And Now for the Unconventional

Chattanooga, Tennessee
Best Holiday Trav-L-Park
Pull Thru #137

Did you come back today to see what unconventional place I wanted to see?  

Bill made fun of me but he thoroughly enjoyed it too.  It did help that we had a coupon for a free admission with one paid one.  It was also nice they gave us the senior rate of $7.00 with the coupon.  

We left the battlefield and went to the International Towing and Recovery Museum, which is the only one of its kind in the world.  

As we walked in, I asked if it was all indoors since it was dreary and misty out.  Everything is under one roof.  The only bad thing is there is so much it's crammed together, but that didn't slow us down. 

There was a short five minute video explaining what we would be seeing.  The International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum opened in 1995 in Chattanooga, TN about three and half miles from the Ernest Holmes Company which made tow trucks.

This Ernest Holmes Company truck was displayed in the lobby of the museum.

This is an original Holmes 485 which was made in 1916 and patented in 1919.  The selling price was $485. The chassis is a 1913 Locomobile that was manufactured in Bridgeport, CT and sold for $6,000.  It had wooden wheels and brass lanterns.

In contrast, this one was huge.  This truck was built in 1995 and was the first of its kind.  This Freightliner prototype has a 25 ton composite wrecker body.  

This was a 1929 Chrysler with a Weaver Crane.  Chrysler never made a pick up truck.  It was made from a 5 window coupe.  It was in continuous use from 1930 to 1971.

This 1970 Cony 1/4 pickup was found as an abandoned vehicle.  After restoration it was tested by towing a Ford Escort.  

I was making fun of the four digit telephone number on this one. 

Bubble Nose was the original GMC tractor purchased by Pabst Brewing Company and used to haul beer.  It was later sold to be used for towing school buses.  When a water pump failed and they couldn't find a replacement it was discarded.  Two years later a water pump was located and "Bubble Nose" has been restored and in many parades since.  

This one was beautiful from the front.

But the back was gorgeous.

Click on the photo to enlarge it to read. 

Holmes W-45 was used during WW II in France with the Red Ball Express which was the Army truck line that delivered supplies to the front lines.  

This is for my Canadian readers and the other side of the truck  

is for the American readers.  

1928 Chevy truck was used in a junk yard in New Jersey until 1974.  Restoration took over two years to complete. 

The museum wouldn't be complete without the the World's Fastest Wrecker with an average speed of 109.330 mph.  Did I mention average, I wonder what it was in the straightaway.  

Do you think it's too late for me to have another career?

This was a 1929 Packard tow truck.

There was a section of toy tow trucks, memorabilia from gas stations, quilts and anything that had a tow truck on it.  Bill is standing in front of a tow truck bench. 

There was also a section of Hall of Fame for those that lost their life.  

The bronze celebrates the courageous people who keep the highways safe.  There's a fountain and the names of those who have died in the line of service.  

Bill enjoyed the museum and said "it wasn't so bad", with a twinkle in his eye.  It was a full day and we wanted to hurry back and see if the Fogler's had arrived.  

Naturally, when we got back we spent time catching up with Polly and Vern. 

It rained all night long, much to the delight of the locals who said they needed rain.  I was jealous because Polly and Vern's site had a bigger reflection pool than ours.  

The rain subsided and we drove down to the local Costco for a few items today.

The RV park said they had a video to watch about the battlefield that we are on.  It turned out to be the same one we saw at the National Military Park but Polly and Vern enjoyed it.  

Polly

and I were having some fun.  

And here's Vern and Polly together.

A rare shot of the two of us.  

There's a short path to a monument right near our site.  Bill was a little hesitant for a walk in the woods wondering what kind of bites he could get but luckily it wasn't that far.

 Tomorrow Eddie and Rosie should arrive.  I did call Sandie Dixon today to wish her happy birthday.  We were trying to plot when we'd meet up in September.  

That's how our last two days went.  I hope yours has been a good day too.  

Turtle Safely....