We had a beautiful, rumbly thunderstorm yesterday evening, the best we’ve had for a long time. It left us with about 5/8″ in the rain gauge, and it was timely, as it has been dry and hot for a few days. It certainly did break the little heat spell we’ve been having, and so was very welcome.
I want to remind everyone that the former Sugar Creek Raceway, now the Blue Ridge Motorsport Park – a 1/3 mile dirt oval, in racing parlance – is fully operational this summer. Unless you are a race fan, there’s no need to consider any real estate for a considerable distance from that vicinity. The only was to be sure is to be there on a Saturday night, when the cars are running. I’ve recently heard from someone who was misinformed about the status of the racetrack and bought a home nearby. She said it was like having airplanes land in the living room, up until midnight.
Here’s the information from the meeting on the McCaysville bypass. You can see the proposed route on Exhibit D, the 7th page, by following the line in blue. The view is looking south. The bypass takes off to the west at about Pat’s Country Kitchen, then turns north and goes over 68 on an overpass, then loops around near the company headquarters and joins 68. Tennessee has not signed off on this, but this appears to be a much better plan than the one originally proposed – and fiercely opposed. For one thing, it does not cross Fightingtown Creek. I still think that the plan proposed by Stop the McCaysville Bypass is a much better plan – improving West Tennessee and closing the steel bridge to create a pedestrian walkway – because I think it would help, rather than hurt the McCaysville business community less. But if the usually somnolent McCaysville business community cares, they certainly haven’t shown it. So I suppose this is what we’re going to get.
https://por.dot.ga.gov/projectInfo/620490-/PDF/621340_620490_PIOH%20Handout_Jun2017.pdf
Finally, I see that they are surveying for a new bridge over Hwy 5 at Curtis Switch. Unfortunately, they’ve chosen to put the bridge right over the baptising hole, which is one of the few places where the public can fish. It’s also a pretty good place for studying aquatic life. The Master Naturalist course we led this spring held two sessions there, seining the creek for native fish – we caught a Warpaint Shiner, an unidentified darter, and several trout – and gathering specimens of aquatic invertebrates. I have no idea where we can find another spot that offers the same advantages.