Leaving my Bluegrass Home Makes Me Feel Blue

I don't like it that you're leaving!!
 

OK, for all you who miss my travel blogs, you'll be happy to hear I'm back on the road.  And I admit that I am excited to be traveling again.  But it was really hard to say goodbye to my Kentucky family.  I always feel so loved and welcome when I am there.  Madeline and Jim keep a comfortable house and it's easy to fall into the rhythm of life there.  Of course this time of year is beautiful too.  The peonies are full of fat buds and the fields are turning green.  It's just gorgeous.  Alas, I am expected at a new job about 600 miles west of here, so with a heavy heart we hugged and kissed and said goodbye again.  I am heading to cowboy country, so perhaps Jim will bring Madeline to visit me soon.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.  Until then I hope Madeline forgives me for leaving. 

On a high note though, I will have the chance to visit with my cousin Charlie Ray and his lovely wife Brenda as I pass through Arkansas.  It's been a long time since we got together but I do have a picture.  Do you think I'll have any trouble recognizing them?

Digging Thru The Past

I'm afraid the truth of my activities over the past 6 weeks is rather boring: did my taxes, had some dental work done, renewed the tags on Seeker, and did some geocaching/munzee'ing.  See, I told you, really boring everyday stuff.  Well, the geocaching wasn't all that boring since I was out trying to find a few pretty difficult caches - one of which required scaling large boulders and repelling back down to the ground. 

Yes, the helmet had a Mohawk and a mounted camera/light.  That would be because I was hiking/climbing/geocaching with my old friend Grant Sullivan who is a bigger technogeek than me.  He is also an experienced climber with tons of gear for that too (and knowing if I fell I was out with an EMT as an added assurance).  For all you geocachers in my reading audience, I can now say I am fully FIZZY!  The rest of you just go on thinking I'm fully CRAZY.  Both viewpoints are correct.



I would post a picture from the dental experiences but it would not be pretty.  Let's just agree that my smile says it all.  And the updated tags on Seeker mean I can legally get back out on the road and head out which is what I will be doing later today.  Where to you ask?  Well, I get on 65 and head south then turn west on 40 and .........



Mother and Daddy in the 1940s
 

So a lot of my time has been spent in libraries, cemeteries, and state/county archives.  Yes, the old family history search.  Seems that whenever I am with my cousin Madeline Ruth we dig into the past.  She makes it fun for me and after a little of this stuff it gets addictive.  On my mother's side of the family (where Madeline and I are related) most of the history is in Sumner or Davidson County in Tennessee or Allen and Simpson County in Kentucky.  On my father's side it's all in Wilson County, Tennessee or in Nashville (Davidson County).  One fun discovery was my parents' marriage license.  Now Daddy was born in 1923 and Mother in 1926 but in August of 1942 they both signed a legal document swearing they were 21!  Oh if only I had know that when I was growing up.  How many times did my mother tell me it was wrong to lie???



Sheriff Wade pouring out moonshine

My mother's parents, Roy and Ruth Wade, started out in Nashville but his work with Genesco moved them around Tennessee, Kentucky, and even Illinois.  Finally, in 1962 he left the factory and went into local politics becoming the Sumner County sheriff for 6 years.  He was a big man and my "little granny" as we called her was not quite 5 foot tall.  Sheriff Wade was tough on folks cutting corners to avoid paying taxes, especially moonshiners.  I found lots of newspaper stories about him busting up stills and arresting folks for selling cigarettes illegally. 


We were not a really close knit family, but there were times when we all pulled together.  Usually there wasn't a camera around to record those moments (here is where you stop and explain to your children/grandchildren that there was a time when cameras and phones were 2 separate objects: one required dialing a number and the other required inserting a roll of film - this will no doubt confuse them).  I did find a fun picture of a large group of us working on a project together

Christmas 1976: Mike and Ronnie are putting together a rocking chair for James Ray, Ronnie's firstborn.  That's me and Mary (Ronnie's wife) supervising while Linda (Mike's wife) and Mother sit at the table providing moral support.  James Ray is in the upper right corner being held by either Daddy or my brother Clint.  James Ray really loved that rocking chair.

 

Don't Pay the Ransom - I've escaped!!!

Have had some emails wondering about where I am, what I'm up to and where I'm going next.  Well, for the last few weeks I've been held captive by many friends and family in the TN/KY area.  If I told exactly who and exactly where I might get in trouble so I'll just say that I've been busy.  Will post more about my hometown project soon, but for now I'll leave you with a couple of pix from some interesting travels of the past.

