Ryman Auditorium

These pictures were taken December 2018.

The early part of  1963 a group of us went to Nashville to see the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium.

We went in my old new Volvo.  The brakes were bad so we changed them.  On our trip on the state two- lane highway just north of Chattanooga on a steep incline going down a mountain my new brakes failed, down we sped, with one of us screaming.  Thank God for truck run-a-ramps.  It probably saved our lives.  I don't know how we fixed the brakes but one of us did,.  They probably just needed an adjustment.  

In Nashville we got a room in a hotel next door to the Ryman Auditorium and went to Woolworths to eat dinner.  Our table was in the window.  While eating an old man with a dirty coat and a guitar on his shoulder stood and watched us eat.  We motioned for him to join us and we would buy him a dinner.  He quickly joined us and ordered.  He told us he and Cowboy Copas grew up together and were good friends.  Cowboy told him if he ever got to Nashville come to the Opry and he would give him a job singing.  We wished him well.

The Ryman Auditorium was built in 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle.  Rev. Sam Jones of Cartersville. Georgia, was the main evangelist that preached there.  In 1943 the Grand Ole Opry took it over. 

That night we got  sat on a church pew in the balcony.  Cowboy Cobas was the M.C.  We saw many famous country and western singers.  The only one I one I can remember is Patsy Cline.  I also remember the giant cereal box on stage and the constant plug of WSM Radio broadcasting live.

During the show I saw Cowboy Copas's friend on the main level walking up the aisle with his  guitar.  I nudge my friends and we eagerly watched him.  Almost to the stage two or three men intercepted him.  They drug him away with him trying to explain his relationship to Cowboy and Cowboy did not miss a beat or even blink during the ruckus, he just played on.

Afterwards we went to  The Jungle Club Lounge.   The waitress flirted with us but warned us she had a husband and four kids waiting on her not miles north of there in Kentucky.  

Very soon after that night, Cowboy Copas and Patsy Cline died in a plain crash, March 5, 1963.

MY THANKSGIVING STORIES

MY THANKSGIVING STORIES.  We are invited to kin-folks Thanksgiving dinner later this week.  The hosts suggested that each person to come armed with their favorite Thanksgiving story or memory.  I do not speak well in front of a group of  people.  I do OK in one on one conversations, but more than two or three people I don't.   I thought about what I want to say, which is a Thanksgiving memory.  I thought maybe I should  corner each person there, one on one and tell them my story.  But better still, put it on Facebook and my blog and let them read it for themselves, if they want to.  If they don't, that is OK too, I won't know the difference.

First I want to briefly tell you my second Thanksgiving Story:  It happened Thanksgiving 1963.  That was just several days after Kennedy was killed.  At the Naval Mess Hall in Lakehurst, New Jersey, our Thanksgiving dinner was a solemn occasion - nobody felt like being thankful  or happy.  Who knew what would happen next?  What did happen was the Navy just rescue the men from a sinking foreign transport off our coast.  Our Naval base was the nearest to bring them for food.  I think it was a ship from one of the northern countries of Europe., like Norway.  They all were given orange flight suits to wear.  They were happy and THANKFUL to be alive.   Although we could hardly understand a word they said, after dinning with the happy to be alive crew it rubbed off on us.  Another good reason to go to the E.M. Club to get plastered.

My 2nd Thanksgiving Story, which is more memorable:  Back in the early late 1950s or early 1960s a group of friends and I decided to go hunting early on Thanksgiving morning.  Larry Southern knew of a place in White, Georgia, near Cartersville of endless dirt roads.  Our plan was to take turns with two of us riding on the fenders and when we saw a rabbit shoot it.  We have been out on dirt country roads countless times and rabbits would run out in front of us.    Maybe we arrived at the destination about 2am, and proceeded to ride the dirt roads, taking turns at fender duty.  We did not see any rabbits.   We gave up and came upon an abandoned  country unpainted shack.  We built a fire in the fireplace and sat around and talked about life and gossiped.   We were not getting much accomplished , we decided to drive back to Marietta.  Out on the highway going to Cartersville we had a flat tire.  We were driving one of Larry's father's old  junk car somebody traded him for a better car (hopefully).  The old heap had  no spare.  We sat in the car and talked and gossiped some more.   Daylight began to slowly shift in.  When it got light enough that we could see some things around us we saw we were parked across  the road from a house.  Beside the house was a pasture and behind the house was a little hill.  Near the top of the hill was an outhouse, maybe 50 feet from the house.

