Episode 3631

- [Announcer] "Tennessee Crossroads" is made possible in part by...

- [Phil] I'm Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham. Here in Cookeville, Tennessee's college town, we are bold, fearless, confident, and kind. Tech prepares students for careers by making everyone's experience personal. We call that living wings up. Learn more at tntech.edu.

- This time on "Tennessee Crossroads," we go to a Henry County barbecue destination, then meet up with a Nashville surreal photographer, we'll discover the mission of a special farm in Christiana. and finally, go for a soaring adventure at Lookout Mountain Flight Park. Well, I hope you stay parked for the next 30 minutes, it's time for "Tennessee Crossroads". I'm Joe Elmore, welcome. When you think of Paris, France, barbecue's probably not the food that comes first to mind, but Paris, Tennessee, well, that's a completely different story. Laura Faber headed west to Henry County and found some of the best home-cooked barbecue around.

- [Laura] The smoking almost never stops off Mineral Wells Avenue in Paris, Tennessee.

- [Patrick] It just be smoking, just like you seeing right now. It goes six days a week, only thing stops on Sunday.

- [Laura] This is not smoke from a fire that requires first responders, this fire is smoking meat nice and slow, pork, chicken, ribs, and beef brisket.

- [Patrick] And we cook our baked beans out here too.

- [Laura] This is Patrick Perry of Perry's Barbecue and Catering in business since 2013.

- It started when I was in Humboldt. We had a church basketball league and I used to cook ribs and chicken. Then, after I started cooking ribs and chicken, then at work I used to carry people food and sell food at work at lunchtime. And I've been cooking family reunion and church all my life so that's how I. I've been cooking all my life since I was a kid. Making cakes when I was seven. So, it's just in me the cooking, yeah.

- [Laura] Patrick worked in the restaurant business for a long time for someone else and learned a lot.

- Thank you for calling Perry's, how may I help you?

- [Laura] But his wife April says, the motivation to open their own restaurant came when they were looking for extra money so their daughter could attend culinary school. It didn't hurt that Patrick can cook.

- I was a hundred pounds lighter before I met him. I'm not the cook, he's the cook. And so, yes, he's exceptional, he is exceptional. How you doing? That's gonna be 7.63, love.

- [Laura] Perry's Barbecue offers buffet style, plate meals with a twist, you pay once, but can go back for seconds, thirds, all you can eat.

- [Woman] Are y'all dining in or taking out?

- Yeah, we're gonna dine in.

- Well, our all-you-can-eat buffet includes dessert, come back for seconds, thirds, fourths, whatever.

- [Laura] All their sides are homemade, like the fried cornbread. The baked beans are not your average baked beans, they are actually cooked out in the smoker. The potato salad comes from a family recipe, so does the coleslaw. But it's the barbecue that keeps people coming back. The ribs, my favorite, beef brisket, chicken, bologna, and pulled pork, 1,200 pounds a week.

- [Patrick] Yeah, they come for the barbecue. Yeah, and the baked beans-

- The pulled pork.

- And pulled pork.

- Pulled pork.

- [Laura] I mean, so that is the number one seller.

- Number one seller.

- Yeah, number one seller. We are known for our barbecue. We have won 10 times.

- [April] We have a Reader's Choice awards here, sponsored by the local Paris Post-Intelligencer and we won since we been open for the best barbecue in Henry County.

- [Laura] Longtime customers, Kathy and Larry Ray are regulars for a reason.

- It truly is the best. Very good. And all their sides are homemade too. And you know, I was telling you about the fried cornbread and all the desserts and you know, those are just different things that you don't get everywhere.

- It's the best, I mean, you know, you can't say it enough. They don't chop it up, they pull it off. So, they don't chop up the skin and the gristle and that type thing all some restaurants do. So, it's all fresh and pulled. And I had the sandwich today, I just love it.

- Now, Patrick won't reveal everything about his barbecue but when it comes to the meat, he did tell me two things, it's all about the wood and the smoke. Patrick uses two kinds of wood for smoking, hickory is one, the other is a secret. And there are many other Perry family secrets Patrick holds tight. Secret ingredients in his famous banana pudding, the number one dessert seller, and his own sauce, they sell and ship.

- That's something that is not in the recipe book.

- [Laura] And it's on the sweeter side, right?

- Yes, yes.

- It's not spicy.

- It's a sweet, ketchup-based and he has one that's hot as well, it's got a little heat. He loves anything hot, so, what's little heat to him is not right, okay? I tell him that's just too hot. But the people that like hot, they love it.

- [Laura] The Perry's have another restaurant in Camden, a food truck too, and have a hugely successful catering business. At home, they have a full-service catering kitchen.

