LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, TN (Day 2).  Rained heavily on and off today.  Betty reserved tickets for the incline railway trip up the mountain, but we were rained out.  Fortunately she was refunded the money when she cancelled the trip.  

We then shopped at one of the several Publix stores around here. I had no idea Publix was in this area.  We did a little more shopping, returned home to unload groceries, then decided to visit Ruby Falls, which is in underground caverns.  This was our third cavern visit, the others being Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and Bristol Caverns in Virginia.  

Betty shot a video of the falls, which was dramatized by a light show and music.  Much of the natural wonders in the caverns we thought was spoiled with garish colored lights.  When we get the photos processed, they will be included here and then you can judge for yourselves.

Tomorrow we shall sightsee with the Tolsons and join them for supper.  Stay tuned.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, TN.  Drove up many long winding roads to reach the higher altitudes of Lookout Mountain.  Much cooler up there.  Seems there was a famous Civil War battle fought there.  How on earth did they get up there through the thicket of trees and steep rocky climbs?

We were to meet our friends, the Tolsons, at their church, the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church.  We arrived early at the magnificent sprawling edifice.  Any time that we have seen such a complex while traveling across the country, usually it is an old church gone liberal in the early 20th century.  This church, however, is a well-run and well-led congregation of mature solid Christians in the Biblical sense.  The sermon was very good, and the fellowship warm and cordial.  

View of the Main Sanctuary from the Street

There was one complication.  They conduct five services every week, one in the evening and four simultaneously at 11:00 am.  They have one in the huge sanctuary, one in the adjacent chapel, one in the fellowship hall, and one in another large room in the same complex. There is a preacher on staff to conduct each service, one of which is the Tolsons' son, a graduate of nearby Covenant College.  We attended the service in the main sanctuary, but our friends were in the habit of attending the one in the large fellowship hall.  Thus, we did not locate them until after the services were over.

View as We Entered the Main Sanctuary

The service we attended was somewhat nostalgic in that the architecture reminded me of the building of the church I attended as a child in the 1950s.  The beautiful organ and choral music, the formal worship, the beautiful surroundings were very similar.  What was dramatically different was the doctrine preached and taught.  My childhood church was liberal; this church is strictly orthodox.  There also are many beautiful stained glass windows.  No one here harbors any qualms about any possible violation of the second commandment.

Tolsons and Us in Courtyard of Giant Complex

We joined our friends for lunch at one of Covenant College students' favorite watering holes, Mr T's Pizza and Ice Cream.  John Tolson also joined us for the 6:00 pm special report in the fellowship hall.  The report was on proceedings of the recent General Assembly of the PCA.  It was a very sensitive analysis of troubling issues facing the denomination, but the general direction of things, and the very sizeable conservative block of representatives, bode well for the future of the PCA.  If there ever is any split in the denomination, it would seem likely to be one of the small liberal-leaning minority leaving rather than the other way around.

Lunch at Mr T's Pizza and Ice Cream

It was a very nice day, though quite rainy on and off.  We hope to work in some sight-seeing tomorrow.  

 CHATTANOOGA, TN,  We are at a truly nice park with WIFI, but it is very slow.  Betty called our good friends in Lookout Mountain, with whom we shall attend church tomorrow.  The address of this park is as listed above, but it is actually located just below the TN/GA line (Rossville, GA). 

Our Site at Holiday Travel Park

 FORSYTH, GA.   Arrived safely in mid-afternoon.  No internet here, so I am typing this on the 10th.  Nothing much to report except more heat and humidity.

 VALDOSTA, GA.  Arrived safely here around 4:30 pm.  Just as hot and humid here as in St Augustine.  Wifi here is awful.   Stay tuned.

Due to the threat of the Covid disease, we like everyone else, were confined to our home beginning in early 2020.  Thus, you will find no entries for that year.  We likewise were leery of travel this year until we had gotten the two vaccinations and waited a while for the country to settle down.  

We are going to take a trip in July into the mountains to cool off.  To prepare for that trip, seeing that our motorhome sat motionless for about a year and a half, we wanted to take a short trip of about 100 miles and back to check out its travel-worthiness and refresh our memories of how everything operates.  Thankfully, everything went very well.  

We stayed in Bushnell, FL June 15 - 18 parked at the Sumter Oaks RV Park run by the Escapees RV Club.  Since we are members of that club, we thought that we should familiarize ourselves with their parks.  The only one in the state of Florida is this one.

This park is rather old but in a scenic part of the state.  The RV sites are reasonably far apart and level.  Our stay was restful and allowed us to become familiar with another part of the state.

The Escapees Sumter RV Park

Our Site in the Park

We shall travel without the motorhome in August for a visit to Iceland and the Norway fjords.  In September and October we hope to work out more motorhome trips.

ST AUGUSTINE, FL.  We arrived home at 3:40 pm today.  Have spent over an hour checking out the house and yard, turning the AC down inside, taking out wasp nests outside, etc.  Cannot believe how tall the weeds have grown everywhere.  Now we need to bring into the house from the motorhome all the clothes, etc.  Will have many chores cleaning the motorhome inside and out, cleaning the house inside and out, weeding the flower beds, small maintenance jobs, etc.  But first we shall need to rest a bit.  Five and a half months on the road is a long time.  Drove well over 16,000 miles in the motorhome alone, and quite a few in the Jeep.

I had to jump start my Honda Pilot when I got here, since it had sat idle in the garage all that time.  Runs fine once started.  Will take a while to feel like we really are back.  Looking forward to using our home laundry, kitchen, bathrooms, etc once again.

We also need to drive up to Jacksonville to see my sister, who has been receiving our mail while we were away.  Sorting through 5 1/2 months of mail will be another chore.

Yesterday in Savannah we visited Forsyth Park that was surrounded by very old homes, reminiscent of Alexandria, VA.  In the center of the park was a fountain built in 1858, along with many huge live oak trees.  Betty took a couple photos with her phone (see below).

Fountain Built in 1858

Large Live Oak Tree

As we sort through all our photos, many more will be added to the blog at prior posts.  There were so many that processing them all on the road was impossible.  Please stay tuned . . .