Larry said he was going to use that outhouse.   We knew he meant it.  He loved to use outhouses.   Monty and Johnny tried to talk him out of it.  He wouldn't want to listen their reasoning.  He got out of the car and walked beside the house and up the hill.

Something you need to know about Larry:  He was then a shy person.  He would do sneaky things but hoped he would never get caught, it was too embarrassing.   When he did get caught he scratched his forehead  so his hand would cover his face.  We have seen him scratch his forehead more than once.

Larry went into the outhouse and shut the door.  The rest of us  sat there and talked and speculated what would happen if he got caught.

Then I saw a little grey headed matron looking lady walking up hill with some newspapers in her hands.  I told my friends and we were having laughing fits watching each step the lady took.

She opened the door and  dropped her papers..  Out bounded Larry trying to pull up his pants with one hand and scratching his forehead with the other.

He ran down the hill, jumped in the car , started the engine and  we rode off, flat or no flat.

We got down the road a very shot distance but around a bend and out of sight and we gave out of gas.  This time we were in front of a service station that sold tires  and gas.  We started to pool our money  to discovered that every one of us was broke.

Somehow I got elected to go to Larry's house, or his parents' house, get his car and his money was hidden in his car, and drive back to White, Georgia.

I hitchhiked back to Marietta.  I lived with my family close to the 41 Hwy, or 4-Lane, as we called it locally.  My last ride carried me as close as two blocks for our house.  I walked into our house.  My family was having Thanksgiving dinner.  Invited  down from Chattanooga was my mother's brother Tom Petty and his wife Mary Jo.  I hurriedly ate, standing up - I was on a mission.  I took my car and drove over to Larry's house and got his car.  Luckily, his parents were not there - I would look awful guilty trying to explain everything to them.  I left my car at Larry's parents and took Larry's car and drove back up the 4-Lane to Cartersville.  That was before the I-75 was built. 

Right after the first street turning off into Cartersville, I gave out of gas.

Back then we ran out of gas a lot.  We did that a lot and just dealt with it as it happen.  It was also a way of life to park on hills with the front aiming down in case we had to push our car off.

I was out of gas with the mission incomplete.   The only thing I knew to do was to start hitchhiking towards White and worry about Larry's car later.  After all, they need the money to get gas and a tire for the heap.   As I was walking backwards on the northbound lane of the US41 with my thumb out I looked over to the southbound lane and there was my four friends walking backwards with their thumbs out.  I hollered and we joined up.

I do not remember the details of what happened next.  We got Larry's car, put gas in it and went back to white and had to walk to the owner of the service station's house to get him to open on Thanksgiving to sell us a tire and some gas.  I think he sold us a used tire for $5 and sold us gas. 

It was something I think I will remember until I can't remember no more.

Car Service Waiting Room Adventure

We had our car serviced yesterday.  Next to the waiting room is a little alcove  with a counter that has a Keurig coffee machine and an impressive selection of k-Kups to choose from.  I am always on the lookout for a new flavor of "koffee"  .  I picked out one that I thought would be interesting and open the lid and put the little kup in the round slot.  Something didn't seem right.  As I was closing the lid the round thing flipped backwards and dumped the unpunched K-Kup.   A man, who looked like he might be a salesman or a manager was at a distance watching me.  I reached in the boxes with the selections and picked out another one of the same kind as last time.   I opened up the lid to place it in the little round thing and the man stepped forward and volunteered to help me, and jokingly complained that one would have to be from outer space to know how to work that thing.  This time, he put the k-kup in the round slot and shut it, press the 8 oz button.  Hot water came out.  He asked me was that tea?  I told him it was supposed to be dark roasted.   On the third try it worked.

The service representative told us it would take about 45 minutes.  I drunk coffee and we both played with our i-pads. smart phones.  During this time I noticed other people coming in the waiting area and waiting a short time and someone coming up and tell them their car was ready.   Uh-oh, I think we got lost in the cracks again, I thought.  I said I was going to check to see why people coming in after we did are leaving before us.... really, I don't know why I even planned to bother to ask, it is a common occurrence with us.  

As I was walking towards the cashier the service representative and I met  passed each other walking different directions.  She glanced at me and walked on.  If she was coming to tell us our car was ready I wasn't recognizable.  I  turned around and followed her and I was right.  She was coming to tell us to tell us our car was ready.

