Just Going to See Grandma in Knoxville for the Holidays is Going to Be a Problem

That's the quote from a Charlotte Observer story on a massive rock slide which is so big, it will take about 3 months or more to clear both lanes of I-40 for safe traveling.

The Asheville Citizen-Times has lots of pictures of the huge slide, and here is a sample.



Some of the comments at this Asheville C-T report shows that some folks consider this a vast conspiracy, a sign of impending national doom, the fault of one or several groups of people who act or think or dress certain ways or a mini-earthquake. A sample:

"Seriously though, this rockslide is just the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of the Pigeon River Gorge screw-up. This all started back in the 1960s, if not earlier. The highway engineers stated that the best route for the proposed I-40 was through the French Broad River Gorge, not the Pigeon River Gorge. However, big money (especially tourism interests in both North Carolina and Tennesse) bought off the right politicians in both North Carolina and Tennessee and got this borderline disaster built through the Pigeon River Gorge. Special interests just had to get this road closer to Gatlinburg and Cherokee. It cost a million dollars a mile to build it. It is probably going to cost a million miles PER FOOT just to maintain it. What a legacy to leave future generations. Big money plus corrup- politicians equals a great big screw-up with no end in sight."

So far, I'm surprised no one has blamed the lack of prayer in schools for this event. Maybe you could just tell Grandma you were abducted by aliens.