- For me in Paris, 'cause I used to have a lot of jobs. I used to work at the factory, the funeral home, the school system, had a lawnmower business. Everybody I had worked for, we have catered everybody in Henry County from the National Guard people, from my school system, to the factory. Ain't nobody we hadn't catered.

- [Laura] There is something special when you combine friendly service and true homemade southern recipes to go with barbecue that melts in your mouth. Patrick and April Perry are proud to feed their hometown, a community that has supported them from the beginning. They couldn't be more grateful.

- [April] I love the people, I love serving, I just love serving, and I love our customers.

- I love Henry County, 'cause it is so, it's friendly. You know, I just love Henry County 'cause they have really treated me good all my life.

- Thanks, Laura. Since the invention of photography around 1830, photographic science has rapidly evolved, even in our lifetime. Now, how many young people today remember loading a film camera and taking pictures they wouldn't see for days? Well, today, thanks to digital photography, the camera has unlimited creative possibilities. Well, just ask Kate Harrold. She uses her lens in the world of surreal photography. When Kate Harrold takes a picture, she sees more than what's in the viewfinder. She focuses on a part of what will be a fusion of images. It's all part of the wild world of surreal photography.

- I'm usually trying to think about the person in the image and what's going on in their head and their imagination and how I can translate that. So, that's why I have kids in a lotta my pieces, because kids have these huge imaginations and when they play, they go, you know, who knows where they go. So I try to think about that and try to put that on paper.

- [Joe] In surreal photography, otherwise believable scenes and situations are transformed into waking dreams, even hallucinations. The results are often achieved by combining unrelated elements to create surprising and even humorous combinations.

- [Kate] As much as possible, I'm shooting every element, even the ark, which has Venice Beach with all the animals across it, I shot most of those animals at the zoo here.

- [Joe] Kate says, her style draws inspiration from the boundless imagination and curiosity of childhood. This piece, by the way, is called "Shipwreck."

- [Kate] I liked the idea of like, just the little piece of tentacle coming above the water and grabbing the kid's boat. So, they have their boats on strings. So, in their imagination below the water this gigantic octopus is just like lurking and playing with them.

- [Joe] Kate and her husband Jason often travel to capture images for future projects. Although last year, COVID put a stop to that. In fact, she says the pandemic inspired her to create this surreal work called, "Hold On."

- [Kate] I didn't know what was going on and I wanted to create that feeling of like, everything just up in the air. But the women I used in the image, their feet are still on the ground and they're holding the house down. And so, when the wind dies down everything will settle and you know, you move on from there. That is "Where the Sidewalk Ends," so it's based off of Shel Silverstein's poem. So, I used that as the inspiration and then I started figuring out how I could piece that together and build a sidewalk that falls apart. And I put the dirt underneath and then I added all these little details, like a bird's nest with birds flying from it underneath the sidewalk. And my dog Lucy is falling through the manhole.

- [Joe] Assembling many little pictures within a big picture is a meticulous process. Well, of course, a lot of help from Photoshop. But finally, there's the last step, capturing that work on paper.

- [Kate] I print it really big and do like an edition of 10, and those are the pieces I'll hang on the wall. And then I'll also print some smaller pieces in a larger edition and sell them as more accessible prints.

- [Joe] She and Jason own this little gallery near Five Points in East Nashville, where they display and sell their works. And when time allows, she sells at various art shows around the country.

- It's fun, you know, people always say it's like something they've never seen before, and when kids come in my booth, it's really fun because they're just like, "Whoa, why is that happening? And is that real?" And it's like, each of my pieces kinda tells a story. So, it's fun to see people react to it and try to put the story together.

- [Joe] Kate Harrold could have taken the traditional path to professional photography, but her mind's eye seems to focus on more than conventional pictures. With surrealism, she can share dreamlike scenarios with her audience and stimulate their imaginations way beyond the picture frame.

- [Kate] I want them to be inspired and I want them to smile. And I think, because there's kids in a lotta pieces it feels nostalgic a lot and sometimes that brings people back even as an adult looking at it. Any kinda response is good. If there's no response at all that means there's something wrong with your piece.

- Have you ever noticed how walking the peaceful pastures of a farm can make your troubles melt away? Miranda Cohen takes us to a farm in Rutherford County where you can get to know some very special barnyard animals.

- [Jay] When you walk on the property there's an energy that you feel. It's just peaceful, it's just calming. You know, we can say an exhale.

- [Miranda] Jay Weiner is quick to point out that he is the co-founder of the Gentle Barn. The original Gentle Barn was founded by his wife Ellie Lacks in California in 1999. He started volunteering at the farm and he's not quite sure if he fell in love with the animals or with Ellie Lacks first.

- We had some abuse in our lives and we had things that weren't good that animals healed and we were both sort of saved by animals as children. And we both wanted to give that back.

