One’s destination is never a place, but always a new way of seeing things.
Henry Miller

Sunday, January 27 through Wednesday, January 30, 2019 San Antonio, Texas: Kit and I are excited about finally getting to more thoroughly explore this iconic South Texas city. The last time we spent any appreciable time here was in 1976 when hauling our 1967 fifteen-foot Excel travel trailer with our three children on a cross country camping adventure.

That was fun, and a real family bonding adventure…five humans in a small trailer with an ice box, no bathroom, and gas lamps for interior lighting. This stop finds us living in relative luxury!

Spent four full days here and was able to see quite a lot of the main attractions of this beautiful city. We were also fortunate to have some dear RV’ing friends, who spend the winter in a park about 50 miles to the north, come down and join us for some of our excursions.

Rey and Darlene have Texas roots even though Rey was born and raised in Topsham, Maine.

They know this area very well having spent many years living and working here. One place they led us to is the historic Mexican Marketplace which was full of colorful shops selling authentic Mexican crafts. Since we visited on a Sunday, the place was hopping, and the plaza performance stage featured live acts such as this Mexican Folkdance troupe.

The matriarch of the family-based group was this delightful Senora.

Margaret Arriaga is an eighty-two-year-old cancer survivor and obviously lives life to the fullest…she was actively involved in the groups dancing and proved to be the delight of the hundreds of happy onlookers that enjoyed the performance.

At one point the performers came into the audience and selected folks to dance with. This cute young dancer was a fast learner and quickly kept step with the professional.

Being San Antonio, there is no shortage of fine restaurants that specialize in authentic TexMex…one that Rey and Darlene’s favorites is La Margarita.

Where we enjoyed a fine meal…

…while being serenaded with mariachi music and enjoying authentic dishes such as these Puffy Tacos.

What a meal!

After lunch, a walk down San Antonio’s Riverwalk was in order. This major downtown arts, shopping and dining area was created along the San Antonio River in the mid 1930’s by the Works Project Administration. Due to seasonal flooding of the area, dams and gates were built to prevent river water from flooding the increasing number of riverside business and to protect the basements of the burgeoning cities commercial high-rise buildings.

This created a stable canal and a pleasant artery to walk about the downtown area.

A great way to see the 2.5 mile stretch of river is by boat.

An eight-dollar ticket allowed one to smoothly motor down the river under electric power provided by Tesla…

…and view the downtown district from a unique perspective. Traveling under automobile bridges…

…as well as pedestrian walkways.

What a pleasant and relaxing way to see this part of the historic city!

Speaking of history, the famed Alamo is located within the city limits of San Antonio.

The Alamo was built in 1718 by Spanish Missionaries from Mexico for the Catholic Church. Their mission (no pun intended) was to convert the native population to Christianity and teach them modern ways of the Anglo world. Apparently, the way of life for the native Apaches and Comanches over their documented 10,000 years of existence, did not set well with the newly arrived Europeans. As hunters and gatherers, these native populations were perplexed by farming…why, they wondered, would one want to bury good food in the ground and keep it moist with scarce and good tasting water!?!?

During this time, Texas…as well as a large part of the American Southwest, belonged to Mexico under Spanish rule.

Wouldn’t our country be a lot different today had Mexico payed for a border wall during this period in history? Kit and I would have grown up in San Diego, Mexico!

Abandoned by the missionaries seventy years later The Alamo was used for various purposes, including a rooming house, a garrison, and a grocery store. However, it’s thick stone walls and many fortified building’s, made it a prime fortress…first the Spanish, then the Mexicans, used The Alamo as a military outpost. Following Mexico’s War of Independence with Spain, US citizens from the north moved into the area in increasing numbers and soon began their own War of Independence against the Mexican government seizing the Alamo, and control of the colonial village of San Antonio, from the small and ill prepared contingent of the Mexican Army.

