Move to Chattanooga TN - Tourist Stuff

Friday June 14, 2013  

Tuesday, the trip from Elko GA to Chattanooga TN was a breeze going through Atlanta on I 75.  We have heard from so many people to avoid going through Atlanta and it was not bad at all.  We think it's because we came from the very congested traffic areas of North New Jersey that we saw Atlanta as fairly easy.  The best advice I would give someone going through Atlanta on I 75 would be to stay near the center lane as many roads split off of I 75 in Atlanta. We made the 221 mile trip in 4 hours.

Now for the time when I became complacent with setting up the rig.  We pulled into our new pull through site at Holiday Trav-L-Park in Chattanooga TN just a few feet from the GA state line to our South.  We got maneuvered into a good position within 5 minutes and were ready to start our setup procedure.  Patty places in the wheel chocks and then we put down the pads under levelers.  Here is where I messed up.  Next on the list is to take the load off the truck by putting down the front levelers.  For some reason I went out of our established order and disconnected the truck from the Rig before putting down the front levelers.  Neither of us questioned this!  Next, Patty started putting down the front levelers and.....I.....began....pulling the truck out from under the Rig!  Ka-Boom!  The rig falls into the truck bed and onto the partially extended front levelers.  New hard rule: NEVER DISCONNECT THE TRUCK BEFORE THE FRONT LEVELERS ARE SUPPORTING THE RIG.   The good news was  that no one was hurt and there was no real damage to the rig or to the truck.  The rig landed on the rails for the bed cover and bent each side about an inch in.  That was easy to just bend back out straight.  I still can't believe I did that!!

After the incident, the setup went fine.  We got our computers out and checked in with the world.  Around 6 we had a quick dinner of a hot dog each and a salad.  It was very hot so we went for our walk around the park and then a quick dip in the pool.  Then we went back to the rig and planned our tourist visit to Chattanooga for the next 2 days.

We decided the night before to be up and out of the rig by 9 am.  We did pretty good for us and were out by 9:25.  We made plans to ride the Incline Railway to the top of Lookout Mountain, visit Rock City with Lovers Leap, and then visit Ruby Falls.  After the tourist stuff, the plan was to be back to the campsite and lounge by the pool in the afternoon.  We managed to get in all of the tourist stuff by 5 pm and were back to the rig by around 6 pm. It was a nice long day.

I had been on the Incline Railway in the late 60s as a kid on vacation with my parents.  I couldn't really remember the ride and now I know why now, it's sort of boring and expensive at $20 a head to just ride a mile up with nothing really to do at the top except look down.  

Chattanooga is viewed through the roof

Next we went to Rock City which has Lover's Leap.  Lover's Leap is what I picture when I think of Lookout Mountain.  Patty was here as a very young child of 6 and I was here when I was 10 or 11 years old.  We both remember it but mostly just Lover's Leap and Patty remembers the swinging bridge.  Rock City is expensive too but at least it really is something to see.  I would recommend seeing Rock City if you are in the area.

Lover's Leap in Rock City

View of the falls under Lover's Leap

Patty swinging and bouncing remembering her childhood on the way to Lover's leap

View of Chattanooga from Lookout Mountain

The iconic sign that shows the direction to view the seven states

Small space that was OK as long as there is no one holding up the line to get out!

An albino deer on Lookout Mountain

A little scary, all of that rock being held up by one little rock

Rock City added a lot of gnomes to the rocks

A scene in the rocks in Rock City, Humpty Dumpty

We then drove over to Ruby Falls.   Ruby Falls is a cave with a waterfalls in it.  I am claustrophobic so I was a little apprehensive about doing this.  I had my ticket and I was here so I was going to try it.  

The cave used to be open at the base of Lookout Mountain  when the indians used it.  Also, both sides in the Civil War used the cave.  Then the Railroad came through and permanently blocked the entrance around the turn of the century.  Then sometime in the 20s a guy decided to make the cave into a tourist attraction by digging an elevator shaft 260 feet down to the tunnel. The guys wife was named Ruby so that is how the falls was named.