We paid the cashier and the service representative walked out in the work bay with us and she said, your car is outside on the other side of that wall.  We said, that gray CRV there looks a lot like our car.  I pressed my remote button and the parking lights did' not blink, so I figured it wasn't ours after all, .  Our car must be outside.  We went outs

We went outside and our car wasn't there. 

We went back in and asked the young lady who drives car in and out for service and pickup.  She asked us if the cashier gave us a key and I said no.  We went in to the cashier but before we got there, the young lady had another idea.  She went back to the car that we first thought was ours and said this is your car.  I said, but the remote button won't light up the parking lights.  She kindly told me it would not light up because our spare key was in the ignition. 

I may be invisible but I think I had them talking and comparing notes after we left.

Yesterday's Adventures

First thing yesterday the bedroom ceiling light was flickering off and on.  I got on the stepstool, unscrewed the tiny screws that held the globe on and screwed the bulb tighter and  it seemed to quit flickering.  However when I replaced the little screws that holds the globe I had two more screws than I had screw-holes for.  How did that happen?

I got an email from my friend Walker to gently remind me that he is still holding a Waterman Street School brick for me.  He has been holding it since July - If I was him I would make sure I got the brick by throwing it through my window.

Anna got her hair done and afterwards, I met her at the car dealership and while her car was being serviced we went to a barbecue restaurant in Woodstock.  The restaurant is where Beelte BBQ was,  now it is owned by someone else.  There are still artifacts from the prevevious owner in the parking lot, for instance a VW Beetle.    We noticed on the door a sign hanging saying "CLOSED.  PLEASE COME AGAIN."  But another neon light said they were open.   We were about to back out and leave but to make sure which sign was tellilng the truth I got out and tried the door and it opened.  A waitress came out from the back room.  They were opened.

It was about 12:30 noon and we were the only customers there.  Maybe other people went by saw the hanging the closed sign and kept on going.

The Brunswick stew was good and the pulled pork was a little dry but after adding North Carolina sweet barbecue sauce with a splash of South Carolina lowland mustard base spicier sauce it became moist and tasty.

While we were eating another customer came in and ordered a Cuban sandwich, which looked good.

We picked up the car and went to Krogers to our weekly grocery shopping.

We delivered my mother-in-law her groceries.  The smoke alarm was beeping an she said she felt dizzy.  We thought that the beeps could be carbon monoxide warnings.  We called 911.  We explained what it could be but didn't know for sure.  The 911 operator told us to get out of the house and wait for the firemen.  We went out on the porch - or at least Anna and Marie did - I hung around looking out the window to see the firetruck arrive with its siren hollering.  Why don't I always bring my camera?

Four blue uniform firemen came.  They did various tests and determined there was no carbon monxide leaks, beside the alarm that was beeping was a smoke warning, not a carbon monixide detector.  It was making a chirping sound.  The firemen said when it chirped it was just saying it was low on batteries.  Whle they were there replaced the batteries in both smoke detectors.

One of the men had a blood pressure machine and checked Marie vitals.  It was off some.  They said they could call an ambulance or we could take her to the ER if she agreed to go.   She did not want to go.  She said she was feeling better.  They didn't insist.

As far as Marie being dizzy, we decided she went about 7 hours without eating and needed carbs, after all she is 92, and fragile.

The crew of firemen were very professional, polite, serious, and courteous.  When my mother was alive and very weak and at times we needed the firemen to help her get downstairs or up stairs they had the same professioal strandards as these men.  It must come with the job.

After they left, one of us asked, "I wonder if they do light bulbs?"

DIXIE HIGHWAY, REVISITED

This book is better than my ramblings, read it instead.

In the 1940s and 50s we kept the Dixie Highway pavement and tar hot on our frequent trip up and down that 100 mile stretch between Marietta and Chattanooga.  

When I say "we" I mean some of my mother's siblings and their spouses and children and us.  My grandmother and some of her children lived near Dalton and Chattanooga and some lived in Marietta.

I felt I knew the road pretty good and felt that I wanted to see it again to see what changed and what has remained the same.  In today's terms, to ride up it to Chattanoga was on my "Bucket List".  And it was my birthday, so there.

I remember this same view when I was a kid.  Of course, it was black and white then.  I beleive this is the remains of a bridge I  read that Sherman had destroyed.  See the guy fishing?  Also, there is a certain comfort feeling of seeing things you haven't seen for a while and they are still around.

