Advertisement
I’m better now. It was a rough road there for awhile with my blog mess. I know you were concerned about me. Thanks! I have survived it all and am stronger and smarter for it. I know you are thinking....so what’s the big deal?...Jot down some stuff and get on with it! Whoaaa....not so easy, guys. I can’t just publish all this non-fictional reading material in just a minute. It takes me hours and hours. I don’t want to forget anything cause I know you want facts.....just the facts, Ma’m (TV show called Dragnet...some may remember...most won’t). I actually do a spell check (myself) even though it may seem that I don’t. Remember my eyes are fuzzy and burning (Ma’ Eyes! Ma’ Eyes!) by the time I’ve completed a blog - especially this last “Be all & End all” colossal creation. It’s all worth it....even on rewrite days like yesterday. As they say in Hollywood “The show must go on”.....in Bloggerland, we say “The blogs must go on...and on...and on!”
Get back into your time machine and set it for 4:15 pm Saturday. That’s when I finally finished rewriting this amaranthine, mega blog. The weight of the world was lifted
from my shoulders. I was free again. I could relax. Cory was so glad when I put down my Ipad. He probably regrets the day he bought me my first one in 2012. It was his idea. It has brought me much happiness and I am so grateful to him for it. How else could we roam around and share the countryside together without this handy dandy device?
Remember how I said we were going to The Rattlesnake Saloon? A few of you have actually been here. I bet the majority of you haven’t so you are in for a real treat. We visited here in 2012 and loved it! If you are ever in this area....go here! It is the best! We fly past Swamp John’s and turn up the winding hill. All roads around here are winding. We drive a good 25 miles past Swamp’s. We leave Red Bay’s dry county and enter into one which sells and allows liquor. Cory speeds up. Lulu closes her eyes. We arrive. We park in an open field area and wait for our transportation to arrive under an old wooden shelter. We see all the horseback riders at their many
trailers. One had a big group gathered under their awning for a cookout. I noticed the camp’s dump station was right in front of their trailer where they were all sitting and drinking. Ewwww. Quickly, our ride shows up. Richard, the driver helps me on-board the back of his pickup truck where we sit on plank benches. More folks join us for this fun time. Zoom...and we are off like a bat out of hell. Hold on, everyone. Richard is giving us one wild ride. The dust is flying behind us and Racer Richard quickly turns and speeds down the steepest slope ever. Trees and boulders protrude into this narrow, one lane dirt path that has more potholes than any town in the North. Screech!! We stop and unload from this kidney jostling conveyance. Here we are! At the opening of a big, walled-off cave on the side of a humongous cliff. What a place. We’ll eat first. All tables are taken. We ask to sit with a nice, young couple. “Sure”, they say. All of you have to wait your turn. This table is on a slope that only a mountain goat could love. One over opens up so
we bid farewell to the nice couple and move. Lulu gets confused. The waitress wants to know what we want to drink. I didn’t bring my ID so “No alcohol for me!” No exceptions! Surely my gray hair should count for something....Nope! Cory hauls out his wallet and by mistake, grabs his Costco card. The security guy accepts it!!! Are you kidding me? Cory has a black stamp mark on his hand & I have a big red splotch on mine. I feel like I’m wearing a scarlet letter. I don’t care....I’m not a big time drinker anyway. Cory is whistling for his beer. What will you order to eat? The $50 Gigantor or the $40 Tombstone Platter? No way, Josè. We get chicken wings and onion rings. The wings aren’t what we are used to (from Buffalo, NY)—they have gooey sauce slathered all over them. Yucky & messy. After using a heap of napkins, I have the wings wiped clean....best I could. More truckloads of people continually keep arriving. Limited seating. We have plenty of room at our level table and offer our companionship to the new arrivals. A fun group of 6 people (Shelli & Jon, Randy &
Kim, Paul & Barbara) from Tennessee join us. Two of the ladies are nurses and the three men are Elks (Cory is one, also). One couple was from Boston originally and knew Chelmsford (my childhood home). Hip-Hip-Hooray. Lulu made herself known immediately....they liked her....who doesn’t? A fellow spelunker, Mike, came over and inquired about Miss Lulu. She jumped right into his arms for a memory photo. See what I mean? She’s a real ladies man! Becoming far too forward!
We all laughed and enjoyed the company of our new friends. There was a great live band. Talk about acoustics. Want to project to your audience? Play & sing in a cave! They were good and booming! There were restrooms outside as well in their homespun bar area. The inside ones were marked with handicap signs. Big lines at the outside restrooms so I asked this one guy if I had to be handicapped to use the interior ones (no lines). “No, you don’t have to be handicapped, ma’am. Are you with the band?” WOW! He must have thought I was Bette Midler! I had to admit I was neither.....thanks to Dr. Johnston you gave me my knees back! —
and my tone deaf singing capability. It was getting late so we bid farewell to our new found friends after exchanging emails. Went to the loading dock to catch Richard and his racing truck. Grasp the rail and hold on for dear life, everyone! Lulu can’t (you know why: no hands)...she rides in her carry bag. Up the steep path we go! Folks walking along this tiny trail quickly step aside, clutching trees or rocks so not fall off the cliff, as we go speeding past. Screech! Richard stops at the top of the mountain side so we can visit the gift shop. Thank you, Richard, for a ride to remember. As usual, Lulu ran into his arms to thank him. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. Cory bought another t-shirt from here because his old one wore out. Robin, the clerk, was a sweetheart. She wanted to meet Lulu. Lulu did not hesitate to sit on the counter to pretend she worked there with Robin. Lulu hogged the picture. She liked the lollipop Robin was using as a prop. We checked out a few of the special surroundings. The horses are in their stalls. There must be great trail-riding here because there
a lot of folks with horse trailers and their horses. If I remember right....I think you can rent a horse to ride down to the cave and saloon and probably on the trails. Fun, fun, fun in the ol’ cave tonight!
Once back at the RV, we watch the rented Red Box movie, Serenity. It was good but one of those movies that is confusing with its people, places and times. Matthew McConaughey played in it....he is such a great actor.
My plan was to also review with you our events of today. Not going to happen. I’m tired and you are, too. Just for an update....it’s Sunday and we are parked way up and out of town at Custom RV. Here Brannon will start working on the interior of our rig, plus more. That’s begins at 7:00 am so let’s turn in so we can get up early. Nighty-nite!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.32s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 46; dbt: 0.1974s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Barbara hetzel
non-member comment
I’m skipping Tennessee!
Alabama as welll?