The way into the cave is by a single elevator 260 feet down.  I got on the elevator last and the ride down wasn't too bad.  In the cave at the bottom the top of the cave was just 6 feet tall and somewhat narrow.  I asked the guide if it got smaller and he said yes it did and that we would be down here for over an hour.  Well, no, I'm not doing this.  The guide asked if  I wanted to go back up and I said YES!  He said this happens a lot and they have a name for it, I'm taking the "short tour".  I got back up to the top and outside and just waited for Patty to finish.  All in all Patty reported that Ruby Falls wasn't that interesting if you have been in a cave before.

That was it for our first day of "tourist stuff".  We got back home and had a hamburger dinner on the grill.  We bought some flavored hamburgers (Chipotle) at WalMart in Georgia to try.  They were very salty, so much so Patty couldn't eat all of hers.  Of course I ate mine but didn't want hers.  We plan to donate these to  someone as a gift in the near future :)

Thursday was a mixed day of chores and then going out on a river boat for a dinner cruise on the Tennessee River.  First we needed to do laundry since we hadn't done any since we were in Tampa 3 weeks ago.  I also wanted to check the air pressure in all 10 tires, the 6 on the truck and the 4 on the rig.  I only needed to put air in one truck tire which was great. However it was the inner dually tire on the passenger side.  It just needed 3 lbs but I am very cautious when it comes to tires.  We also did a little reading around the pool while the laundry was washing and drying.

The dinner cruise was on the ship Southern Belle and left from the area of Chattanooga called River Bend on the Tennessee River.  We didn't know this before but a big music festival was underway at River Bend.  The headliner tonight was Lynard Skynard! There are only a few bands we would like to see and that was one of them.  Yeah, and to see them play southern rock in south Tennessee, Damn!  Oh yeah, the price was only $20 to get in front of the stage and $27 entrance fee to the festival for a total of $47 each, cheap!  You could also watch from the side for just the entrance fee and sit on the ground or your own lawn chair.  We were not prepared so we didn't do it :(

The dinner cruise was nice and the food was very good featuring prime rib.  We cruised by the River bend Festival 2 times so we got to see the Lynyrd Skynyrd trucks and all of the boats where people had gathered to listen to the band.  The cruise was over at 9 pm and the band didn't start until 10 pm so we didn't even get to hear them.  Anyway, it was a good night after all.

One of Lynyrd Skynyrd's trucks for the concert

Boaters waiting for the concert on the Tennessee River

The stage on the river at River Bend

More boaters for the concert

Sunset over the yardarm

Today we move up to Berea Kentucky 236 miles to our north.  We will be there for just 2 nights and then we travel up to Crawfordsville Indiana for 10 days.  Berea is an area near Corbin where I took one of my motorcycle trips when I was 18 years old.  By the way, Corbin is the hometown of Colonel Sanders.

Stay tuned!

Elko Georgia near Andersonville Prison

Tuesday June 11, 2013
  
The trip from Citra FL to Elko Georgia was an easy 244 miles that we did in 4 hours.  It is so good to get back “on the road again”, thanks Willie.  It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures around 90 for most of the trip.  We stopped a couple of times along the way, once to buy oranges and once to make sandwiches. 

Place we stopped along the highway for Florida oranges.

This is us parked along the highway in front of the orange stand.

Arriving in Georgia.

The weather changed a little about 10 miles south of our stopping point in Elko.  A small but heavy storm went over I75 and snarled up traffic for the last half an hour.  It was over by the time we arrived at Twin Oaks RV Park so we could set up without getting wet.

Our site for 2 nights in Elko Georgia

Rosey is going to need her own room soon!  She is really growing!

 
Our travel routine is to stay a minimum of 2 nights when we are repositioning.  So we leave Elko GA this morning and head to Chattanooga TN 240 miles north west of here.  We are traveling north on I75 so that means we will travel through Atlanta GA on our way.  We have been told by many to avoid pulling a rig through Atlanta, not completely sure why though.  I did a little research last night and found a roughly 50% split opinion on traveling through Atlanta.  The people who say it’s not a problem suggest that we go through late morning between the rush hours.  So we are going to try going through around 11:30 am this morning.  Next blog I will report how that went.