 

 

 

Island Days

 

 

  Took the ferry from Fort Morgan over to Dauphin Island to spend the day biking around and seeing the sites.  I left my car behind and took my bike instead.  Aboard the ferry I met up with some other bike riders out to enjoy the island for the day.  Along the way dolphins played beside the boat but getting their picture was just not possible for me.  I just decided to enjoy them.

Notice the gulls hitching a ride on the ramp?

 Also, the fee is $15.00 each way per car.  My solution was easy.  I parked my car in the lot and loaded everything I needed into my backpack or in the basket of my bike.  No matter how many cars they load, there's always room for a bike and rider.  Plus the fee if $5.00 round trip!  My kind of math for sure.

The trip across to the island takes about 35 minutes and if you pay attention you will see dolphins playing alongside.  But getting a picture of them was impossible for me.  I finally just gave up and enjoyed.  Once I got to the island my first stop was of course Fort Gaines where once upon a time Stephen Farragut damned the torpedoes. 

The bike ride to the western end of the island is about 3 miles.  Along the way I enjoyed seeing the different types of houses on the island: some vacation condos and lots of year round residents.  I decided to go out on the pier at the western end and have my lunch there.  Off on the beach I could see a wedding taking place.  Of course spring breakers were plentiful but not as much as on the mainland.  Before long I realized it was time to get back to the ferry landing.  In fact, there were so many returning bike riders I almost had to wait for the next ferry.  That was cutting it close for sure since there was only one more ferry for the day.  It was such a beautiful day and the people watching at the beach was so great, well, I barely noticed I had ridden over 13 miles!  By the time I got home today I was ready for a shower and a nap.  But I will miss that place. 

Bike Tour of The Crescent City

Since I was in the neighborhood, well sorta, I took a 3 hour drive over to New Orleans today to check out a place that's been on my must do list for a while: National D Day Museum.  For those not in the know, a  big part of the D Day landings was played by the Higgins Boat, a special landing craft built ini New Orleans by the Higgins Boat Co.  The former factory is now home to the museum that occupied most of my day in the Big Easy.  The museum spans 3 buildings and includes wonderful exhibits, a movie narrated by Tom Hanks, a 1940s style diner (with more than generous servings) and that's just in one of the buildings.  They are also adding more construction.  It's truly an amazing place and the timing was awesome since my brother Mike has just begun to unravel the wartime travels of our father in the South Pacific aboard mostly Liberty Ships that supplied the big warships.  Though I must admit my one disappointment was that I saw only one mention of the Liberty ships in the museum.  In the museum shop their computer showed that they did carry a book about the ships but the clerk nor I could find it.  Oh well, brother, I tried. 

After lunch in the diner I decided to leave my car in the lot since it was paid until nearly 9pm.  I took my bike off the back and headed to that little place where they play all the big football games.  It sure is big and at night they light it up in purple. 

Keeping in the vein of WWII I made a stop at the Molly Marine statue in the middle of Canal Street.  She's been there proudly being the "woman behind the man behind the gun" since the 1940s. 

Just step through the gate and turn left.

Next I went down the road to the grave of the one and only Marie Laveaux.  Even in death she commands a large daily crowd.  Fascinating. 

Next stop Bourbon Street of course.  It was amazing to ride down the middle of the French Quarter in the late afternoon sunshine dodging spring breakers and the other few tourists who braved the area during spring break (bad planning on someone's part).  Finally I cut across Jackson Square, past Cafe du Monde (also full of spring breakers) and over to the New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood House where I had a delightful dinner date with my wonderful nephew Chad. 

He's been living here in the quarter for a year now and loves it.  I haven't seen Chad this happy since he lived in DC.  He's just a big city guy unlike me.  I did enjoy the day and the sights, including the small impromptu parade that came down the street during our meal, I am ready to retreat back to the small quiet country spot where my seeker rig waits for me.  But all the city hassle was worth it to see the parade and enjoy my visit with Chad.  Hope we get to meet up again soon.

Family Vacation Revisited

One of my favorite movies is Family Vacation.  I'm always amazed at the idea of a mom, dad, and kids getting in the car and going off on some great journey together.  We never really took a family vacation.  All summer long we stayed in tents at the lake and fished, swam, water skied, cooked on the campfire, and played.  Tough life, huh?  Actually as a kid it was great, but for the adults, the sober ones, it was no picnic I'm sure.  But we kids didn't care.  We had a summer paradise.  Until the one summer my father decided we needed to take a trip to Frisco City, Alabama to visit his big brother Ray. 

