I'm a literature major and language minor, so my mandatory geography course has little interest to me. However, I am fortunate enough to have a professor who often goes off on (sometimes related) tangents and tells stories. Yesterday I heard one that I would like to share. It's about moonshine and driving - two subjects that should never be combined at the same time.
Moonshine is generally made of fermented corn where the alcohol is distilled from the water to produce a highly potent and illegal beverage. Because it is so strong, people have gone blind from drinking a lot of it. But that doesn't stop a lot of people. It's illegal and people want what they can't have, even if it doesn't taste good (not that I would know).
In order to distill the water and fermented corn, moonshiners heat it up using a still and light a fire underneath to boil it. The fire is made using wood, which of course causes smoke. That's why the majority of moonshine is made in around the Appalachian mountain range, where weather conditions are frequently foggy, thus easily hiding signs of smoke.
When moonshine is delivered and sold, it is often packaged in jars instead of barrels because they are less noticeable. Yet the weight of a lot of moonshine will make a car/truck sit lower. One solution to this is to put extra springs in the vehicle to level out the weight difference. On the other hand, the vehicles will be noticeably higher when there is not heavy cargo inside the vehicle. Either way, someone's is bound to get caught, and there are often people who try to flee in their vehicles, causing many a chase.
Strangely enough, people got a huge thrill from racing the police, driving crazy fast around winding mountain roads. Car racing became very popular as a sport in those areas as well. This lead to the creation of NASCAR racing. In fact, a large portion of the top NASCAR drivers are from the Appalachian regions known prominently for moonshine.
The end!
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