_4 April ‘09 Saturday

This morning we were planning to pull out of Mountain Lakes Resort and head off to our next site in Tennessee, but in doing a little reading this morning, I found one more location I wanted to see before we left.  We heard about the Little River Canyon National Reserve earlier but with the weather being so unpredictable we weren’t able to make the trip up to see it, but this morning…  We drove up to Fort Payne, had a treat, a cup of coffee, and then found the National Park office to pick up a map of the canyon area.  The Little River Canyon is the deepest and longest canyon east of the Mississippi and has a powerful river flowing through it.

_The Little River flows for most of its length atop Lookout Mountain in the northeast corner of Alabama. The river and canyon systems are spectacular Appalachian Plateau landscapes all year long. Forested, waterfalls, canyon rims and bluffs, stream pools, boulders, and sandstone cliffs offer settings for a variety of beautiful settings to enjoy.  A special place in the Southern Appalachians.  Grace’s High Fall is the highest waterfall in the canyon and the most photographed site in the canyon so I too had to sight in on her.

_About 2/3’s of the way down the rim road, we were coming over a hill and all of a sudden we were looking directly at a huge MUSHROOM sitting right in front of us.  

_I’m glad we took the time to drive up to the canyon, and I’m glad we did it with enough time to pack up and start for Columbia, Tennessee.  Some good friends of ours have just moved to Columbia and told us that this weekend was their “Mule Days” celebration.  Well by the time we got there we had missed everything but the clean up…and you know what I mean when you go to the “Mule” days…

_Anyway, we parked for the night at Wal-Mart and got a good night’s rest before continuing on to our campsite at Thousand Trails NACO, at Natchez Trace Wilderness Preserve, in Hohenwald, Tennessee.  This is a HUGE campground and sits on Chief Creek Lake, although none of the campsites sit anywhere near the lake, there is good access to it for those of us that want to use it.  I mentioned that this place was huge, and it is large, but when the ranger at the gate tells you that “your site is about 4 miles down this road…”  Well it wasn’t 4 miles, but it is by far more distant than any we have ever been at before.  Another thing that has surprised us a little, the closest community, town, city, or gas station is about 15 miles away… 

_3 April ‘09

Friday

We’ve been told so many times that we shouldn’t leave this area before visiting the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.   The drive up to Huntsville has almost become commonplace, we’ve driven it so much, but we are really looking forward to the Space and Rocket Center.  Pulling up to the FREE parking lot, we passed by a large parking area that was set aside for 18 International teams that were here to race their “Moon Buggy’s”. 

_All the “buggies” were to quickly transport 2 people, one male and one female, through a ½ mile obstacle-coarse that ran through and around the Rocket Park.  The Moonbuggy race was inspired by the actual lunar roving vehicle project.  The original lunar rover was successfully built by NASA’s Marshal Space Flight Center here in Huntsville.  The Moonbuggy Race challenges students to design and build a human-powered vehicle, and in meeting the challenge, they will learn how to deal with real world engineering problems.  After entering the main building, we were told to follow the winding staircase to the displays on the second level and then return about an hour later and go over to the IMAX Theater for our showing of Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon.  As soon as we rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, we found a Saturn V rocket hanging 10 feet over our heads...IMPRESSIVE !!! 

_There are 2 more outside, but this one…WOW !!!  You’re really up close and personal on this one.  Strolling under the Saturn V we studied examples of the engines of the Saturn V

_and other rockets that have launched to space from around the country.  We also entered into the Quarantine trailer that was used after the first moon landing.  It was nothing more than a 24 foot Airstream that had its wheels removed, but was also 4 times larger than the capsule that the 3 astronauts has to live in during their space journey to and from the moon.   The time arrived a lot quicker than we thought it would for us to head over to the IMAX, but over-all we did see and digest most of what we wanted to on this floor.  As I wrote, our movie was “Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon”.  We’ve had a chance to see a lot of IMAX presentations and this one rates towards the top of those we’ve seen…it was really good.  Now with the Saturn V display area behind and the IMAX movie finished, we head over to the GAMES and personal entertainment area…  We contemplated going on the G-Force Accelerator which spins you up to 3 times gravity but we had already had that experience at Disneyland, so we opted for the Shuttle cockpit trainer.  We sat in the cockpit of the shuttle, took the “joy-stick” in hand, and landed the Shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base, California…

_2 April '09

Friday

After such a wonderful sunny day we had yesterday, this morning has shown us that the stormy weather is still around.  We’ve turned to the weather channel a couple of times this morning and we have seen that we’re not having some of the tough weather that a lot of the country is having.  Anyway, we decided to stay close, so while I’m doing a little “home work” on the computer I’m enjoying myself at the convection oven as well.  I had the urge to bake, so bake I did.  I just finished baking peanut butter and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

_Now while they’re cooling I’ll finish up yesterday’s journey. Leaving Brindlee Mountain 15 miles behind us, we arrived at the Huntsville.  Just by chance we happened to leave the freeway at the same exit as AAA has their new offices.  This last Monday morning we decided to re-join the AAA to take advantage of their great maps and tour books.  We’ve always enjoyed having both of them, but for some reason we let the membership lapse.  Now with a new membership card and a stack of new materials…we’re ready.  Our next stop, Huntsville Visitor Center.  They were very helpful in getting all the local tourist information in our hands including a walking map of the historical homes of Huntsville.

