Spring break adventuring

Facing a fear, SEC stadiums, random other tidbits from a trip across the country

The SkyBridge in Gatlinburg is more than two football fields long. There’s even a part in the middle where it’s made out of glass. Not ideal for me at least.

Author’s Note: This is primarily a Wichita Falls area high school football Substack. But every now and then, I may decide to write about something else. Be forewarned – I’m probably going to make a few posts when the World Cup comes to the U.S. this summer. Sometimes writers have to write.

We had a fun family vacation to Tennessee this week. I’ve never been to that part of the country, but it was enjoyable to check out places I’ve never seen and do things I’ve never done.

Well, mostly enjoyable. Where we stayed in Gatlinburg, they have this SkyPark that features the longest cable bridge in North America. It’s something like 700 feet long, which is more than two football fields.

I don’t have a fear of heights if I’m moving. Rollercoasters and flying in a plane don’t scare me. I’ve parasailed off South Beach and I’d even consider going skydiving.

But still heights – that’s a whole different animal. I’ve been to the top of the Empire State Building, and while the view is amazing, I didn’t get close to the edge. Same with Reunion Tower.

I’ve always been this way. Maybe I don’t trust myself not to fall over the edge. Maybe I’ve seen too many action movies where someone’s hanging on for dear life or plummeting to their death.

The SkyBridge could be seen from our hotel, so it hovered over my shoulder for the first couple days. No one appeared to fall off it, so that was good. It looked high off the ground, so that was bad.

But when the time came, I crossed it. Did I hold onto the rail and walk across it quickly without looking down? Yes. Did it make me queasy? Yes. Was I glad it was over? Absolutely.

But I’m also glad that I walked across the bridge and did something different. Sometimes you have to challenge yourself, even if it’s something minor like putting one foot in front of the other.

Neyland Stadium where the Tennessee Volunteers play. Would have been cool to have snuck in.

* There are a bunch of college football stadiums I’d like to check out during a fall gameday. Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium is definitely high on a list that also includes places like Nebraska, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, etc. We got to swing by Neyland (on the edge of the Tennessee River) and also Vanderbilt’s stadium, but alas there were no open gates for my son and I to poke our heads into.

* While we were zorbing (Google it), a couple younger guys working the park asked where we were from. You wouldn’t expect most people 15 hours away from Wichita Falls to have heard of it. But these two 20-somethings had. “That’s where J.T. Barrett is from,” one said. “We’re big Ohio State football fans.”

* They didn’t know Jacob Rodriguez was also from Wichita Falls, but they found it interesting those two guys played at the same high school.

* Driving outside of Nashville, we saw a sign for a Whataburger (apparently they’ve opened a few in Tennessee). It’s 6 p.m. on a weekday. We walk in and the place has zero customers inside. In the 30 minutes we spent eating there, only one person came in. Do Tennesseans not realize the greatness of Whataburger yet? To those wondering, the food was as delicious as the ones back in the Lone Star State.

* We did see an older guy leaving Whataburger when we walked up. He noticed our license plate and asked, “Getting a taste of home?” He’d gone to college at Hardin-Simmons in Abilene – he understood the restaurant’s appeal.

* Never had driven past Bonham on Highway 82 (that’s where my paternal grandparents are buried). Among the small towns you pass along the way are Paris – which is bigger than I’d have thought – plus New Boston (where Burkburnett HFC Jody Littleton spent three seasons), Hooks (hometown of Heisman trophy winner Billy Sims) and Clarksville (they beat Jacksboro once in the playoffs).

* Saw exit signs for the towns of Haskell and Jacksonville (Arkansas) plus Mason, Stanton and Carthage (Tennessee). I looked it up so you don’t have to – the high school in Carthage is called Smith County and they went 4-7. Un-Carthage-like if you ask me.

Hey look, there’s the Appalachian Trail. It appears Maine is just a stone’s throw away.

* A stop on the way back was The Hermitage, which is Andrew Jackson’s estate. Jackson was the seventh president of the United States and became a national war hero for the Battle of New Orleans. Anyway, he built this house that has been preserved for more than 200 years, and it’s spread out over more than 1,000 acres outside Nashville. Worth checking out.

* Drove around in the Great Smoky Mountains. Walked a fraction of a mile along the Appalachian Trail, which starts in Georgia and ends in Maine. In another life, it’d be cool to be an outdoorsman and go on long hikes. Not sure I’m built for that now in my life.

* If you’ve made it this far, I feel like you should be rewarded with football-related stories coming down the pipe. I still need to look at a couple new regions – I think Region II-2A Division I (the Nocona-Olney region) – will be my next one. Expect a Vernon coaching hire soon, and I want to do some historical stat pieces like I did with single-game and single-season yards last year. I’m probably going to start with single-season touchdown totals.

And if you missed the stories I posted last week, I looked at the most memorable Jacksboro games I’ve covered and DCTF’s six-year program rankings.