2024 July 9, 22, 24 Day trips to Pulaski, Lynnville, TN., Corinth, MS., & Danville, Hartsell, AL., with Ava

2024 July 9, 2024 Tuesdays Day Trip to Pulaski and Lynnville, TN

 Today, we rode to Pulaski to the Giles County Memorial Interpretive Center Trail of Tears Museum.

Ava and Trail of Tears Statue

Many of the park marks and benches were in much need of repairs. 

We saw a golden raintree, a Statue, and several Markers. 

We were getting ready to leave when we saw pictures of the Trail of Tears in the tunnel under the highway.

Ava and I decided to walk through the tunnel. 

The Bench Project, Wilma Pearl Mankiller, The Children the Oxen, and the Trail of Tears, and several paintings were done by students. 

It was a treasure of local artists about the Trail of Tears. 

Ava and the  1927 Baldwin Steam Locomotive

We next rode to the Town of Lynnville, TN. 

We visited the Train Depot Museum, where we saw a miniature train engine, signal lights, several signs about the train, a train conductor, and a ticket counter.  

Outside, we walked inside the 1927 Baldwin Steam Locomotive, the 1920s Passenger Coach 2587. The red caboose was locked, so we did not go inside. 

Along the hallway were signs about the Milky Way Farm and a picture of Frank C. Mars, the owner and maker of Mars candy. 

We took several pictures outside, one alongside the LRR Lynnville Railroad Museum sign and the Giles County Turkey. 

Ava at Soda Pop Junction

We walked across the road to Soda Pop Junction.

Outside was an orange and white truck with a sign that read “ Soda Pop Junction Good Ol ‘ Soda Pop.”

We were greeted when we walked inside. 

I ordered a Chili’s dog, and Ava ordered a hamburger and fries. She ate her fries but not her hamburger. Hubby ate her hamburger and most of my chili dog.  

Ava ordered an orange crushed soda in a bottle. 

I told our waitress that Ave loves to visit museums, and she told AVA I have something to show you. 

She took a quarter out of the register, and we walked to the back of the restaurant. 

She placed a quarter in the slot, and a piano began to play; also, a hand-held organ began to play.  

We thanked her and began our journey to Lawrenceburg. 

We had to return to Krogers to pick up my salmon and cantaloupe that I had left at the store the day before. 

It began to rain as we started our journey home.

2024 July 22, Monday Microwave Dave 

Today, we went to Florence Library to see Microwave Dave and to make musical instruments out of trash.

Ava made a guitar out of a shoe box.

And a water bottle with seeds.

The kids, as well as the adults, had a good time.

Ava put her finger in the alligator's mouth. 

Ava wanted ice cream, and we were going to Tuscumbia I remembered The Palace had good ice cream. 

Ava ordered Smokey Mountain Fudge.

Ava enjoying her Smokey Mountain Fudge Ice cream in a cone. 

I ordered pecan praline. 

Then we went to Helen Keller Library to listen to Book It with Jazz the Jazz Allstars.

Afterward, we went to Champy’s for lunch. 

Hubby ordered a salad, and we shared a catfish meal.

Ava ordered a chicken fingers meal.

We had leftovers.

Microwave Dave went through the cycle of Blues Music From the days of slavery. 

The people make music with a rhythm to help pass the hard time. 

Then, the clicking and clacking of the railroad era, the sounds of the wheels on the train as it went down the tracks. 

The free slaves moved to the city with a different rhythm. 

The time the people were paid to play music. 

He asked if any of the kids knew about fractions. 

Then, he began telling us how the beats were fractions. 

The kids blew their paper horns, and they beat on their coffee cans for drums. 

They picked the rubber band strings on their shoebox guitar. 

And shook their water bottles filled with bird seeds

In rhythm with Microwave Dave’s music.

On Tuesday, we rode to Rogersville Library to see Microwave Dave.

Ava made a drum out of an oatmeal box, a paper horn, and a shaker out of a Mt Dew bottle. 

We did a sing-along and played our handmade instruments with Microwave Dave.

We learned about the history of jazz. 

Everyone had a good time. 

July 24, Wednesday Day Trip to Corinth, MS

Today, we rode to Corinth, MS.

We stopped at the Visitor Center and were given information about sites to see in Corinth, MS.

We walked to the Corinth Train Depot and Crossroads Museum, but it was closed. 

I, too, have pictures of the 1924 American LaFrance Fire Truck and a sign of Caboose # 2994, a Civil War Corinth, big guns, and the Miniature Hurlbut Amusement Equipment Co. locomotive No 1009. 

We stopped at the New Coca-Cola Museum. Outside was a carved giant wooden Coca-Cola bottle.

There was a buzzer on the door which, when pressed, released a locked door that let you inside a one-room museum. 

