Drink and Rockets – the perfect combination 11/2 and 11/3/12

Huntsville AL on 11/2-4/12

We are going downstream on the Tennessee River past scenery we saw on our way to Chattanooga. So the scenery is the same as when we came east. Only a little yellower and redder as the trees continue to change color.

It is still cool – only getting to about 60 during the day and dropping to the 40s or cooler at night. It is not windy so there is little to note about the boat journey. It is nice boating weather; although it occurs to me we have not worn bathing suits or been in the water since August. That is NOT what we had in mind. Oh well, enough complaining about the weather.

As we continued West on the Tennessee we stopped in Huntsville. The two main sites in Huntsville AL are the US Space and Rocket Center, home of Space Camp, and a convenient way to drive to Lynchburg TN to visit the Jack Daniels Distillery.

First stop was Lynchburg. Dick and Deanna had a friend, Gene, visiting from New Jersey. He rented a car and took Dick and Deanna. Michael and Judy returned from their visit home for the Frankenstorm so they had a rental car too. We all piled into the vehicles and off we went for a road trip to Lynchburg. It takes about an hour to get there through winding country roads.

Lynchburg TN – Jack Daniels Distillery

Jack Daniels is a little industry – everything in the little town is related to JD. Family members are still involved in aspects of the company even though it is now owned by Brown Foreman. We met the great grandniece who runs Miss Mary Bobos Boarding House, a restaurant in Lynchburg. She stops in to say hello to diners.

We stopped in the visitor’s center to get our tickets for the 12:30pm tasting tour. 

We had lunch reservations at Miss Bobo’s, a big home restored in the mid-2000s. People eat family style in the rooms where Jack Daniels and other bachelors lived most of his adult life. 

Evidently Miss Bobo, who died not so many years ago, was not a good cook but she was a good manager and hired good people around her to run the boarding house and kitchens. The food was good. The menu never varies: fried chicken (mmmm), beans and red pepper relish (sold in the store of course), spiced apples (also sold in the store), greens and vinegar, macaroni and cheese, and chess pie for dessert.

Lynchburg is located in a county that has been dry since Prohibition came to Tennessee in 1909. It requires 2000 citizens to vote to change it but only 300+ residents in the town so it remains dry. Isn’t that a silly rule? Wouldn’t it make more sense if a majority or even a super majority if you want could vote to repeal. But setting the number at an arbitrary figure higher than the population seems kind of foolish.

JD Distillery has a large, modern visitor’s center. So many people love Jack Daniels. Matt Schmidt drinks gallons of it. One member of our little group, Dick Shepherd, drinks gallons of it as well so he was very excited to make this trip. Dick and his friend Gene who joined us for the visit are both JD Squires, a little club in which members own a square inch of JD Distillery. We got to visit the Squires Room filled with JD artifacts and stuff commemorating the JD Squires!! We felt special!!

The distillery itself seems quite small for the large name of this product. Since it is such a popular drink, many people visit every year so the visitor’s center is necessary to coordinate the tours and many fans. They even have buses to move people around the property. It is sort of like Disneyland for drinkers. Kermit says it is the Holy Grail for whiskey drinkers because there are no rides.

The tour starts with the place where a couple of guys burn wood to make charcoal. They spray the wood with 140 proof alcohol produced in the first stages of distillation so the charcoal is not tainted by petroleum products. We got to taste it – very alcoholy.

Then we followed the distillation process through the various stages – water, to mash, to mellowing, to barrels, to packaging, to tasting. It was pretty great tour. The buildings haven’t been upgraded much. I suspect JD would be comfortable and know his way around if he came for a visit.

This is Katherine with Jack on the Rocks (they are hilarious here!) in front of the cave where the water comes "for every drop of Jack Daniels ever made". See I was listening. 

This is our group with our guide, Jesse James (seriously) going into the mash building where they make the mash. 

You think Jack Daniels is not part of the fabric of this nation? The band REO Speedwagon took its name from this fire engine at Jack Daniels Distillery. Or so they claim!