Yesterday, Monday, we decided to travel the 25 miles to the old Confederate Civil War prison in Andersonville GA.  Friends of ours (Christiana and John) recommended that we not miss seeing this so we went to see it.  

Entrance to Andersonville Prison site

The National POW  Museum

The day was on and off rain all day.  We were lucky in that when it would really rain we were in the truck or inside somewhere. This area of Georgia is very rural with a lot of farms and trees.  The prison site now houses the national POW museum.  The entire prison area and the museum are free and are well worth the visit.  Patty who is not much on history liked the place which is really saying something.   We felt that the whole place was very well done and was better than places that charged a fee.  If anyone is going south on I75 we suggest that you stop and visit the Andersonville Prison site.

Memorial to POWs in the back of the museum

Site of the Providence spring.  The union soldiers desperately needed drinking water and  during a thunderstorm this spring came up inside the prison walls.

These white markers depict the outer prison wall and the deathline.  If a prisoner got beyond the deathline they would be shot.

A view from a corner of the prison showing the wall and the deathline.  The stone marker is where a guard tower was.  Prisoners were held out in the open.  The latrines for the 30,000 were in that dip in the foreground

Touring the site by vehicle

This area of the prison has been restored.  The poles were put in in their exact original positions.  They dug down to the original pole stumps to find the positions.  Note the death line inside the wall.

Entrance to the cemetery.  This is a national cemetery so any veteran can be buried here.

The prison inmates who died there are buried here.  The prison was only open 14 months and held 30,000 prisoners.  14,000 died there.  They were buried in long trenches shoulder to shoulder with no casket.  

After our visit to the prison we stopped to fuel the truck with $3.69 diesel for a total of $130.  This will get us to Chattanooga TN and probably support our site seeing there.   Patty got a recipe on Facebook and she made it last night.  It is a chicken breast stuffed with asparagus and mozzarella cheese.   It was so good that we now have a new staple for dinners. Yum!!

Patty's delicious Asparagus stuffed chicken.

We will be pulling out of here around 10 am so we hit Atlanta around 11:30 this morning.  That should put us in Chattanooga TN around 2 this afternoon.  We still do not have reservations for site in Chattanooga though.  Breaking news, as I was editing this we received an E-Mail confirmation for our next place in Chattanooga TN!  The place we originally picked is sold out.  We need to be careful now that we are in the northern tourist season with places filling up.  Chattanooga is a tourist area with places like Lookout Mountain.  We are planning to stay in Chattanooga for an extra night for a total of 3 nights as there is a lot to see there.  Yes, we are tourist too!

Ok, just finish my second cup of coffee and we start our departure routine.

Stay tuned!

Disney is gone and new adventures ahead

June 08 Saturday, 2013  

Disney World and Fort Wilderness is now just history.  It was a great time with many memories.  I wouldn't do it again though, in an RV built for a maximum 4 people, we had 7!  Being packed together, however, did add extra spice to the experience. 

 Memorial Day Monday was our last day at the Paradise Pines RV resort.  We finished packing up and made a trip to Wal-Mart for the last items needed for 10 days at Disney with 7 people (3 kids and 4 adults).   We went to the pool in the afternoon and hung out with the last of the residents that were still there.  About half of the 10 or so of the occupied sites will be vacated in the next 2 weeks, so it’s real quiet there.  We will miss the place and the people like we do everywhere we stay for an extended time.  It’s nice to know there are places like this where we could, in the future, settle down comfortably.

Tuesday the 29th we left Paradise Pines around 11:30 am and arrived at Disney’s Fort Wilderness 80 miles away just before 1 pm.  We had already some months ago picked out the camp loop we wanted, in 1400.  Loop 1400 was close to a bus stop and to the pool as well as to the kid’s entertainment area (nightly sing-alongs, s.mores, and a movie outside).  