The museum featured over 1,000 Coca-Cola artifacts: a truck, soda fountain, coke boxes, bottles, signs, toys, etc.

Ava at the Coca-Cola Museum 

In the front of the museum sat a Coca-Cola drink machine with small glass bottles filled with Coke products you could purchase. 

That took me back to the days when a Coke cost 6 to 10 cents, not a dollar or more.  

We stopped at the 15,00 square feet  Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center Museum, which features interactive exhibits and a memorial Garden for the 1862 battles of Shiloh and Corinth.

Ava at the Interpretive Center 

We stopped at the Corinth’s Highway Hospitality Building, and I said the Crossroads Museum was closed. 

The curator tried to call the museum, but no answer. She said it should be open, so we rode back to the museum.

It was open the curator said her dog was sick, and she had taken him to the vet. 

We paid the admission fee and walked through the museum.

We enjoyed the miniature running train display. 

It was now lunchtime, and everyone was ready for lunch. Borroum’s Drugs Store Diner was just a few blocks away from the Crossroads Museum.

The diner was very busy we finally found a table where people had just finished eating lunch with their dishes still on the table. 

Our waitress finally cleaned the table and took our order. 

 I ordered a hamburger with chips. Ava ordered chicken nuggets and fries. Hubby ordered a double cheeseburger with onion rings. 

This was our last stop before starting for home. 

It rained a little on us but not much, and it was clear by the time we left. It was still pretty wet when we got home, but it soon cleared off.

We had a great time the area was not overcrowded with people, which is so much better than fighting a crowd.

Ava had to get her picture made with a slug at the Park near the Visitor Center. 

Ava and the Slugg

Last week was their slug Festival, and there were slugs all around town.

Monday, July 29, Day trip to Danville and Hartselle, Al

Today, we went to town to pay our Utilities and to get our B-12 shots.

Ava and the Jesse Owens statue

Ava and Jesse Owens 26 feet Long Jump 

Then we rode to Danville by way of US 72 East towards Cullman.

We stopped at the Jesse Owen’s Museum. 

There, we watched the 1936 Olympics and how Jesse Owen won the gold medal right before World War Two. 

Before Hitler killed all the Jewish people. 

It was a very moving story, and it helped me understand more about the Olympics then. 

We walked outside, where we saw Jesse Owens’s Statue, a replica of his birth home and a replica of the long jump Jesse set a world record at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. 

Ava and Sequoya statue 

We stopped at the Oakville Indian Museum.

We saw arrowheads and other artifacts from the Mississippian, Archaic, Paleo, and Woodland Periods American Indians. 

We saw a wooden carving of Sequoyah, a mixed-blood Cherokee who developed an alphabet or syllabary. 

Ava was not impressed, for she rushed through it.

In the gift shop, we bought her a bag of colorful rocks and a mood ring. 

Ava and the Blues Brothers

We stopped for lunch at Oh’Bryan’s in Hartselle. 

Ava and I ordered the special for eight dollars everything was included. 

Ava ordered fried chicken fingers with fries and a doctor’s pepper.

I ordered grilled chicken fingers and a sweet potato with iced tea 

Hubby ordered a salad, steak potato toast, and iced tea. 

We filled up with gas at Murphy.

And we stopped at Krogers for sodas.

We were home by 3:30.

2018 May 23, An enjoyable day out Florence & Athens, Alabama

Hubby set off several bug bombs as we were leaving for the day. 

We stopped at the Credit Union for some cash. 

We ate lunch at Trowbridge’s, where we both ordered a BLT, chips, Coke in a glass bottle, and Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream. 

BLT

COKE 

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE ICE CREAM

TROWBRIDGE'S ICE CREAM MENU

A COUPLE OF SCHOOL KIDS GETTING ICE CREAM 

WAITING FOR MY BLT

We enjoyed listening to Joseph Baldwin in Wilson Park.

We rode to Elgin to get B12 shots. 

We rode to Athens, stopping at Save-A-Lots and Big Lots. 

Both hubby and I had eye appointments in Athens. 

We stopped at UG White Mercantile, where I bought some saltwater taffy and a pair of Kuhl shorts. 

KUHL was born in the Mountains. KUHL is a product-driven company with a passion for the outdoor experience. The Kuhl icon represents this mountain culture.

Salt  Water Taffy 

I asked if this was the only mercantile store, and the cashier said we have another store in Huntsville near Clinton St. 

There was a large selection of Lodge skillets displayed in the mercantile.  

I remarked that hubby and I had toured the Lodge Factory in South Pittsburg during their Cornbread Festival.

I said cornbread is not good unless it is cooked in an Iron Skillet. We stopped at Murphy's for gas, and Aldies was our last stop. 

Hubby and I ate leftover grilled hamburgers for supper.

After supper, hubby fell asleep on the sofa.

