Chuckels Arrived in Tennessee

Chuckels arrived in Mountain City, Tennessee, on January 14. Mountain City is such a small town that we could not find a postcard to send! Mountain City is located in the northeast corner of Tennessee at an elevation of 2,418 feet above sea level and a population of 2,531. Mountain City is situated in one of the highest valleys in the state of Tennessee. Doe Mountain rises to the southwest, Forge Mountain rises to the east, and a series of rugged hills (part of the Iron Mountains) dominate the landscape to the north. 

Chuckels is staying at a cabin on the top of Forge Mountain where the elevation is 3,760 feet and has a beautiful view of the mountains. The picture is from the deck of the cabin and the Tennessee/North Carolina border runs along the top of the mountains
Upon learning that Chuckels loves basketball, we took him to Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, to watch a women’s and men’s basketball doubleheader. 

 The teams are called The Mountaineers and their mascot is Yosef. We had great seats! The women came away with a 1 point win after being down by 15 points! They sank the winning basket with 8.4 seconds left in the game, and final score was 70-69 over Arkansas State. Unfortunately, the men’s team did not do as well. They played a great game but lost 59-50 to Arkansas State. 

Appalachian State University was founded as a teacher’s college in 1899, and in 2005-2006-2007 won back to back to back National Football Championships in the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision). Boone took its name from the famous pioneer and explorer Daniel Boone, who on several occasions camped at a site generally agreed to be within the present city limits.
Another fun place that Chuckels visited in Boone was The Mast General Store. It was founded in 1883 and Chuckels got to check out the Candy Barrel. He loved seeing all the different candies to choose from. 

On Saturday, Chuckels went hiking on Holston Mountain in Tennessee. He was joined by 8 other hikers to climb to Holston High Knob where an old fire tower is located at 4,136 feet above sea level. After that, we hiked to the Flint Rock Overlook and a great view of South Holston Lake, a reservoir managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. We could even see the Bristol Motor Speedway from this overlook. 

 

Nancy and Steve Dunfee