Freezing in Knoxville Tennessee

Part one of our trip is done, and I'd love to tell more about it but I am quite literally freezing in Knoxville, TN. The hostel itself, simply called the Knoxville Hostel is a quaint little house in a small college town and was our refuge last night from 12+ hours on the road. The manager/owner, who is by far the nicest person I've ever encountered in all of my 24 years (it was so much like talking to an old friend that I never stopped to ask him his name), stayed awake to great us at 2 am in the morning in his wine colored bathrobe, show us where the toast and jam was before letting us know that he would only be charging us 2.50 less a piece than the cost of the room. He hasn't yet charged us and let us know that he'd be off to church in the morning (we're still unsure of when to pay and if we should leave before he returns, but we were much too tired to ask).

To say the place is quaint would be an understatement, thought not derisively. Its more like stopping at the house of a family friend, filled with lived in clutter and books and mail and dirty dishes. The bedrooms in the girls dorm have two plain white frame bunk beds with the plaid sheets that I remember from plenty of college students beds (mine were covered in hot pink lips, thank you very much). With a covered fire place and a mirror above. There were extra many extra blankets and robes maybe left behind from other guests. (They seem to not throw anything away so there are lots of things left over from guests before including a charger so that my cousin could charge her phone.) There seem to be a million things going on in every surface of the place and its the type of environment that one finds which inspires them to place an entire scene in, to invent characters to act and react within the very specific nuances of the space. If I were to write a scene here I would definitely keep him, the manager, as a pivotal point of reference, since he somehow ties this whole place together.

But like I said, its morning now and there seems to be no heat, making taking a shower a horrible prospect. Getting up to blog was sort of a stretch and now my hands are cold and I'm ready to get back on the road. Its late and we should have left by now. When I return, time permitting, I'll post all about the trek through Texas, Arkansas (sorry D, it was an unexpected change and I would have called you had I not left so late), and most of Tennessee.