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So what are you doing tomorrow morning or this weekend?

Do you like a fresh market?

Mark your calendar now….

The Tri-Cities’ largest, best, and longest-running Farmer’s Market is now open on Wednesdays and Saturdays

Downtown Kingsport.

7 am – 1 pm

Behind the Public Library

Fresh produce and handcrafted items from throughout Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia

For custom directions, go to www.mapquest.com, click “directions”, enter your address as the starting location, and use the following address as the ending location:  Shelby St & W New St Kingsport, TN

Stone Drive is Kingsport’s main federal highway (U.S. 11W) that has evolved into a commercial artery.

Relatively speaking, Kingsport doesn’t have “traffic” – not like other places – but nevertheless we have high expectations for our ability to get from “point A” to “point B” unobstructed.

First the disclaimer. 

Before anyone writes letters to the editor or otherwise gets bent out of shape, this is no way an official challenge of the city government.

Although it’s unofficial, I do speak with some authority because my parents’ residence has been just off East Stone Drive since 1976.  My own residence requires that I use East Stone Drive multiple times daily.  So, I’ve driven the route almost daily for more than 25 years (deducting the time I was away in college).

I learned to drive on East Stone Drive.  Now, my 15-year old son is doing the same (or the “Drive of Stone” as he calls it).

Now, on with the challenge.

I keep trying to impress upon my teenage son that “45 mph” is the speed limit and even if you go faster you won’t get to your destination any faster.

Why? Because the traffic signals are interconnected and computerized with a 45 mph timing plan (as is the case in most cities of substantial size, although the speed limits vary by roadway).

I have developed an educational game to illustrate my point.  It usually begins when we’re sitting at the Lynn Garden traffic signal waiting to enter Stone Drive after church.  As the light turns green, the race starts.  Hell hath no fury like a Baptist who must wait in line for Sunday dinner.  Many are out of the gates like a hare, while we’re more like a tortoise.  We pick a “zippy-zappy” car that just blew by us like sitting ducks.  We fixate on this vehicle.  Usually, it’s a foreign-made sportster or a mega-SUV. 

I set my cruise control at 45 mph and get in the middle of the 3 eastbound lanes.  Not the fast lane.  Not the slow lane.  The “just right” lane.

As we pass Jackson School, we are fast becoming a distant memory of the hare. 

By the time we reach Clinchfield Street, we’ve caught back up because the hare is stopped at the traffic signal.  As we approach the signal, it turns green.  We’re back in the game.  Our consistency is paying off. 

We make it past Gibson Mill to the “straightaway”.  The hare floors it.  Although it’s tempting, we maintain our speed of 45 mph. 

By the time we get to Idle Hour Road or Pinebrook, there it is -- our zippy-zappy “competitor” is sitting right beside us at a traffic signal.

We’ve done this for months and months – to the point that my teenage son finally acknowledges, “Dad, you may be right”.

If I get a little lead-footed, he says, “Dad, I think you’re the zippy-zappy one today” – and I back off.

Remember: 45 on East Stone Drive.  You’ll get there just as quickly (plus it’s safer and more fuel efficient, too, because you won’t be idling at the next traffic signal).

Note: Kingsport has computerized, interconnecting “closed loop” traffic signal systems on East Stone Drive, West Stone Drive, Center Street and Fort Henry Drive.