Riding around the TN Mountains

On Wednesday it was overcast again so we decided to get lost in the mountains away from the touristy spots.  Some of the roads we were on were about a car and a half wide so thankfully we didn't meet much oncoming traffic.  One thing we did stumble upon was the factory that produces Bush's baked beans in a small town called Chestnut, Tennessee.  The visitor center is the original site of the A.J. Bush General Store that was opened in 1897.  Bush's just happens to be our favorite variety of baked beans.  The visitor center has a very nice welcome center in the original store that houses a theater showing a movie explaining the baked bean making process but we were too late to see that.  It's nice to know the factory where they are made is just the type of place I would hope they were manufactured in.. Like many things we happen upon I do the research later to learn more about the company or town we visited.  I learned a lot about the A.J. Bush Company.

In 1904 A.J Bush started a canning company with the Stokely Brothers in Tennessee.    In 1908 Andrew Jackson Bush bought out his partners and the A.J. Bush Company was founded with his two sons.  The company was incorporated in 1922 and grew quickly until a set back occurred in 1943.  That year the Tennessee Valley Authority seized the major Tennessee plant by eminent domain and flooded all of the Bush farmland which resulted in a hugh reservoir.  One year later the company purchased an Arkansas based canning company.  In 1993 the company reached nationwide distribution status and is today's top selling brand of baked beans in the nation.  The television advertisements usually feature Jay Bush,  the great grandson of Andrew, along with his golden retriever Duke.  Duke is always trying to give up the family recipe which is a closely guarded family secret.  Other great grandsons include Kristian Duke, of the country band Sugarland, and his brother Brandon Duke who plays the keyboard for Sugarland.  You learn something new everyday.

 Not much else to report.  Today we are doing laundry, cleaning the black tank, and just getting things ready for our trip home tomorrow.  It will probably take us two days to get home since we don't like to travel more than four or five hours per day.  Here are some pictures from yesterday.



This is where Janet said "paddle faster I hear banjo music".   You have to have watched the movie Deliverance to get this.