Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale Alabama

Date:  May 13, 2019

Local History – Foley Alabama 

When you wake up to a morning like this how can you not believe that the day is going to be super.  We had a beautiful clear blue sky and no humidity.  Picture perfect.

We were off to Mobile to visit the Battleship Alabama.  We were but that is not the way it went.  Barbara had a bad night and really wasn’t up to leaving at the crack of dawn so a change of plains were called for.

We went with plan B and decided to visit some local attractions in the area.  Off we went eager to see what we would discover.  What we discovered was Foley, Alabama.

Wanting to learn more about this small but vibrant town our first stop was at the welcome center.  How about those neat globes hanging from the trees.  They appear to be crafted from some type of wire.

At the visitor center we discovered that Foley was named for its founder, John B. Foley of

 

Chicago.  In 1901 he learned of the opportunities in south Alabama from a man on a train while on his way to the funeral of President William McKinley.  A year later he came to Alabama and purchased 50,000 acres of land.  A manufacturer of Foley’s Pine Tar and Honey, a patent medicine designed as a cough remedy, Foley soon turned land developer.  He formed the Magnolia land company , laying out lots, which he sold for fifty dollars an acre.   People began buying lots very quickly.  Most were eager to take advantage of the rich farmland in the area.

The issue now became, how to get everyone to Foley?

The answer, a railroad.  So we moved over to the historic Foley Train Depot which is now a museum.   Wave HI to Barbara!  The original station burned in 1908 and was replaced the following year by the station that is now the Foley Depot Museum

We learned that the Bay Minette & Fort Morgan railroad line, a branch of the Louisville & Nashville (L & N) Railroad, was built for travel to Foley in 1905.  Mr. Foley himself bought the ties for the line.

 

These were the four stops on the original line.

 

Here are a few railroad cars sitting on a section of the original railroad line.  There were at one time three parallel lines.  The other two tracks were on the far side of this line.

Imagine that, all the names that were once used for the good old caboose.

Here’s a look inside the caboose.  Rather spartan I would say.  I believe I’ll keep our current rig.

This is the inside of the museum.

While here we learned a bit more about Foley and that it was once famous for its potatoes.  Also, because of the fertile land farmers were able to harvest two crops from the same land in one year.  In addition farmers we learned unloaded their product into sheds located along the railroad tracks stretching for blocks in either direction from the station.

 The potatoes were fed through this machine known as a grader which dumped them into burlap sacks at its one end.

The burlap sacks were imprinted with the owners name or logo on the bag.  Next. they were sewn shut by hand.  Finally, they were then loaded into box cars for shipment north.

Foley soon became the main distribution point for the southern end of this country.  Boxcars carried its product to far away markets.  At 40 feet long and 7 feet wide each car would carry 40 tons of freight.

The end would come in 1971 when the L & N railroad decided to discontinue service to Foley.  By then trucks and private autos had also pretty much replaced a need for a railroad.  Most of the potato farms had also given way to housing developments.  Today, there is only one working potato farm left in Foley.

To make matters worse in 1979, Hurricane Frederic wiped most of this area from the map. In 2004 and 2005, the area suffered once again with Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina.  Slowly, the community began to rebuild, but then came the BP Oil Spill of 2010.  However,  the resulting  financial settlement of the spill was the real beginning of the area’a comeback.  Today, Foley and the other towns of the Alabama Gulf Coast continue to grow and offer some of the most beautiful landscapes in the south.

Time now for lunch at a very special place in town.  Yup, she is waiting for me to finish taking pictures.  This is Stacey Drugs which was established in 1927.  It is a working pharmacy and also an old time soda fountain.

Let’s go inside.

Come take a tour with me.  The soda counter.  Note the play on words

Behind the ice cream counter.  Would I ever like to find gas at that price when I fill up Graybeard!

Old fashioned table and chairs.

Can you tell we are in a Naval air area?

Two rather unique planes.

Interesting signs to say the least!

Can you guess what cold drink is the drink of choice?

I’ve never seen a cooler like this before except on American Pickers.

They even had a working jukebox.

