Day 12 - Birthday, Catfish, Squal, and Hee Haw!

Saturday, 03 September

We awoke to a beautiful day in Dunlap, Tennessee.  Today is the day we celebrated my grandsons 8th birthday... Grandma got this group shot of the three boys in their normal serious mood!

The girls prepared this amazing breakfast for us... I do not usually eat breakfast, but this was deliicious.

After breakfast, Kaleb opened his presents... He got many new accessories for the Wii, lots of Lego sets...











and a ZuZu petand Wii game from his brothers...

and continuing the tradition started last year with his brother Ammon,  Grandpa gave Kaleb a new Henry Repeating Arms .22 cal lever action carbine...











He was very happy to have his own rifle... it is a little different model than Ammon's so they will each have a unique gun.  Before I leave, I will remove the butt plates and autograph the rifles for Kaleb and Ammon so they will always have a reminder of Papa, long after I am gone... and if they take good care of their rifles, there is no reason why they cannot pass them on to their son or daughter some day.











After the party, Brandyn, grandpa Bill, and I, went down to the local cafe and got all-you-can-eat Cajun Catfish for lunch.  It was amazing!

After lunch the boys decided they wanted to go to the fair... so we loaded everyone up and went to the Sequatchie County Fair in Dunlap.  At the fair, they had an exhibit called the Bill Allen Exhibit... the boys thought that it was pretty cool that the exhibit had the same name as grandpa Bill.









As we were entering the fair, a summer squal approached and drenched us in rain and high winds... (first rain in months... go figure), they had to temporarily shut down the carnival rides due to the wind... I was very concerned about lightning (just my nature), but the boys just kept riding regardless...













The slide was very wet at this point...

















One of my favorite rides when I was a kid...  Still raining and blowing...
















We finally talked the boys into seeking refuge inside the gym where we were treated to a very good show by Mike Snider of "Grand Ole Opry" and "Hee Haw" fame.

It was a great show and quite funny... remind me to tell you some of the jokes... especially the one about the outhouse repair or the one about the preacher...






Can you tell that it rained?













Mike Snider and the band lays down some mouth harp bluegrass...












You might be a red-neck if...


I love Smalltown, USA!










Does it get any better than sharing an Elephant Ear with your brothers (in the rain) at the county fair on a warm and humid September night, just before you take your last ride on the Hammer?  I think not!

Tomorrow, Kaleb will be baptised... time to go to bed... morning comes early when church begins at 0900 and we are an hour car ride from the chapel!

Scott

Day 11 - Mario Brothers and Deal or No Deal

Friday, 02 September
We had a great day today.  I slept in for the first time in a long time, while Deb went grocery shopping with Jennifer and the boys.  Then for most of the day I played Wii with the boys... They kicked my butt! 

This evening Janet and Bill (Jennifer's Mother and Step-father) arrived.  We ate pizza and sat around until after 0200 discussing the solutions to all of the worlds problems.  I think we have the answers...  It was fun times.

Now it is time to sleep so we can be rested up for the big party tomorow.

Day 10 - Pardon me boys, is that the Chattanooga "Quack Quack"?

Thursday, 01 September (sitting in Dunlap, TN)

As we left Alabama this morning, Deb noticed this evidence that we are truly in the South... as if the Coon Dog Cemeteries that we passed last night were not enough proof.  This was a sign at "Hardee's"... (Carl's Jr. back home).

We passed "Redstone" in Huntsville, AL... Home of Space Camp... (We might have to go back there with three future astronauts... or what ever they are called now that we have no way to fly into space... Don't get me going!)

From Alabama, we passed briefly through Georgia's Dade County...

... on our way back into Tennessee.  Next stop - Chattanooga to meet Brandyn, Jen, and the boys for a special treat...











Brandyn bought tickets for all of to take a tour on one of the Chattanooga "Ducks"... 1943 amphibious vehicles used during WWII.

Part of the tour takes you down Broadway Street, where you can see many examples of art along the sidewalks... this is a very hard sofa...