This is where they store the distilled liquor before mellowing in charcoal. 

This is our group going into the mellowing room where they drip the distilled alcohol through the charcoal. 

Visiting Jack Daniels Distillery prompts a contrast to Hiram Walker tours we took this year and last year.

·         Hiram Walker traveled extensively in Europe and brought that influence back to Detroit/Windsor in his headquarters; JD evidently  never left the hollow, his headquarters was a shack in the woods, the distillery is much smaller, and the entire JD operations seems much less sophisticated than HW.

·         JD started at a very young age almost as an apprentice with a guy making moonshine then took over the business at age 13 in 1863, a few years after HW began production in Windsor Canada in 1958. This was the only business JD every built whereas HW and his sons had their hands in lots of businesses and HW himself operated other businesses before starting the distillery.

·         Both companies kept everything in house – grow the corn, make the charcoal, make their own barrels, outsource the used mash to the local livestock; But HW did it at a much larger scale, maybe because of his relationship with Henry Ford

·         HW had an advantage being located in Canada so he could take advantage of US Prohibition. He got really rich during Prohibition while JD had to stop production and go into other businesses for 30 years; no talk of speakeasies and underground production at JD. His nephew Lem opened a hardware store for the 30 years of Prohibition before reopening the distillery in the 1930s.

·         Tastings were different too based on legal restrictions in TN – only allowed 1 oz. split among 3 varieties at JD but 5 oz. (or more) at HW, plus at JD a person couldn’t give their sample to another person and at HW some lucky people drank lots of the leftovers

Other observations: Don’t kick the safe. Evidently JD got to work early one day late in his life. He needed to open the safe to get something but he forgot the combination. Frustrated he kicked the safe. His foot got infected and gangrene set in. After a bunch of amputations to stop the infection he died. The guy must have had quite a temper.

We heard other stories that support the idea that he had a temper. Jack owned the local back (he owned the town). Evidently he lived at the boarding house with another fellow who operated a Ford dealership in Lynchburg. He got in some sort of fight with that guy and refused to allow any loans to people who wanted to by Fords from that guy. And they both lived in the same boarding house for most of their lives. Together at the same time. Not talking. The guy must have had quite a temper.

Smells. It smells good. The tour took us through the process in order so the smell went from strong corn to mellower to that familiar charcoal smell that we associate with Jack.

Charcoal filtering – This was pretty interesting. They use about 10 feet of charcoal. The distilled liquor comes out of the mash area and drips drip by drip into the vat of charcoal. Our guide, Jesse James (seriously) said the charcoal can only be used once. Tasters (like James) regularly taste the output and decide when to change the charcoal. They do it by taste, not by a specific time chart. Isn’t that interesting?

As must as he would like to switch, Kermit still likes Crown Royal better. Although since I am writing this the day after the election he says the election results might make him change brands. I am not sure why but that is what he said!

U.S. Space and Rocket Center

 


The US Space and Rocket Center is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute “featuring more than 1,500 artifacts representing milestone achievements in space exploration”. Guides in blue flight suits or blue sweatshirts are everywhere leading tours or volunteering to answer questions about what you are seeing.

They offer a bus tour of the Marshall Space Flight Center, which is still a working NASA operation. In order to take that bus tour you have to show ID, have no felony convictions, no outstanding warrants, and be a US citizen. Isn’t that interesting? We didn’t go.

We saw an IMAX movie about Space Junk – kind of a scary idea that everything that has gone up in space since the 1960s is still orbiting out there waiting to come back with a big bang and wallop the Earth. My guess is it will head to Oklahoma since all sorts of bad things happen there, weather wise.

There are all sorts of simulators around that visitors can attempt. I wanted to try them all. Jim and I got into the Blackhawk Helicopter simulator only to discover after about 5 minutes of coaching from the attendant that “simulator” is geek speak for video game. We failed miserably. I think the attendant is still giggling. We didn’t hit anything. And she gave us extra time. We are video game failures. You can see us in deep concentration in the photos. We were desperately trying to figure out which button to press and what those little squiggles on the screen really mean. An epic failure. I give kids in the military lots more credit now that I see what they do.

