The Ray Adventures: Montgomery, Huntsville, Al & Nashville, Tn

It looks like we've left the warm weather behind us, I checked the long term weather forecast, they are expecting snow in Decatur this week. We have just about a week until we arrive Apr. 2nd., we want to get there a few days early to see how much of our stuff will need to be removed and where to put it. The entire big slide will be taken out for repair, the side with my closet, the kitchen "stuff" and various things in the living room. To be continued.

Tuesday, Mar. 17th Happy St. Patrick's Day! There is so much history in Montgomery and we only have 3 days to see it all. We parked on Commerce Street to walk up to the Court St. Fountain, all through the historic district plaques notifying you of what happened in that spot. In Montgomery, starting in 1860, enslaved people were marched in chains up the street from the riverfront and railroad station to the slave auction on Commerce St. On the corner of Commerce and Dexter is a plaque about Rosa Parks, she boarded the bus home there after working all day as a seamstress in a downtown department store. After refusing to give up her seat for a white person she was arrested and taken to jail. We learned at the Rosa Parks Museum later in the day that previously 4 other ladies on 4 different occasions also refused to move and were arrested before her. Because of Rosa's involvement in the NAACP and friendship with of Martin Luther King, history of segregation changed on that day. Across the street from the bus stop was the Court Street Fountain, built in 1885. The lady at the visitor center suggested we eat at Chris's Hog Dogs, the oldest restaurant in Montgomery still in operation since 1917. According to her, Hank Williams used to sit at the lunch counter and write music and Elvis always ate there when in town. It looked like it was decorated in the 40's and was probably the last time it was cleaned. The dogs were just boiled and put in a steamed bun, to make them special they put mustard, onions, kraut and chili on top. I had a belly ache the rest of the day. What a waste of calories, so if in Montgomery, skip Chris', or don't say I didn't warn you.
After lunch we went to Rosa Parks Museum located in Troy University. Before the guided tour you watch a 15 minute video, as we waited, a school bus load of kids came in to join us. Unfortunately we didn't get as much out of the tour because there were so many people in a small area, the children were well behaved but noisy so we couldn't hear everything. The NAACP sprung into action making 52,500 flyers to pass out to the black community telling everyone to boycott the buses. The city lost $3,000 a day from the boycott which lasted about a year. Rosa Parks was only 27 years old at the time. The state capitol in Montgomery was built in 1851 with four additions that followed over the years. Located on Goat Hill, the "rich" part of the city. Very similar to Salem's capitol's history, the first building was flooded, moved up to Goat Hill then burned a few years later. Martin Luther King's Selma to Montgomery march in 1965 ended up at the steps of the capitol building, there was a recent 50th year anniversary, with a reenactment of the walk, done in sections with the last one from the Catholic Church in town to the Capitol building, was last week-end.

Wednesday, March 18th, We like to visit historic cemeteries on our travels, Oakwood Cemetery is the final resting place for Hank Williams and his wife. The truth of the matter, we were looking for geo caches and stumbled upon his plot. There is a Confederate National Cemetery section and also many prominent people buried there, including an early governor who lost his arm in a Civil War battle.
After lunch we took a tour of the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church where Martin Luther King was a pastor for 6 years before his activism took too much time to preach every week. It is difficult to explain our tour guide's enthusiasm, a member of the church for her lifetime, she told us so much information it made your head swim. The tour started in the basement, in Dr. King's office, only after she had everyone in the group introduce themselves and hometown and sing a hymn. A mural on one wall, done by a high school art teacher depicted Dr. King's life. She explained at the scenes, one section was of Gov. George Wallace, in a nut shell, he was against segregation and got shot. Many years later he attended the church and apologized to the congregation for actions during those tumultuous times. On the way upstairs she sang another hymn and also at the end of the tour another.  In

the sanctuary beautiful stained glass windows line both walls, the arch over the pulpit was made from one large oak tree, the organ is over 60 years, the organist, 82 has played for the church for all those years. The church, built in 1885 was the 2nd black church in the state and still is active.

