Chatanooga Choo-choo

The trip through "the grand canyon of Tenessee" did not disappoint!Beautiful scenery and the weather held for us...chilly but sunny. We all "oohed and awed" our way down the river, snapping pictures along the way. Chatanooga is an amazing city and is going through a real estate boom!While the rest of the country is floundering, Tenessee is booming thanks to the "half-backs" the term for northerners who moved to Florida, and are now moving half way back because of hurricaines and high insurance costs in Florida.Chatanooga has redeveloped its waterfront with wonderful attractions, restaurants, new housing etc. The area is mountainous and known as "the boulder of the east" as white water rafting, hang gliding and all water sprots are available...who knew? The Brinkerhoffs were great guests and are back north, and our friends Shirley and John Sechrist also just left after spending 4 wonderul days with us. Last night we attended a "Looper" Halloween party here in Scottsboro Alabama...I made the costumes and thanks to a suggestion from Shirley, I went as a Christmas tree, and Tom was a mighty oak...can you even imagine the jokes pouring out of Tom...many of them concerned "nuts". We now head down the Tenn-Tom waterway within the next few days...trying to beat a lock closure on Nov 14th. We are learning that "the best plan is no plan"