July 8, 2008
The Crocketts left the Treehouse in Tula about 7:40 and as we were loading up the car I showed Brandon the bag of goodies Mema had sent for us to eat. Brandon said, “I love her!” He later showed them to Will and Wes. We headed to Shiloh where we arrived about 10:00. We watched the movie at the welcome center and then took a tour of the park starting with the Union graveyard and Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. We then drove through the park viewing all 14 stops. Especially interesting was the spot where Albert Sidney Johnston, the commanding Confederate general died. D’Dad took some pictures which you can see on the photo gallery. We left Shiloh and headed for Chattanooga. We ate lunch at Pickwick on the Tennessee River and we snacked the rest of the way. It was a long drive and we arrived in Chattanooga about 5:00. Believe me the boys were ready to stop. When we checked into the Holliday Inn Express the boys immediately went swimming. We ate supper at the Cracker Barrel and an amusing thing happened as we were waiting for our food. A group of teenage cheerleaders arrived and soon afterwards a mother came to our table with a camera and said the cheerleaders wanted a picture of Brandon and Will for their scrap book. They posed of course! Then one of the girls came over and wanted their names which we gave them. Finally they came over and wanted the boys to write their names for them which Will did for both. Wes and I felt somewhat ignored. Wes indicated that the girls were too old for him, and I said that they just didn’t realize that I was a famous author. On the trip today the boys read the story of the battle at Shiloh from a book I have on Civil War Battlefields. Wes said it was the longest 19 pages he read. Wes and Brandon finished the reading, I’m not sure Will did. He tried to sleep all the way. Tonight the boys did their reading.
