15 May 2023 - Arrived at Holiday Travel Park near Chattanooga TN

 

This morning at about 0830 hrs we departed Maxwell Air Force Base FamCamp in Montgomery AL and headed north on I-65 towards Birmingham. 

That portion of the drive was uneventful and after we worked our way around to I-59 towards Chattanooga and things went down hill.  

Up until now my vote for one of the worst roads in the USA would be I-10 through Louisiana, and I know there are many others, but Alabama just changed my mind.  I-59 between Birmingham and Chattanooga is absolutely CRAP, and the difference once you cross the state line into Georgia is night and day.  They just need to close it completely until it can be repaired or replaced.  The damage it is doing to our vehicles should be illegal.  It is so terribly rough and that is transmitted up through the tires and suspension all the way up through the coach.  When we finally arrived here at the Holiday Travel Park, the first thing I did was to do a walk-around and inspect the spring hangers and shackles.  Then we inspected the inside to see how much trim had fallen and other things displaced.  Luckily the visible damage was minimal and what we found was easily corrected.  What we don't know is what we cannot see... I'm sure I will be tightening or replacing screws for weeks to come.  Damn you, Alabama DOT.

Traffic at a stop on the Interstate

Road conditions improved greatly as soon as we transitioned into Georgia.

We were not in Georgia all that long before we crossed into Tennessee.  The Holiday Travel Park is actually not in Chattanooga, it is in Rossville Georgia, just a couple blocks south of the Tennessee/Georgia state line. It is worth noting that Chattanooga's name comes from the Creek Indian work meaning "rock coming to a point".  It was founded by Chief John Ross at what is now Ross's Landing, in the early 1800's.  Chattanooga is the home of the very first Coca-Cola bottling plant in the world!

So we rolled into the Holiday Travel Park at 1352 hrs after rumbling 244 miles up the road today.  This is stop# 13 out of 42 on this journey.

It is located on the site of a historic Civil War battlefield.  As described on the plaque between the cannons, "In this area on September 19, 1863, the first desperate fighting for control of the vitally important rail center of Chattanooga took place."  It is amazing we are camping on the very same ground where this battle took place.

Per the RV park's brochure, in the southwest corner of the park there is a monument to the 84th Indiana Volunteer Regiment.  It was placed here after the Civil War by some of the men of that regiment.  The campground north-south streets are named for Civil War officers.  The streets at the north end are named for Union commanders.  The streets at the south end are named for Confederate generals.  Most of those officers participated in combat around Chattanooga.  The other streets are named for Civil War battles.   In our walks with Liberty we will check out this monument.

Once the blood pressure settled and the "adjectives" subsided,  we got checked in at the office and proceeded to our site.  The sites here are a little snug, but we are only here for four nights. 

Brad and Beth Herren, our friends from Georgia will be camping here next to us Wed and Thurs nights.

Narrow gravel full hookup sites

That's it for tonight.  We changed from central to eastern time zone when we crossed the Alabama Georgia state line.  Tomorrow morning I have to be at a Chrysler Dodge RAM Jeep dealer about 25 miles from here for an oil change.  Then we will start exploring the Chattanooga area.

Thanks for tagging along with us!