Their victory was short lived however, as within three months a reinforced company of the Mexican Army, numbering 6,000 soldiers, under command of General Santa Anna laid siege to The Alamo and attacked the defenders. The Alamo patriots, numbering a mere 200-armed volunteers, held out for 13 days until they all fell under General Santa Anna’s “take no prisoners” command order.

Amongst those lost in battle were Colonel James Bowie and frontiersman Davy Crockett. The latter was born on a mountain top in Tennessee, greenest state in the land of the free, raised in the woods so’s he knew every tree, killed him a bear when he was only three. OK…if you’re a child of the 1950’s you’ll spend the better part of the day getting rid of that earworm!

The Mexican Army only occupied The Alamo for a few months when 800 Texas loyalist shouting, “Remember the Alamo”, defeated Santa Anna’s force of 1,500 men during the Battle of San Jacinto. They then drove the Mexican Army south from the newly established Republic of Texas, which is basically the border line between the US and Mexico we see today, and the Texans once again occupied The Alamo.

Admission to The Alamo is free, but photography inside is prohibited, which I found odd until one of the rangers explained that many of the artifacts were on loan from private collectors…including the musician Phil Collins. Yep, even though a British citizen, he has an intense interest in the American history and, according to legend, believes that in a former life he was a patriot fighting at the Alamo.

Exterior shots are allowed however in the expansive courtyard…

…and on this day, a local history group had set up displays…

… depicting life in the 1700’s. Period correct reenactors were in authentic regalia…

…including this field doctor who described the primitive health care of the day.

A very nice living history lesson of American history during a pivotal time.

Stepping out of the Alamo grounds brought you suddenly back into the 21st century.

With the commercial high-rise buildings looming over the diminutive Spanish mission of The Alamo.

A great day in a great city with great friends…thanks folks for sharing the day with us!

Since we so enjoyed touring The Alamo, and since we have explored many other Spanish Missions in California, Kit and I took a day to seek out the other four missions arrayed along the San Antonio River…all of which are managed by the National Park Service and have been designated World Heritage Sites.

Starting from the most southern, we stopped at Mission San Francisco de la Espada.

Dropping into the visitors center we met a very pleasant ranger by the name of Tatum.

Yep, her mom loved the movie Paper Moon! We were her only visitors, so Miss Tatum spent a good deal of time describing life in the 15th century and explaining the Spanish mission system.

This first mission in colonial San Antonio was built in 1690 in response to the discovery of a nearby French settlement encroaching from Louisiana.

The mission chapel, as were all the missions of the time, was protected by sturdy walls with small pueblos built along the inside perimeter for the missionaries and the converted native people to live.

This Catholic Church is active to this day and open to the public when services are not being held.

It has become a tradition for Kit and I to light votive candles in honor of our departed relatives…

…and this stop was no exception.

The next mission north was Mission San Juan Capistrano.

This mission complex was more isolated and was frequently attacked by Apaches, so a squad of Spanish soldiers were housed within its walls to help protect the missionaries and the converted natives.

Mission San Juan is also an active church…however its chapel is much smaller than the others.

Next along the Mission Trail is Mission San Jose y San Miguel Aguayo.

This was the only mission that featured a ranger guided tour, which Kit and I took advantage of…

…what a delightful and very knowledgeable young lady!

The largest and most complete mission of the five, Mission San Jose had the capacity to house 350 native peoples in rooms built into the perimeter walls.

The platform above the massive double doors in the photo above once held cannons for protection against marauding natives.

This chapels windows and entryways were adorned with highly detailed limestone carvings…

…and the interior was larger and more ornate than the other chapels as well.

An unusual feature was the use of electric votive candles.

Where upon making a donation, one could push a button to illuminate the candle. A bit odd…of all the missions Kit and I have toured, this was the first one that did not allow candles burning.

This place is huge, and far more architecturally decorative than the surrounding missions.

Although much of the fresco paint had sloughed off, there were a few remaining square feet that remained.

When built, the exterior walls of many Spanish missions were plastered and decorated in brightly colored designs to attract the attention of the region’s native populations.