This is an Indian who looks like a warrier or a hunter.  I would think he is pissed off.  This is in Calhoun, only a few miles from New Echota, the then seat of the Cherokee Nation.  His leaders voted for all the Indians to give up their land and walk to Oklahoma.  "The Trail of Tears".  That would be enough to make anybody highly perturbed.

Notice the rock that make this arch?  Along the highway there are many structures made of rock.  It was probably easily accessible.  I think the two CSA soldiers are not following protocal.  If I remember correctly military statues are to face the direction of  their enemy - in this case, the north.  I think one was facing east and the other one was facing west.

Also along the highway there appear to be no zoning laws.  There are all kinds of houses, junk piles of junk in front yards, not to be confused wtih decorative little statues and things, which Anna said is "Yard Art".

The Resaca Civil War  Confederate Cemetery that probably holds the CSA soldiers from a battle about a mile away.  Marvin, a friend, lives near here and he told me he sometimes cuts the grass of this cemetary.

This was the train depot.  Now it is Ringgold's Visitor's Center, History Museum, and bluegrass concert hall.  I bet they have a gift shop too.  They are closed on Mondays.  This is also where James Andrews and his Raiders were caught up with in the Great Locomotive Chase.

The overpass down the hill ahead was there when our family came up often.  It is still there.  What I couldn't find was the Wedding Chapel.  The Wedding Chappel of Ringgold offered a quick bloodtest and a quick marriage.  Las Vegas may have taken notes.  I was told by a stranger when just outside of town at a Civil War skirmish marker that Dolly Parton got married in Ringgold.  The stranger with a white beard told me he was returning from Tennessee where he is practicing for the Baseball Olympics in the age 70 category.  He new all the good places to play baseball in Cobb County, such as Al Bishop Park.

Also, a distant relative of mine is a  resident of Ringgold and famous in an infamous kind away when the law accused him of locking his wife and mother-in-law up and starved them to death....it took 20 years.  He was found innocent in the court of law, but a TV special was made of him and his eccentric ways.  It is no crime to be a hermit.

I found some relatives through my Tyson branch on at West Hill Cemetery in Dalton up on a hill.  When alive they lived in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, then some of them went south and settled near Ball Ground, and one of the daughters married into the Tyson family, near Woodstock.

Burial place for Leander Newton Trammell

This is Leander Newton Tammell's family plot.  The big marker is his, the small one is his wife's.  Leander, or "The Colonel" is a distant relative - well, not that distant, we are first cousins (4 times removed).  He is the one that is responsible for the Trammell House in Marietta.  I found their plot when I visited West Hill Cemetery a few years ago.  This time in Dalton I noticed that  I crossed Trammell Street, on the north side of town.

This grave has my mother's sister and her husband Cecil.  Interesting couple.  I also found this grave years ago, but paid them another visit.  This time I noticed they are buried next to Cecil's parents. 

This is West Hill Cemetery's Confederate Graves section.

I found my mother's brother and his wife Mary Jo's grave.  It is the first time it has been visited by one of our family members as far as I know.

I went into the cemetary's office and asked if they had an index.  The lady said yes and she looked up Thomas Petty.  She found him.  She gave me a map and drew line on the route I should take to get to his and Mary Jo's grave.  She said something like this... "You take the Sermon on the Mount road up and turn right at the green gate - then you park and walk eight rows from the Sitting Jesus."  It sounded like a satire from a Kurt Vonnogut or Terry Southern novel

This is the Chapel in the cemetery.  I just wanted to point out that kind or rock again. There are plenty of structures are made of it.

On the way home we stopped at J.D.'s Bar-B-Que in Acworth.  Delicious!!

Kennesaw Cigar Company

Back in my preteen years sometimes walking from school we would take a shortcut to bypass downtown by walking from Wright Street down Trammell Street to Powder Springs Street.  Not quiet directly across the street from the hosiery mill was the KENNESAW CIGAR COMPANY.

The same houses that were there are there now.  They are little houses in a row.  One of the houses had a little shed on the side of the house.  A sign, about poster size, read KENNESAW CIGAR COMPANY.  On the front porch of the house sat what I am sure  was the board of directors of the cigar company watching people on the sidewalk walk by.  The board of directors was the CEO and the treasurer.  Also the workers were all on the porch.  If you counted all the people sitting there you would count two people – and elderly man and his wife.

