Letter: Thank you for your kind hospitality, Travelers Rest!

To the Editor:

I'd like to say what a joy it was experiencing the total solar eclipse in your wonderful town.

We were three old army veterans who served together in Berlin,Germany, in the late 70s. One drove down from New Jersey to my home in Kingsport, Tenn., and we rode together to Travelers Rest to meet the third guy from Spartanburg.

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The eclipse was secondary to our reunion until we started meeting all the great people at Poinsett Park. It was amazing how strangers from all over the eastern part of the USA interacted like family having a get together in the park. We hadn't been able to find eclipse glasses and had resigned ourselves to missing most of it when a friendly Travelers Rest policeman stopped and ask if anybody needed glasses. That really sealed the day for us.

It was truly an awesome experience to watch with so many people who were struck speechless by what we were watching. Then in the blink of an eye it was over and everyone was left feeling a special bond to our new friends. It seemed as if nobody wanted it to be over and we lingered, not wanting to close the door on the day.

I'll never forget that afternoon in Travelers Rest. I have passed through your town many times in the past 45 years without giving it a second thought, but it will always be special to me from now own.

What a great bunch of people you have there!

Thank you for your kind hospitality, Travelers Rest!

Tom Pierson, Kingsport, TN

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