Boy, if walls could talk, this place could really tell a story of life in the era of Spanish Missions.

The last stop on our trek was at Mission Conception.

The current church building was completed in 1755 and is the oldest unrestored stone church in the United States.

It also boasts of the longest continuous active congregation of any Catholic Church in the nation.

In addition, Mission Concepcion is famous for an annual celestial phenomenon known as a Double Illumination. When built the chapel was oriented west to east and windows were strategically placed to capture light from the setting sun.

Unbeknown to the architects of the day however was that on one day in August, the sun would be at a precise position to focus a shaft of sunlight on the face of the Virgin Mary painting behind the alter…and simultaneously focus a beam of sunlight through a dome window on the floor of the chapel in front of the alter and at the precise intersection of the cross shaped floor.

Photo from the Web

This once a year awe inspiring moment draws the faithful and curious to the small mission by the hundreds.

Kit and I thoroughly enjoyed touring the remaining San Antonio missions and talking to the rangers and volunteer docents. At one of the mission’s parish gift shop were some freshly made fruit empanadas which we brought back for desert.

Returning to the camper, we enjoyed a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the sun set on our final day in Old San Antonio.

Goodnight!

Kit’s Bit’s: We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to San Antonio! I had wanted to return there ever since we’d visited with the kids back in 1976. Fortunately, we had perfect weather. And, it was fun touring with Rey & Darlene. They have seen most places in this area but were kind enough to accompany us and keep us from getting lost. Nice to have an authentic Mexican meal, too!

One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.

William Feather

Sunday, January 20, 2019:  At 1028 hours, Kit and I departed Rickwood Caverns State Park under partly cloudy skies and a frosty temperature of 32 degrees.

We found our way onto Interstate 65 South before merging onto I-20 West passing through Bessemer, Alabama an hour later.  At 1311 we encountered the Mississippi state line and after a brief rest stop at their welcome center, motored on the west.

Approaching midafternoon, Kit started her daily internet search for an overnight stay and found a promising Mississippi State Park near the town of Morton, MS.  Calling first to see if there was room for us this evening, we pulled into Old Roosevelt State Park shortly after 1530 hours.

And set up on a very nicely wooded campsite.

As you may be able to tell, we generally leave truck connected to trailer when only staying the night…often we don’t even bother putting the trailers leveling jacks down.  True, the camper does jiggle a bit on its springs when we walk about but nothing that bothers either one of us.  We generally hook up the 30-amp power cord but sometimes don’t bother hooking up the fresh water or sewer hoses having ample fluid capacity on this style of camper.

Unlike many state parks we have camped at, this place is quite large featuring 109 RV sites in two separate campgrounds, and many more primitive campsites for tents.  Located in the Bienville National Forest and constructed in the mid 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the park also has cabins, a large residential lodge, a 200-seat convention center, and a 600-seat performing arts and media center!  Many of these facilities are in wooded areas with views of Shadow Lake…a prime fishing impoundment for locals and visitors from away.

Walking along the lake shore, I scouted a few spots to view tonight’s Super Blood Wolf Moon before returning to the camper for dinner.

Moonrise in these parts was at 1905 hours so a few minutes before that time, I grabbed a flashlight and a camera then made my way through the cold evening air to the chosen spot.

Where the moon rose and looked more like a sunrise…of course, just not as bright.  My camera does not give the image justice…it was a spectacular sight with the large orange/red moon being reflected on the surface of the placid lake.  Mesmerized by the celestial event I little noticed the rapidly falling temperatures.  After a while, it was time to return to the camper to seek warmth and a bit of spirit-based antifreeze…good night!