By this time Mike and Pat had gone off into their military careers and Clint was old enough to stay home without us I guess.  So it was just me and my little brother Ronnie in the car with my folks.  I was excited to see some place that wasn't in Tennessee.  Yeah, I know, a dumb country kid.  I'm sure we drove highways all the way (no interstate yet) and of course there was no air conditioner in the car.  Strangely I don't really remember much about the drive down or back so I guess seeing another state for the first time didn't impress me much.

I do remember that my Uncle Ray and his wife lived in a small house in a small town which reminded me of my grandparents old farmhouse in Lebanon.  Ronnie and I played with a boy from next door and I'm told he fell out of a tree and broke his arm.  Again, I really don't remember too much about that either.  So was I an amnesiac for the whole trip?

No, what I do remember is following my daddy all over the USS Alabama in Mobile Bay.  Now Daddy never served aboard a battleship during the war (he was in the Naval Armed Guard and served mostly on Liberty ships) but you would have thought he gave birth to this ship.  He was so excited to tell about it and I was eager to see him so happy that I ran my legs off keeping up with him.  Most of all I remember looking from the upper deck across all that water and thinking it was the ocean.  The water was so wide I couldn't see where it ended.  Daddy held my hand and stood looking out at it for a very long time too. 

So today I returned to Mobile Bay and the Big A.  I really enjoyed the Korean and Vietnam War memorials that have been added.  And of course lots of aircraft and tanks are on display which I like to look over.  But I couldn't bring myself to go aboard the battleship this time.  It just wouldn't have been the same without my enthusiastic tour guide.  I guess I've lived long enough now to know that some memories are best left alone.  Before leaving the park I walked out to the end of the fishing pier to look back at the old warrior and found myself looking out across the water.  I've seen a few oceans since that long ago summer and yet the water of the bay today seemed so wide I couldn't see where it ended.  So wide I could almost feel Daddy's hand in mine.

One Final Florida Siteseeing Trip

It's finally time to say farewell to the sunshine state, but not until I visited one place I've had on my list for a long time: National Naval Aviation Museum.  You might know it better as Naval Air Station Pennsacola or better yet, the home of the Blue Angels.  In fact, the interstate overpasses at the exit off of 10 are decorated with the Blue Angel Jets just to make sure you know you're in their territory.

WARNING: PHOTO HEAVY BLOG TODAY!!

Airplanes to the left, to the right, even over your head!

I was surprised with all the national security measures in place that visitors to the museum simply drive up to the gate of the base, show a photo ID, declare if you have any weapons in your vehicle, and then place the visitor pass on your dash.  Amazing.  Even more amazing - it's free.  Of course donations are accepted, but even a $10 donation is well worth all the hours of history in this massive museum.  Of course I really liked all the WWII exhibits.  There was even an "on the homefront" exhibit that I scored as very accurate.  There was more WW I info than I've seen anywhere except maybe the WWI museum in Kansas City.  And most surprising thing I learned?  That makeshift carriers were used on Lake Michigan to teach pilots how to land and take off at "sea".  Of course a lot of those rookie pilots missed which means Lake Michigan is littered with aircraft ripe for the picking!

There were 2 floors of exhibits and displays: the history of naval aviation and the base, displays on famous naval aviators, even the role of navy aviation on world events.  Also included, for free, was a 45 minute trolley ride around the tarmac with a guide explaining all the aircraft.  I don't know much about airplanes but I really enjoyed all the historical displays.  I even caught the end of a retirement ceremony for a sailor retiring after 20 years active duty.  So I won't try to explain all the planes I took pictures of since I'm not sure I can.  But if someone like me who doesn't know much about planes can be enthralled here for 4 hours imagine what it's like for someone who is a plane nut?  If you ever get in the area you really should visit.  And if the budget doesn't get cut (current events don't look good for that) the Blue Angles will begin practicing here in a couple of weeks and, you guessed it, a seat to watch is FREE!

One of the first boats delivered to the Navy.  Had to empty
water out of the floats every time you landed on
water.

 

Gondola for early "air ship"

 

Firefighters were practicing on the tarmac while we
toured.  Look closely and you'll see
the burned dummy.

Kermit is a large cargo helicopter

The top floor exhibits circle the bottom floor which means
you begin at the balloon exhibits and come all
the way around to the space race. 
Really interesting walk.

 

No, not a UFO.  Early radar/weather plane.

 

 

A trainer plane pulled out of Lake Michigan.

This was a very informative exhibit about using
Lake Michigan for carrier qualifications
during World War II.



I certainly recognized these in the Vietnam POW
exhibit.