🚂🚂🚂2016 October 15, Saturday, Train Ride! Monterey Fall Foliage Excursion

The sun was peeking through the clouds as we rode through Columbia, Tennessee.
We ate breakfast at Burger King in Columbia, Tennessee. Hubby ordered an egg, cheese, and sausage croissant, I ordered two pieces of sausage and three French breadsticks with syrup and water to drink.
We arrived around 7AM at the Central Railway Museum 220 Willow St Nashville, TN.
Several people had arrived they were parking wherever they could find an open spot. We were the last ones to park in a gated area.
We walked to the museum there were people already standing in line.

We walked into the train museum there were several rows of people sitting. We walked to the back of the museum where we saw a miniature running train display,

At 7:30AM we heard the train whistle, letting everyone know it had arrived and was time to begin loading.
The train holds 500 people and the excursion was sold out.
There was an older couple who had just sat down on a nearby bench.
The woman said the train does not leave until 8:00AM and it will take a while for all these people to board, so we decided to sit down next to them and wait.

The couple had seats in the dome train car.
We were sitting in  25 & 26 on TCRX  4719 First Class.
The conductor/ticket collector had a list of all the passengers and he checked them off as people boarded.

The train's horn blew at 8:00AM as we were leaving the train station.

Selfie as we began our train excursion 

At times the train gained speed up to 55 MPR and would drop down to 35, 25, 15MPR.

The restrooms were not available until the train started to move. Our conductor/ticket collector had to unlock them.
That was my first stop.
The windows on the train were made out of thick hard plastic, not glass which made it hard to get a good picture.

Riding the train up the mountain we saw lots of dried-up creeks and empty fields where the crops had been gathered.
We saw cows, bulls, and other animals feeding along with the hill country.
We rode through the towns of Lebanon, Watertown, Brush Creek, Gordonville's, Caney Fork, Lancaster, Buffalo Valley, Silver Point, Baxter, Watertown, & Cookeville.

I-40 

The train crossed over I-40 several times.
I walked to the dining car for snacks (which was several cars back) I bought two Diet Cokes and two packages of peanut butter crackers which cost me $6.00

Standing Stone Festival was taking place in Monterey, "Where the hilltops kiss the sky."
At  9AM they were having a parade, a Cruise-In after the parade, and at 10AM a Ceremony at Standing Stone.
Near noon they were expecting the Excursion train coming from Nashville.
When we arrived in Monterey the train blew its whistle, letting the people that we had arrived.
Before we left the train we were told to be ready to load onto the train at 1:50PM and the train would be leaving the station at 2:00PM.

Crowd leaving the train

The people of Monterey were prepared for visitors.
The VFW had grilled hamburgers & hotdogs, and a group of women had cooked pinto beans and cornbread.
The Blue Cup and Saucer were filling up with people from the train.

The Cup & Saucer Restaurant 

We walked down the street looking at the vendor's wares.
We stopped at a booth where several young girls were selling cookies.
We bought a package of peanut butter cookies and a package of oatmeal raisins.
We had a diet cook left over from the train ride.
We ate our snacks as we walked through the downtown area, which was a couple of blocks away.
We stopped to look at the cars from the cruise-in which consisted of about 10 cars.

I stopped to take a picture of the Civil War Historic Marker.

Stokes' Atrocity
Four miles north of this site, the atrocity occurred during the War Between the States. On March 12, 1864, Federal Col. William B. Stokes and approximately 200 soldiers of the 5th Tenn. Volunteer Cavalry (Union) surrounded the homes of a Southern sympathizer and shot six unarmed Confederate soldiers. These soldiers, led by 2nd Lt. Robert S. Davis, included members from Terry's 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment and one Alabama cavalryman. They became separated from their original outfit and had recently joined forces with Captain Champ Ferguson's independent cavalry company.
Continued

Stokes' Atrocity
Days earlier the Confederates had routed Col. Stoke's command in the skirmish at Dug Hill on the Calfkiller River. Shortly after the shooting at the house, Lt. Davis — the only Confederate wounded and not killed outright — was taken into the yard, tied to a cedar gatepost, and his body riddled with bullets. His last words were "You ought not to do this, I have never done anything but my sworn duty.

