Our first breakfast in Chattanooga
began by facing a room completely full. No
seats available at any table. We went
ahead with gathering our food. Chris got
her eggs and I put my waffle on to cook.
By the time we were ready a family left and we were able to grab their
table. But we also invited another
couple to join us that was obviously scanning the room. They were on their way home to Florida after
a visit to some grandkids. They had
never stopped in Chattanooga before, so this was the day. Bad choice.
After breakfast we headed out to our
first Memorial Day stop on this Tennessee tour, The International Tow Truck
Museum. No, I am not kidding. An entire museum dedicated to tow
trucks. Out from there was a wall about
a city block long dedicated to the memory of those who have lost their lives in
the performance of their duty as tow truck drivers. There was a huge sculpture of a tow truck
driver reaching down to rescue someone from an invisible abyss. He holds the victim with one hand and grips
that hook on the end of his tow truck cable with the other. And in his case, the cable is attached to an
invisible tow truck somewhere in a different dimension. How could we not stop?
Inside, there was a sample of just
about every type of tow truck that has ever been put together. Not on a table somewhere, either. A full-sized, totally operational, vehicle-hauling
tow truck. Give you an idea now of how
big this building was? There was a Model-T
tow truck (or whatever those letters were early on) and a 1930’s tow truck and
a 1950’s tow truck. There was the
fastest tow truck in the world. There
was an army tow truck. There was a tow
truck that could tow the empire state building.
One whole wall was dedicated to toy tow trucks. Big Bird towing Bert. A troll tow truck (say that one three times
really fast). Tow truck stamps. Tow truck belt buckles. Tow truck caps. Trucks made of plastic and metal and
wood. The experience was topped off by
two long hallways of photographs of people who have made it to the pinnacle of
success in their profession … The Tow Truck Hall of Fame. Of course they had a full blown gift shop. Along with the caps and t-shirts and toys of
all kinds, there was an operational, mini-tow truck that kids could play on and
operate, preparing themselves for a chance at a career in the future. But none of that holds a candle to my
absolute favorite part of the show. Kelly,
the clerk at the gift shop. By far the
best ever. She actually kept a straight
face the entire time she was talking to us.
She really did like that fastest tow truck in the world. Kelly, you are either one fabulous actor or
you have drunk the koolaide. Keep up the
good work. And folks … an absolute must
for your bucket list.
Hard for anything to follow that,
but we wanted to go into downtown Chattanooga next. All of the recommendations we received for
things to see and do were located there.
Unfortunately … Holy Galveston, Batman!
This also just happened to be the national championship bicycling race. And they, too, were located downtown. And on up onto Lookout Mountain where we
visited the day before. Roads were
blocked off. Police cars and traffic
cones everywhere. We began having horror
flashbacks to a typical Sunday trying to get to church on triathalon weekend. No way we wanted to deal with that, so instead
we went South a few miles into Georgia to the Chickamauga Battleground
instead. It was clearly set up the same
way as Vicksburg and Shiloh, but on a smaller scale. We stopped at the visitor’s center, of
course, but we opted out of the 26 minute informational video, grabbed a self-guided
tour map, and made our way back to the car for our own driving tour. We did find the Texas monument and took a
picture there. The highlight of this
tour, though was a giant tower in the middle of one of the fields. I don’t remember who it honored, but you
could climb to the top and pretend to be Rapunzel. 136 steps.
And Chris made it all the way, even with her gimpy hip. Pretty impressive woman.
Next we returned the mile or two
back into Tennessee (that would get really confusing for me if we lived here),
and managed to locate one of those antique mall-type stores over one the “other
side of the river.” All these bridges
are confusing, too. I’ll stick to the
two we have in Galveston. Keep it
simple. Get on a bridge and you’re
headed into Texas. We browsed through
that place for about an hour. Not too
impressed. No baseball or fire fighter paraphernalia
at all. And very few antique toys. Chris did enjoy looking at the dishes. This counts as one for her. Check.
By the time we finished up with the
older-than-us stuff, we decided to try those downtown spots again. It was supper time. Maybe the race was over and everything was cleared
out. Right. And maybe it hasn’t been raining in Texas all
week. Streets were blocked at every
turn. Couldn’t get there from here. We tried going around. Still blocked. We drove through the projects (nice projects,
I might add). Still blocked. Google Siri was having a heart attack trying
to help us. We could even read the frustration
in her voice. I finally had to send her
to her room without supper and do the navigating on my own. Oh, and to top it off, some of the rain that
has been inundating Texas all week showed up here. With my amazing navigation skills and Chris’
driving prowess, we finally managed to get onto a freeway and make our way back
to the hotel. How does Hardees sound for
supper? At least it’s in the hotel parking
lot.
Final hotel rating for Comfort Inn,
Chattanooga: Can’t go beyond the two starfish.
We never got in to try out the pool.
Too much walking exercise instead.
Waiting for a seat at breakfast was not fun. Overall, though, the service was
adequate. Just not outstanding.
Psalms
31:14 says, “But I trust in
you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my
God.’”
Father, take care of Texas. Don’t you think they have enough water by
now? It would sure help if you breathed
a bit on that jet stream. You know, move
it over and give them some relief. Amen.
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