We try to eat most of our meals at home. If we are going to make the effort to go out, we like to make it special. In March of 2017 we had only been in our house on the farm for a month and we were still exploring the fun unique restaurants in our area. It had been raining all weekend and we had been cooped up in the house for far too long. Even though it was still rainy, we ventured out on a Saturday night. Our destination was Nett’s Country Store in Santa Fe, Tennessee.
According to my phone’s GPS it’s twenty minutes from our house, but that night it took closer to forty. GPS didn’t tell us about the road that goes through the creek. We would have forded the river Oregon Trail style, but like I said, it had been raining. Something else I should mention is that cellular reception is pretty spotty the further you go into the country. We were lost, in the dark, and without our GPS crutch. Our only known way out was through a creek twice as deep as it usually is. I’m so glad we powered through and found an alternate route. When we pulled into the small gravel parking lot of Nett’s we noticed our phones not only had no bars, they actually said “No Service.” It was a welcomed break from technology.
When we walked into the nostalgic looking country store, we heard letters and numbers being called out. We realized we had walked into bingo night! All four of us perked up as the waitress handed us our cards. We would have kept coming back just for the bingo, which we found out happens every second Saturday of the month. But we also would have (and frequently do) come back for the food alone. Terrific burgers, catfish on the weekends, and some meat and three options on Sundays. Don’t get me started on the homemade desserts!
This past weekend was our one year anniversary of the night we found Nett’s. Since that night we have been back many times and have gotten to know almost all of the employees. It’s a serene drive through the country to get there, and if you don’t already live out in the country like we do, it’s a straight shot down Leiper’s Creek Road. It’s definitely worth any navigational struggles we have endured.
