Memphis to Chattanooga

We have been on the road for nearly a month now, and I must admit that while I began this journey with Tennyson . . .

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees

. . . I am starting to remember Paul Simon now - not "America," which we feel we have experienced at least in part from one end to another, but this one:

Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.

(Although in reality my love does not lie waiting silently at home, she is my constant companion on this wonderful trip!)  Yes, one begins to miss the comfort of one's own mattress.  And good coffee!  (I won't mention any hotel chain in particular, but, really, coffee in a tea-bag?!  That is just wrong!!) And a room where there is no air conditioning, simply an open window letting in the stridulation of crickets and the dry ratcheting of cicadas.

Martha suggests, however, that, as long as we are seeing all of the highlights of the country that we have missed, we should not make a "beeline" for home but stop in Chattanooga to see that most famous sight of all, Rock City, depicted on the sides of so many barns throughout our part of the world.

We have been through Chattanooga many times, but always, it seems, on the way to the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville or back again.  I never wanted to climb Lookout Mountain before a marathon, and was too tired afterward on the long drive home, exhausted and sore and triumphant.  So now we will take the time to visit this city which is benefiting from another successful story of downtown revitalization.  The Tennessee Aquarium and the Chattanooga Greenway along the river have been on the radar for a long time.

I learned more about those barns, by the way, scattered here and there along the highways of the South; they were actually a stroke of genius in advertising that I read about here:

But before we arrive in Chattanooga, we have a very pleasant drive through northern Mississippi, through pretty rolling hills that remind us that we are homeward bound.  We stop in Corinth, which still has one of those thriving downtowns that are fast disappearing.  And then Decatur, Alabama, for lunch at The Railyard - very good, and discovered on TripAdvisor.  They told us in Decatur that many of the buildings downtown here are owned by a 95-year-old lady who keeps the rent affordable so that it can remain alive.  This is a very nice little city, which hosts an art festival every year.

We do see many SEE ROCK CITY signs on the lovely drive along the river to Chattanooga, competing with BIG DADDY'S FIREWORKS, and I wonder if they are original or are now more modern advertising.  We find the downtown area in Chattanooga where Terminal Station and the Chattanooga Choo Choo is headquartered.  Schoolgirls are laughing and enjoying the cool evening; one of them says her friend is looking for Track 29:

Pardon me boys, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?
(Yes Yes) Track 29!
Boy you can give me a shine
(Can you afford to board, the Chattanooga Choo Choo?)
I've got my fare
And just a trifle to spare.

We have discovered a tiny but very well-known place called the Terminal Brewhouse (as opposed to a Terminal Disease), which is packed with lovers of good beer and delicious food; we don't mind waiting for both.

After dinner, we walk next door to Terminal Station (ca. 1909) and appreciate the grand architecture of a bygone era when Railway Terminals (like the one in Cheyenne, too) were central to the life of so many cities.