Two more interesting signs.

What about lunch?  BLT for both of us and oh they were delicious!  Finished off with a chocolate milk shake.  I rolled out the door.

Lunch over we headed for home.  If you ask me our plan B for the day was a real winner.  The day was perfect in so many ways.  I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, history is all around us you just have to look for it.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  We didn’t go far but we learned a lot and had a great time exploring the area around our home.  Tomorrow, well who knows where we’ll go.  Maybe we’ll make good on today’s original plan.  Stay tuned and we’ll let you know.

Thanks for coming along with us.  Have a good night and we’ll catch up with you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

 

 

 

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale Alabama

Date:  May 12, 2019

Happy Mother’s Day

A River Runs Through Site #34

National Naval Aviation Museum – US Navy Airships

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and all those who are a mother to others, caring, loving and nurturing those around them.  A special shout out to my own mom who was always there to show me the way, there to support me, there to love me, there beside me to help make me the person I am today.  Love you mom.

This morning  started out rather calm, no wind, no rain, just overcast.  Then it started to get dark, I mean like nightfall had come.  The rain began, just a gentle drizzle at first.  Then just like that it all changed.  Total darkness.  Sheets of rain coming almost horizontal.  Thunder and lightening.  We had it all.  In no time we had a river running under Graybeard.  It was like this for close to an hour.  Then just as quick as it started it stopped.  If this is what people in the southeast are going through my heart definitely goes out to them.  One good thing, due to the fact that our site is all sand the water disappeared as quickly as it came.

It’s Mother’s Day so I decided to treat my sweetheart to breakfast out.  Where to go?  Since we were new to the area I had no idea of what was around.  Let’s try Yelp.  Several possibilities popped up in Fairhope.  Time to go exploring.  The first place we stopped at was The Cereal Killer that was housed in The Mill.  With only four items on the menu and

none of them even recognizable to either of us we decided to pass on this place.  We pulled up Yelp again and discovered The Broken Egg that was right around the block.  Off we went.  They had a 90 minute wait time which was not for us.  Two down.  Would the third be the charm?  It was just down the block from where we had parked so we decided to walk.  Fairhope we discovered is a neat little town.  It appears alive and well with all kinds of local downtown shops.  Here’s our third choice, Julwin’s.

According to the front window

As soon as we walked in we knew we were at the right place.  It had that old southern down home feel.  Everyone was polite and oh so gracious and helpful.  Even better only a ten minute wait.  Of course while waiting I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who shared with me that this is the place that he and his wife come to every Sunday after church.  Trust me he said  you will not be disappointed.  

Oh how right he was!  I had the meat lovers omelette and it was big.

Big and delicious right down to the last bite.  Oh yea, I finished it all.

Bonus, a new T-shirt.  Better than collecting coffee cups.

Let’s go back now to the National Naval Aviation Museum and another specific exhibit.

The first thing we discovered was the difference between nonrigid and rigid airships.  Nonrigid airships are kept inflated by internal air pressure.  They are basically large controllable balloons  that have an engine for propulsion, rudders and elevators for directional control, and a car suspended underneath to carry crew and passengers

A rigid airship as their name implies have an internal framework.   The framework holds up and supports the shape of the ship.  In general rigid airships are only practical when longer than 360 feet.  This is because of the weight of the internal frame which would be to heavy for anything smaller.

An inside look at a rigid airship.

One of the first and most successful airships to operate with the Navy was the U.S. Los Angeles also known as ZR 3.  Constructed in Germany in 1924 it was then flown to the United states.  Of the five rigid airships originally in the Navy’s fleet it is the only one whose service did not end in an accident.  It flew a total of 331 missions and was taken out of service in 1932.  The Shenandoah was not so lucky.  Its career ended in 1925 when caught in a storm over Ohio.  It plunged to the ground with the lost of fourteen of its crew members.

During WW I airships patrolled the shipping lanes in search of German U Boats and mine fields.   No U-Boats were ever sunk by an airship but their service was deemed a success.  All in all, the lighter than air operations during this time provided the foundation for the development of more efficient airship designs in the future.