Kermit, Gene, and I went on the G-Force simulator which is just that spinning ride at the carnival where the floor falls away while you are spinning. It was fun but kind of a letdown. Kermit didn’t like it much.

We are traveling with folks who do not value government involvement. Fair enough. So it is interesting to look at Huntsville’s history. It was a sleepy cotton town along the Tennessee River. In the late 1800s and early 1900s mills opened to process cotton into fabric. By the 1930s this business started to peter out, finally completely leaving town in the 40s. The place was evidently a ghost town. After WWI even the local military base was scheduled to close. So the town leaders got together and figured out how to encourage the US government to open a rocket research center. They succeeded and this German guy named Warner, previously Hitler’s rocket inventor, came to town to help found a rocket center. In the 1960s when Kennedy said we were going to the moon, the folks at the rocket center looked at each other and said Uh oh. Huntsville and the Marshall military base suddenly became the Marshall Space Center. Much of the discovery and development of the space program came out of Marshall.

This place is home to the Saturn 5 rockets that were invented/perfected at Marshall Air Base in the 1960s with Warner and his team of US and German scientists. The Saturn 5 is named Saturn 5 because it has 5 huge engines that fire simultaneously to propel the rocket away from earth. All created at Marshall. The big rocket is the prototype that was used for experiments and as a model to build more. There is a cool exhibit/simulator with video showing the first test of all five engines at once in the 60s with President and First Lady Johnson present. You hold on to a bar and stand on a big pad under an engine and feel the vibrations. So cool.

They had the original moon transport equipment: 

 This is a photo of the Apollo 16 space capsule. The real one. Not much room for 3 men in it.

 The moon flight was pretty complicated.

This is a  moon rock. A real one.

Margaret joined us in the Saturn 5 room to guide us through the building. We would have missed 90% of the interesting stuff if we tried to tour it alone. In addition to the info about the development of the Saturn 5 rockets, we saw the actual simulator John Glenn used to prepare for the Mercury orbit around Earth, and all sorts of simulators, equipment, and space capsules associated with the Apollo missions. We especially liked the actual Apollo 16 space capsule on display so you can see how the hot re-entry impacted the bottom of the space capsule. Also on display is the Airstream camper that the Apollo astronauts stayed in for several weeks following arrival back on Earth to protect the world from space germs. Only 3 remain. This one was found in an Alabama state park a few years ago where it had been used as a Fish and Wildlife office in a state park.

These are some photos of Kermit and Deanna getting in and out of the Gemini Space Capsule Simulator. The actual one that John Glenn used. I went in it too but didn't stay too long - too claustrophibic.

After the Space center we were hungry so we checked our new favorite pamphlet, 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die. We found a BBQ place on the way back to the marina that was on the list – Gibson’s BBQ. The ribs were the best. I had pulled pork and bbq beef. It was really good.

And Then What

We stayed at Ditto’s Landing while in Huntsville. This was a nice marina, very pretty, and with very … country looking folks – reminding us that we are in Alabama. Bless their hearts. We decided to stay an extra day on Sunday to rest. It was heavenly. Kermit and I went for a bike ride and we all cooked dinner and ate on our own boat.

While at Huntsville we had a great shared dinner on Friday evening after Jack Daniels. We cooked chicken, and everyone contributed something. It was delicious. We laughed and drank and ate until we were exhausted. Such a nice time.

We left Ditto’s Landing and Huntsville on Monday morning 11/5/12 arriving at Joe Wheeler, where we started our Chattanooga journey two weeks earlier. We met up with Michael and Judy on One September. We had another great group dinner on One September.

