When I was part of the team at the CBS Television Network in New York, there was a journalist who had a regular segment on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. His name was Charles Kuralt and the feature was called “On the Road.” Over 25 years he wore out six motor homes traveling the nation’s back roads in search of America’s people and what they were doing. He said, “Interstate highways allow you to drive coast to coast, without seeing anything.”

There were a few back road stories that he missed, right here in our backyard. He never reported on Uncle Lem Ownby, the last lifetime leaseholder to reside in the Smoky Mountains. He was famous for robbing the honey from his bee hives, which he sold to tourists from all over the world. He told me the story of The Little River Railroad Company that was put in the Elkmont community to transport timber to the mill in Townsend. Uncle Lem said “If the Good Lord wanted trains, he would have put in tracks, not trees. The train derailed and killed two of my friends.”

Charles Kuralt never had the privilege of eating any of Gladys Breeden’s cooking at Gladys’ Place on Wilhite Road. She made the best fried pies this side of heaven. During Tennessee Homecoming in 1986, Gladys and Alex Haley were featured in print and television advertising.

This all came to me the other day when I met a good friend at Carol’s Market, on the corner of Old Newport Highway and Jones Cove Road. Carol Knight has run the market and restaurant for 19 years. Her first employee, Nancy, is still with her. Penny is the baby of the family, having been there just four years. When you have breakfast at Carol’s. You will always be greeted as if you too are one of their family. The food is just like at Mom’s house and you will meet all sorts of people, from Jim Bookstaff, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and local businessman, bank director and the greatest mentor and friend that anyone could ever hope to have, to Curtis Wells, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church and a farmer on Jones Cove.

I met another colorful character there the other day, Gene Simpson. We met at a Bible study that has been going on in our area for more than 17 years now. About half the stories that Gene tells began with a kernel of truth and have been embellished some over the years. Gene was a tour boat captain on the Hudson River in Hyde Park, N.Y. He also served as an elected judge for 16 years, was a bank manager, repossessed cars as an employee of GMAC, worked locally with Jim Bookstaff and owned Duffs Restaurant in Pigeon Forge.

To give you some idea as to what an interesting character Gene is, here is an excerpt from an article in the Poughkeepsie Journal from March 1, 1973. “Eugene Simpson is the branch manager of the Hyde Park Marine Midland Bank. When a teller questioned a check that a local 18-year-old was trying to cash, Simpson agreed that there was something wrong. What the youth did not know, but will long remember, is that Simpson is also a Hyde Park town justice.

“It was just before closing time when the teller brought me the check made out for $70,” said Simpson. “I asked the boy over, told him to have a seat and stay calm until the sheriff’s deputies came. I explained that I was placing him under arrest because I thought the check was forged and I explained who I was. He stayed calm but appeared rather shocked.’ Simpson arraigned the youth as deputies were taking him out the door. The charge is possession of a forged instrument.” Another “On the Road Story.”

The weather has been very hot lately, unfortunately some folks’ temperaments have matched the thermometer. Let’s look for ways to perform some random acts of kindness. The greatest thing you can do in life is to tell a young boy or girl that they’re “the very best” at something. That gives them the wonderful feeling that they can do anything, which they can!