December 10, 2004 –

This morning we awoke to high clouds and sun – and the rain abated – at least for the early part of the day. The forecaster this morning stated that since the first of the month there has been between 7 and 11 inches of rain (depending upon which community or county you live in). That is an average of over an inch a day. They were also reporting that the county has had 17 inches more rain this year than on average year – so it is little wonder that fields, woodlots, and ditches are filled with water.

As the weather was supposed to be nice for most of the day – we decided to drive up to Tennessee – and tour the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg. The tour itself was let by a “good ole boy” that talked with a heavy southern accent and had little sympathy for those people that were not Whiskey drinkers. He started off by saying that yesterday he had a little baby on the tour and somehow some of the fumes from the fermenter got onto the pacifier. He said that the parent will have a heck of a time weaning this child now – as he has developed lock jaw.

Things at the distillery run on their own slow pace – and many of the people working there are said to be second or third generation employees. The Distillery is the oldest registered distillery in the United States – being registered in 1866 – and this does not take into account the time it was in production before being registered. Jack Daniels started out in the whiskey making business when he was 9 working for a part time preacher and part time distiller. Soon a woman came into the preacher’s life and made him make a choice between the church and the distillery and the preacher sold his still to Jack – who was then 13.

Apparently Jack Daniels died at the young age of 63 – when one day he became frustrated at being unable to open the safe in his office – and out of anger kicked it. The kick ended up breaking some bones in his foot – which eventually got infected – resulting in gangrene that led to his death. The “good ole boy” who led the tour indicated that whenever they tried to lance and treat the wound by pour whiskey over it (at 140 proof it would have killed the infection) – Jack choose to drink it instead.

One of the other unusually things about the Distillery are that it sits in a “dry” county in Tennessee – and therefore you can not buy the product in the town of Lynchburg. However the tour guide was more than willing to extoll the virtues of it and wave the lid over the maple charcoaling process – so that everyone could get the benefit of the fumes. He also highly recommended the Jack Daniels fudge sold in town. Apparently after December 17 – you can go onto the Jack Daniel web site – and pull up tour 10 on December 10th and see a picture of our tour group.

After leaving the Distillery, we toured around downtown Lynchburg – where you can buy things made from the whiskey barrels, clothing, cake and fudge made with JD, etc. Their hard candy was really good – even the kids liked their taste – and they had wonderful smelling JD candles. The people were all really friendly – and when it was identified that some of the things were too big to take in the motor home – they eagerly agreed to have them shipped for us. There were many unique things made from the barrels – but probably the most unique gift available was the opportunity to buy a single barrel of JD. You get to sample product from three different barrels – and pick the one you want. It is then numbered and stamped as being for you – for which you get a 240 special issue bottles, along with the empty barrel – and your name on wooden plaque on the wall in the distillery. The price varies depending on the state where the person lives (due to tax laws) and runs between $7000 – 9000. (Mom just continues to say no).

Left Lynchburg and continued back to Huntsville to take in the Galaxy of Lights. This is a mile long drive through the botanical gardens – all done up in a large Christmas light display. It was really amazing and the number of light displays that they had. As it was dark and would be late by the time we got back home – we went to a Chinese Buffet – up on the “mountain” in Guntersville. At first we thought we may have made the wrong choice as it appeared that all of the staff was of Mexican descent – but the food was wonderful – with plenty of seafood and at a great price.

Driving back to the campground through the dark, on the narrow and windy roads – proved to be a real challenge – with the rain re-commencing and the deer and possum all over the place. However it was great to get home and have a sip of JD to close off the day.

December 11, 2004

Today, we spent the day around camp. The boys did homework in the morning – while dad did some work on the motor home and toad (cable, extra bicycle rack, etc.). The boys participated in the cake and prize walk at the campground – and one of them came away with a prize – that has been wrapped up to give to Dad for Christmas (this could be scary).

We were able to put up our few Christmas decorations inside and outside the motor home. This consists of a 14 inch fibre lighted Christmas tree, about 10 Looney Toon Christmas characters (both put up inside the motor home) and a string of mini-lights that decorate the awning on the outside. It is a far cry from the many boxes of decorations that we usually put up – however space considerations make for some interesting decisions. There is also less room to hide and store Christmas presents – but we seem to be managing.

Today was also the potluck supper and auction. The supper was really good – and there was lots of interesting Christmas things up for auction. Most of the people at the supper were the local members and therefore were only traveling a short distance and could partake in the auction items – however our limited space meant that we were unable to get much. There was even a visit from Santa at the supper.