Before dinner we pointed out a tumor we noticed growing on Rusty’s cheek. It started as a little bump a few days earlier and now was noticeable bigger. We commented that we needed to get Rusty to a vet to get the tumor checked. Joy and Jim said that is not a tumor. That is a tick!! Good Lord the dog had a tick. We had no idea what to do. This has never happened before. So Jim stepped in to help. I donated my tweezers and got the peroxide. Jim grabbed that tumor at the base right by Rusty’s skin and pulled really hard, really fast. Off comes the ugliest looking critter I have ever seen. I almost got sick. Rusty was a little startled at the attention but he was fine after a cookie or two. Ick. It was disgusting.

As we went to be that evening, I patted Rusty’s head goodnight and felt ANOTHER tumor on his head. OH NO. WHAT THE HECK! So we tried the technique Jim and Joy taught us. Kermit held the tweezers close to his head and pulled. Nothing. It wouldn’t budge. So we looked at each other. I didn’t have a clue. So we called Jim!! He came over and pulled the sucker off Rusty. Another ugly tick, full of blood. The sucker. Then Jim showed us how to apply the K9 Advantix that arrived in the mail a few days earlier. This will protect Rusty from future problems with ticks as we go further south. Poor fellow. He is such a trooper.

Sorry but no photos of the ticks. Just take my word for it. 

Tuesday morning 11/6 (Election Day!?!) we traveled to Florence Marina. Since there were no other loopers we had the courtesy car all to ourselves. So we toured Historic Florence and went to dinner at another one of those restaurants mentioned in 100 Dishes to eat in Alabama Before You Die, Ricatoni’s. It was ok. We stopped for ice cream (despite the cold) at another place on the list, Trowbridges, famous for their Orange Pineapple ice cream. I’m sorry, it was not better than Tofts.

Election night we spent pretending nothing was going on. Kermit went to bed early (about 7:30am) since it was dark and we needed to get up early to drive back to Joe Wheeler to pick up a package. I heard the others talking on One September late in the evening, watching the returns on Fox TV. I kept up with a blog privately and very quietly. I fear today, Wednesday 11/7 will be a long, sad day for the rest of the group.

Wednesday 11/7/12 we are off to Agua Marina near the head of the Tenn-Tom and the Tennessee Rivers. We will fuel up and prepare for the next leg of the journey, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. It should take us two weeks to get to Mobile. We plan to be there a few days before Thanksgiving, if all goes well. Until then, happy or sad election to you, depending on your point of view!!

Chattanooga and Down River Again 10/29 to 11/1/12

We stayed in Chattanooga an extra day due to Sandy, the Frankenstorm, or as Martha called it, Blizeastercane! Our hearts go out to those impacted, looks like it was a nightmare. Although we don’t have tv we watched on the computer and couldn’t take our eyes off the horrible pictures. We are glad that Katie Vellucci is safe even though she has no power for the moment. We are also glad that relatively few people were injured given the huge nature of the storm.

The worst story I heard was this NYC cop who rescued his family from water entering the lower levels of his home only to return to the basement and drown – so sad. So very sad.

Judy and Michael on One September returned home coincidently the weekend of the storm. This was all planned in advance so they could attend their yacht club change of watch held on Saturday 10/27 in Virginia Beach. We are not sure what that means for the new commodore! Judy and Michael live right on the ocean. The returned on Thursday to show pictures of how their dock gradually went under water throughout the day. Michael plugged holes and put out sand bag barriers. The water stopped rising 4” from overflowing into their house! It was very close but a good outcome for them. Fortunately the generator worked so it wasn't as bad as it could be.

We only felt strong winds in Chattanooga. We were on the edge of the storm and missed the snow in eastern tenn/western va about 100 miles away or less. We saw lots of ugly clouds but no bad weather except for the winds. It made for colorful sunsets though.

 

The wind was terrible (relatively speaking). It made 50 degrees seem like 30. We bundled up like Eskimos. I was wearing at least 4 layers at any given time – a cami, a short sleeved t-shit, a long sleeve t-shirt, a fleece, and a Columbia wind jacket with gloves. Don’t forget the thermal socks with my boat shoes. Then I was warm! It was so cold we put us the back canvas!