Old Fire Truck in front of Train Depot Museum 

Stone Standing Monument 

Standing Stone Monument
The Standing Stone was a 13-foot (4.0 m)-tall rock that once stood upright on a sandstone ledge in the area. It was the legendary boundary between Cherokee and Shawnee territory and marked the Cherokee Tallonteeskee Trail. The 8-foot (2.4 m) remnant of this stone is preserved in Monterey, where a Standing Stone Celebration of Native American Heritage is held each October

We wanted to see the Standing Stone that everyone was talking about, it was located several blocks away from the festival.
There was a concrete path that twisted and turned near the train tracks, which led to Standing Stone.
Standing Stone was in front of the public library.
After taking a few pictures we visited the library, I needed to charge my cell phone and use the restroom.
In the library, I noticed an article that was near the information desk

The article said: that Thomas Jefferson Whittaker 
Dec 18, 1818-Nov 30, 1900 "Murdered by Grandson just 150 ft Yards from here."
This piqued my interest so I read the article. 
One of the earliest pioneers of Standing Stone, now called Monterey, T.J. Whittaker stood 6-ft 2in. in his stockings. The son of Capt.  John Whitaker was a War of 1812 Veteran who fought in Gen. Andrew Jackson's Army. Whittaker was born about two miles from the present town. 
He married Nancy Dillard Clark in 1841 and raised a large family. In 1853, he bought the old homestead from his father. The home is set on what is now the corner of N. Elmore St. and Old Walton Rd. 
An Avid hunter, Whittaker killed deer, bears, wildcats, wolves, panthers, and more. 
Whittaker Park was donated to the town by him.
On his last day on earth, Whittaker arose early. About noon, he took his mules along with some horseshoes to the blacksmith. Returning home about 4:30PM on that Friday afternoon, he came across his grandson, Jackie Whittaker, and a Cooper man arguing in front of the Standing Stone monument. He tried to get his grandson to go home, but it seemed to make the situation worse, so he pulled the mule and headed home.
After traveling about 150 yards, Whittaker's grandson came up from behind him and demanded his mule and took it away from him. Whittaker picked up a stick to defend himself, but his grandson stuck a knife into his grandfather's neck, killing him. 
Jackie Whittaker ran home and got his pistol, daring any of the womenfolk who had gone to help TJ Whittaker. Police Chief Alec Weeks (Later Putman Sheriff) came to the scene. The young Whittaker fired at him, by missed. Weeks returned fire hitting him twice. The grandson recovered to spend time in prison. Thomas Jefferson Whittaker is buried in the Whittaker Cemetery, just north of here on Elmore St. not far from where he lived and not far from where he died. 

The Story Teller 

We walked to the Train Depot Museum, there were many people from the train Excursion inside.
We walked through the museum viewing the many items that were on display and heard locals telling stories about Monterey.
When he finished talking, I said we have stories about our town that are similar, especially about the war.
I told him a story about an ex-Civil War Soldier named Tom Clark and his gang of bushwhackers, how they came into our town and ravaged it.
He and his gang were captured and hanged. Tom Clark said (so they say) that no one would ever ride over him.  He was buried in the middle of Tennessee Street and is rode over every day.
The man laughed!
He said, my last name is Clark and I have a distant relative named Tom Clark how ironic is that?

1909 Imperial Hotel 

We walked back to the vendors to buy some meat skins and water.
We bought the water from the group of women selling beans and cornbread.
One of the women asked how much it cost to ride the train.
We walked passed the 1909 Imperial Hotel stopping to take a couple of pictures.

We heard the train whistle.
People shouted THE TRAIN IS COMING!
People were taking pictures and videos as the train made its way toward us.

When the train came to a complete stop, the conductor called OUT ALL ABOARD!

While we were visiting the town the train had rode up to the switchyard.
Switching the Engines from the front of the train to the back of the train.
Now the gift shop, dining cars, and women's restrooms were in front of us.
The conductor had turned our seats in that direction.
After everyone loaded into the train, the conductor checked his list making sure that he did not leave anyone behind. He had told us earlier that the train would leave at 2:00PM and anyone left behind would have to take a taxi home.

As we were descending down the mountain the train moved slowly, breaking so the train would not become a run-a-way train.
Sitting in front of us was a man from Connecticut, he was telling the conductor a funny story.
I told the story of my daughter's plane experience. How a doctor or nurse was needed and she and a dentist were the only ones on the plane.
A woman was in the restroom, sweating profusely, she had taken two Ex-Lax Laxatives before boarding the plane.
When my daughter bent down to take the woman's blood pressure, her pants couched on the edge of something and made a big rip down the back of her pants.

My daughter lived in Newington, Connecticut, Boston, Mass, and Providence, RI.
I told the man from Connecticut, about all the places that we visited when I came to visit her.

The sun was setting and I wanted to get a picture so I walked to where the train cars connected.
I stuck my head out the window and started taking pictures. I even got one of the full moons.

We arrived at the train depot in Nashville around  7:57PM.

Full Moon 

Panda Express

Cream  Cheese Rangoon

Honey Walnut Shrimp 

We stopped at 7:50 p.m. at Panda Express, Spring Hill, TN.
Hubby ordered a plate with Chow Mein, orange chicken, broccoli & beef, and one chicken egg roll.
I ordered a small plate of Honey Walnut Shrimp and three Cream Cheese rangoons.
We were home by 10:00PM, hubby's bedtime.