Pardon Me Boy

Is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo? Yes, it was. We got a fairly early start today and decided we had plenty of time to stop in Chattanooga, TN. We drove around a bit and found the Chattanooga Choo Choo. We parked and walked around there. The railroad station is now a Holiday Inn, and several old Pullman cars are being used as hotel rooms. The area around the station is very touristy (as you can imagine) with lots of shops. An old style (as in Civil War era) steam engine is parked on one track and is labeled as the Chattanooga Choo Choo. The downtown area of Chattanooga was really quite quiet for nearly noon on Saturday. We checked out a couple of gift shops and took some pictures around the railroad stuff. There really is a lot of history in the area and a lot to see. We decided that it would be good to come back to Tennessee and spend several days. Maybe in the spring when it starts to warm up a bit.

We had a nice drive along the Great Smoky Mountains and the Appalachians. The drive up the route we took is so much more scenic and less crowded than I-95. We sure did hit a lot of interstate highways in the process: I-20, I-59, I-24, I-75, I-40, and I-81.

Tonight we are in Bristol, TN / VA. Bristol is an interesting town that sits right on the border between the two states. In fact, the main downtown street is named State Street, and the border runs down the middle of the street. There are brass markers embedded in the center of the street every few yards that contain a line marking the border and "TENN" on one side and "VA" on the other. We decided to eat at a bar and grill on State St. It turned out they were watching the LSU, Tennessee game on big screen TV, so it was a little loud at times. There weren't really a lot of people in there, though. We stayed neutral during our stay. The food was great (barbecue pork and sirloin steak) and the Guinness properly constructed, so it was an enjoyable meal. Back in our room we rooted for LSU (quietly).

The forecast for tomorrow is for rain up through Virginia and into Maryland. Who knows we may decide to spend another night on the road somewhere. But, we really are ready to get home.