This adventure was all about a few of my favorite things! 🚀⛴️ 🎸 What a blast walking in the path of history. It’s always a good day when you learn something new!
Huntsville, Alabama aka Rocket City
We couldn’t leave Alabama without visiting the place where the rockets that put man on the moon were developed. I didn’t realize the history this city holds for our race to space!
My enthusiasm for space travel goes back to my childhood, staring up at the moon. Maybe it was the excitement of the first moon landing or merely my infatuation of the mystery and magic of this beautiful orb. After all, I am a Selenophile!
US Space and Rocket Museum
Touted as the World’s Best, I was just a little excited to see it for myself!
And my overall take…I think the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas does a better job of presenting the history of space flight and the Race to Space. The emphasis at Huntsville is more on the Saturn V Moon Rocket and the Apollo program. Makes sense, since Huntsville is home to Marshall Space Flight Center who’s first mission was to develop the Saturn V launch vehicle for the Apollo program.
The facilities are very spread out and the signage was lacking. Wandering through the traveling Guinness World Record exhibit and the outdoor rocket display, I kept wondering was this it? I finally asked another visitor and they directed us around a hidden corner to the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, the actual museum. Now I was excited!
Cool things I learned…
Saturn V was a Beast
- Standing at 363 feet tall OR 60 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty!
- Weighing in at 6.2 million pounds OR about 400 elephants!
- Generating 7.6 million pounds of energy OR more power than 85 Hoover Dams!
- Consuming more fuel than a car that circled the Earth 800 times at 30 miles to the gallon.
- Lifting the equivalent of 10 school buses into orbit. (I wonder if that’s with kids on board!)
- Costing $6.4 billion or $50 billion in today’s dollars for each Saturn V built
- And the cost per launch…$185 million or $1.23 billion today. That’s a lot of dollars!
Picture courtesy of nasa.gov
The brains of the Saturn V was in this comparatively small ring called the Instrument Unit. It basically controlled everything from ground to orbit. It was responsible for guidance and communication with mission control. And it never dropped a call! I have nothing but admiration for those astronauts who trusted their lives to these new ‘computers’, while sitting on top of a bomb! Do you have the right stuff?
These flight suits belonged to the brave astronauts of Apollo 1, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. A touching tribute.
If we die, we want people to accept it. We’re in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. ~Gus Grissom, Apollo 1
Downtown Huntsville
An afternoon of strolling, shopping, and good eats! Huntsville’s history dates back to the early 1800s when the town was incorporated. The downtown area showcases many antebellum homes and Alabama’s oldest operating hardware store, that is really more of a museum/gift shop. Lunch was at the Poppy and Parliament, a local favorite. Delish! John had traditional English Fish and Chips served with mushy peas (not so delish!). I enjoyed the Tart Monsieur, a puff pastry tart topped with spinach, grilled asparagus, flank steak and a Hollandaise sauce. It was ‘out of this world’!
Sarah Johnston Park
This lovely park was our home for the 3 days we explored Huntsville with Brother John and Katherine. It was soooo much fun camping together! There might have been a late night or two of staying up past midnight laughing together! 🍻😁
Sarah Johnston in New Market, AL (15 minutes from Huntsville) offers full hookups for $30 a night. The Pioneer Village and ponds made for picturesque walks.
Stormy Weather
With a Big, Bad weather system headed our way, we left Alabama behind and headed west. Destination Tom Sawyer RV Park on the banks of the Mississippi River. BTW, It is NO fun traveling in thunderstorms and heavy rain. Luckily, the worst of it was south of us. We arrived to cloudy skies, heavy winds, a light rain, chilly temps and a barge!
Tom Sawyer RV Park
You can’t beat the location of this park, located in West Memphis, right on the banks of the Mississippi River. The cost was a little higher than what I normally spend, but it was all about location and barges! For front row, concrete pads with full hook ups, the cost is $53; back row gravel pads are less. The check in process is totally contact-less. I don’t know if there is any management on the grounds. There’s several trailers that look like they are full timers here and the signage looks like it hasn’t been updated or painted in a LONG time. Nevertheless, it was an awesome time being on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi!
Riverboats and Barges
Somewhere/somehow I became infatuated with barges. Maybe from one of my girl scout memories singing Barges. Or maybe it was watching the barges slooooowly go by on the intracoastal waterway on Sullivan’s Island, while you are not so patiently waiting for the bridge to close so you can meet your friends on the other side…Tic tock… Either way, I knew when I found Tom Sawyer RV Park right on the Mississippi I had to go there! It WAS amazing! Every time a barge came by I would grab my coat and rush outside for pics! I found an app that let me know when the next barge was coming by, it’s name, how fast it was going, and it’s destination. I was thoroughly entertained for 2 days of cloudy, cold weather!
Memphis, TN aka Birthplace of Rock n’ Roll
Our only sunny, yet still chilly day, was spent seeing the sights in Memphis. There’s a lot of history in Memphis from the roots of Rock n’ Roll to the fight for civil rights. I totally recommend a visit! If we had more time we would have ventured down Beale street at night to see the neons lit up.
A few legends…
W.C. Handy, composer of Memphis Blues, St. Louis Blues, Beale Street Blues and dozens more, is known as the “Father of the Blues.” He became a regular on Beale Street in the early 1900’s infusing his unique style into the popular ragtime music of the times. Blues was born!
Sun Studio, “The Birthplace of Rock n’ Roll.” Legends have graced it’s door, B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Roy Orbison, to name just a few! Opened in 1950 everything blues to gospel to country to rock n’ roll.
Elvis, the “King of Rock n’ Roll.” A controversial title to be sure. But an iconic part of Memphis’ Music History.
A Dark Day
Standing on the grounds of the Lorraine Motel was a humbling experience. As I reflected on the events that led to this tragedy, I left with a feeling of Hope. Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.’s words…“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Be the Light! Be the Love!
See ya’ down the road…
I guessed Memphis but miss the others. Nice you got to stay at cousin Sarah’s