This weekend was the Stomp in Knoxville. The Stomp is an annual Tennessee derby conference where the three existing teams in TN (Memphis, Knoxville, Nashville) play each other and have fun mini-challenges. Our league started it last year, and next year I assume memphis will be hosting. In future years perhaps we will see fledgling Johnson City and Chattanooga leagues participating!

I am under financial restrictions, self imposed. I used some hotel reward points for the room (fancy!), and rode with the Splatters (I paid for a tank of gas which was considerably less expensive than it would've been for me to drive myself and pay for a hotel).

During Saturday's bouts Memphis won two, Knoxville won one, and Nashville won zero. I don't remember the exact scores but they should be on the Nashville Rollergirls site within a few days. Parting was done but not by me as we had our first B-team bout the next day! I took a long walk through downtown Knoxville with Macy for food and some alcohol. there was an abandoned home fenced off but I REALLY wanted to explore. Clearer heads (Macy's) prevailed so I skipped it. It was dark and my picture didn't really turn out but others have taken pictures--the boarded up windows and doors were covered in art (from flickr, not taken by me):



More from flickr (not taken by me):

Cape Sale with a little more of the house (and check out the artist's page.
From the front
Freaky
Whimsy

Later, at the liquor store, we were told that the building was definitely haunted by the spirit of a young boy who was abused and later died in the house.

So, our B-team took on Johnson City--except that it was only a few JC folk and mostly Knoxville girls, including a couple of girls who had played the day before on their All-Stars team. Hardly seems fair (there was more unfairness but it was rumor so I will not post it here), but at any rate we ended up winning. Again, don't remember the score, but again, check the site in a couple of days.

I missed the mini-challenges (saw a tiny bit of Amazons vs Shorties) because I really wanted to stop at the two French's (Frenches's? French'ses?) in Crossville as these are the originals and they seem to be the best! Yes, there are two stores, both on Main right off of 40, catty-corner to one another. One carries western wear and boots, one carries regular shoes, both have large rack rooms. The Splatters both seemed interested so I wanted to strike while the iron was hot and while the store was still open. I was less impressed this time around but that's ok, I still walked away with a pair of Indigo by Clarks (does this make me old?). There is also another further up 40, but we did not stop there.

I did get home, dog under the kitchen table (no, he was not there over night alone, he stayed with my parents). Off to bed.

Labels: roller derby, travel