Chattanooga, TN - Day 1
Monday, May 2
Time to say good-bye to Nashville this morning!
We really enjoyed our time in this city, made even more enjoyable by the beautiful weather we had while we visited. We packed up the RV and rolled out around 8:30am this morning, heading south toward Chattanooga, Tennessee. Along the way, we stopped in Murfreesboro so Andi could make a few phone calls. We parked outside a Target store so that while he was on the phone, Tory, Aden and I could do a little shopping. Even a trip to Target feels like vacation when the closest Target to our house in Wisconsin in 90 minutes away.
I probably could have stayed in this retail area all afternoon as these are stores I rarely get the chance to visit in person, but we needed to continue driving toward Chattanooga. Andi’s friend Burke lives there, and we made plans to have dinner with his family tonight. Burke has two girls ages 9 and 7 so Tory and Aden were very excited to have kids to play with.
We arrived to Burke’s house around 5:30pm and introduced ourselves to his wife, Amie, and their kids Mollie Brooke and Reagan. Right away the kids hit it off. I enjoyed talking with Amie while she prepared fish tacos in the kitchen and Burke and Andi caught up over the grill. It was a really fun night with friends!
Burke and Amie’s neighborhood association won’t allow anyone to park on the street and their drive-way was too steep to pull the RV into, so we ended up parking our rig at their neighborhood clubhouse. It worked out well, except there was nowhere to plug in our electricity there. Have I mentioned how hot it is in Tennessee already? May 1 and it is summer here. You won’t hear me complaining, but Andi and Tory love air-conditioning. We had to sleep with the windows open overnight since we were camped in a parking lot, but we all survived.
You know it was a restless night when Aden’s bed looks like this in the morning. His covers were completely torn apart.
Tuesday, May 3
We left Burke’s clubhouse parking area around 8:00am Tuesday morning and made our way to Chester Frost Park in Hixson, TN just outside Chattanooga. This is a really nice park on Chickamauga Lake with several beaches and playgrounds. It must also be a popular spot for fishing tournaments as the boat landing was full of fishing boats when we arrived.
The ranger station wasn’t open when we arrived, so we parked our RV in one of the beach parking lots and waited around for a while. Tory and Aden immediately ran outside onto the grassy lawn but he lake with bug catchers and bubbles my mom gave them for Easter.
Our RV was nearly out of water and it was getting really hot outside as the morning went on, so Andi was anxious to get into our campsite and set up. We drove back to the ranger station to check-in, but the person there said we couldn’t check in until 2:00pm. Those were the rules. We couldn’t understand why this mattered considering our reserved campsite was unoccupied. Nevertheless, we drove the RV back to the beach parking lot and waited until 2:00pm. Andi busied himself on his computer while I did my workout in the parking lot, and then Tory, Aden and I did their school work together.
Around 11:00am, the kids heard a familiar tune of a ice cream truck driving by. When they looked out the window, they saw it was actually a sno-cone truck. Aden asked if he could have one, but I said no. “I have my own money!” he exclaimed.
Something about using his tooth fairy money to buy a syrup-filled cup of ice feels wrong, but I let it happen.
We finished school and then made our way to the campground check-in station for the 3rd time today around 1:50pm. A woman met Andi at the entrance and said, “'I’m sorry, I can’t let you check-in until 2:00pm.” Seriously?! We’d been waiting around all day! Andi literally stood outside the ranger station door until the clock ticked 2:00pm so that we could finally be checked into our campground spot.
Finally in our campsite, Andi plugged the RV into power and water. I turned on the a/c and cleaned the inside of our RV from top to bottom. Every surface was covered in pollen after having the windows open for the past 24 hours and we were all sneezing like crazy.
Tory had her weekly art class at 3:00pm, so she participated in that and even allowed Aden to join her. They painted flower pots for Mother’s Day (shhh, I’m not supposed to know that part).
Around 5:00pm, the four of us decided to go for a hike. Another friend of Andi’s that lives in Chattanooga recommended a trail called Soddy Creek Golf Trail which is located about 15 minutes away from Chester Frost Park. The four of us hopped in the Jeep and drove to the trailhead.
This was a popular park for both families and dog walkers. The flat trail followed Soddy Creek and there were several swimming spots along the way. Aden came prepared in his swimming trucks. The kid loves to swim!
We walked for 1 1/2 miles to the end of the wooded trail and even saw a small waterfall along the way. On our return trip, we stopped at a swimming spot so that Andi and Aden could take a dip in the water.
Tomorrow, we’re spending one more day in Chattanooga.
