Greetings from Tennessee, or as we have been asked to pronounce it here Tin-a-seeee. We are trying to blend in, but the Hawaiian shirt on me, the Florida causal attire on the Mrs. and the complete set of baggage and gear makes it hard. The locals have been kind, saying things like "Ah all y'all frim aroun' heah"? I think they are just being hospitable. What they really mean is "I see.,,, we come and clog your town in the winter, so you feel a right to clog ours in the summer! Just buy your trinkets and get back where you came from!". But when they go to move their lips, the strict and venerable rules of southern hospitality make that tought come out as "Ah all y'all frim aroun' heah"? It's very pleasant.
So, we hit the road late today. Road laziness and the fact that we criss-crossed the Eastern/Central time zone so many times yesterday that we couldn't figure out what time it was conspired to give us both motivation and excuses to say "let's just read and drink coffee for a while longer". So we did. Eventually we left the Lake Cumberland State Resort Park on the shores of Lake Cumberland. Very interesting place.
We drove along the north shore of the lake heading generally west and eventually we came to the cause of the lake. It looks like this:
En route to Chattanooga the terrain steadily changed and (in my opinion of terrain) became more beautiful. Eventually we hit hills that were the biggest and steepest we have seen since Wyoming. We climbed from 800' above sea level to over 2,000'... twice.. in just a few miles each time. The truck and trailer said "we've seen worse" (although the downgrade of 8% at one point matched the steepest grade we saw previously which was on the descent from the Big Horn National Forest in Wyoming onto the plains near Buffalo, WY.
We are camped tonight on the shores of Chicamauga Lake at Harrison Bay State Park. When I say "on the shores" I might better say "over the edge" of Chicamauga Lake. With the rear hatch on this particular Airstream, we prefer campsites that allow us to back to water and enjoy both the view and the privacy that affords. Naturally, I picked just such a site when I booked this reservation. There wasn't a picture, but I could tell it was our type of site. In fact, the site is a raised platform within a retaining wall. We literally backed up so the steps to the Airstream take us on and off the retaining wall and the back of the trailer is over water. I'll take a pic in the morning to show you. We could literally open the hatch, drop a line and catch breakfast. Oh... we could do that if two things changed: 1. Either of us found a miniscule amount of inclination to go fishing and 2. the fires of hell (which must be nearby somewhere or it wouldn't be so damn hot) were quenched enough to allow us to open the hatch instead of running the AC with every opening of the trailer sealed to keep out the heat and humidity. Let's face it. The fires of hell might be quenched, but there is no chance at all that either of us is going to find the desire to fish.
So, we dropped the trailer, got the AC fired up, left water and food for the dogs and headed to town. Chattanooga, Tin-a-seeeeee. I am sure there must be a quiet, old, historic part of Chattanooga where magnolia lined streets and sidewalks shade southern ladies and gentlemen as the stroll from shop to restaurant which admirable gentility. We didn't find that part of Chattanooga. The part where every imaginable national chain store, restaurant, fast food joint and commercial institution has placed its local outlet in a 2 mile section of road that was attempting to handle twice the traffic it was designed for. This place could be relocated to the Disney property in Orlando as "Commercial Tomorrowland from Hell!". The Disney imagineers could create a greater than lifesize animatronic Walt Disney to place at the entrance and proclaim "So... .you people complained that the Magic Kingdom was too much of a fantasy and my efforts to create the happiest place on earth was over the top, eh? Well take this suckas... Chattanooga-land!" and he could cackle like Vincent Price is a 1950s horror movie as each visitor walked in to face retail and gastronomic hell! He's already perfected the long waiting lines at the Magic Kingdom, so I'm sure they can mimic the road conditions we experienced.
Oh... and Chicamauga Lake is... you guessed it... man made. Isn't this a great country? We have so much land, resources and initiative that we can say "Let's take that huge piece of ground over there and drown it along with the towns and buildings on it" and we did. Of course, we can't do that any more. There might be a rare ant or subspecies of poison ivy that could never recover. Heaven forbid.
Anyway, after eating and shopping (I said I didn't enjoy the Chattanooga experience... not that we didn't partake in it's offerings) we headed back to the park and the trailer. Chattanooga came at the right time for us. It made us realize it's time to get home where we have chosen a place that is right for us (and isn't the Chattanooga of Florida) but it also caused us to reflect on some of the wonders of places we've been like Cabool, Missouri and Buffalo, Wyoming. We've see some real contrast to the spreading Chattanooga-ism that is predominant in Eastern cities. Facing the cultural shock treatment of this afternoon made me appreciate that.
So... tomorrow its on to Georgia. One day and one state closer to home. We'll let you know how that goes.
SC
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