Here we are loaded up and ready to leave Paradise Pines

Entering WDW

Entering Disney's Fort Wilderness Campgrounds

Sign-in entrance to Fort Wilderness

We were given site 1445.  We have never been to Fort Wilderness so we knew nothing of the sites.  We took the rig over to site 1445 and found it to be very small.  We needed put a 3 room tent on the site along with our 40 foot rig.  We drove around the 1400 loop a second time and determined that we would just make do with the site as given to us.  The main problem with the site was that the front was narrow due to a ditch with railing around it.  To put up the tent we needed to put the picnic table under the awning across from the railing making that area very tight.  Anyway, we made it happen.

Our site sign

Our site set-up on the first day before the Grandkids arrive tomorrow

We finished getting the site ready by about 4:30 pm.  We set up the RV as usual and then moved the very heavy 8 person picnic table and then set up the tent.  We ran a long extension cord into the tent so we could add an overhead light and 2 fans.  Next, we put in 2 un-inflated air mattresses.  Our original intention was to have enough room for the 3 grandkids and their parents to sleep in the tent. We weren't sure if the parents and/or kids would want to be separated with either the kids inside or just the parents inside.  

We finished the set up and headed to Downtown Disney to get something to eat.  We walked the area and then headed back and called it a night.  

Downtown Disney on our first night

Wednesday the 30th we were up and watching the text messages from our daughter-in-law Tracy telling us where they were.  We also got our 2 four passenger golf carts to ferry us all around.  We got the golf carts outside of Disney and saved a ton of money.  We reserved a 6 passenger cart but the rental company ran out and substituted the 2 four passenger carts until Saturday when we would get the 6 passenger cart.  

First day at the site.  My son Tony in the back and Bailey, Savannah, and Livy 

Their flight from Indianapolis took off and the terrible hour of 5:30 am to Cleveland OH and then to Orlando by 11 am.  The Disney plan we had picked them all up and delivered them to the Campground.  We got some lunch and proceeded to the pool for a few hours for their first day.  All 5 slept in the tent the first night.

The pool is where I went in with my phone!  I was in the pool maybe 5 seconds but long enough to destroy the phone.  That really sucked because I take most of the pictures and I do it with the phone camera.  Now we are using Patty’s phone camera and I am getting a new phone.  I can’t get the new phone until we get to my son’s place in Indiana though.  Seems Verizon will not ship a phone to an address other than the billing address unless my account can be verified.  The way they verify the account is to call or text my phone.  Since my phone can’t receive calls or texts I can’t verify my account so the phone was sent to South Dakota and then will be forwarded to Indiana.

Thursday the 31st we went to Magic Kingdom and rode the long line type rides first.  We first rode Space Mountain and then got a fast pass for Splash Mountain while we rode the Run-away train.  After that we rode Dumbo and the Mad Hatter and then had lunch.  After lunch we went back to the RV and started what became a routine, took a nap for 2 hours.  We then headed back to Magic Kingdom for dinner and to watch the nightly fireworks.  We managed another routine; we completely wore us and the kids out and they slept inside and the parents in the tent.  

Our first day in the Disney parks

Bailey on the magic carpet ride at Magic Kingdom

Friday the 1st we went to EPCOT and tried to ride the long line type rides again.  However, we had a glitch that deviated us from our plan.  We got up late and didn't get to the park when it opened.  This caused one of our rides to be completely reserved for the day by the time we got to it a little before noon.  By this time we were all hot and tired so we had lunch and headed back for the nap and then back for dinner and the laser light show at EPCOT.

Livy taking her nap

Saturday the 2nd we went to Typhoon Lagoon one of the 2 water parks at Disney.  We planned it this way so that we wouldn't need to get up so early 3 days in a row.  This should allow us all to recover.  We arrived at the water park around 11 am and stayed until about 4:30 pm which was enough.  We managed to get 2 of the kids (Bailey and Savannah) sunburned to the point of blisters that appeared the next day.  They had 50 SPF on but we didn't get a second let alone a third coat of sunscreen on during the day while they were in the pool all day.  

