On Vacation Part 2

One of our activities during our vacation was ferroequinology-related...we visited the "stuffed and mounted" steam engine in Nashville's Centennial Park.  My outfit is typical of what I wore daily on the trip.  Everything is from the women's department.  

The steam engine was Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway J3 class #576,  built by American Locomotive Co. in 1942 and retired Sept. 2, 1952.  It accumulated 725,000 miles in freight and passenger service.  This class of J3 locomotives could handle a 15 car passenger train or a 50 car freight train in the mountains.  It is a 4-8-4 (not called a "Northern", instead a "Dixie" and because of the yellow along the belt line, nicknamed "Yellow Jacket"), and was designed by NC Superintendent of Machinery Clarence M. Darden.  Upon retirement it was donated to the City of Nashville and has been on display ever since.

Plans are to lease the engine from Nashville, and move it to the Tennessee Central Railway Museum on the Nashville and Eastern Railroad.  Once funds are raised to restore it, and the restoration is complete, the J3 will pull excursions over the 108 mile N&E, using 14 passenger cars in the museum's collection.

On the way home, we stopped at the same motel as on the way west...got a different clerk, and I was identified as male, complete with the dreaded "S" word...some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you.   And once again, we were addressed as "Ladies" at the nearby restaurant.  Not every southerner is intolerant...though it was "geezers night" and apparently some of them fit the mold.  A party of old folks nearby kept checking me out.  Oh, well...it is what it is.   Other than smiling at them occasionally, I chose to do nothing else.

On the (fortunately) few occasions I needed a potty enroute, I used the men's room, including at highway rest stops, since I didn't see any family restrooms.  There were no issues.  Though on numerous occasions, incoming men saw my long hair, stopped, and checked the sign to be sure they hadn't wandered into the women's room by mistake.  I'm used to that...

I only noted one occasion where an elderly (looked-to-be-70-something) male's eyes locked "unwaveringly" on me as we approached each other.  As we passed, I noticed him turning around to get a "side view" of me.  About 15 steps later I stopped, turned around, and he was stopped - had turned around and was still staring at me.  Of course when I turned around to look, he whirled forward and finally started tottering away.   Wonder what was going through his head?  I'll never know...but I bet his gray matter was sparking and short-circuiting!  (No, I didn't do or say anything....didn't want to be the cause of him suffering a heart attack or stroke on-the-spot!)

My take-away from this trip is that certain gender-ambiguous outfits can enhance my chances of being seen as a male, but with enough "permanent cues" such as hair, nails, purse, shaved legs, and so on, there is still sufficient femininity to cause indecision in people's minds.  Even in the "old south",  where some folks seem to be brave enough to ignore those feminine cues and risk offending a genetic woman who is a bit on the masculine side (thus doesn't fully conform to their narrow binary gender views),  I'm not seen as a guy 100 percent of the time - maybe 40-60 percent.

I can hardly wait for Mandy to be set free for a few days...July is now here, and mid-month is well on the way!

I'll leave you with a sunset picture from our son's side yard...a few clouds can sure make a humdrum sunset sing with colors!   Enjoy...

Hugs,

Mandy