Naturally the wind impacted the boats. We resorted to complicated tying system to hold the boat in place to counterbalance the rising and lowering river heights. The Pickwick Lock and Dam was making electricity every morning and evening which meant they released more water than normal. I am not sure why we did not anticipate this. Hydroelectric power comes from the dam. Duh. The water rose about a foot then went back down which caused a real problem being tied up right on the cement steps in front of the aquarium. The cement dock has a step back of about 2 feet. There are black rubber fenders built in every 20 feet or so (we had two). If the water rose a little more it would have been over the first cement step pushing the boat over the cement and pushing those black rubber fenders into the fiberglass. The men were up most of the night retying lines. Kermit used every fender we had to build little protections around the black rubber fender and protect the boat from the cement. He also used every line to double tie every line – one loose and one tight incase a line gave way or the wind or water changed direction. It was tense overnight during the storm.

Still, this is a very livable city. The first city we think we could live in.

We visited same restaurant three times. Blue Plate is just delicious. Kermit and I went there for breakfast the first morning. The food just melted in our mouths. I had a cheese omelet and Kermit had the white omelet. The hash browns, the biscuits... I could go on and on. It wasn't like anything we ever tasted. It literally melted in our mouths. Unbelievable. Everything fresh made and locally grown. I don't know how they do it.

For dinner that day we were walking around town with Dick and Deanna from Sareanna after visiting the aquarium trying to find a restaurant. Dick suggested we go to Blue Plate since breakfast was so good. I even found a new drink - ever hear of a Greyhound? Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice with gin. OMG! We groaned with pleasure through the entire meal! The best, best, best fried chicken and pork tenderloin we every had. Kermit and I shared. I can’t describe the crunchy crust. I don’t know how they do it. I also can’t figure out how they get the hash browns to just melt in your mouth. We even had dessert because the odds were good it would be delicious and it was! Peanut butter pie and Oreo cheesecake. The waitress brought us the second piece on the sly. OH MY GOSH it was good. We waddled back to the boat groaning. Then we went there for breakfast the next morning with the entire crowd. Three meals in one restaurant in a large city filled with good restaurants says something about Blue Plate!

Tuesday 10/29 was supposed to be our last day in Chattanooga so we borrowed a car from Jim’s brother who lives in Chattanooga to reprovision. I must say this is the last time we shop at Whole foods. It is expensive and some of the food is already spoiled. It is hard to choke this out but I think I prefer to shop at a Walmart Supercenter (I hate Walmart) because the food is fresher.

Kermit and Jim took the opportunity of an extra day in town to get a haircut on 10/30. Dick says he wouldn’t worry about length or color or even the quality of the cut if only he had hair! Kermit says this was the best barber in a long time. He looks awfully cute

How could we visit Chattanooga without visiting the Chattanooga Choo Choo? So we did but it was kind of a waste of time. This is the old passenger depot turned into a hotel and tourist destination.

They have a huge model railroad which is kind of neat. It is self guided except this guy with really bad teeth kept following me around pointing out the incredibly obvious (I really hate that). After a while we realized that the model railroad was built and maintained by a club and this fellow was a club member who was particularly proud of this work. Knowing that made it more fun. I particularly like the Burp Beer buildings and the smoke coming out of the burning building!

 

 

If you visit Chattanooga and need a hotel it would be neat to stay in one of the many rail cars that have been converted to hotel rooms in the courtyard. There are fountaiins and lots of flowers where the tracks used to be. It is quite pretty.

The best thing about visiting the ChooChoo was the nice walk to and from the marina (about 15 blocks each way) and having ice cream. It has been a long time since we had ice cream. It was great to get out and walk around seeing interesting sites and people after weeks of being cooped up on the boat.

We stopped in a dollar store to get some Imodium for Kermit and a lady was negotiating every item. “I am sure this was 5 dollars. It is not worth more than 5 dollars”. “No maam, it is 7 dollars”. “I only want it for 5 dollars”. “Do you want it maam”. “I am sure this was marked 5 dollars” and over and over. We didn’t wait to see if she got it for 5 dollars.