Savannah just before the blisters

Mickeys Backyard BBQ at our campground

Patty and Savannah dancing with the Disney Characters

This is where the back yard BBQ is held

Minney and other characters

Minney dancing

Sunday the 3rd we were off to Animal Kingdom.  This was a park that we all wanted to see but mostly Bailey.  She really likes animals and has aspirations to work with them some day.  We again managed to get to the park very late.  However, we did manage to get on most of the planned rides by going to the back of the park first.  

Termite hills on the safari in Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom Safari

Tony, Savannah and Bailey

The safari vehicles

Livy dancing with the tribe.  She is 3rd from right

Livy , Savannah and Tony playing the drums in Animal Kingdom

Tracy, Savannah and Bailey on a ride in Dino Land in Animal Kingdom

Tracy and Bailey and Savannah on a ride in Dino land in Animal Kingdom

Cool Pic of an anteater in Animal Kingdom

Monday the 4th we went to Disney Studios.  I’m not a big fan of this park.  The park is hard to navigate and the lines are long on everything including crappy rides.   We rode the Tower of Terror which was my first time on this too.  The last time Patty and I were here around 12 years ago we were here with Chas.  I sort of wanted to ride the tower but Chas was afraid to ride it so we didn’t.  The ride wasn't as scary as I had thought it would be 12 years ago.  However, it was a GREAT ride.   Our youngest grandchild, Livy, who is 6 years old just loves scary/thrilling rides.  She is so small and just makes the height requirement on these rides.  On the tower ride she was laughing!

Tuesday the 5th we decided to go back to EPCOT and do the things we didn't get done the first time instead of the planned Blizzard Beach.  Kids were still sunburned and we didn't even get to the world showcase at EPCOT.

Wednesday the 5th the last full day for the grandkids at Disney.   We decided to redo Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom.  Animal Kingdom we rode the roaring rapids that we missed the first time and redid for the 3rd time the Expedition Everest roller coaster.  Everest is the newest ride at Disney and was just being built when Patty and I were here 12 years ago.  This coaster goes backwards in the dark midway through.  It’s a great ride.

Tony, Livy, Tracy, Bailey and Savannah on the Roaring Rapids Ride in Animal Kingdom

Wednesday night the parents went out by themselves while we watched the kids.  We had a great night by going to Disney Studios and seeing Fantasia. We had never seen this before.  I highly recommend seeing this show.  All of the Disney characters are in it and it had very intense effects.  At one point they set the lake on fire just a few yards from the crowd.  Not to worry though, Mickey put the fire out!  This night the kids were completely worn out, I had to carry Livy back to the cart.

Mickey driving the boat with all of the Disney characters

Me carrying Livy out of Disney Studio after the  Fantasia show

Thursday the 6th Disney picked up everybody at 8:30 am and it was back to quiet for us.  What an adrenaline filled 10 days for us.  After they left we felt a major energy crash so it was time to nap.  The tropical storm Andrea came through overnight and was with us most of the day.  No real wind for us but lots of rain.  We put the tent under the awning as best as we could and then took our nap.  That evening we rolled up the tent and put most of the extra stuff away an went out to eat at Wilderness Lodge.  This used up the last of the dinner plan dinners we had.  We still had a couple of days left of quick service meals and a few snacks left that will not get used.  We were in bed by 10pm!

Friday the 7th we rolled out of Disney headed for Citra FL 100 miles to the north.  We are staying for our first time since last November in a plain campground, the Royal Palms.  It’s a Passport America place so the rate is just $22 a night.  That’s very nice after the Disney rate of $94/night!  We are here to see an old childhood friend of mine, Mike Rice.  Mike lives in Interlachen about 30 miles away.

Our new site for 2 nights in Citra Florida = at least 3x the size of Disney

Tomorrow we plan to finally leave Florida for the first time since December 2012.  Today we need to get staples like milk and bug spray and fuel for the 244 mile pull tomorrow to just south of Macon Georgia.

Stay tuned!