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Published: December 11th 2008
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It was still raining lightly in the morning. We got up to tell Terrye good-bye and told her to enjoy Chicago, even though it's supposed to be in the single digits there. Her whole medical office is going for a conference and training. In the house, Phil was playing his guitar with music in the basement, Max was blasting his own music in his room upstairs, Duke and Daisy were being rambunctious, and Boone was sleepily rubbing his eyes. We said our real good-byes and drove off in the rain at about 9:00.We ate breakfast at a Cracker Barrel restaurant down the Interstate. We saw a sign that said "Home Brew Supplies". Does that include moonshine? It's a good road, and very pretty. We could see little farms through the trees that we couldn't see last summer when the leaves were on the trees. There were dairy cows, black angus cattle, and hay for the farming report. When we got to the Tennessee River bottom, there was an elaborate fog alert system. There were flashing lights for warnings and there were barrier arms that could come down and block the road in case of serious fog. It was only slightly foggy
when we went through. We passed a billboard for Raccoon Caverns, established 500,000 B.C. 😊 When we crossed into Alabama, we had to change to Central Time. The Alabama Visitor's Center was very nice. Seth had given us a CD with movie soundtrack music when he was in Knoxville. It made good traveling music. It must have made Rich poetic, because he said there were "tendrils of hanging clouds combing the pines on the ridgetops". Others have thought the clouds were RISING out of the forest like wisps of smoke.
We arrived at our campground in Gadsden, Alabama and set up the camper next to a waterfall and canyon with about four other campers. Rich called our friend, Bob Croghan, to let him know we were there, and he said to come on over. As we were walking outside the trailer, we heard a loud animal sound, echoing down the canyon. A cow or a bull bellowing? Then we heard it again. It sounded more like the roar of an African lion or an elephant seal. What? As we left the campground, we parked by the waterfall in the park next door. Noccalula Falls goes 95 feet over a limestone
ledge. As we walked towards the falls, there was a flock of Muscovy ducks like our big duck at home, playing in the stream. They waddled towards us to see if we were going to give them some food. The falls were very pretty, even on a gray day. A statue of an Indian woman was poised next to the cliff. Her story was on a plaque. Noccalula was the daughter of a Cherokee chief. The Cherokee had been moved out of their homeland in Tennessee and North Carolina, so they were encroaching on Creek territory. Noccalula's father arranged a marriage for her and a Creek man in order to unite the tribes and provide peace. She was in love with a Cherokee man, so instead of marrying as her father wished, she leaped over the cliff to her death. Typical teen-ager, not seeing the big picture. She would sacrifice her entire life, but not her immediate happiness for the benefit of her family and tribe for peace. Tragic! After seeing the waterfall, we drove to Bob's in Boaz. There isn't a big outlet mall there anymore, Tennessee readers. We drove twenty miles the wrong way first, before we turned
around and found his place. We should have used On-Star navigation, but we forgot we had it! He showed us his beautiful, big house. It has lots of room and a big yard, and an extra garage for his shop. His boat was parked in the back yard. Bob and his wife, Helen, moved from Carson about seven years ago, after they both retired - he from teaching (Rich taught with him at Eagle Valley) and Helen from PERS. Now their children and grandchildren live nearby. On our way back to our camper, we stopped for dinner. We didn't get a very good impression of Alabamans by the waitresses and the customers there. 'Nuf said.
We stopped at the park office to ask about the Christmas Festival in the park (It was decorated with about a mile of lights and blow-ups.) Apparently there is a little train, like the one in Mills Park that goes a mile back into the park, so the whole route is decorated. Rich asked about the loud animal noises. It IS an African lioness. They told us she was lonely. I guess so! We played backgammon. Our tournament score is Rich 7, Nancy 5.
We slept thinking of lonely lionesses and temperamental teen-agers.
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anonymous
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wow yall know where to find all the cool stuff lions cool ducks waterfalls what a trip.You all be careful we love ya