Monday, January 21, 2019:  As a person of a “certain age” I get up from bed a few times in the evening.  Upon crawling back under the sheets, and glancing through the skylight above our heads, I noticed the full moon was part way through the predicted lunar eclipse!  So, wanting to share this magical even with my life partner, I shook Kit awake.  Her response?  Ukjfk kls  jkdslr mne!  Which translates into &%$*%  ^#@  #%&*@#  +&* !  The view trough the plastic dome of the skylight did not produce an acceptable photo but the earths telltale bite out of the moon was quite noticeable.

Up at 0630, breakfast and computer fun preceded an underway time of 1034 hours.

We snaked along a few country roads and found our way to I-20 West.  It was a beautiful bright sunny morning with temperatures in the mid 40-degree range.

Shortly before noon found us crossing the Mississippi River…

…and entering the state of Louisiana.  This river has been our self-designated demarcation point between East and West.  Kit and I are not sure how much farther west we will travel this year before diving to the south.  Since we left about five weeks later than in the past, and since we want to return home earlier than June, it is unlikely we will travel all the way to the west coast as in previous Excellent Adventure trips…time will tell.

After a quick rest and lunch stop at the Louisiana Welcome Station, we continued west on I-20.  Kit started looking for places to overnight and suggested Barksdale Air Force Base a few hours down the highway and just east of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Calling ahead to ascertain availability, we pulled in to their Famcamp (Family Campground) at 1520 and set up on a nice site in the new recently expanded portion of the Famcamp which was sparsely populated as you can see.

Following a walk about, dinner, and a nightcap, Kit and I enjoyed the sunset across the woods to the west of our site.

Goodnight!

Tuesday, January 22 and Wednesday, January, 23 2019-Bossier City, LA:  Decided to stay here for a few days to take care of laundry, resupplying groceries, and other domestic chores.

Barksdale AFB was established in 1932 and is the oldest bomber base in the nation.  Stationed here are 15,000 Air Force and civilian personnel who fly and maintain forty-four of the nation’s venerable B-52 Stratofortress.

Photo Taken from the Internet

In the aircrafts ten-year construction period, 744 were built of which 76 are still flying.  Before closing back in April of 1968, Dow Air Force Base in Bangor, Maine hosted a squadron of B-52 bombers flying aloft over the Atlantic during the Cold War period.

Our campsite was near the airfield, so we were witness to many B-52 flyovers.

The B-52’s first flight was in April 1952, and it’s predicted end of service life has been extended to the year 2045.  That’s nearly 90 years folks…an unprecedented operational life for any aircraft!

Prior to B-52’s, the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator and B-25 Mitchell were all flown out of Barksdale AFB.

In addition to this important bomber, there are also inflight refueling aircraft stationed at Barksdale, and other support aircraft such as this squadron of B-1RD’s.

Nice layover at Barksdale AFB, but tomorrow we must start south in search of warmer weather.

Thursday, January 24, 2019:  Departed Barksdale AFB at 1008 under clear cool skies and wound our way back to Interstate 20 heading west through Shreveport, Louisiana.

Within the hour we crossed over the Texas state line and began heading on a more southerly route via various Texas State Highways.

Kit and I much prefer the back roads of America, the so-called Blue Highways, as it allows us to see the true character of the United States and meet some wonderful local folks.

Many towns, especially in this part of Texas, are barely hanging on despite the robust economy of the country.  There are many boarded up storefronts and little commercial activity along main street.  These downhome and economically disadvantaged folks are likely one of the root causes that the 2016 election went the way it did.

Many of these small communities in this part of the Bible Belt feature well maintained and…

…colorful churches.

Then there are the communities that appear to be unusually moody.

Yea, I know…groan!

Another nice thing about traveling the Blue Highways, is the absence of congestion due to other road inhabitants…

…well, except for the occasional steer that meanders across the highway in this area of free-range pasture land!

As we neared Austin, Kit called the lakeside campground of Belton Lakes Outdoor Recreation Area…a Fort Hood Army Post recreation facility known by its acronym BLORA.  Fortunately, they had room for us, so off the highway and down a few country roads we went.

Checked in and set up in a nice large campsite for the evening.