Thursday, March 19th Another beautiful day. Montgomery is the home of the First White House of the Confederacy. Period furnishings, war relics and some of Davis personal property are displayed. Built in 1832 it was moved to it's present location across from the capitol building in the early 20th century. We headed to Old Alabama Town, a collection of 50 restored buildings representing life in the 19th century. We first visited the Ordman house, a 3 story home of a wealthy businessman. All the furniture in the home were period pieces reflecting that time, but not belonging to the family. Out back were the kitchen, laundry, "necessity building", slave quarters, and a livery stable. All the buildings were  moved to Old Alabama Town from areas nearby Montgomery. We had lunch a couple blocks from the village at Farmer's Market Café, authentic southern country style cooking using local farmers vegetables and meat, a real happening place every table was full when we got there. When I left there I didn't think I would ever eat again. After the village we stopped at St. John's Episcopal Church, built in 1834. The organ pipes in the loft over the sanctuary extended probably 8 feet. I wish I could have attended service there to listen to the music. Our last stop was the riverfront park. A paddlewheel boat has lunch, dinner and brunch cruises on the Alabama River. We picked up a geo cache in the park. Home to Luci who was glad to see us.

Friday Mar. 20th, Moving day, we left Maxwell AFB about 9:15 (early for us) to drive 197 miles to Redstone Arsenal Army Base in Huntsville, Al., arriving about 1:30. We drove in a big circle once we got on the base to find Fam Camp. The GPS just doesn't get military bases. Fam camps can range to pretty darn nice at some installations to well let's just say "not so nice". Redstone's camp was pretty good, cement pads, not too much dirt and a fenced in dog area. We did our usual, a trip to the visitor center in town. The lady was so helpful, since we're only here for 3 nights we couldn't get a lot done since we had two days already planned, we will go back. We had dinner at "Below the Radar Brewing, since it was happy hour and the basketball playoffs were on TV the place was hopping. Limited menu but good food. On our way home we picked up a couple of geo caches along the way.

Saturday, Mar. 21st, Many months ago I learned about this place in Scottsboro (about 30 mi. E) called Unclaimed Baggage Center. The business started in the early 70's with a couple taking a pick-up truck to D.C. to buy lost luggage, it grew and grew into what it is today. Everything from clothes to sporting goods and everything in between can be purchased there. All the clothes are cleaned, the jewelry appraised, the electronics checked out to see if they're in working order. Over the years they have found some pretty crazy things, a live rattlesnake, 4,000 year old Egyptian mummified mask, a headstone, someone's ashes, a suit of armor, a full Scottish Kilt and best of all, 50 frogs vacuum packed. The items that do not sell they donate to various charities. Gary found a camera case, he was so glad, he hasn't liked any of the new ones available in stores now. I bought 2 pair of shorts and 2 hats, we spent about $26.00. We geo cache'd our way back to Huntsville, you go to some places you'd never see. We stopped at a old countryside cemetery, we wouldn't have known about it if not for geo cacheing.

Sunday, Mar. 22nd., A very rainy day, our plan was to go to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center just outside Redstone Arsenal boundary. Out front was the shuttle Pathfinder, so awesome to see close up. We went to the IMAX theater to watch a movie about space exploration. We dodged the cold, windy and rainy weather to see the outside exhibits of rockets. One thing puzzling, the Saturn V ( really really big rocket) stood without guide wires while the shorter ones (don't know the names) had wires. I suppose they know what they're doing. We picked up some geo caches at the center before heading home to warm up.

Monday, Mar. 23rd., Moving day again, no rain for most of the drive to Nashville with a side trip to Lynchburg, a 165 mile day. On a whim we jumped off the freeway to see the Jack Daniels Distillery, about 35 miles. We did not take the tour but went inside to the museum and gift shop. It was only a short walk to the historic downtown Lynchburg to buy some stamps at the Post Office. The weather warmed up making it a pleasant day. We ate lunch at the BBQ Caboose Café, it was there I learned what a "hollow" is, I'd heard the term for years but never knew exactly what it is. Well as they described it, basically a valley with a river or creek running through it. We had to get some fuel and DEF, (Diesel Exhaust Fuel) What a pain in the *****. The tank is on the passenger side and the pump is always on the driver's side, so we have to drag the nozzle from the next island around. I know, life is hard. We pulled into to the North Nashville KOA  about 4:30 after getting into a 10 mile nasty traffic jam. We were a bit frazzled when we arrived.

