The Answer Is . . .

For those who are still puzzled about the town we mentioned in our prior blog, the town is now known as Oak Ridge TN.  This is where 5 little villages ceased to exist and 3,000 area residents were ordered to vacate their homes in 1943.  Their place was taken by 4 large production plants and a complete “planned” community of about 3,000 prefab homes.  The homes were completed and ready for occupancy at the rate of 30-40 houses per day.

One of the plants was a mile long and covered 44 acres, the largest factory in the world at that time.  It was built to separate 2 isotopes of uranium and to collect the unstable one, U-235, for use in the first atomic bomb which brought an end to World War II.  How they got so much done, so quickly, amid high security is amazing.

Saturday was a little cool and cloudy, not bad but it just never turned nice.  We did a little shopping but nothing special.  Sunday we found a good sized church and attended a rather interesting service.  For a “traditional” service, the first half was like a rock concert and the sermon was very casual.  Sunday afternoon the RV park held an ice cream social that had a pretty good turnout.  After everyone was served, we went around the table introducing ourselves.  There are some really interesting people here.  One common theme we found is that many of us volunteer in some capacity: Habitat for Humanity, AmeriCorps, and other organizations also.