_I’ve written before of the historical homes of some of the southern states we’ve visited, but this was the first stop that we could see so many of them on a walking tour.  In 1810 Leroy Pope, Huntsville’s first land developer, arrived in the area to set up office.  He named the area “Twickenham” after the home of the poet Alexander Pope.  In 1812 anti-British sentiment was rising because of the War caused the name to change to Huntsville in honor of its first settler.  Soooo, the area that we were walking was called the “Twickenham Historic District”.

_Twickenham is one of the largest concentrations of antebellum homes in the South.  We walked the sidewalks and streets admiring these fine residences’ that were built between 1870 and 1930.  It is the only predominantly Victorian neighborhood remaining in the city.  While on our walk, we saw “dwellings” of modest one and two-story vernacular Victorian homes, Bungalows of the 1920-30’s, cape Cods, and a few Ranch style homes of the 50’s.  One of the homes was used as the headquarters for Federal Army General Ormsby Mitchel during the Civil War.

_Remember, yesterday was a great day for a walk, in the low to mid 70’s and lots of great sunshine.  Our next stop was at the hardware store…  Harrison Brothers hardware store was established in 1879 and still open for business today.

_The only difference is that the store is run by volunteers and the profits go to the Historic Huntsville Foundation.  The foundation took over ownership after the last living family member John Harrison, passed away in 1983.  The National Cash Register is supposed to be well over 100 years old as well.

_They still use it…no receipt, but they still put the daily cash into it.  Let’s just hope that it doesn’t permanently lock up one of these times. 

_1 April ‘09 Wednesday

We read and heard about some really interesting places to visit in Huntsville, Alabama so we set out today to see some of them.  The first was a complete surprise, as we didn’t even know that they existed.  First off, I guess we have to say that it was because of our GPS that we found them and it was because our GPS had AGAIN taken us on another round-about trip…  We were traveling through some back-roads and when finally, on a highway we finally joined up with, we noticed across a large plat of land and through some trees, a “parking lot” full of FIRE TRUCKS…  Of course we were on the wrong road to check this out.  About a mile further up the road we could take another joining highway back and find out more about these trucks.  We had heard about a great tour through a large Fire truck manufacturer and we thought that we might have just fallen onto it.  As we pulled closer to the field holding the trucks, we saw that these weren’t new so we hadn’t found the manufacturer, but what had we found?  Well you don’t know until you drive up the drive and walk into the office and ask…  Louise said that we would probably be graciously asked to leave, but the moment we entered the lobby we were made to feel like long lost “family”.  Standing behind a beautiful “desk” (the front end of a fire truck) stood Rachell (Branlett), and Allison (Harris).  I kid you not, the moment they heard us ask “what have you got here?” they went into action (like getting the long lost family up to date starting with a cup of coffee, soft drink or water?).  In a “nut shell” explanation; Brindlee Mountain fire Apparatus buy, sell, lease, service, and refurbish fire trucks and apparatus relating to the needs of the fire departments around the WORLD.  Brindlee buys and resells over 150 used vehicles each year from this location in Alabama.  We hadn’t been there but 10 minutes and James Wessel came out and introduced himself to us. 

_The first thing James did was to ask is to have lunch.  Unfortunately we had to turn them down because of our limited time, but undeterred; he then personally gave us a tour of the one of the shops and told us the history of his company. 

_Seven years ago, James found a need following a situation he was in, borrowed some money from his mother to buy his first fire truck in need of refurbishing, and the rest is history.  This is quite an operation, small but mighty, all employees feeling like family, and darn proud of their work…you know, a great American dream come true.  While out taking a couple of pictures in the yard,

_a young man came out to introduce himself and let us know that he and his family are and where Holiday Rambler people…Billy Claunch is the VP of sales, and he like everyone we’ve met today, couldn’t have made our day any better.  By the way, the picture of the pumper at the lake was one that I “borrowed” from their web site.   More about today tomorrow

