Dixie Sojourn - February 2009

Feb. 1 A cold, but sunny day. We drove straight to Easton, PA where we visited the Crayola Factory, not really a factory, but a well done tourist trap which we think the Truckenmillers would like. It was closed, but the Crayola store was open. We began working on our southern diet with an afternoon stop for Shoo Fly pie and biscuits and honey for dinner.

Feb. 2 On the road by 7:15. We had seen virtually no snow in PA. But today we saw snow from MD south to Knoxville. After two hours of good driving we ran into snow for the next 250 miles. Due to the weather we did absolutely no sightseeing. We had a quiet night reading J.D. Robb's Death series novels.

Feb 3 Bright but nippy day. Eventually it made it up to 47 degrees in Chattanooga. We were at the Chickamauga Battlefield by 11:00. Took two good walk through the actual battle lines with their multiple monuments. Then we set out for Missionary Ridge, but found it to be a crowded residential district and left after we tracked down the Iowa Monument. We made our way to Lookout Mountain, which is still cleaning up after a bad ice storm. After a stop at the New York monument we made it to Point Park, which we last visited in 1977 with our three daughters and Jan Garlock. It is still a most dramatic sight - to look over the Tennessee River valley from so high up. And, it does not seem possible that soldiers actually fought their way up this hill and won the battle.

We ate a a Mexican chain which is new to us, Qdoba. Like a Mexican Subway. Quite good. Bill finished the first novel in the Death series. Checked with the Henricksons: Albert's carpel tunnel surgery went well.

Feb. 4 A dreary day turned to rain at noontime, and continued all the rest of the day. Temp's in the low 40's, about ten degrees below normal. We drove to Alabama to visit Bill's 300th NS site, a cave where several millennia of Indians dwelt. We had a good hike up the hill above the cave. Then Bill tried a classic mountain road, less and less well maintained until we got over the mountain. Regular gas at a truck stop in Georgia was $2.42. We made a brief visit to the Chattanooga Choo Choo (which we had also done in '77). Quiet afternoon - followed by an overdose of ribs, pork, beans, potato salad and banana pudding at Sugar's Ribs.

We are truly having a vacation.