Chattanooga, Tennessee and Friends!

We arrived at Chattanooga Thursday afternoon ahead of our friends, Ward and Patty New. We had planned on staying at Shipp's Campground where Camping World is located, but they didn't have two sites together for our rigs. So we went and explored a little and found the Holiday Trav-l-Park a couple miles down the road. We went in and reserved two spots and before we were all set up, Ward and Patty arrived. It was good to see them. The last time we saw them was at the FMCA rally in Perry, Georgia, in March and both Ward and Terry got sick.

The campground here is actually on the site of a Civil War encampment/battlefield and all the roads in the camp are named for officers. The park is right on the Georgia/Tennessee line. the north-south streets are named for Civil War officers. The streets at the north end are named for Union commanders; the streets at the south end are named for Confederate generals. Most of these officers participated in the combat around Chattanooga. The other streets are named for Civil War battles. In a corner of the park stands a monument to the 84th Indiana Volunteer Regiment. The monument was placed there after the Civil War by some of the men of that regiment who became famous for their fighting in the Chattanooga area. I was particularly interested, because I am from (northern) Indiana and had a relative who served in the Civil War. My Dad has his actual military discharge papers. I searched the internet for the Indiana 84th, but I found something even more intriguing. My relative was not on the list, but the men who served in that regiment were primarily from Henry County, Indiana. That is where I taught for 33 years and just retired from two years ago. A couple of the names were names that I recognized. That was really amazing.

We spent time with Ward and Patty, mainly eating out and sitting under the awnings chatting until dark, then moving inside one of the rigs. We parted company this morning and we drove on over to Red Bay, Alabama.

We are now in the Allegro Campground and from what we hear, we will have a 3-5 day wait to get into an express bay. We have a couple things we wanted fixed, like the awning and the driver's sun shade. Then two days ago our electric step refused to come in. Terry had to dismantle it and tie it up. We have blocked out 10 days, so we are in good shape.

Till next time. . .

Dale