_30 March ‘09 Monday

I had to look a second time….I thought today HAD to be Friday the 13th…  I’ve had a hell of a day.  We stayed “home” today to do a little catching up, the weather was cool (about 40+) this morning and the wind chill made it feel a lot cooler yet.  The sun was out so that gave us the opportunity to choose either to do the interior chores or go outside and “diddle”.  Well I’ve diddled too much already so I decided to take on a much needed job of getting the satellite and the new digital box working right.  For the last 5 or 6 weeks we’ve just been watching the TV using the new digital box from our roof top antenna.  The reason we were doing that, is when I hooked up the digital box I lost the ability to get our satellite to work, so I chose today to make things right.  Ya right…  I don’t know what this is all about or what I’ve obviously done wrong, but I am soooo confused that I’m driving myself nuts.  Right now we’ve got wires and a box hanging out of a cabinet on each side of the front TV.  I even had the complete TV out of its cabinet earlier and had to struggle to get it back in place.  It not only was one heavy bear, it was awkward  as heck.  We’re making our way through the night by watching our favorite programs on Louise’s computer…well, all is not lost.

_Well I did do something that is going to pay dividends this morning...I re-joined the AAA.  5 years ago we joined the AAA and really enjoyed having the maps and tour books that they offer their members.  We have thought many times that we should renew but have always put it off.  Now that we're in the eastern part of the country, and everything is really new to us, we will put the books and maps to good use...just like we used Rick Steves and simular books in Europe.  We think it's a great value for our travels.

_31 March ‘09 Tuesday

Well we’re back… I got the satellite system working and now we have TV again.  I’d like to say that it’s all fixed but it’s not.  All I’ve done was to get us back to step one.  We also need to get the “digital controller” box in and working.  I’ve had one or the other now, but not both.  I’ve got to figure out just what or how to get both up and working.  The area that confuses me is the one that came with the coach, the “controller box” Flexvision AVCC-530.  I can usually figure out this kind of problem, but this controller has me baffled.  I’ve been “vocal” about this problem and all the work that it’s taken from me, but Louise deserves all the accolades.  She’s been in the back encouraging me at every move, right or wrong, she’s encouraging.  

_28 March ‘09

Saturday

Well all we had last night was some moderate rain, and that started about 5am and lasted right up to 9am.  After our showers and breakfast, we set the GPS for Scottsboro and a visit to the “Unclaimed and Lost Luggage” store. 

_We’ve heard so much about this store and the great values that could be had there so today we wanted to check it all out.  As we pulled up to the parking lot, the store front and the entry really made an impression on us.  It was beautifully laid out and looked architecturally inviting, but that’s where it came to a halt.  The inside was laid out like a Goodwill store, and the merchandise looked about the same or worse.  The prices that they were asking for the goods were not the “deals” that they advertized.  Unfortunately we were totally disappointed and won’t be making a trip back.   The ride to Scottsboro was really enjoyable as we drove most of the way following the banks of Guntersville Lake with the road flanked by flowering dogwoods showing through the forest.  The town of Scottsboro still had quite a few of the “historical” buildings of the early 20th century.  Well tonight we are really getting it.  As the sun was setting, the clouds were getting thick and blowing across the sky with gusto.  The storm is really setting in now.  We’ve just heard our first thunder and the lightning is flying all over the sky.  I decided that maybe this could be one hell of a lightning storm so I pulled the plug on our jacks.  I just wanted the coach sitting on rubber tires and not on 4 huge hydraulic jacks in touch with mud puddles underneath us.  We just got a report on TV that 2 tornados have just developed about 5 miles east of us.  They are also getting winds ranging from 75 to 100+ mph.  Fortunately for us, all we’re getting now is some gusting winds that are lightly shaking the coach and rain that I’m sure is giving us a wash job that I’ll have to dry off in the morning. 

_27 March ‘09 Friday

Boy, we’ve really been in a band of heavy weather the last few days.  Those a little north of us have had it rough with heavy rain, hail as large as 2”, and they think 2 tornados…not good at all.  Now we hear that we might be getting some of the same by 3 to 4am in the morning.  It is a possibility, but an educated possibility and we’re hoping for the best.   Anyway, we left Wal-Mart this morning and headed to our new campground location here at Mountain Lakes Resort in Langston, Alabama.  We’re parked on the shores of Guntersville Lake and about 20+ miles from the closest town.  Let’s just hope that this storm dissipates before it reaches this remote area.  Our drive here was not one that I recommend for those that might follow with a motor home.  We plugged in the address information into our GPS as we left Gadsden this morning for our campground.  Every-once-in –awhile our GPS takes us on a route that is indescribable.  We found out that our route could have been much quicker and safer than the one that we followed, but not knowing for sure that our GPS was way off, we continued on.  We were on a route were the roads where so narrow that we had to straddle the center line and then as we were winding down a hill, we came across a sign telling us that we had 2 single lane bridges coming up.  These bridges also had weight limits on them that we exceeded.  Not being able to turn back, we made the tight turn for the bridge and continued across.  With the rain that we’ve been having, the water rushing under us was intimidating as hell.  After making it across the first bridge, we were immediately met with the second.  This one was even tougher to get onto.  This roadway wasn’t made for a vehicle of our size and the corner that we had to make to get onto the 2nd, was really tight.  I wasn’t too happy about the crossings but Louise was about ready to lose it as we approached the second.  Well with the narrow roads and the one-way bridges behind us all we have to look forward to now is this darn storm…

