6/1/2021 So long, farewell, auf wedersehn goodnight

 

June 1, 2021

 

 

 

 

 

Hisssss hmmmmm…. Stay away you… you…  you DOG!

I have so enjoyed my walks around the neighborhood every day and this will be the last.  I am still full from last night.  Confession… Spouse made potatoes au gratin for the BBQ yesterday.  I cannot control myself when they are in the vicinity no matter how much I try.  I stuffed them in my mouth, dribbled them on my clean shirt… I did everything but lay them on the floor and roll in them!  We even have some leftovers…  along with some ribs.  Our refrigerator is stuffed and I love it.

We readied Hannah for departure.  We said our goodbyes to Paul and Merrillee.  They are great friends and it was such a nice visit.  Just to show you something:  we had only 6 people at our wedding.  Paul and Merrillee were two of them.  They are definitely special.  Rudy said his goodbyes to Sadie the dog…

Away we go on I24 east.  Nashville is only about 30 miles away and the traffic slows a little but isn’t bad.  Interstates always have lots of truck traffic, and even when the traffic is moving well, there are lots of vehicles so it is a bit nerve wracking passing through big cities.  Once we get past Nashville, the highway is a corridor of green, rock strata and trees all the way to Chattanooga.  We originally were not going to stop in Chattanooga and head directly to the Smokeys, but we heard nice things so we decided to check it out.  We have now crossed into the eastern time zone.  I hate losing an hour.  It doesn’t seem like much but it can be a real pain.  We drop into Georgia for all of about one mile, then back into Tennessee.

We had called the Elks to see about using their RV spots, and they told us that the Elks RV info for them is wrong and they have no RV spaces.  She was glad we called so she could get it fixed.  Ok, next choice…  Let’s try Raccoon Mountain.  They happened to have a space for only one night, so we took it.  Lady Gagarmin delivered us a little bit before the campground, and apparently that happens all the time so the homeowners put up a warning sign for us poor slobs!

                                    

AS we are preparing to disconnect from Hannah, Spouse couldn’t get one of her legs to extend.  Oh, this can be a problem… a big problem.  Fortunately, he was able to diagnose it and have the right size pin to put back in place.

Once we had our lunch of leftover ribs and POTATOES AU GRATIN (oh how I love them, but this was a much smaller portion!), we decided to check out the cavern in the campground.  Apparently there are a whole series of caverns throughout the region.  The formations have bits of mineral – copper, iron and such so they are not the pretty white you see in western caverns.  But there are pretty stalagtites, stalagmites,  columns, curtains and there are even some critters.

Afterwards, we headed over to Lookout Mountain.  We heard about the viewpoints from up there.  I think Lady Gagarmin had some fun at our expense, but we finally headed up the hill.  Then she told us we were there…  Really?  We are in the middle of a residential neighborhood, where are the viewpoints.  We saw signs pointing this way and that way for other things.  What is going on?  We asked a passerby and found out we wanted Point Park which is on Lookout Mountain.  Nobody mentioned anything about Point Park, it was always Lookout Mountain.  We finally found it.  Here is where the Union took over Chattanooga from the confederacy.  It is 1300 feet on top of a plateau with 360 degree views of the Tennessee River, Alabama, George, North Carolina, and of course Tennessee. You could certainly see the military significance of this location.

 

We headed back and then…  the unthinkable… the unbelieveable…  I always said that if I were to die tomorrow, my last meal would be potatoes au gratin and spaghetti.  Well, we also had leftover spaghetti.  And guess what… I DID IT!  I broke every carbo law on the planet and I had spaghetti and potatoes au gratin on the same day!  First time ever!  I am so absolutely miserable right now but it was so worth it.  I will look back on this day and remember it for the absolute indulgence that it was. 

With  most of the bad stuff out of our refrigerator, it will be easier to behave a bit more modestly!

By the way, I usually write these one day, and post them the next day (assuming I have Wi-fi).  I always think of things to add the next day, but since I had so much trouble with the WI-FI in the past, I will do it on one day, then maybe bore you the next day with addons.