Tonight’s stop is just to get us closer to where we want to be tomorrow, so we planned a stop along the way. As we drove through the rest of Tennessee, the highway was cut into rock that had waterfalls coming down from the mountains.

We made a stop in Fort Payne, Alabama to see the band Alabama’s Fan Club and Museum. This is where the Griswold’s came into play! Scott had looked at the website before leaving CA, and it said the newly updated museum would be open at the end of June. Well, the new museum wasn’t open, and the old one wasn’t either. We basically just walked around a warehouse made into a gift shop. “Clark!” So, after we spent way too long looking around the gift shop, we asked for a good place to eat in town. We ended up at a place called The Strand, a good, local place for lunch. Sydney had the BEST fried chicken strips of her life! We all agreed. Stacy also had to have one last (maybe) dose of fried green tomatoes since this was the state where the movie took place. Then, to make Scott feel a little better, we wandered into a few antique shops that had some Alabama stuff in them, and wandered over to the park where they had statues of the band members and plaques with all of their awards.

Then, we set off for Georgia. Well, we thought we were headed there, but Scott had one more surprise for us. We got to go see Randy Owen’s driveway! Oh boy!! It looks like the whole extended Owen family lives on all of the farms around him. We saw mailboxes for J Owen, Virgil Owen, and Cy & Mary Owen. Don’t know who J Owen is, but someone in overalls waved at us from his driveway.

OK, so then we were headed to Georgia. Today, we went from Tennessee through Georgia to Alabama. Then, we went from Alabama back to Georgia. So, we lost and hour, got it back, and then lost it again! Funny!

As we looked at the map for the route we needed to take to get to our RV Park, we noticed two more stops we just HAD to make on the way.

The first stop was to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. Since we lost an hour today, the museum was closed when we arrived. We were still able to see his birthplace and gravesite, though. There were also other sculptures and plaques commemorating other important Civil Rights leaders. We were the only people of our racial background there, but we really enjoyed being there. At one point, Madison sat down in a spot that she wasn’t supposed to. We didn’t know that she wasn’t supposed to sit there until the security guard came over and told us. He was really nice about it and explained that they have such a strict code of nonviolence that they aren’t even allowed to address children, only their parents. Now that’s honoring someone!

Our next stop wasn’t as important, but sure was fun for Stacy! We stopped in the town of Juliette where one of Stacy’s all-time favorite movies was filmed, Fried Green Tomatoes! She took a picture in front of the Whistle Stop Café, but it was closed, so she couldn’t go in. But, she was able to look through the windows and sneak a picture that way. It still looked EXACTLY like the movie. We also saw the house that Ruth and Idgy lived in. This town was SOOOO cute!

Today, we traveled in true Griswold fashion. Every site we visited was closed when we arrived. At least we knew the MLK Jr. site and the Whistle Stop Café would be closed before we arrived. Then, we noticed that there is actually a town called Griswoldville, and we were so tempted to make another stop and snap a picture, but we decided we’d had enough stops today already.

We ate dinner, and the sun set. When we left the restaurant, it was POURING rain! So we drove through the rain, in the dark to our RV Park. It was 10:00pm at this point, and we were really hoping that the RV Park would let us in since they were very vague about check-in before we arrived. We pulled up, and the owner said, “You need to park.” Scott said, “OK, but we don’t know where our spot is.” The owner then said, “Neither do I. Just park.” So, we drove down the road and tried to find a spot, but there were NO lights, and our headlights weren’t enough to navigate this place. It was likean opne field, and we were just holding our breaths that we wouldn’t get stuck in the mud somewhere. Stacy was shining her phone flashlight out the window for Scott to try to find a spot. We finally found one, and then we needed to hook up our power. We couldn’t see a thing, so Scott and Stacy walked around in the dark with their flashlights in a muddy, grassy field, IN THE RAIN, fighting off mosquitos, hoping that no snakes or other creatures came close.

Luckily, we hooked up with only a few more mosquito bites, and went to bed. GRISWOLDVILLE!!!