- [Miranda] Fast forward 15 years, the couple learned of a cow in need in Tennessee named Dudley. Faced with the dilemma of how to get an injured cow across the country, they found the perfect solution.

- [Jay] So, we started looking and we came across this amazing, incredible, beautiful place. And this is 40 acres and it allows us to do the work we need to do. We've got three barns and a house for people to come and stay at to visit, pastures and enough room for the animals to graze and move about.

- [Miranda] The Gentle Barn is located in Christiana in Rutherford County, and it is the only farm animal sanctuary in middle Tennessee.

- [Jay] So, we'll go in and we'll hug a cow. And around them it's a fly mask.

- Oh, okay.

- And what it does is it has a couple different purposes. Number one is that it keeps the flies away from their eyes.

- Oh, okay. But they can see through it?

- They can see through it, it's like a screen door and it also shades the sun. We have cows, we have horses, pigs, we have some goats, we have turkeys, and chickens.

- [Miranda] All of the beloved animals at the Gentle Barn have been rescued and have unique stories of their own. Myles and his mother Maybelle were saved from abuse and neglect at a dairy farm. Lolly suffered frost bite on her feet and ears after being left outside in the cold. She, along with her parents, Minnie Mae and Merlin are now thriving in these beautiful green pastures. And as you can see, nothing is slowing Lolly down.

- [Jay] The fact that she lives a normal life and loves her life and loves her family and plays and all those kinds of things is inspiring to someone who comes to the Gentle Barn in a wheelchair.

- [Miranda] A handsome rooster named Rick Springfield was found running around at the Nashville Airport. And a bright and curious turkey named Luke Skywalker round out the flock party. But it's not all leisure and play. These gorgeous creatures have an important job. They are helping people learn to deal with their own issues, get beyond abuse or abandonment, and see things a little differently.

- [Jay] We really wanna show people how beautiful animals are. And how they're just like us. I think that where that comes from is this preconceived notion that our domesticated animals that we have in our homes with us all the time are the only ones that understand us or that we can have a connection with. But I'm here to tell you that, you know, you can play ball with the cows, you can, you know, cuddle with the turkeys. You know, there's so many different things that animals of all different kinds show us. And we wanna share that message. So, we work with our animals to heal them from the abusive or neglectful stories that they come in with, and then we connect them with the children and people of the community that need them.

- One of the most amazing things that you can do here at the Gentle Barn is called cow hug therapy. These gentle beauties are quite the cuddlers and you can actually come and snuggle with them. And founder Ellie Lacks says it best, "You can't have a bad day after hugging a cow."

- [Jay] So cow hug therapy started at the beginning of the Gentle Barn in 1999. As far as we know, were the first ones to be doing it.

- [Miranda] Even everyone of the "Crossroads" crew had to give it a try.

- [Jay] They're able to one-on-one come out to the Gentle Barn and have this experience with a cow that is so warm and inviting and caring and nurturing that they just have these profound experiences.

- [Miranda] What you will see and feel at the Gentle Barn is tenderness, love, and compassion. In these beautiful faces, you will never see fear, loneliness, or worry about the future. These gentle souls will live out their lives here working with adults and children. They are living proof that there is hope for the future.

- [Jay] But when we're talking to a child who feels isolated and alone and isn't being cared for and was neglected or abused, that story in the connection between them is healing in and of itself. So, once we introduce them to the animal what you'll see often is a petting that'll happen and they'll be saying to the horse, you know, "Don't worry, you're gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay." And they're really talking to themselves.

- [Miranda] So whether you are an animal lover, just along for a day of farm fresh air, or come to see and love on these beautiful farm animals, don't be surprised if you walk away feeling a little more loved on yourself.

- [Jay] We've just seen these children and adults go through these monumental life changes within hours of being here. I think that there's an energy about this property and about the work that we do and about the calmness and care of the animals and the staff that works here that I think provides a place and a way for them to have an exhale or release or a breath.

- Since the dawn of time people have dreamed of flying. Now sure, you can hop on an airliner anytime you like, but that doesn't give you the sensation you'll get at our next destination. Cindy Carter took to the wild blue yonder near Chattanooga a while back, and jumped off a perfectly good mountain for some reason.

- [Cindy] The view from atop Lookout Mountain is breathtaking, but for those who want to up the ante, the view is even more thrilling when you're just hanging out among the clouds.

- [Rebecca] It's pretty, pretty magical.

- [Cindy] And hang gliding magic is something Rebecca Taylor experiences every chance she gets.

- I love that first couple moments of the flight when you have your hang glider on your back and when your feet are lifting up off the ground. That's what kind of got me hooked was just the first couple inches of flight. It's absolutely magical having a pair of your very own wings.

- Morning.

- Morning, how are you? Welcome to Flight Park, how's it going?

