Pigeon Forge - Chattanooga

Last night Daryl decided he wanted to go back to Chattanooga for the cruise in that Mike was involved in.  Unfortunately the camp would not give us a refund on the third night - many would but not this one.  Oh well thems the breaks.

So this morning we get up and pack up some before heading down to Dollywood and the car event as we want to pick up a spare tire for the trailer.  We find a park and head over to the swap meet, get the tire and take a quick look around before heading back to the RV to finish packing up and load the car.

The streets are lined with chairs and cars for miles and miles......

We hit the road and head back to Chattanooga arriving early afternoon, set up camp in the same RV park as previously which is actually in Georgia by just 1/2 a mile.
















We head into Honest Charley and park up at the show, eventually find Mike and say Hi as we are in is his shop as it is so much cooler than being outside!  We catch up with Corky & JD, take in the cars and then decide to go and see the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia/Tennessee. 

Corporate meeting table

The park covers the main battlefield and has some 1400 monuments.  Chickamauga was one of the civil war's bloodiest battles - the confederates casualties totaled 18,000 and the Union casualties totaled 16,000.  The place has that eerie feeling about it as if you can look out and still see the men on the battlefield.

 

                           We were catching up on the things we missed last time we were here so next on the list was Rock City, which was not what we were expecting. We arrived at 5 to 6pm and found the place closes at 7pm, so it was a bit of a rushed tour.  (We think they change their hours after Labour weekend as America now basically considers summer over...)  Nevertheless it was pretty with lots crammed into the area.












The seven states you can see from the top of Rock City.

 The gap Daryl & I are about to squeeze through is dubbed "Fat Man Squeeze"
I suspect there is an alternative route as even we squeezed through..........

 Lover's Leap......



and a whole set of fairie tale scenes from every tale you can think of......







Next stop was the Lookout Mountain Battlefield and Point Park, not far from Rock City.  However that was closed also but Point Park was open still and we paid our $3 entry to the machine and had a look around.  It also afforded a great view over the Tennessee river and Chattanooga.

 After this we headed back down to Honest Charley to see if Mike was still about but no sign of him.  The shop was lit up though so we got another picture of the coupe outside....   We were hoping to get a copy of the ones the photographer took for their website which we featured on.

Just as we were getting home, Mike phd to invite us out to dinner with him & Connie.  The timing was perfect, so we gladly accepted and had a very enjoyable night out with them at Buds.  They are such a lovely couple and we have really enjoyed their company - very sad to say goodbye again but we talk about meeting in Fiji next year..........

 

Well what a day, we really stuffed alot into this one!