During WW II airships were viewed as one of the most dependable forms of aircraft in the Navy’s service.

The backbone of the Navy’s airship fleet during WW II was the

By mid 1943 eleven K class airships were rolling off the assembly line each month.  More K ships were produced by the Navy than any other airship.

It typically carried a crew of 10 but  it needed a crew of 40 to successfully attach it to its mooring mast.

Their crews made more than 57,000 flights over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  Capable of staying in the air for up to 26 hours they help stymie the German Wolf Pack attacks by providing safe escort to more than 80,000 Allied ships carrying men and material to foreign battlefields.  They also logged some 320 rescue missions.  During the war 37 airships were lost along with 72 crew members.

This is the control car of K-47

The cockpit in this photo is to the right.  Crew’s lounge is to the far left.

A better view of the cockpit.

From beneath.

From the outside to the inside.  First the cockpit.  What a view, especially when compared to the cockpit of a plane.

Navigation, communication and bombadier.   Someone it appears liked coffee.

Come on now, do you really think they might forget how to fly the airship.

The Galley.  Do you see the hand mixer?

In 1961 the Navy announced plans to end the lighter than air service.    In August of 1962 a Navy airship took to the air for the last time from Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, NJ.

Finally, we end with what even today remains a mystery.  On the morning of August 16, 1942 airship L-8 took off on a routine flight.  On board were the pilot and copilot.  They set a course out over the vast Pacific.  After reaching their station they reported that they were investigating a suspicious oil slick.  A little while later L-8 was observed slowly descending and finally snagging on a light pole in a suburb of San Francisco.  Investigation revealed that the classified documents usually carried on board were still behind the pilot’s seat.  All controls were properly set for a routine flight.  But no one was on board.  To this day the two men have never been found nor is there any idea what happened to them.

The control car of L-8.

The cockpit.

That brings to an end our day on The Road of Retirement.  A rocky and wet start that ended with a beautiful blue sky.  One can’t ask for more than that.  Oh, remember we went out to breakfast this morning?  My conversation with the gentleman while waiting?  I shared with him that we lived full time in an RV and traveled the country.  Just after we were seated his wife approached us and said in so many words  I just want to tell the two of you I believe what you are doing is fantastic.  If only more people would dare to follow their dreams.  Continued safe travels and have the time of your life.  Now how about that!

Thanks again for travelling with us.  Come join us tomorrow as we venture out again.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale Alabama

Date:  May 11, 2019

National Naval Aviation Museum – First Across

The sun keeps popping in and out and the skies are angry and gray but so far the rain has held off.   Not the usual pleasant day we have been used to.  Well then, what better way to spend a wet and sour day then writing a blog or two.  That then is what I’m going to do.

There’s so much left to share with you from our time at the National Naval Aviation Museum that that is where I’m going to concentrate.   Time’s a wasting so let’s get going.

Before we even go inside here are a couple of things I’d like to share with you.   The first is called Homecoming.

The next is a rather heavy item to say the least.  Oh, wave HI to Barbara if you will she is about to drop anchor at the museum.

 

Let’s go inside.  Remember the Blue Angels Atrium?

And the Spirit of Aviation?

Can’t forget the Cafe.

Of course since this is a Naval Air Museum there are planes, all kinds of planes.

Today, we are going to concentrate on just one plane which 100 years ago made history.  The plane?  The Navy Curtis Flying boat.  The goal?  First across the Atlantic.

It was the end of WW I and the benefits of being able to fly across the Atlantic had become abundantly clear during the war.  Curtis had been building flying boats throughout the war for antisubmarine patrol.  They were made of cedar planking, a maze of wire struts and many square miles of fabric covering their wings which stretched 126 feet in length.

 

After the war the Navy approached Curtis about building a newer and bigger flying boat specifically intended to cross the ocean on their own.  Curtis responded by building the the next series of boats with four engines – two on each wing and two in the center.  The engines were the 400 HP Liberty V-12 water cooled engine.

All total there were three planes made, NC-2, NC-3 and NC-4, collectively known as the Nancy boats.  A replica of NC-4 is seen below.

