If it weren’t for the presence of the best grocery store ever, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I would visit Knoxville’s Turkey Creek shopping district in a year. Sadly, as it is I find myself visiting at least once a week. If you aren’t familiar with Turkey Creek, there is probably a similar place somewhere in your nearest metropolitan area. It is, for all intents and purposes a shopping mall without the convenience of a mall. It is a miniature city unto itself, complete with the sprawl. The whole area, which must be around 50 acres to my knowledge contains but one crosswalk, thus forcing the shopper to get in their car and drive from shop to shop, rather than walking. This type of development is a sad trend I have noticed in just about every sizable city I have visited. For added enjoyment, all this driving also increases the amount of time spent waiting in traffic, which if you know me is one of my least favorite past-times ever. But I digress…

I ventured out to Turkey Creek this evening (rather than this morning) to test a theory. There was a UT Football game tonight, and banking on my experience with the campus-area ghost-town phenomenon during games I decided to do my shopping during this window. The only waiting I had to do the entire trip was at traffic lights (up at the light). I now know when I will do my shopping on game-days from this point forward. I have never been so glad that I bleed red rather than orange.

—d