Blogs from Alabama, United States, North America - page 12

TUSKEEGEE AIRMEN Lee Archer burst onto the scene on September 6, 1919 in Yonkers, New York, was raised in Harlem, and graduated from New York University. He wanted to be a pilot and fight for his country when the winds of war lit up the morning sky over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Black men were not allowed to handle ‘chinery in those days, so Lee joined the Army and became a telegrapher down in Georgia. The Army, to its deep chagrin, was finally forced by Congress to change its policy and an experimental pilot training program was begun at Moton Field near Tuskegee, Alabama. One of the first to graduate from that program was a West Point officer named Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. At the time he graduated from the military academy ... read more

The one about heat Since I had free wifi last night, I worked on the computer, got all my blog stuff set up, got my expenses spreadsheet ready to go and planned out my trip a little more. Before I knew it, it was midnight. I took Winston for a quick walk and the temperature had dropped significantly enough to turn off the A/C. I put on my fan and immediately fell asleep, no reading, no nothing. By the way, I have finished 2 books: Dead and Gone, Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) #9 and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I love the Sookie stories, light, fluffy, easy reading, and I do read these on my kindle rather than listen. I listened to Snow Flower; a real chick book, generally not my kind of reading, but ... read more

Day 15 May 18, 2013 I got good nights sleep, which was welcome after last evening’s debacle. The two visitor centers in the French Quarter didn’t open until 9 am so I didn’t have to rush out the door like I have been. When I checked the weather, today was going to be hot in New Orleans and warm with thunderstorms in Selma, Alabama, which is where I was headed. It wasn’t shaping up to be a wiz-bang day. When I checked the website of the two National Historical Trail interpretive centers in Selma and White Hall (I can learn from my mistakes – I should have checked yesterday) I discovered that they close at 4:30 and that the Selma interpretive center is closed Sundays. There was an alert on the web site that stated the ... read more

The Lattice B&B is in the Garden District of Montgomery which sounds lovely and I am sure it was at one time. After our breakfast (no hot food, only cold cereals, hard boiled eggs, muffins, fruit yogurts and some fresh fruit, hardly B&B food) we walked a bit of the Garden District. Jim, our B&B host, kindly routed us around the neighborhood to avoid some bad areas but to include walking past the Governors Mansion. The homes in this once lovely area were mostly in need of repair or maintenance. Grass was growing through the uneven sidewalks throughout most of the Garden District. A half marathon was under way as we approached the grand Governor's Mansion (no grass on these sidewalks) causing us great difficulty driving into town to make our 10AM tour of the Dexter ... read more

We are back at Red Bay....where else would you find us? Of course, everything didn't fall into place exactly as we wanted....Only exactly as we expected. Still a little more work to do --- they say "they will be done sometime this afternoon". Yah, right! .....don't picture us holding our breath. We are very wise to their ways. The back cap and door are done...I had visions of them painting a bad face on the back cap so was pleased to see that it all looks fine. So the big question on all your mind - do we get to leave today? Only time can tell ....we can only plan for the worst and hope for the best. All days seem to blend together now so one more day....what's the difference! We are loosing some of ... read more