Eleventh Day

Sunday, July 4, 2004-
Independence Day

With the help of Howard's computer they got directions to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, GA, and booked a motel room for the evening in Clarksville, TN. After watching Howard's backyard flock of birds feast on the seeds that he had provided for them, seeing the squirrel figure out a way to get in the squirrelproof birdfeeder, and enjoying fresh peaches with their cereal, it was "on the road again." Since the Carter Center doesn't open until noon on Sundays (People in Georgia go to church, it is rumored.), they had some time to kill on arrival. Following a lengthy walk around the entire grounds under the hot Georgia 4th of July sun, they found a small pond in the shade and shared it with a little duck family for a while. The ducks actually got in the water and swam around in single file with military precision. That strange sensation that started to develop is called "relaxation." The Center eventually opened on time and the crowd that had gathered by then strolled in to learn a little more US history.

Driving through Chattanooga TN, without stopping was difficult; there are some very interesting sights there. But driving through Nashville, TN, without a stop proved impossible. Having completed the drive down "Music Row," the line of music publishing houses where aspiring composers and performers bring their original, "sure-to-make-the-charts" songs to beg for auditions, they took quick looks at the Baptist Building (where all of those Sunday School quarterlies for Southern Baptists are printed), the Governor's Mansion, the TN State Capitol, and the new Tennessee Titans Stadium.

The Parthenon (at the left), an exact replica of the one in Athens, Greece, was originally built for Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition in Centennial Park near the campus of Vanderbilt University. It demanded a visit and the obligatory photographs. Just before stopping to eat dinner across the street from River Park they noticed huge crowds gathering for what had to be an Independence Day fireworks show. Fearing that the inevitable traffic jam would seriously damage their chances of getting to Clarksville to claim their reserved room by a decent time, they got on the first available I-24N ramp and headed out of town.

Clarksville, TN, boasts a college (Austin Peay State University), several motels, Missionary Baptist churches too numerous to count, and a half-dozen Chinese restaurants. While checking in at the motel, the clerk enthusiastically suggested a specific Chinese restaurant that, by his description, should have been the only one in Clarksville. Overtrusting their map and/or map reading skills, they arrived at the wrong restaurant, as it was discovered later. By then they were hungry enough that even "the wrong one" was quite adequate. The scenic route back to the motel revealed a nice town, including the other five Chinese restaurants, and an interesting riverfront. (It is in a bend of the Cumberland River, the same one that runs through Nashville.)

Sunday, July 4, 2004-	Independence Day
With the help of Howard's computer they got directions to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, GA, and booked a motel room for the evening in Clarksville, TN. After watching Howard's backyard flock of birds feast on the seeds that he had provided for them, seeing the squirrel figure out a way to get in the squirrelproof birdfeeder, and enjoying fresh peaches with their cereal, it was "on the road again." Since the Carter Center doesn't open until noon on Sundays (People in Georgia go to church, it is rumored.), they had some time to kill on arrival. Following a lengthy walk around the entire grounds under the hot Georgia 4th of July sun, they found a small pond in the shade and shared it with a little duck family for a while. The ducks actually got in the water and swam around in single file with military precision. That strange sensation that started to develop is called "relaxation." The Center eventually opened on time and the crowd that had gathered by then strolled in to learn a little more US history.
Driving through Chattanooga TN, without stopping was difficult; there are some very interesting sights there. But driving through Nashville, TN, without a stop proved impossible. Having completed the drive down "Music Row," the line of music publishing houses where aspiring composers and performers bring their original, "sure-to-make-the-charts" songs to beg for auditions, they took quick looks at the Baptist Building (where all of those Sunday School quarterlies for Southern Baptists are printed), the Governor's Mansion, the TN State Capitol, and the new Tennessee Titans Stadium.
	The Parthenon (at the left), an exact replica of the one in Athens, Greece, was originally built for Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition in Centennial Park near the campus of Vanderbilt University. It demanded a visit and the obligatory photographs. Just before stopping to eat dinner across the street from River Park they noticed huge crowds gathering for what had to be an Independence Day fireworks show. Fearing that the inevitable traffic jam would seriously damage their chances of getting to Clarksville to claim their reserved room by a decent time, they got on the first available I-24N ramp and headed out of town.
Clarksville, TN, boasts a college (Austin Peay State University), several motels, Missionary Baptist churches too numerous to count, and a half-dozen Chinese restaurants. While checking in at the motel, the clerk enthusiastically suggested a specific Chinese restaurant that, by his description, should have been the only one in Clarksville. Overtrusting their map and/or map reading skills, they arrived at the wrong restaurant, as it was discovered later. By then they were hungry enough that even "the wrong one" was quite adequate. The scenic route back to the motel revealed a nice town, including the other five Chinese restaurants, and an interesting riverfront. (It is in a bend of the Cumberland River, the same one that runs through Nashville.)