_26 March ‘09 Thursday

Leaving Atlanta in heavy rain and right at morning rush hour just wasn’t what I wanted to do, so we just poked around yesterday morning until 10:30.  Fortunately by that time, the rain let up and the traffic turned out to be light.  Our drive took us through Atlanta, turned west on I-20, and headed for Anniston Alabama.  We’re now back on Central time again…I’ve never had to change the time on my watch so many times.  Just prior to getting to Anniston we saw a road sign indicating that we were just 20 miles north of Talladega Super Speedway, and if your that close and don’t stop by and check it out...well that would be a shame.  Where is Talladega Speedway?...In Talladega of course…  NOT TRUE !!!  It’s in Lincoln, and where is Lincoln?  About 15 miles west of Talladega…  And the speedway really isn’t in Lincoln either.  I would say that Talladega Speedway is in “TALLADEGA SPEEDWAY City”…  That complex is so large that it is a city in its self.

_I was totally amazed at the size of the grandstand and the amount of fans that it can hold…170,000 !!!  And then on the opposite side of the 2 ½ mile track is another grandstand that holds 40,000 more.  I remember watching the races on TV, but I had no idea that they crowds of that size.  Circling the speedway are so many RV campgrounds that it was hard to count them all.  All I can say is, taking in an event such as this must be exciting.  The International Motor Sports hall of Fame is also located on the grounds.

_This is a huge thing to have here and they did an excellent job of putting it together.  We were surprised that there was more than NASCAR being represented there.  It just so happens that the only requirements are that it must have a motor or propulsion unit of some type.  Names that we recognized from outside of the motor car circuits were from the hydro racing circuit…Bill Muncey and Chip Hanauer.  After spending a couple of hours in the Motor Sports Museum, we checked out the possibility of seeing the track at Talladega.  Unfortunately MALBORO had leased the track out for the week to test some of their new cars and it was LOCKED OUT to all others but them.  Hell, we couldn’t even get a good picture of the grandstands in the distance.  Oh well, we’ll just have to come back for a race some day.  Now it’s time to head on.  Following Hwy 77 out of Lincoln, we soon found ourselves pulling into Gadsden.  It was getting close to 6pm so we decided to find our stand-by campground (Wal-Mart) and stay the night.  When I went into the store for permission to stay the night, the young lady I was talking with gave me a suggestion for a place to visit while in town.  Noccalula Falls.  The legend has it that the young daughter Noccalula, of a great Indian Chief, tossed herself off the cliff over the falls to end the possibility of marrying another Indian Chief.

_This Chief was very wealthy but not one that Noccalula wanted to be with the rest of her life.

_22 January ‘09 Sunday

Louise and I were on the road a little earlier than normal…we’ve been invited to church.  Bo and Jeannie asked us to join them this morning to enjoy a service at their church.  We met Bo and Jeannie about 10am and joined them in their car as we drove down to Josephine Baptist Church.  Josephine Baptist is beautifully landscaped with a massive area of green grass, Live Oak, and Pine trees.   As soon as we opened the doors of Bo’s car we were met by a lot of their friends and neighbors.  Pastor Dr Ted Mashburn met us at the entry into the church and made us feel like we had known him for ever.  Bo had told us that he has this quality and also that he gives one heck of a good service.  It didn’t take long and we were sitting in our pew and meeting the whole congregation as each and every person made sure that they came up and welcomed us in.  Bo was right, Ted’s service was very good and one that we will take with us. 

Following church, Jeannie had invited Louise and me and another 6 to join them for lunch at the house.  As I had mentioned in one of my earlier postings, Jeannie is a great hostess and produces a wonderful meal.  I hate to say that it was “just soup”, but that is what it was…SOUP !!!  This soup was sooo good that everyone there was hoping that they would be able to get the secret recipe.  I’ve been looking forward to eating the “local” foods and Jeannie has gone out of her way to make me happy.  Today’s soup was “Collards Greens” and sausage and…. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD !!!  Oh yes, there was also cornbread and an open bar…  Bo was in charge of the open bar, and he did a great job too.