Clarksville Bound and There

SUN June 7

Good Laudy [remember I’m in the South], this is embarrassing, this isn’t right. Am I that slow pulling a trailer? I just got passed by a SMART car on the Interstate to Nashville.

Arrived at Forrest, Kit & Kira home for a BBQ steak dinner; um, um, good, both good food and great company.

MON June 8 we were off to Fort Donelson TN where after a year of war the Union won a major victory that opened up TN to Nashville that was a major railroad switching area and also effectively lost both KY and TN to the South. Two Confederate generals skedaddled and ordered a third General to surrender 13,000 Confederate soldiers, the largest number ever surrender in the war.

But MON night was the highlight of the trip so far. Highlight? There we were relaxing in the evening when a lady that neither Forrest nor kit knew pulled into their driveway and asked if they owned black cattle. To shorten the story, 5 of their 10 had gotten through a gap in the fence that was caused by the recent rains silting up the wire and eventually bringing it down. So we drove around the “neighborhood”, found the cattle, Forrest and I then drove them back across neighbors mowed green lawns and then through the woods and finally back on to their property. That’s when the real work started and Forrest gathered up barbed-wire, fence stakes, clips, staples, hammer and cutters and we mended about 10-yards of fence-line across a creek where the cattle had gotten through. When the mending started it was dusk and we finished in the dark about 9:00 PM with flashlight headlamps on.

TUE Marla and I went to The Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson and did there museum and the walking tour of the house and grounds. President Jackson is buried on the grounds and his marker is for General Andrew Jackson because they say he considered that to be the top achievement of his life.

We finished the day with a feast at the Red Lobster; drinks, lobster pizza, crab legs, fried shrimp, shrimp scampi, more lobster and chicken for Ms. Kira.