Tuesday, Mar. 24th. A beautiful day in the mid-70;s just perfect for sight seeing, Luci went to day care so we wouldn't have to worry about her. We crossed off another NFL stadium off our list to visit, LP Field is home to the Tennessee Titans, formerly the Houston Oilers, arriving about 9:00 to find the pro shop didn't open until 10. At each stadium we visit we buy a sticker of the teams helmet to put on side of the slide. (say that 3X fast). As we drove in we noticed a "newish" pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River into downtown Nashville. We walked about half way across, picking up a geo cache along the way. The city is making a lovely park along the river and underneath the bridge. It would be so fun to go to a game here, go downtown for pre-game warm ups then walk across to the stadium.  Back to the pro shop by 10 to pick up our sticker, we commented to the employee there were no tours were given. She said "go to the ticket office to see if they'll let you in".  It never hurts to ask. They checked our ID, took our photo then took us out to the field. The stadium holds about 70,000, the same as Seattle. The ticket prices range from $36.00 for the nose bleed seats to $250, plus they have 200 suites. We made our way into downtown Nashville, the first stop the visitor center. She was a kick in the pants, just a lot of fun. We stopped at the "under renovating" Ryman Theater, the second home of the Grand Old Opry, we skipped the tour to head down to Broadway, to have lunch at Tootsies World Famous Orchid Bar, climbing up the steep (unsafe?) stairs to the outside seating overlooking honkey tonk row. We walked around town, then hiked up to the Capitol Building. A bit of a walk and after being on the Gulf all winter we're not used to hills. then 100 steps up to the building itself. They must not of had handicapped people in those days, if they did let's hope they didn't need to go to the Capitol. Back to the car, picked up Luci and back to the coach to "pretty-up" for our evening at the Grand Old Opry. A beautiful new building, the Opry moved in 1974 from the Ryman Auditorium. When new construction started they cut a circle from the Ryman stage and placed it on center stage of the new building. In 2010 a flood hit Nashville flooding the Grand Old Opry with 4 feet of water. After a lot of hard work they were able to reopen a few months later. We were surprised to find instead of individual seats, the rows had padded benches, almost pew like. Our seats were (nose bleed) up a ways, thank goodness they had three screens we could watch, although being high (?) we could see the stage easily. Our entertainment was The Quebe Sisters, old country twang but they could sure play the violins, Del McCourty with Hot Rize, also a bit old country, Elizabeth Cook, her first song I thought someone kept steping on a cats tail back stage but her next 2 were gospel, her voice was lovely, Old Crow Medicine Show, which livened things up. Followed by Brad Paisley, the only name we knew, got the crowd going with new country and last were Asleep at the Wheel, a mix of old and new with duets with Elizabeth and Brad. I must say I have a greater appreciation of country music now but I don't think I'll be changing my Sirius radio channel. When we heard the first commercial in between acts we were a bit surprised then we remembered it is a live radio show. What a fun evening!

Wednesday, Mar. 25th, Another beautiful, Luci went back to day care while so we could see a couple of plantations. The first, the Belmont, originally 177 acres, now right in the middle of town near Vanderbilt University. A very wealthy woman, Adelicia Acklen, widowed 3 times and lost 10 children, built it in 1853, 36 rooms, originally a summer home. If I ever marry again I want to walk down the beautiful winding staircase. After Adelicia died the home was sold, it became a girls school and eventually Belmont University. After grabbing a quick bite at Subway we headed across town to the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson the 7th president of the United States. Still a working farm it started at 425 acres and evolved into 1,000 acre cotton plantation. No pictures were allowed at the home, all the furniture belonged to the family, after the last of the grandchildren died it became a museum. On the way back to pick up Luci Gary picked up a geo cache in tall grass, I stayed in the car. Gary loves Nashville, he said this might be a nice place to settle down in the future.

Enjoy the pic's

TTFN

Gary and Pam