the boat is a nice place to fish.

Human Fly is launched.

The Pigeon Forge complex.

Nowell demonstrates good cigar form.

It's hard to peel yourself off a wall.

"Are we having fun yet?"

"I CAUGHT A FISH!"

 

 

Return to Top

Once again, there is no copyright notice.
Once again, you have blanket permission to steal whatever you want.
Once again, send me a check with a lot of zeros before the decimal point.
Once again, well, never mind...