Another Turn
At the encouragement of my friend Roger, I took another look at completing the journey I had started almost a year ago and we set off together to get to the west that was my earlier goal. From Florida it was necessary to retrace a couple of previous states, but since I got to see a different part of them, there was no problem of boredom.
Our first stop was in Providence Canyon in Georgia, a surprising geography in the south that was recommended to me by Natalia Andreeva, my painter friend in Tallahassee. The red and white cliffs are a foreshadowing of what we expect to see out west.The following day we pass through Columbus and stop in to see the Civil War Naval Museum. I had never realized how big a role the Navy played in the Civil War from blockades of supply routes to point blank range river battles. In addition to the blue water and green water navy classifications of the oceans, there was the brown water navy of the inland rivers. Although less prestigious as an officer appointment, their decisions were critical to the war. The museum has a wonderful display of actual remains of original vessels and reproductions and is a very worthwhile stop.
Picking up route 27, we head to northern Georgia, staying in Cloudland Canyon State Park just south of Chattanooga. In th
e morning we stop at a high point in route 189 to see a popular hang gliding location. Fortunately we decide to stick with driving as an adventure. Roger has always wanted to "See Rock City" at Lookout Mountain since passing by the numerous billboards as a young boy. The trails through the rock outcroppings are interesting even without the ceramic gnomes and goblins that are peppered along the way.Since I have visited the tourist locations of Tennessee in previous visits to Nashville and Memphis, we headed to a historic corner west of Clarksville. I stopped to paint in Fort Donelson, where a critical Civil War battle was won by General Grant.
