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🪑 THE FRONT PORCH
Talk it over whilst whittlin’, quiltin’, or porch sittin’
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Hurricane Helene didn't just wreck I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge. She wrecked a promise.

For years, a coalition called Safe Passage had been doing the quiet, unglamorous work of keeping bears, deer, and elk from becoming hood ornaments on that stretch of highway. Camera traps. Culvert studies. Wildlife-friendly dirt paths under new bridges. Real progress.

Then Helene ripped the road apart — including one of the most critical wildlife crossings in the entire gorge — and suddenly NCDOT had a $2 billion rebuild on its hands.

Silver lining, right? A chance to reimagine the whole corridor?

Not so fast.

Federal reimbursement rules only cover "replacements," not "improvements." So the wish list — bigger culverts, viaducts, rerouted sections — got shelved. What's coming instead is a 30-foot-tall wall of roller-compacted concrete between the road and the river.

The rebuild could last 100 years. That's not a road project. That's a century-long decision about whether wildlife in the most biodiverse national park system in the country gets a hallway or a dead end.

Part one of a two-part series from Holly Kays at Smoky Mountain News.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

And in other news …

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🗺 KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS
Visit all 423 Appalachian counties, one week at a time
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Tucked in the southeast corner of Tennessee, where the Cumberland Plateau drops off like God's front porch, Marion County is a place that punches above its weight class.

The National Cornbread Festival is a weekend-long celebration of cornbread and many cornbread-related activities for adults and kids. The event is held every year in the quaint town of South Pittsburg the last full weekend in April.

The town of Jasper, Tennessee, is where Southern hospitality meets the great outdoors.  Known for its scenic trails, serene waterways, and fascinating Cherokee and Civil War history, Jasper invites visitors to escape the ordinary. Conveniently located near Chattanooga, this charming town is the perfect base for exploring the Sequatchie Valley and beyond.

Marion County sits 25 miles west of Chattanooga with access to the Sequatchie Valley, the Tennessee River Gorge, and some of the best outdoor recreation in the state—hiking, fishing, caving, and rock climbing all within reach.

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🖋️ A NOTE FROM WAYNE
The Man. The Myth. The Legend. In His Own Mind.
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If you are confused by what seems a sudden barrage of different articles by me on different platforms, I can explain.

I started with a blog I called The Wayne Train about two years ago.

Late last year, I started posting on the Medium site, which comes with a free webpage.

I decided to try my hand at newsletters this year. Newsletters seem a lot like what I used to do in my former life as a newspaper editor, providing an informative and beneficial product each week.

So I signed on with Beehiiv because they seem a good fit for what I hope to do.

Trouble is, I technically now have THREE websites, all begging folks to subscribe to them.

Sigh.

I’ll figure it out. It’s all part of the learning curve. Just subscribe to SOMETHING. It’s free and you won’t be spammed to death.

Meanwhile, a lot of my writing effort for the next while will be for this newsletter. If you are reading this, you are probably already subscribed. If not, you can sign up here CLICK HERE.

I will keep the Medium site going for awhile, but the content may be different most weeks.

If you’re confused, so am I!

Bottom line is not confusing, it’s all free to you no matter how you subscribe. I won’t sell your email and you won’t be getting any bills from me.

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🧠 The Thought Crossed My Mind
Weekly Observations About Things
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I'm not crazy about attending funerals.

But I've reached that age.

You know the one. Where the calendar fills up with services instead of softball games. Where you own more white shirts than you ever thought necessary.

Yogi Berra had it right: "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they might not go to yours."

So I go.

To say goodbye. To show up. To stand in the back and nod at people I haven't seen since the last funeral.

I've spent a lot of time in funeral parlors lately.

More than I'd like to, for sure.

But here's the thing I've come to appreciate: those photo slideshows they project on the wall. The ones that loop endlessly while people shuffle in and sign the guest book and avoid eye contact.

They're bittersweet.

You see someone you last knew as old, gray, bent like a question mark—and suddenly there they are at twenty. Tan. Grinning. Holding a fish or a beer or a baby.

It's a reminder.

That they were young once. That they laughed hard. That they had good knees and a full head of hair and no idea what was coming.

It's nice.

It really is.

Until the slideshow hits that one photo from 1987 where your buddy thought a perm and a mesh tank top were a good idea, and you have to pretend you're not laughing at a funeral.

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📰 THE BACK PAGE
The Caboose of The Wayne Train
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From the Sequachee Valley News (Marion County, Tenn.) Dec. 31, 1914