- [Customer] Good, how are you?

- [Cindy] Rebecca, helps hundreds of people earn their wings at the Lookout Mountain Flight Park just outside of Chattanooga.

- Both you guys are going up today?

- [Cindy] This hang gliding and paragliding school teaches students of all ages how to soar through the sky high above the Tennessee Valley.

- [Rebecca] On average, it takes about seven to 10 days to learn how to fly a hang glider by yourself.

- [Cindy] Instead of training wheels, beginners have training hills, where they put their new skills into practice over and over.

- Eventually go from our small hill to our big hill and pretty soon right off the ramp.

- Clear.

- Yo! Whew!

- [Cindy] And Rebecca says, once pilots start stepping off ledges like this, they are also stepping into a community of like-minded, free-flying, fearless folk.

- You can call people up, stay at people's houses, or say, "Hey, I'm going to France, do you know anybody?" "Yeah, sure, here's my friend Peter." So, it's a worldwide community because of this one sport linking us all together.

- All right, I'm gonna get down next to you here.

- Okay.

- [Cindy] For those not quite ready to go it alone, tandem flights are a more mainstream and popular option. The Flight Park does a few thousand of these every year.

- I'm joining the Peace Corps tomorrow, so this is like, my adventure before my adventure

- [Cindy] For tandem flight adventures, students like Addison Bird are strapped to the pilot instructor.

- And then your other hand is gonna hold on right there.

- [Cindy] They're both then secured to the glider, which is tethered to a small plane.

- All right, Ad, you feeling ready?

- I'm ready.

- All righty.

- [Cindy] The plane takes the glider up, up and away, about 3,000 feet before cutting it loose.

- A lotta of people think that we're going up there and doing something that's gonna be really terrifying or really shocking, something like that. But we can make it exciting, we can make it pretty scary if we want to, but most people are pretty surprised with how calm it is.

- They're like pulling you and you like feel it, like the tension, and then they let go and it was awesome, awesome.

- [Cindy] Notice we referred to Addison as a student, that's because these aren't just thrill rides.

- Is everything good?

- Yes, a little tight on my neck. Before anyone goes up, students receive a roughly 10-minute tutorial on how to fly the glider.

- As long as you're moving through the air at enough speed to keep the wing flying at the right nose angle it'll fly.

- You don't really feel like you're doing it, but yep, you're flying.

- [Cindy] Yeah, maybe, but I just had to find out for myself.

- Face back forward, woo hoo!

- Woo! Once locked in, instructor Ted reinforces that hang gliding flight 101.

- To make this go faster, bring yourself forward. That's faster, as you let go it slows us down. If you wanna turn one way or the other, if you wanna go this way, you just wanna bring your full body over this way. Yeah, now bring your shoulders over too.

- Oh.

- Just like, you feel that?

- Oh, yeah.

- Moving your weight over.

- Yeah. Sky still looks good. Wind is right. Time for take off.

- Here we go.

- Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

- We're rolling.

- Oh, it's the runway.

- And we're flying.

- Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! That is so cool. As cool as take off is, and it's pretty cool, nothing beats the view from above, where Ted is quick to point out landmarks and the beautiful birds who've decided to fly with us.

- One right there, oh, man. Oh, that's pretty awesome. Usually they don't let you get that close. That's really cool.

- [Cindy] Once we cut loose from the plane, Ted and I are on our own and the teacher lets the student take the wheel, or in this case the control bar

- The lighter you grip on it the more control you have.

- The experience is everything our friends have described, thrilling, cool, peaceful, present, humbling, and yeah, awesome. Like a lot of outdoor sports this tends to be male dominated but when you're up in the air, we are all equal and Ted has made me feel great.

- [Rebecca] The joke is like, to fly like a girl is actually to your benefit because women can be really nimble. We're not muscling things around. So, usually women in flight, we can definitely give the boys a run for their money.

- [Cindy] Since the Wright Brothers folks have longed to soar above the Earth using rising air currents and thermals to stay aloft. This is amazing. Just like the birds or kites or even Superman.

- Huh! Whoa! Well done, thank you.

- [Cindy] And when a hang gliding flight finally does come to an end you can't help but wonder, when will I get another chance to defy gravity and just hang out for a while among the clouds?

- Well, that I'm afraid will be the end of our episode this week, hope you enjoyed it, hope you join us next time. Oh by the way, have you tried that new PBS video app? You should, you can watch all your favorite shows anytime, anywhere. Check out our website, follow us on Facebook. We'll see you next week.

- [Announcer] "Tennessee Crossroads" is made possible in part by...

- [Phil] I'm Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham. Here in Cookeville, Tennessee's college town, we are bold, fearless, confident, and kind. Tech prepares students for careers by making everyone's experience personal. We call that living wings up. Learn more at tntech.edu.