Note the four engines – one on each wing and two in the center, one pulling and the other pushing.

 

The central hull had sleeping quarters for the crew, a heavy wireless transmitter, and numerous fuel tanks.  As for the crew, they sat in the front of the hull, one in the very front at the tip and the other two a bit further back, where you see the ladder on the hull.  They were completely exposed to the elements, no canopy covered them.

Remember this airplane was built for just one mission.

The journey before them.  To help them successfully negotiate the Atlantic the Navy stationed ships at 50 to 60 mile intervals along the intended course to illuminate the way.

Their starting point.

With high hopes and great resolve three flying boats took to the air.  As the flight progressed it appeared that NC-4 would not make it.  Yet, in the end it was the only one of the three that did.  The other two had to ditch in the Atlantic.

Mission accomplished!

Once back in the States NC-4 went on tour as a Navy recruitment tool.  Here it is on exhibit in Central Park.

We’ve now covered one of several major exhibits in the Museum.  More to come so stayed tuned as I work to bring them to you in future blogs.

Our day on The Road of Retirement was a bit wet, overcast, and definitely an inside day.  So be it we’ve learned to take and treasure each day as it comes no matter what the weather or whatever else.  We’ve got an itinerary together for sightseeing and we’ll be heading out either Monday or Tuesday for the first of many trips.

Time to go.  Thanks for joining us on our journey.  Have a good night, till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road

 

 

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale Alabama

Date:  May 10 2019

Travel Day

May 10th and it is time to move westward.  We’re not going far, maybe a couple of hours.  The reason for the move is simple, there are attractions in that area that we want to explore.

When we awoke this morning the skies were overcast but the rain of last night was gone.  Once again we split up, Barbara working to pack up the inside and I went and finished up outside.  We were in no big rush so we just sort of took our time and in due time we were done and ready to go.

On the road the first stop was for gas.  It appeared that getting into this station would be no problem but getting out and headed back in the right direction might be a bit interesting.  Funny though how these things have a way of working themselves out.  Just when I thought I would have to make a U-turn, I spotted a Best Western across the road with a huge parking lot with two entrances.  Across the road I went, in one driveway and out the other.  Oh so simple.

We were on Route 10 the majority of the way.  Traffic was light with no accidents or construction to slow us down.  Once off of Route 10 it was County roads the remainder of the way.  In just about two hours time we saw the sign that told us we were home.

We stopped to register, receive our welcome packet, and discover our site number, #34.

Here is home for the next two weeks.

Our site is sand, level, with FHU and 50 amp.  Our windshield faces to the south and Gertrude has an unobstructed view of the southern sky.  There is a large shade tree off of the passengers side which will keep the sun off the refrigerator during the day.  If and when the sun comes back out!  We’re supposed to have rain for the next two days.  Even as I write this it is raining so hard you can’t see your hand in front of your face.  The only other really big problem so far as I can see is going to be keeping the sand out of Graybeard.  We’ve already gone and purchased a mat to put in front of the steps which should help.

There are a total of seventy five sites in the park with the majority of them empty at this time of year.

Those that are here appear to be permanent residents as evidenced by the porches added on, flower gardens, and the grass growing up between the wheels of the rigs.

This is home, then, for the next two weeks.  Saturday and Sunday we’ll hunker down, plan our sightseeing, write some blogs, and do the routine stuff that needs to be done.  We’ve all ready resolved one issue, that being really low water flow out of the kitchen faucet.  Once I took the head off of the new faucet I discovered that it was completely clogged.  What caused that I have no idea but I’ll have to keep an eye on it in the future.  Cleaned and put back together all is well in the kitchen once again.

That was our travel day on The Road of Retirement.  Good as they come.  Today, well just a wee bit wet, actually make that a whole lot wet.  We haven’t been in weather like this for a long time.  This is the tail end of that severe weather coming out of Texas.  I wish it would hurry up and get out of here.  Alas, they say two days of this icky stuff.  Such is life.

Thanks for traveling with us.  Have a good day and we’ll catch up with you in a bit.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road