They Came, They Saw, They Left Hungry—Adventures in Tazewell County
Pop Quiz, Tazewell County!
Q: Do you know what these are, these people standing beside the statue in front of the courthouse on Main Street?
A: Brace yourselves--they are tourists.
Both of them flew on jet planes and spent hours in cars to get here. One came from Minnesota, and the other came all the way from England. They made special plans and a special trip to tour our humble county. It was a destination site for them. They were not just passing through.
Q: What did they come here to see?
A: Tazewell ARC, the most hated rescue in town.
Q: Who brought them here?
A: Yours truly, the most hated rescuer in town.
Yep, that’s right—the very person some county officials are trying to run out on a rail may be responsible for some of the only UK money spent touring Tazewell County this year…and the sad thing is, neither GMuxx nor Jayna was able to spend anything on local business. A national chain got their coins, with the exception of one particularly efficient Sonic waiter who deserved the tip.
Q: Why did they come here?
A: Curiosity. They wanted to see where all the Facebook trolls live.
Also, they were interested in seeing for themselves what a community looks like where people think it’s okay to chain out their pets without proper shelter or dump them randomly on the side of the road or in the woods, where grouchy old men threaten to f*** me up and where “Poopgate” is actually a thing. These tourists personally visited the facility here at ARC. To quote Brave Sir Muxxy: “I have a whole new appreciation, Rhonda, for what you do with so little.”
Steve Davis Was Right
In a recent interview granted to me by a former school board member, concerns were voiced that Tazewell County lacks an existing infrastructure for tourism. “Tourism is being overplayed at the expense of a broader focus,” Mr. Davis said. After bringing real, live, money-carrying tourists here to see the sights, I have no choice but concur with that assessment.
@GMuxx saw a lot of trees. A lot, lot, LOT of trees, according to him. @Jayna saw a lot of Confederate flags. None of us have any issues with trees or Confederate flags, but those were indeed the primary subjects of touristy photo-taking. Oh—and dogs on roofs. Yeah. That happened.
Just as I predicted, the sorry conditions that dogs and livestock are kept in here both shocked and appalled. Unfriendliness—downright hostility—was noted after observing the behavior of several community members. Extreme unease was expressed when driving through a certain neighborhood. Is this really what we hope to bring tourists into, Tazewell County? Or should we keep our focus centered on restoring enough hope here that it shows with smiles when outsiders visit?
I encourage everyone to watch the video I’ve linked above. It’s not quite five minutes long, so it won’t take much of your time. Parts of it will certainly make you smile, if not laugh out loud. However, it reveals a sobering truth: tourists came here with an itinerary that included a late meal at a popular local restaurant that advertises certain hours. That ended rather badly. Do I understand why the restaurant shut its kitchen down early? On one level, yes. But few things could illustrate the point better that we simply don’t have what it takes to embrace tourism at this time. We have a long, long way to go as a community before we start putting any eggs in that particular basket.
Here, There Be Trolls
Lastly, I want to point out that this tour of Hillbilly Hell was brought to you in part by several of the most recent Facebook fiascos where I took screenshots and posted them on Steemit. We’re getting famous for our idiots, Tazewell County. It’s sad, but true. That’s a blight on our community even I don’t have suggestions to remedy. You can’t fix stupid, and you can’t legislate either morality or common sense. I’m not interested in saving face for us, or for making us “look good” when the truth is that we have deep, generational and cultural problems that have crippled both our economy and our society. I’m not sorry I brought tourists to Tazewell County. I’m glad they saw firsthand what I’m dealing with. They probably won’t be the last people who travel to this area because of Tazewell ARC. I just hope that, with time, local priorities adjust and some improvement within this community becomes apparent.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://www.authordianeryan.com/uncategorized/they-came-they-saw-they-left-hungry-adventures-in-tazewell-county/
have a tazewell county meetup and have a bunch of steemians come in with matching shirts "Rhondak for President" and just stare at people who give you crap..... oooh "Do you even know what a blockchain is?" and look at the blank expressions, hell I'd sponsor that and make an epic video of Steemian performance art
OMG, that is an epic idea!!!! LOL! Dunno about the RhondaK for President thing, but the idea is funny as heck. I'm dying here, just thinking about it.
Okay, you make me laugh 'cause you always have humour, but I'm sorry it is the way it is. I'm also glad you're shining light on something that isn't working and asking it to change. You're DOING something about it, giving a better life to many animals and being an activist for your community. Respect! 💖
Also, the video made me grin. @gmuxx "It was heavenly." Oh the giggles. ;)
Thank you. :-) That means a lot, @katrina-ariel.
I have one word for you: ATLANTA. :-) Can't wait!
I've been a tourist in your county too. I got better food, but that's yet another story or two, around that place now, eh?
Hah! Yes, indeed. We all went to Seven when you were here. And, well, Seven is now. . . guess we'll have to wait and see what happens there.
At least we had a good time with great folks. Good job on the video. And don't worry @gmuxx we have a lot more trees that we weren't able to visit. Next trip we'll get to them.
LOLOLOL!!!!
I have to say, there was not one thing I disliked about my trip to Tazewell County. Well, okay that night that the local restaurant was closed two hours early and we were so hungry we felt like we were at death's door and had to eat Sonic burgers (and their establishment was not at all clean and would have spooked most health inspectors) was a bit frustrating.
But other than that, I was amazed at the beauty of the place, and completely captivated by the local lore. What a great place for a fiction writer to live!
I do hope that there are positive changes and awareness on the horizon that improve the chances of domesticated animals living a healthy life. I saw some very concerning conditions.
One thing is for sure--we had hella fun. I enjoyed laughing with you that day so much. I certainly won't ever forget it!
We packed so much into a few short days!
It's sad to see that a place that has so much beauty potential languishing in a putrid bureaucracy and backwards local mentally.
They certanly can't see the forest for the trees. Glad muxxy was able to see the trees. :-)
Well said.
These tour experience seems interesting, a nice one for summer break.
Team Good Alpaca loves this post! Nomnomnomnom!
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