Hey… I will drive a thousand miles just see you smile! And jump in my truck and play taxi!! And then Glowforge, and then Taxi once again! Pump our arm muscles at all the truck drivers and make them honk on the way to and fro! It would be fun!!!
That’s just about how far it is! 
Y’all just take lots of pictures when you get together…and I want to see what everyone makes.
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@aquila421 and I would be down - someday! Also, I love Troy the Maker’s YT channel!! So cool he’s close!
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The Home Depot is 3 miles from home. I have been shopping there for 21years. For nearly a year, they cut the wood for the GF.
A couple months ago, the two lumber employees told me something absolutely SHOCKING!!
“ I am the only person who gets wood cut for a laser machine. I am the only person they know who owns a laser machine. They had also had never had a phone or in person conversation about products for a laser machine.”
I do not think any of those “600” Tennessee owners live near me— so they might be living in Rocky Top.
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To be fair, the experience of two lumber employees at HD is hardly a good benchmark. I have only once purchased wood at HD for laser use and I didn’t tell them what I was using it for. I don’t like the quality of wood there for what I’m doing. Plenty of people cut down their own wood, others purchase it from other places, and then there are all of the materials that aren’t available at HD (or that you wouldn’t discuss with an employee before buying). Some people don’t cut wood or acrylic at all, but use leather or paper or other things entirely. I don’t know how many laser users are in your area, but I know for a fact that my HD has no idea that I have one.
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You are correct. I also have had conversations with dozens of Home Depot customers and they had no idea what a laser machine was used for. Only one lady knew about the Glowforge.
I only had one friend that knew what a laser machine was before I made the purchase. He helped me make the decision to purchase the GF. I told Rob “I will just buy the $300 laser from Amazon.” Immediately Rob said “Those are Windows based!”
I learned about the GF through a YouTube commercial. So apparently people in Knoxville do not watch YouTube craft or any type of creative hobby videos.
I go to nearly every single craft show and festival there has never been anyone selling any type of laser art except a couple from Memphis who own a commercial laser machine and their specialty is engraved guns and AR-15 magazines. So I believe that are not many laser machines in the part of Knoxville I call home.
When I saw the beginning of this thread, I wanted to say “I’m in New York, but I’d drive to Tennessee for hot chicken and Glowforge… after the pandemic is definitely over.” I think the rest of my thoughts have already been expressed more clearly by others, so I’ll leave it at that.
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I guess all the other savvy Knoxville laser cutters are purchasing their supplies elsewhere!
Most people I talk to stare at me blankly when I talk about laser cutting. Some of these folks have seen my machine in action and still can’t wrap their heads around it. This is basically the norm in my life, though, so I don’t pay much attention any more. My hobbies often fall outside of the mainstream or ahead of the curve.
This is probably good news to you. If everyone were suddenly cutting their wood down into GF-sized pieces, I suspect HD would put a stop to that pretty quickly.
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If you ever make it to Knoxville I will cook you hot chicken, fried green tomatoes and the best corn bread you will ever eat. How do you feel about tomato pie with onion jam?
You will not leave my house until you have gained 5 lbs.
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I’m in Tennessee.
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Hi There! I am a former Nashville resident and now live in Kingsport TN! It’s a little bit of a drive, but I’m game whenever the GF party happens!
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I learned about tomato pie in Atlanta and thought it was just about the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten. Looked up the recipe and nearly fell over from heart attack!
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Southern cooking is very flavorful because it is filled with a lot of fat.
I only make tomato pie one time a year that is in the month of July. I use cherry tomatoes, 2 different types of cheese and miracle whip.
I have a chicken and dumplings recipe that was given to me about 15 years ago and it came from an old southern Grandma. That recipe uses six sticks of butter. This is another recipe that is only made once a year.
In the summer I plant different varieties of cherry tomatoes. This is a picture from a few years back. This is a 10 quart pot and in the summertime I will get four of these during the growing season.
Those little cherry tomatoes are like a little burst of candy. I pick one and then eat one. By the time the bucket is filled I have eaten 20 or 30 of them. I did not grow cherry tomatoes this summer. 
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Sounds like fun to me. (Hendersonville) I apologize for not being very active here, both myself and wife have been lucky/unlucky to have been essential. Ha! I’ll make it a point to check in. (Oh, and I enjoy Troy’s videos though I didn’t realize he is local) I’m “down” any time since this will likely all be u important in a couple of weeks. 
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"Gimme a T for Texas , gimme a T for Tennessee " (I did my MOS training at Hood)
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Awesome! Good team there! We’re about to get our two days of Fall.
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I worked on a huge project at Ft. Hood! We built 13 acres of Iraq for “The Long Road Home”. Such awesome people there.
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YAY!!! Add to the list!
And of course it will not be any time in the next month or two .
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yummmm
Tomato Pie is the best!!!
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