Part 3- The town of Leiper's Fork

I abandoned the Natchez Trace at The Leiper's Fork exit, and drove east toward the village through Bluegrass country. I saw many farms with the "Preserved Forever" banners. I applaud them, and I wish there was one hanging over the fence at Steveaway Farms here in Bellevue.

The Natchez Trace has brought good fortune to Leiper's Fork in the persons of cyclists and wanderers and tourists who travel the Parkway. It is what I call a "preserved village", for even contractors there build new " old houses". It has Puckett's General Store and Restaurant, and across the street the Country Boy Restaurant, where I ate grits, two eggs, a biscuit, and a slice of country ham, and talked to the waitress about the advantages of owning little dogs ,after she gave me a styrofoam box to bring home half the ham to my hounds. I assured her that the Shih Tzu has a better temperament than the Pekinese, and that I found mine at the Petco one Saturday morning after Proverbs Pet Rescue brought him in for adoption. Perhaps the waitress enjoyed talking to another woman, for other than a second waitress and a customer's very aged mother, I was one of few in a restaurant full of men. Across this earth-right now- there are cafes and restaurants where old local guys hang out, wearing their equivalent of tractor company hats and eating breakfast,and talking about how much better things would be if they ran the world.

I arrived in Leiper's Fork at 6 am, and it was quiet. By nine ,the bicyclists and motorcyclists were there, all looking for food. A friend of mine who lives in Santa Fe and takes Highway 46 home from the city says as many bicyclists use 46 as take the
Trace, for the highway goes through quiet country and is not crowded. None the less, she hates having to dodge them. She also tells another Highway 46 story of the night ice sent her car into a ditch on her way into work in Nashville. Stuck in a ditch? What better way to get out of work! Then came the Knights of the Highway in their pickups.


"We'll get you out, Honey", said the Boys, "You're a nurse! You gotta get to work!"

None of the shops in town were open, for it was Sunday. I was surprised that the guitar sculpture on the porch of one shop was left outside. People in this town were trusting. If I could have carried anything off it would have been Ben Franklin on the bench. Or maybe one of the wooden Indians. But I wanted to see gardens. And I will show you those in my following post.