time TRAVEL

Retracing memories on a family road trip from Alabama to Tennessee

- JENNIFER KORNEGAY

When I was 11, we moved from the low-slung landscapes of Jackson, Mississippi, to Gadsden, Alabama, resting between two dogwood-covered peaks at the tail end of the Appalachian Mountains. Montgomery, Alabama, has been my home for the last 26 years, so I'm back in the flats. But the gentle, rolling hills and lush valleys of lower Appalachia still call me, and last fall, I answered.

I planned a road trip from Gadsden to Chattanooga and then Knoxville, Tennessee, to delve into the area's offerings, culinary and otherwise. And I decided to forgo the convenience of interstates and take highways and byways instead.

Not long before I left, my dad mentioned his childhood journeys from Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, to see family in Gulfport, Mississippi, that traversed some of the same roads on my route. Anticipating the thoughts sure to spill out of Dad on a literal trip down memory lane, I invited my parents to tag along. (Plus, the addition provided me with a chauffeur; when my dad's in the car, he's at the wheel.)

Country Roads

Dad, Mom, and I leave Gadsden on a late October morning, headed to Fort Payne, Alabama, via Highway 11. Right outside city limits, Dad is reminiscing, steering a white Honda minivan but in his mind looking out the window of his dad's 1955 sky-blue Chevy Bel Air station wagon. "It had no radio, so the scenery flying by was my entertainment," he says. "And [we'd] go through all the little towns. You see where life really happens in this country." Soon, we're in the outskirts of Fort Payne, which summons a fond recollection for Dad; it was where his dad usually pulled over for a meal. "I remember the place, Cabin Kitchen, I think," Dad says. "Its front was all glass, and we'd get a booth where I could see the mountainside across the street." We find the building, but its restaurant days are long gone; now it's a doctor's office, so we continue into the city's center.