Two New State Stickers!

 

Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021

Our day started a bit inauspiciously. Joe opened the refrigerator, and a jar fell down, hit the bottom shelf (which sits over the produce drawer), and shattered it. Glass was all over the kitchen floor, inside the refrigerator door and shelves ON the door, and most of all, inside and all over the produce drawers. It took us about an hour to thoroughly sweep (5-6 times), get the chips out of the cracks in the refrigerator, and take the entire produce drawer outside, empty it, get rid of the glass, and wash it all out. What a nuisance!!

After that, though, we left to drive to Memphis. I had wanted to leave by 9:00-- due to the glass catastrophe, we left at 10:00. But soon after we got onto the interstate, I saw a sign: "Central Time Zone." AHAH! We got our hour back!

The drive itself was unremarkable, but since the most direct route was through northern Alabama and Mississippi, we got two of the four missing stickers for our map! We also maintained our record of always needing some kind of repair in every state. In Alabama, we stopped for lunch and discovered that one of the hubcaps was coming loose. So Joe fixed it. Then we had to pull over in Mississippi because we were hearing a loud thwacking noise coming from our roof, and Joe (who was the passenger--I drove the whole way) said he could see something hanging off. He climbed up and sure enough, the wide strip of rainproof tape was coming loose. I tossed him up a scissors, and he cut off the tape (which will need to be replaced asap) to stop the noise. 

 And that was the entire trip! Two new states (we also passed through Georgia briefly, but we've been there before years ago with Mo), two small repairs, and a shattered refrigerator door. We arrived at T.O. Fuller State Park in Memphis at about 5:00 local time. I had specifically reserved a site that was described as "fully shaded," but at that time of day, the sun was shining RIGHT on the parking pad, and I could see from the way the trees grew that the afternoon sun would be unimpeded by trees. So I went and spoke to the camp host, and he called the rangers, and supposedly they officially changed us to another spot I saw, which was tucked way back in the trees. It also happened to be a bit slanted (the other site was perfectly flat), which is kind of a nuisance. But I'm more worried about Cassie being cool during the day than about being perfectly level. It was brutally hot and humid all day, and leaving the air conditioned RV was like stepping into a wall of heat. Yuck!

I seem to have brought NO info with me about sightseeing in Memphis, so tomorrow we may have to be tourists and look for a tourist center. Meanwhile I will use the internet-- it's very important to find out WHICH BBQ place we'll be eating in tomorrow!

On Lookout Mountain

 Monday, Aug. 23, 2021

Our day started out not so well--I was packing up stuff into the backpack for our day of adventure, and suddenly I could not find my wallet. I looked in the backpack and it wasn't there. We looked EVERYWHERE in the RV--I knew I'd had it the night before when I stopped for ice. We ran to the convenience store and I asked inside if anyone had found it, but he said no. We came back to the RV, and I was just SHAKING. I started checking to see if my credit cards had been used... I was thinking that if I really had lost the wallet, we would have to go home today. And then--Joe found it! It was in the backpack the entire time, in an inside pocket that was virtually invisible. It slid in there instead of the main pocket. So everything was okay-- but it then took me an hour to calm down and be able to finally deal with going out.<br> 

So we packed up with lunch, sunscreen, hats, and various other needs for the day, and we took Cassie and drove up Lookout Mountain. We had two dog-friendly destinations in mind. The first was Rock City (which happens to be over the Georgia state line--the line goes right through Lookout Mountain!). This is definitely in the category of "tourist trap", in the sense that it was built in 1932 precisely to lure people up to see the amazing rock formations and gardens. The formations seemed even to early visitors to have paths between them, and they were seen as a city of "citadel." So a pathway was designed between and through the rocks, and many native plants were introduced to all the nooks and crannies. <br>

The designer was a German woman who loved her German folk tale heritage, so the different little nooks and crannies have gnomes everywhere (I am not a fan of gnomes), and there is a "fairyland cavern" with dioramas from many traditional fairy tales. That last part, we felt, was totally unnecessary and a detraction from the location. But the rocks and plants and water were gorgeous. There was soft music coming through everywhere too, and it was so tranquil, despite the tourists (but being Monday, it was probably not very crowded, and there were many times we were alone.)<br>

We really enjoyed walking the path, looking at the formations. Cassie was great--she walked ahead of us most of the time and was totally unfazed by all the steps (I kind of wish we'd brought our walking sticks, though.) We squeezed through several VERY narrow passages, walked over bridges (including a swinging bridge) and under and around the rocks. I was sorry not to get a photo of the swinging bridge, but I was so busy encouraging Cassie over it (she was SO AMAZING!) that I couldn't stop to take a photo. Definitely a big mistake! <br>

We stopped at the halfway point, which offered snacks, drinks (including a bar), rest rooms, etc. There was no restaurant service today (Monday), so the patio tables were largely empty, except for people who bought drinks. We decided to just sit there and enjoy the view and eat our sandwiches. I took a photo of the "See 7 States" rock, and the Seven States Flag Court, and the great view. We were probably there for an hour all told. After that, we continued on our way. It was about 3:00 when we got through the entire pathway, and then we stopped again for some drinks and rest time.<br>

Seven States Overlook

Balancing Rock

Seven States Flag Court

From there, we drove to the other end of Lookout Mountain to the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Historic Park.  Point Park, as that section of the park is called, overlooks the Tennessee River and is on the site where there was a huge battle in 1863, part of several which decided control over Chattanooga. The view of Chatta and the river was simply stunning! We sat for a bit, then walked around the park on the grass. There is a large monument to both sides in the war, an attempt at a "reconciliation" of sorts. But most significant is the view and the thought of how many young men were killed and wounded there during the "Battle Above the Clouds". I had about 15 minutes to spend in the visitor's center before our parking meter ran out.<br>

Painting of Battle Above the Clouds

Entryway to Point Park

Tennessee River and Chattanooga

The park has several other locations, but we were pretty tired by that time, so we drove back down the mountain and back "home." We did stop for ice cream, but the shop was closed--boo!! We had to cool off the RV, which was horribly hot inside, and then Joey made a lovely dinner of chicken on our little grill, plus peas and potatoes. And now, we need to start packing up-- we are heading to Memphis tomorrow. And, we expect to get two of our missing state stickers-- our route will take us through Alabama and Mississippi!