A bit of walking around, followed by some dinner and vino, followed by a bit of reading, and off to slumber-land…goodnight.

Friday, January 25, 2019 Belton Lakes, TX:  The last time we camped at BLORA was during a draught year and the lake was extremely low.  All the fishing and marina piers were sitting on mud and the concrete boat launch ramp was a good 100 yards from the water…not this time!

In the photo above what looks to be a boat ramp, is actually a road…you can see it disappear into the lake at the bottom of the photo and reemerge toward the top.  In addition, the floating dock and ramp to the left is now yards away from its submerged parking lot and land access.

Also, the lakeside picnic shelters are partially submerged…

…as well as the lawn swings!

I bet kids would have fun trying to swing on that, if it wasn’t so cold.

As I walked along the shoreline, this little fellow joined me.

Tame and totally unafraid, I’m guessing he associates humans with being a soft touch for snacks!  However, I didn’t have anything to offer him, so he quickly lost interest in being my friend and waddled off to panhandle elsewhere.

Amongst the flood induced various flotsam and jetsam items scattered along the lakefront was this forlorn tennis shoe.

I’m betting some child was in a heap of trouble when he/she arrived home from a day at the lake sans one shoe.

Saturday, January 26, 2019:  Up and on the road at 1016 under sunny skies with temperatures in the low 50-degree range.

We’ve decided to head south on Interstate 35 toward for San Antonio by way of downtown Austin.

Being a Sunday, it wasn’t too congested…however everyone on the highway was exceeding the posted speed limit of 75MPH and we were poking along at our customary 60 MPH…yikes!

Our plan was to stay at Fort Sam Houston Army base for a few weeks in order to explore this corner of South Texas.  Historically, we’ve had little trouble scoring a site at this large military campground, however this year there was only one site available and that was for only five nights!  We quickly found out that the National Rodeo is in town and that brings a lot of rodeo fans to the area’s campgrounds…oh well, the chance one takes traveling without an itinerary or advanced reservation.

Once on base and motoring toward the campground, we had to yield for oncoming traffic.

Before setting up on a nice corner lot near the laundry…which is a good thing as we are running short of shorts!

Stay tuned for the next journal…fun in Old San Antonio!

Kit’s Bit’s: We’re finally in warmer weather.  Not too warm, but, at least in the 50’s with a bit of humidity.  Unfortunately, it’s been mostly cloudy but, it doesn’t bother me at all.  We enjoyed a few quiet days and were able to catch up on household chores.  We’ve camped at Fort Sam Houston a few other times and it’s never been this crowded.  The one thing missing, though was wi-fi.  They had it at the office only, not throughout the park.  So, we had to rely on our own MiFi.  All in all, we enjoyed staying here.

The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.
Oprah Winfrey

Monday, January 14, 2019: Up, to cold temperatures!

These are Maine temps…yikes, need to head further south!

Kit and I had breakfast and started breaking camp. And “breaking” is the operative word…it seems our fancy-schmancy electronic leveling jack system decided to join the Feds and declare a shutdown!?!? So, with only an hour to checkout time, and with someone expecting to occupy the site we are now stuck to, a SNAFU (It’s a legit word, look it up!) has developed. Calling the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) folks and explaining my dilemma they reassigned the incoming camper to another site and gave us an extension.

So, with that reprieve it was troubleshooting time…however, before we get into all that a bit of RV humor to lighten the mood!

And, a warning…the next two paragraphs are a bit wordy, what Kit calls: “Blah, blah, blah”. So…if this kinda stuff hurts your brain, feel free to jump ahead to Wednesday.

