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Has anyone on this list been to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee? I drove through it last month. I drove through it and drove through it and drove through it. And I drove and drove and drove and drove. Pigeon Forge is a one-street town starting about eight miles north of Gatlinburg and spread out along US-441 all the way to Sevierville (about seven miles). The "street" is six lanes, and I traveled at an average speed of four miles an hour for what seemed like several hours. Pigeon Forge is a totally artificial tourist Mecca billed as "Your Action Packed All-American Getaway," though I'm not sure what anyone is getting away from -- certainly not traffic jams. You can see it on their videos at <http://www.mypigeonforge.com/videos.asp#>. Pigeon Forge features 68 cabins, chalets, and condominiums, 87 hotels and motels, 12 campgrounds, more than 40 amusements parks, and 16 city-sponsored special events annually. I suppose we've all heard of "The Gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains," Gatlinburg (and Tammy Faye Baker), but Pigeon Forge puts Gatlinburg to shame. The point here being the seeming peculiarity of people remaining in a human-made environment right next door to a magnificent example of nature. I didn't do any research on this issue -- and I'll readily defer to anyone who has -- but I got the distinct impression that the people who stay in Pigeon Forge either never go into the mountains and just drive through them (as I stayed in the mountains and just drove through Pigeon Forge). USAers (as do many peoples) have always displayed a tension between culture and nature; on the one hand wishing to use their culture (technology) to obliterate, subdue, and exploit nature, and on the other hand wanting to preserve, enjoy, and worship nature. (A classic on this theme is Leo Marx's 1964 The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America.) Who has done some transcultural research on such issues? Any comments? Robert.