Next, it was into the river... it was a very steep entry ramp and we made quite a splash.  Our tour guide was very good at what he did... and was exellent with the boys.  Each of our grandsons got to drive the "boat"...

First up was the Birthday Boy, Kaleb.













He drove us up the river past the Chattanooga Aquarium, which is one of the best in the world...

Then under the "Market Street" bridge, which is really the John Ross Bridge... a long story...

Kaleb did a great job... driving a WWII vehicle is not something many 8 year old kids get to say they have done...

Next it was Ammon's turn...













Brandyn enjoyed watching the boys have fun...













This is the new improved waterfront park that was put in to clean up the area after the Aquarium was built... I guess it used to smell pretty bad and the patrons of the parks above demanded the change...










Finally, it was Hyrum's turn at the wheel... of course, big brother had to offer unsolicited advice.












After a few "cookies" hard to the starboard side, we eventually got the duck into six-wheel drive and back up the steep ramp.











Everyone had a great time...  Thanks Brandyn!













After the ride, we enjoyed some mini-cupcakes and a cold drink at a loocal bake shop...












Then we all went to "Sticky Fingers BBQ" for a very good dinner of smoked wings and ribs, and a special birthday treat of bread pudding for the Birthday Boy!

Now we are enjoying the first of many days that we will spend here in Dunlap taking care of the boys while Brandyn and Jen go on a cruise.

Scott.

Day 09 - We're All Shook Up!

Wednesday, 31 August

We drove through Arkansas today on our way to Memphis... This one of the five states that we needed to visit in order to complete the lower 48 states during our four road trips!  (The other four will be on the way home).

We finally arrived in Tennessee...

When we stopped for lunch, this "Smart Car" was parked next us... this is the first car that has ever made "LIL BMW" feel big...

We spent most of the day at Graceland...

First stop on the tour was the Graceland Mansion that Elvis bought when he was 22 years old for $103,000 and some change...

During the tour, we got to see many of his original awards for his amazing accomplishments in the music world... this is the gold record that was awarded to him in 1956 for the one millionth sale of "Hound Dog"...

His personal raquet ball court has been converted to display many of his costumes and hundreds of his gold and platinum records and albums...

Outside of the mansion, Elvis is buried in the Meditation Garden...

Next stop was the car museum where many of Elvis' cars were displayed.  This one reminded us of our daughter-in-law Jessi...

This is the famous "Pink Cadi" that he bought for his mother...

Next it was on to see the "Lisa Marie", his private jetliner...

Our last stop was to visit an exhibit of Elvis' fashions and see to see some of the "bling" that he made famous... Deb reluctantly posed for me with the "King".

We drove to Muscle Shoal, Alabama to stop for the night.  Tomorrow, we will reach our next planned leg of the journey when we arrive in Dunlap, Tennessee to see our grandsons!

Day 08 - Art On The Rails, and one crazy GPS

Tuesday, 30 August

Today we spent most of the day traveling across Missouri on our way to Tennessee.  Along the way, we occasionally check oue GPS for off-beat attractions along our route.  Today we found an old train station in Sedalia, MO that is now being used as a museum and gallery for public art.  This is an example of one of the pieces on display.

Sedalia is also the home of Jazz legend, Scott Joplin.

Before leaving Sedalia, I picked up a free map because I did not like the route that my GPS was calculating for the trip... it had us going clear through Illinois and into Indiana before dropping down into Tennessee through Kentucky????  I have the Highways avoided on the GPS so we can stay on the back roads most of the trip... but this route was just wrong!

I picked a couple landmark cities that forced the GPS to take us diagonally down across MO...

This took us past Lake Ozark (huge lake)...
We drove down to the lake edge and found this marina that is actually carved into the face of the sandstone cliff...

and finally, we drove out of the grasslands and into the start of the beautiful hardwood forests, (this road happens to be in the Mark Twain National Forest).

It rained today for most of our ride... high 90's and rain... does it get any better?

Spending the night in Poplar Bluff.