I was successful in using the emergency crank handle to lift the camper, move the truck under, and slowly retract the front jacks to safely latch truck to trailer. Now, at least if we must move it is doable…however, the two rear leveling jacks are more difficult to retract manually and were still extended and too close to the ground to comfortably move the camper very far. After a few minutes of internet searching followed by a few hours of electrical and mechanical troubleshooting, I was ready to call in the RV Repair Cavalry…but unfortunately, the nearby Mobile RV Service Technician who could get to me at some point tomorrow. Yep, another call to MWR to beg for another extension, which they graciously provided. Cold, tired, and a bit frustrated I called it an afternoon and declared an Early Happy Hour.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019: With a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast, I came to the realization to call the manufacturer of the leveling system, and to my surprise a real person answered, and transferred my call to a real technician! While on the line, he directed me to steps I had taken yesterday which I dutifully followed. Then he had me locate an “auto level control module” located somewhere on the centerline of the camper and affixed to an overhead horizonal structure. Apparently, the location of this module varies by trailer manufacture, so it took a bit to find in a storage compartment. Then, after removing half the contents from my basement storage, I noticed a bright shiny red 14-gauge wire dangling in midair and in close proximity to a ¼ inch stud marked with an “+”. Checking with a volt meter there was 12 VDC on the cable’s terminal so I reconnected the cable to the naked positive stud. After crawling out of the camper’s belly and pressing the retract button on the system touchpad I once again had full system operation…Eureka. Thanks Lippert Industries for the assistance! The rest of the day was spent relaxing and preparing for tomorrow mornings departure.

Wednesday, January 16, 2019: At 1130, we finally departed Redstone Arsenal and were on the road with a fully functioning truck and trailer. Found our way to Interstate 565 and headed southwest under darkening skies.

Crossed the Tennessee River for the third time in a week as we headed for the city of Birmingham, Alabama. Why Birmingham? Well, my father was raised in that southern city during the depression years and had often talked of his experience growing up in the old south, so figured we would strop for a few days and poke around a bit.

About two hours into today’s trip, Kit started looking for camping opportunities, and discovered an Alabama State Park about 30 miles north of the city that looked promising. Kit and I much prefer municipal, state, or national parks as not only are they typically in historic and scenic areas but are generally more rustic. In addition, they are frequently less pricy not having all the RV Resort frills we seldom use. Kit called and they had ample room, so we set the trucks GPS for Rickwood Caverns State Park, pulled in, registered for four nights, and set up in a nicely wooded site.

Spent the rest of the afternoon walking about the campground and going on a short hike into the neighborhood hillside.

It’s nice to see some green vegetation on this warm winter afternoon.

All along the well blazed trail were rocks with the distinctive erosion marks of swiftly flowing water.

In various areas that are cordoned off from the visiting public there are small entrances into the earth that foretell a vast network of caverns…

… which I hope to explore tomorrow!

Thursday, January 17 through Saturday, January 19, 2019-Warrior, AL: Kit and I mainly spent the three-days here exploring the area. As mentioned, my father grew up in Birmingham which is just 30 miles to the south of where we are camping, and I’ve often wanted to revisit this historic city.

Birmingham is, at over 200,000 folks, the most populous city in Alabama. Chartered in the late 18th century, it grew from a small agricultural region to a major industrial city following the discovery of Iron Ore and the corresponding laying of two intersecting railroad lines. The burgeoning steel production led to rapid growth and a large middle class…giving the city the nickname of “The Pittsburg of the South”. At the peak of prosperity, the Great Depression hit, and decimated Birmingham’s economy. More than 80% of the city’s residents became unemployed and “Hobo Villages” cropped up throughout the region. Fortunately, my grandfather was a lineman for the local telephone company so maintained part time employment being called in when the phone lines needed repair. Even with that, the family had a rough time making ends meet. Birmingham was rescued from this dismal situation by the advent of WWII and the need once again for American steel to support the war effort.

A historical monument to the cities steel making heritage is a statue of Vulcan, the Roman God of Fire.

The statue was relocated from an intown spot to the top of Red Mountain in 1936 and oriented in such a way that he was overlooking the blue-collar city of Birmingham…

Photo from the Web

…while “mooning” the upscale enclave of Homewood, Alabama to the west!