We waved at him from time to time when we saw them looking at us and sometimes they were looking at something else and didn’t notice us.

One day one of us asked the man, “Do you really make cigars in there?”  He said he sure did.  He asked us did we want to look around.  We said we did and he said, “Comon’ then.”

The CEO left his vice president and treasurer, aka wife, on the porch and pulled out his key and we followed him as he unlock the door and went inside.  It was dark with the exception of long window on the back side.  You could just about stand in the middle of the room and almost run every operation by pivoting and stretching your arms.  Hanging were two or three huge leafs which I think were tobacco leaves.  He demonstrated with a black metal machine how to roll a cigar.  As a souvenir he gave us each a KENNESAW MOUNTAIN cigar box.

How many times has a CEO of a tobacco company given you a personal tour? 

(note – the above is a recycled adventure)

Adam the Hero

Above – a picture off of Google showing what can happen with flame flare-up when deep frying a turkey.

On Christmas day we had the family over for dinner. The first ones that arrived was my son Adam and his friend Savvy. It was in the plans for Adam to come early and do some electronic fixing and correcting for us.

I was keeping my focus on a beef tenderloin roast we were cooking on the grill on the deck. Adam came out and told me there was a fire at the house across the street. We quickly walked and ran over to the house. Big flames were leaping up behind their carport. Adam rung their door bell and knocked on the door but no one came. Their cars were in the driveway but I for whatever reason they did not come to the door. Adam hollered out, “Your house is on fire!”

And that got their attention. They all ran out and I think it was the lady of the house that grabbed a water hose and put the fire out. It couldn’t tell what was burning from my position but I think it was the lattice on the back of their carport. It was surprising that it was extinguished so quickly. Well, good.
They thanked us but somehow I sensed they were wishing we would mind our own business. We more or less said, “Aww shucks, we are just glad y’all are OK.”

We went back. I went back tending to the roast on the grill and Adam went back to the electronic fixing our electronic screw-ups.

Then I heard sirens. Up pulled three police cars and three fire trucks. I found out later that Savvy called 911. One police car drove down the street slowly looking for a problem and apparently saw none. He looked at me and I pointed to the neighbor’s house. He looked at me more puzzled. I, again, pointed at the neighbor’s house. He stopped and got out and said he didn’t understand what I was motioning. I told him it was that house over there that had the fire and added that they put it out already.

He went over to look and so did the rest, including the firemen. From their actions I saw that there was still a problem. They ran back to the truck and got equipment including two ladders. While they were in the back a big belch of smoke shot up from the roof. They stayed there between 30 minutes to an hour, and as far as I know, solved their fire problem.


A little later my neighbor Bob came over and asked what did the police want with me and I told him about the fire. Bob walked over to the house to the spot the fire was in and came back and told me apparently they were deep frying a turkey and were not watching it, and it was right in the middle of some scrap wood… so poof! It was ignited.

Thanks to Adam and the firemen, their house was not burned down.

Chattanooga – or We don’t Get Out Much…

The other day we took a road trip to Chattanooga to see what the TV advertising is all about.

Arriving just before noon, the first place we went was Nikki’ Drive Inn, known for their deep fried onion rings and shrimp. Yep, it is southern cuisine. As usual, we beat the lunch crowd by about a minute. After we were seated, hoards of people piled in. I noticed the employees behind the counter knew a good many people by name. We have heard the onion rings and shrimp are delicious, so that is what we ordered. I have tasted better, but they were very good. The large battered shrimp were crunchy and the onion rings were big and tasty. I think Nikki lets you salt to your own taste – the salt is mostly what is missing, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. One table with three people had burgers with onion rings but left the onion rings behind. This surprised us because that is something we never do. Before leaving, we visited their facilities, Anna going first. When it was my turn, I found the men’s restroom out of order, advising the women’s room is unisex. After some serious consideration, I decided when you need to go, you need to go. So, I used the Unisex restroom. The tall gentleman behind the cash register was probably the owner or manager. He was amused that we came all the way from Marietta to try the restaurant, noticing my hat said Marietta History Museum. I was surprised he noticed me at all.



Food - not bad!


A lady on the street giving us direction to Nikki's said, "If you go into the tunnel you have gone too far."