December 12, 2004 –

Today was laundry and homework day. Also did some pack up – as we have to take the motor home in tomorrow for a tune-up. Dad did work around camp while Mom and the boys went to the club house to do school work and laundry.

One of the lady’s working at the campground – saw Deb walking around the club house without her shoes on. Her comment was that Deb was turning into a Bama girl – going around barefoot. (Still haven’t been able to get her into those bib overalls however). Think we are really getting into this southern thing – especially when we are have been talking about needing a house with a porch so that we can put a couple of rocking chairs on it…

Generally, a lazy – easy going day – with Dad being able to watch a couple of football games, and Mom able to watch the final couple of hours of Survivor.
December 13, 2004 –

Today we took our RV into the shop and then took off in the Suzuki to Chattanooga. This would mean that during our short day – we would travel in and out of three states (Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee) at least three times each.

First off – yes there really is a Chattanooga Choo – Choo – however there are many inaccuracies in the song…it never came in on track 29 (they only have 14 tracks), it could never get you to Carolina in the morning or to Pennsylvania at a quarter to four as it only went from Chattanooga to Cincinnati! In fact, the Chattanooga train station is now part of the Holiday Inn chain – and you can even stay in one of the many train cars – as they make up some of the rooms – as does the converted train station. In addition to touring around the trains, hotel and station area – we went through the largest model railroad museum. The rail model display is a scale version of Chattanooga and area in an earlier era. The model railroad was easily 75 meters long, and probably 5 meters deep – that has 8 separate trains running at one time. The details and workmanship involved was truly impressive.

Dad was even able to sit in the parking lot, and log onto the choo-choo WiFi site and check e-mail and send out the latest update to the web page – while Mom and the kids went on a trolley ride and shopping in the various boutiques.

Outside the station itself are a number of shops and dinners – either in old train cars or in the station house area. In one of these shops we ran into a retired Col. named Donavon, who did glass blowing and ran a gift store – and who also ran a fishing camp on the plateau on the way to Bella Coola. We chatted with him a bit about a variety of topics including the Bella Coola area that we visited last year, when all of a sudden there was a large boom and the windows in the shop all shook and rattled. While we all jumped, Donavan remained calm – said it was nothing to worry about as it was just a sonic boom from one of the many F18’s that they have flying around. Donavan recommended that we go down the street to a genuine southern Bar-B-Que restaurant – “Porkers”. (That’s where he was headed for lunch). We had a great meal and while Donavan was chatting to the owner about us Canadians traveling through – another gentleman came over and wished us well on our trip – indicating he left Cape Breton about 12 years ago and has completely forgotten how to use a snow shovel. The ladies behind us also stopped by to talk as did the owner and waitress. In addition to the “Miss Piggy” Bar-B-Que and super loaded and stuffed potatoes we had – they insisted that we at least try the banana pudding – a southern specialty. Really great food and truly a friendly and busy place.

From there we went on to Russell Cave – a national monument in Alabama. This is a large cavern – that was used by many different groups of people going back some 10,000 years. Archaeologists have dug down some 43 feet in the cave – and have excavated artifacts from many different people – either as a seasonal residence – or as a meeting play that provided both great natural shelter – and provided relief from the summer heat. An underground spring comes out of the ground a short distance away – the water making the cavern – that continues on for about 2 miles – before the cave ends and the water disappears underground again. As we were the only people there at the time – the park interpreter came out with us and walked us through both the caverns and the history of the surrounding area. Did a bit of a nature walk seeing the cave – but you could feel the temperature dropping – and the predictions about the weather turning colder tonight and tomorrow seem to be coming true. Had to laugh as one of the local sports casters was out reporting on High School football games was from Florida and was finding the weather very cold. His television colleagues were kidding him that he had to dress warmer – and he needed to go out and buy himself a toboggan to wear (southern term for a toque). We had visions of this man wearing a sled on his head.

Then we continued back to Rainsville to pick up our RV. Mom dropped Dad off at the shop, and she and the boys headed back to camp. Turned out to be nothing major wrong with the RV – a vacuum hose had become disconnected – however it took them a bit to diagnosis and find it. The boys at the shop checked everything out and said that everything else was looking good – with the plugs and everything still running real clean. They insisted that I take it out for a ten minute run up one of the local hills to ensure that it was running properly and that would not misfire under load. When Dad got back to the shop, the boys there wanted to chat about the trip, etc. This did not appear to be something you could rush, and with as little as they charged Dad wasn’t going to. Needless to say by the time he got back to the camp ground it was dark which made setting up a bit more of a challenge. Once again we have learned the truth of the southern adage – “That life is too precious to move too quickly”. You just can’t hurry things down here – and therefore there is no point in trying.