The “Iron Man” is 56 feet tall and stands on a 124-foot pedestal which can be climbed by a set of stairs to an observation platform where panoramic views of the city can be enjoyed.

An interpretive center nearby explains the history of steel production in Birmingham and displays all the materials that go into producing “Pig Iron” …

…ingots of raw steel that received their name as they resembled piglets. This product of Birmingham was shipped worldwide for use in manufacturing various steel products.

The boys and men working in the iron ore mines were primarily recently arrived immigrants or African Americans…some of whom were leased to the mine owners by the city while incarcerated in the municipal jails.

In those days, a charge of vagrancy was enough to be locked up and subject to forced labor in the mines…a common tactic in the segregated south.

Another Birmingham attraction we chose to visit was the Civil Rights Institute.

Opened in November 1992 and designated a National Monument in 2017, the institute is dedicated to the collecting and preservation of Civil Rights Documents and Artifacts. Contained within the Institute is a museum depicting the struggle to eradicate segregation and improve race relations in this vibrant city.

Following the Civil War and during reconstruction, racial prejudice and discrimination was rampant. The buzzword of the times was “separate but equal”. The local and state laws required separation of the races but rarely were the facilities equal.

Kit and I came across a pair of drinking fountains similar to the above in Shreveport, Louisiana while on our move to Key West in the mid 1960’s. The sight of these separate but unequal drinking fountains were confusing to us California kids who grew up in a culturally diverse neighborhood.

The black folks created their own communities and culture trying to abide by the Alabama State laws.

Black-White separation extended to services as common as hospitals, schools, funeral parlors, and even laundries.

During this era, a secret order of extreme separationist grew in the city and attempted to terrorize the black population.

The above museum artifacts were used in a Klan initiated intimidation campaign in the early 1970’s. The charred cross was donated by the FBI and the Klan Costume was donated by an anonymous Klansman.

African American churches served as meeting places for discussing and planning anti-segregation marches and other civil rights actions. As such, from the late 1940’s to the mid 1960’s there were 50 racially motivated church bombings in Birmingham, including the notorious explosion at the 16th Street Baptist church on Sunday morning, September 15, 1963. This act of domestic terrorism, against an African American church, and at the time of morning services, killed 4 young girls and injured 22 additional parishioners…one of the casualties of this heinous act was eleven-year-old Denise McNair.

And one of the more poignant artifacts in the museum is young Denise’s pocketbook with her personal property still enclosed including a small bible.

As a side note, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lived in Birmingham and was eight years old at the time of the bombing. She was a classmate and friend of Denise McNair but was attending services at her father’s church a few blocks away that fateful morning.

A sad day in our nation’s history, and one that galvanized caring citizens to demand an end of race baiting, terrorism, and all laws thinly disguised as harmless municipal ordinances. As a result, this cruel and cowardly act resulted in a fundamental change brought about by caring and concerned Americans and helped lead to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Located on the opposite corner from the Civil Rights Institute is the historic 16th Street Baptist Church.

Which, following repairs from the bombing, was reopened and is in service to the congregation today. And as a part of the historic civil rights movement, the church is also open to the public.

A short film about the bombing and its aftermath is shown in honor of the four young lives lost that day.

A beautifully serene church and an institute of comfort to the parishioners some of who are on site to share their experiences and answer questions.

A great day in a great city. But now it was time for dinner, so on advice of a few locals we made our way to Jim ‘N Nick’s BAR-B-Q.

A cozy southern barbeque joint and a great place to talk and relax over a meal.

Over the years, Kit and I have enjoyed food in some of the nation’s most famous cities for barbeque and this place rates in our personal top five. The barbeque was moist and flavorful…and there was plenty of it!

What a fantastic way to close out the day!