Next we went to Coolidge Riverside Park, which is across the Tennessee River from the Tennessee Aquarium. The park is next to the Delta Queen Riverboat which now is opened as a hotel. Historical signs are scattered telling the stories of the role the river played through history with the Trail of Tears and later the Civil War. Today it is a place for outside family entertainment, exercise and playgrounds for kids. Two blue bridges loom overhead, one for walking and one for autos.







Both bridges lead to downtown and up on the hill to the Hunter Art Museum, one of the main attractions for our trip. An art community has sprung up all around the museum with galleries and restaurants to enjoy. Chattanooga is the home of the Coca Cola Bottling Company, started by Benjamin Thomas, who bought the bottling rights from Coke tycoon Asa Chandler for $1. This reminds me of seeing Chattanooga as one of the bottling sites on the bottom of the green glass bottles of my youth. Benjamin Thomas’s nephew, George Thomas Hunter, came to work in the bottling company when he was 17. Hunter soon rose rapidly through the ranks to become secretary, president and finally, chairman of the board of the company that franchised bottling in almost every state in the union. With his uncle having no heir, he offered to give him his fortune if he would promise to never marry except to the job at the bottling company. Hunter became one of Chattanooga’s most respected philanthropists. One of his finest achievements was the creation of the Benwood Foundation, a private charitable trust still in operation today. The Chattanooga Art Association requested the foundation donate the Hunter mansion for an art museum. Today the mansion is still part of the museum, with a modern building having been added in the 70s.

It is one of the most impressive museums we have had the pleasure to see. I highly recommend you visit! Unfortunately, my “Who Do I Think I Am?” search has yet to find any relation to George Thomas Hunter.





As we approached the museum, there is an interesting nude statue of a famous American dancer* during the 20s. She could no longer tolerate racism so moved to Paris to be free with her interpretive nude dancing. We were looking at the statue when a man with his son walked by. The man had a wicked smile on his face whispering something to his wide-eyed son. I told Anna: “Bob gives his son an art lesson.”

*In the comment Mike points out that the dancer was probably Josephine Baker. I agree, now that I heard that name.

Later we looked for the “Duck” sightseeing tour. The “Duck” is a big amphibian people moving machine – the kind that landed soldiers at Normandy. It travels like a car on ground and swims like, well, a duck in the water. They give tours at noon, 2, and 4 every day. We wanted to ride the Duck, but we arrived too late, so we decided to spend the night. The next day it rained, so no duck for us.

Before the sun began to go down, we decided to drive around Chattanooga looking for the house where my aunt lived during the 40s-50s. Things don’t look like they use to, so we couldn’t find it. On the way back we stopped at a place called Porker’s BBQ. We got out and walked up to the door to discover they were closed. The restaurant next door, an Italian place was opened so we went there. It was not so hot. The décor was very homey and so was the food, nothing impressive at all, unless you like burnt food that was runny. Too bad we chose this place since we later found a lot of nice looking restaurants. Such is life.

By the way, in the close downtown area parking is a premium. There are parking lots with slots to put money in everywhere, even at large walk around parks, and parking meters do a big business too. Most cars back into their parking place where there is a parking meter. It seems to work out better. It may be a little of a bitch to get in, but easy to pull back out into traffic.

Our return date was a rainy day. We drove to Lookout Point on top of Lookout Mountain. The view is a panoramic scene of the winding river. The fort there was commanded by Union General Joseph Hooker after their capture of Chattanooga during the Civil War. General Hooker was also one of the Yankee generals who fought at Kennesaw/Cheatham Hill in Georgia. General Hooker had women hauled in to keep his men “happy”. This is where the term “Hooker” came from. True fact. Hooker’s name comes up in the Battle of Kolb’s Farm, just southwest of Marietta.



On top of Lookout Mountain is Point Park Visitor Center. The center is the very proud of a painting in their possession depicting the “Battle Above the Clouds” by James Walker. Walker witnessed the battle and sketched scenes to render his historically accurate 13’x30’ painting (postcard of it above), which General Hooker commissioned him to paint. Hooker was running for Governor, which he lost. The Museum Ranger said we got the painting anyway.










Afterwards, we drove back to downtown Chattanooga for lunch at Sugar’s Ribs, which was pretty good I thought.

Then we headed back to Marietta in the storm. Willow stayed at the Pet Resort while we were gone and seemed none worse for the experience when we picked her up just in time for the tremendous thunder storms. She doesn’t like storms, but, hey, who does?