Tuesday morning, I was up and on the road by 8:00. Dogs and cats fed and watered, everything I needed to get done and on the road! My first planned stop was the Coon Dog Cemetery in Cherokee, AL. It was going to take roughly 2 1/2 hours to that first stop. It was a good morning for a drive and I had music playing and was enjoying my trip. About an hour and a half into the trip, I needed to make a pit stop! Remember, my bladder has been a key component of my wanderings this summer! I stop at a convenience store, and reach for my purse so I can make the obligatory "I used your bathroom so now I must make a minor purchase" transaction. Well, I reached for where my purse should be. Yep, no purse. I look in the back floorboard, thinking maybe I had sat in on the console and it had fallen in the back. Nope. So I check to see if I have any car-money, which is what I call the few dollars we all have stashed somewhere in our cars! I had nine dollars in car money. I went in and used the restroom and bought a bottle of water. Upon returning to my car, I pondered what to do. Two of my planned stops had admission prices, so I knew I needed $18.00, plus lunch money. Also, I did not have my driver's license. Disgusted with myself, I figure the best thing to do is to turn around and go home. But, I still needed to go by Joel's to pick up the veggies. I texted him, because as a friend pointed out, I may have left my purse, but I had my cell phone!! He quickly replied for me to come on by, so I reset the GPS to figure out how to get there from where ever I was currently at, and headed his way. I took a scenic tour of Sumiton and Empire and was enjoying the drive till my GPS had me turn on a dirt road that looked like someone's private drive. I freaked out for a moment, but about a mile down the road, it turned back to pavement and I began seeing some houses.
Finally arrived at Joel's and sat and talked with him a bit. He said he needed to run an errand and if I didn't have anything I needed to do, maybe I could ride along and he would buy me lunch to try to make up for my ruined wandering. Of course, I agreed!
We headed out and on the way he turned and took me by Easly Covered Bridge, which is a 95 ft., single lane covered bridge in Rosa, Alabama, that was built in 1927. It is one of 3 bridges included in the Blount County Covered Bridge Trail.
We continued on to Snead, Alabama for Joel to handle his errand. After this, we decided to take a different Route home. We spotted an interesting place to eat, so we pulled into the Rainbow Crossing Cafe. The parking lot was full and when we walked in there was not an empty table available. We waited for a table to empty, deciding that either the food was really good, or it was the only place around to eat! Finally getting a table we both decided on the special for the day, which was a fried pork chop with two veggies and a roll or cornbread.
After lunch, we headed back to Joel's house and after visiting a bit more, I headed on home. At least, thanks to Joel, I had a mini wandering!
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| Joel Had the potato salad and lima beans |
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| I had the potato salad and slaw. |
After the failed wandering attempt, I finally decided to try it again on Thursday! Once again, I was on the road by 8:00, am, but I made sure I had my purse this time!!
First stop was to be the Coon Dog Cemetery. I mean, how cool is a cemetery just for Coon Dogs? Over 200 Coon Dogs are buried in this cemetery, beginning with Key Underwood's Coon Dog, Troop, who was buried there on Labor Day in 1937. Only Coon Dog's can be buried here and there are requirements to burying your dog there:
(From http://coondogcemetery.com )The owner must claim their pet is an authentic coon dog.
A witness must declare the deceased is a coon dog.
A member of the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard, Inc. must be allowed to view the coonhound and declare it as such.
However, when I got to the road I needed to turn on (Coon Dog Cemeterey Road) it was blocked by a white truck parked crossways across the beginning of the road. This truck did not look official, but I did not want to try to turn in and ask what was going on, so I headed on to my second planned stop.
I arrived at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and headed in. If you read my blog last summer, you may remember that I tried to go here last year, but it was closed due to lack of funding, so I was excited to know it was open again! So many great musical talents have come out of Alabama and as a music lover and a proud Alabamian, I think we should embrace that and celebrate it! There was an $8.00 dollar admission, which I gladly paid! This was a self-guided tour, which is more than fine with me. I like being able to take my time and read things and really look at stuff. Also, throughout the building were televisions with the Muscle Shoals documentary playing. If you have not watched this, I highly recommend it!
After meandering though the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, I decided to head to my next stop. I considered doubling back and trying to get to the Coon Dog Cemetery again, but I knew time was limited, as I was heading to Athens, Alabama and a couple of the places I was going closed fairly early.
Just a pretty view on the drive--Wheeler Lock and Dam.
Actually, my next stop was not in Athens, but in Elkmont, Alabama. This stop was Belle Chevre.
This is a goat cheese creamery. This Cheese has been made in Elmont for over 25 years, but the current facility, while new to the creamery,had been an old storage facility for Elkmont-grown and ginned cotton for over 100 years. For a mere $10.00, one can do a self-guided tour,, which includes a :
- Peek into cheesemaking
- Belle Chevre History tour (posters, screen)
- Tour and enjoy the outdoor (goats!)
- Tasting seminar at Tasting Bar
- Documentary Film - Tasia & The Cheese Revolution
They also had some chickens and a nice patio area.
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Next I went inside and watched the cheese making and packaging through a large plate glass window. The walls were covered with photos, newspaper articles and ribbons and awards. After I completed the tour, I went back into the tasting room and decided to make a purchase. I still had not payed for my tour. I picked out two cheeses, which came to about $15.00. The sweet lady charged me for the cheese and said she was not going to charge me for my tour!
My next stop was the Alabama Veterans Museum in Athens, AL. This museum preserves memories of our veterans by displaying artifacts and memorabilia, such as uniforms, medals, weapons, books, photographs from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WW I , WW II, Korean, Viet Nam, Desert Storm and the present "Operation Enduring Freedom". This museum does not charge an admission.
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My final stop for the day was the George S. Houston Memorial Library and Museum, which is both, a public library and a museum. This is the former home of George Smith Houston, former senator and two time Governor of Alabama. Houston lived in this house from 1845 till his death in 1879. The Library is a full service library featuring over 35,000 rare and new books for public reading. The Museum is upstairs and showcases hundreds of items, including furniture, memorabilia and Civil War Era Relics. This landmark does not charge an admission charge.
It was 3:00 pm and I still had not eaten lunch. Tried to find a diner, but the one I chose closed at 2:00, so I decided to walk around Athens Square, taking pictures of the Courthouse and some historic markers.
The only other restaurant I found was Village Pizza. While this was not the type of place I usually eat during my wanderings, I was hungry, so I decided to go in and have a late lunch. There were no other customers, so service was fast. I ordered the stuffed Manicotti. It was quite delicious.
By the time I had finished eating it was getting about 3:45, so it was time to head on home. Once again, since I had to go right by his exit, I stopped and visited with Joel on the way home.
This may be my last wandering for this summer. I won't have time this week to wander and not sure if I will have time the following week. Wish I could continue doing this every week. Perhaps during the fall, I can wander some Saturdays!