On yet another day during our stay at Rickwood Caverns State Park I decided to tour the namesake cave while Kit enjoyed some quiet “Kit Time”. The cave is estimated to be over 300,000 years old and was created by water rushing through the limestone strata of the area. It was commercially developed in the mid 1960’s into a “show cave” by two gentlemen who bought the property then used a contraction of their names to form the word “Rickwood”. One of the men was the local Boy Scout leader and as a scout project pressed his troop into service to explore, excavate, and create safe access and trails for the anticipated paying public. Years later, the land and cave were purchased by the State of Alabama and a state park was created.

My tour guide was a delightful young lady by the name of Anizia.

And I was her only customer for the tour so enjoyed a personal and more in-depth tour.

In order to gain access to the best part of the cave, the Boy Scouts hand-built stairs and installed steel handrails.

These improvements constructed over fifty years ago are still in service today!

In order to gain access to other parts of the cave, the scouts had to blast tons of rock using dynamite…try using youngsters to do that today! Then, rather than haul all this material to the surface, they used the excavated aggregate to create rock walls and barriers.

Their excavation efforts were well worth the trouble as it opened the most spectacular parts of the cave.

The path through the cave is a loop that leads you down 175 feet by way of stairs, hand-built trails, and natural passageways…

…created by an underground river…

…which is still flowing today in the deepest parts of the cave. The pipe you see in the photo above provides cool, clean water to the surface for the state parks use…primarily as a source to fill the parks swimming pool in the summer. Pretty creative!

Rickwood Caverns is a live cave.

In that, surface water is still percolating through the ground and dripping from the caves ceiling which continues to create the stalactites, stalagmites, and other cave formations.

The below photo appears to be inserted into the journal upside down.

But I assure you that the perception is an optical illusion brought about by the cave dripping water from the ceiling over thousands of years and the subterranean river eroding the ceiling.

Speaking of ceilings, they provide the perfect perch for the many bats that call this cave home…such as this cute little fellow.

There were other critters and marine life in the cave thousands of years ago as evident by the many fossils protruding from the cave walls.

And evidence of early man visiting and possibly living in the cave is documented by various primitive tools and other artifacts discovered and displayed in cases at the state parks’ interruptive center.

Some of the passageways required some stooping and bending to navigate.

And others were an easy stroll.

A little-known fact was that during the cold war period, Rickwood Caverns became a designated fallout shelter and tons of civil defense food, water and other materials were stored in an area of the cave out of sight of the tourists.

During our past Excellent Adventure trips, I have toured dozens of caves, including the biggies, Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and I can safely say that Rickwood caverns is the second finest state-owned show cave that I’ve visited, falling just behind Kartchner Caverns in Arizona. If you’re anywhere near this area, treat yourself to an enjoyable tour of a fantastic cave.

Returning to the camper cold and hungry, an incredible smell greeted me as I opened the door.

Kit had made one of her signature pots of soup and it was delicious!

Since my father’s people grew up in the Birmingham area it stood to reason that some of our relatives would still reside in the area. Due to Kit’s computer sleuthing, she discovered a cousin that we had not seen since 1975.

Cousin Sandy, and her husband Vern reside a mere five miles from where we are camped and graciously invited us over for an afternoon of conversation, apple pie, and coffee.

What a great time reconnecting, reminiscing, and catching up on the past forty-four years…Thanks folks!

Well, that’s it from Birmingham, tomorrow we head south…or west…or east! Stay tuned!!

Kit’s Bit’s: It was great to finally spend some time in Birmingham. Seems we’re always in a hurry to get “somewhere” and never took the time to explore this area. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Civil Rights Museum. From news reports between the 60’s up to the 90’s, I remembered many of the incidents that were portrayed at the museum. Also, I enjoyed visiting the 16th Street Baptist Church, right across the street. There was a large group of students there and the Docent was discussing many of the events that had taken place there. The best part of our stop here was reuniting with Bill’s cousin Sandy and her husband Vern. We had visited Sandy and her family during our cross-country trip (due to USN transfer from San Diego to Norfolk) in 1975, then, lost track of them. It took many years to finally catch up with her! We had a delightful afternoon! Thanks, Sandy & Vern!