Tomorrow is a move day – so we did a minimal set up – and then went for a swim, hot tub, and showers for the kids. Dad settled into watching Monday night football – and it seems that he has started to acquire another southern habit, of sipping on a bit of “JD” each night.

December 14, 2004

We were up and on the road in good time this morning. The temperature had dropped considerably overnight – and there was a very cool north wind blowing (about 1.5 degrees Celsius). We were even able to see a few slight snow flakes before we got out of the “high” country and headed south towards Atlanta.

Traffic around Atlanta was really heavy but even going 70 MPH in the slow lane – everyone was passing us. The roads however were well signed and therefore we were able to make our way through without any unnecessary detours. There is a section of the highway that went by the airport – where they looked like they were constructing big tunnels – so that the roads could go underneath and they could extend the airport runways on top.

We pulled into Lake Oconee about 3:00 PM this afternoon and set up camp. Although it was warmer (7 degrees) and the sun was shining – the north wind was still blowing and there is expected to be a hard freeze for all of northern and central Georgia tonight. The lady at the campground – said that there was almost no one here due to the weather – so we had our choice of sites. The sites were tiered across a slope overlooking the lake – each with their own wooden patio – suspended over the bank. The each had their own suspended fire pit and bench seating around the side of the patio. The lake itself is a very interesting colour of reddish – brown (Deb says it looks like PEI in a lake). We are not sure if it is a result of all the rain we’ve had – or this is its normal colour.

Have to see what tomorrow brings in way of weather – and what is close by in terms of things that we can see and do.

December 15, 2004

We were up this morning to a clear and cool day. It apparently did freeze here overnight and the campground crew were running around checking for frozen lines. Its one of the problems you encounter when you only bury the water lines 6 inches deep. After doing up some school work – we took a trip into Greensboro. There were many old homes – there were a few grand old mansions and an old jail – that have survived the years. One of the homes had a fountain in the front yard – that was all covered with icicles. This seemed to be an unusual occurrence around here – as there were several people stopping to take pictures of it.

We then headed towards Athens – home of the University of Georgia – and numerous automobile companies “service universities”. These “service universities” is where they train the staff on all aspects of car manufacturing and service. On the way into town along a back road – we came across a house that was completely overgrown with vines. We have seen these things take over fences and trees – but this is the first house that we have seen completely overrun. One wonders with as slow and relaxed that things are down here – that the old coon hounds don’t have vines growing all over them.

Athens seems to be a booming town – with all sorts of new subdivisions – some to service the university and some for people commuting to Atlanta. The older part of the city has narrow streets – but the new planned communities have wide boulevards and gated or archway entrances and names like “Wild Azaleas”. Decided to treat ourselves to a seafood lunch – and then did some grocery (and last minute Christmas) shopping. Seems to be Dad that always leaves things to the last minute…

December 16, 2004

The temperature overnight was not a record low for this time of year – but was within several degrees of it. Several of the water lines around the campground had frozen during the night – and people are running around all bundled up first thing in the morning. Dad even had to scrape the frost off his windshield before he could leave this morning. However by mid day the sun had warmed things up significantly and it was a beautiful day.

While the boys started on their school work, Dad took a short trip in order to pick up some supplies and to see what else was around the area. The Lake Oconee area seems to be really booming – with many fancy estate homes and upper end medical clinics – serving the Atlanta area. The old Suzuki looked really out of place with all the BMW, Lexus and Humvee’s. The roads in the area were all recently paved – and there were man-made lakes and estate subdivisions being set up everywhere.

Madison, a town about 15 miles from the west side of the lake – has a large historic downtown area – that has many boutiques and upscale antique shops. Many of the old homes and estates are fixed up or in the process of becoming so. This whole area seems to be getting a large influx of people and money from Atlanta.

This afternoon the boys discovered a couple of small lizards sunning themselves on the patio of the deck around our motor home. The boys were really excited – and were even able to hold one of them for awhile. They were both delighted as it scampered across their hand or up their arm and it was a great supplement to their day. As the sun started to cool down – the lizards went down under the deck – and I am sure that the boys will be looking for them again tomorrow.