There are lots of locally owned restaurants and bars in the commercial district. Lots of apartments and lofts too. Few grocery stores and pharmacies down there though so this area must be built up on the last few years ahead of the amenities or we just didn’t see those stores. I think it would be fun to live here.

We visited a bar called Hair of the Dog Pub. It had a dumb waiter right behind us so I watched the beer go up and empty glasses go down.

We met up with the vessel Annie in Chattanooga. They docked just ahead of us. This photo shows the tourist river boat out for a sunset cruise. It stopped just next to Annie (not in the picture but located to the right) and both boats started playing the calliope at the same time with the same song!

Other best parts include the River Gallery Sculpture Garden – amazing sculptures in gardens on bluffs above the river. You know it will be fun when this public garden has a home printed brochure describing the sculpture! I know I took pictures but I can't find them. So these are pictures taken from Google Images.




Artisan everything in this little Bluff View  Arts District so we bought all sorts of goodies – favs include the Jack Daniels chocolates that have just a hint of bourbon (that didn’t make it down the block) and the Chantilly cognac cream chocolate cups (thanks Dick), the bread store that Kermit bullied to open for us – great stolen coffee cake, and the fun of walking around. Many of the shops have glassed off the work area so you can watch the bakers , candy makers, and coffee roasters so their thing. This is definitely a city we could live in.

Chattanooga is definitely set up for young people with lots of outdoor recreation. Walking bridge over the river, and another one over an expressway that is made out of glass – Kermit had a hard time with that one.

The park along the river front by the aquarium has the best sculptures – even the concrete is sculpted. You know how some cities have sculptures on a theme outside of the shops? This place has brick sculptures. Odd. We saw a rowboat and a couch. Odd. Again, these are photos from Google Images since mine didn't come out.

 

The last day we noticed that this park (where we have been walking Rusty) does not allow dogs. Isnt that odd? No one stopped us so I guess they are flexible about it.

We left Chattanooga on Thursday 10/31 instead of Wednesday 10/30. Long day on the river – left at dawn (7:15am) and sailed until about 5pm. Downriver we picked up a mile or two per hour from the current.  We are returning past scenery we traveled before. You get a different perspective with different light and moving in a different direction. Trees changing a little more but still a lot of green to be seen. This is a picture of a fellow wind surfing on the river!

 

Critter alert: Kermit saw a golden eagle swoop out oft he sky and pick up a fish out of the river. Evidently these birds are unusual because the bald eagles chase them away. He wsa at least 25% bigger than the bald eagles we have seen. Kermit said he looked like a brindle dog with waves of golds and browns through his feathers. Not like a bald eagle at all. We didn't get a picture - he moved pretty quickly but Kermit watched him through the binoculors.

 

Some houses along the side of the river between Scottsboro and Chattanooga are huge with outbuildings and boat houses.

 

Ultimately we will return to Grand Harbor to begin the trip down the Tenn-Tom. We have to go through 4 locks to get there. Thursday we figured out a new system to use on the locks. I put lines on the two mid-cleats and wrap both around the bollard in different directions. Then Kermit takes the forward mid-cleat line to the back deck and I take the aft mid-cleat line to the front of the boat and voila we have spring the boat around the bollard so we don’t move! No pictures. We forgot. You can imagine it! No arguing either. Maybe you can't imagine that part.

Thursday night stayed at Goose Pond Colony in Scottsboro AL. WOW what a nice place. Everything about it is top notch, especially the people. We were greeted by 4 fellows who took care of everything. They tied us up, pumped us out, and filled our port gas (Kermit filled starboard) then tied us up again at the dock for the night. So pleasant and helpful. Beautiful grounds includes a golf course and a ramp to the river. Rusty went for a swim. Frost in the morning – real frost. Great dinner at The Docks, voted the Best in Northern Alabama. Rustic in the best possible way with an amazing view of the river, concrete floors, nicely decorated, friendly waitress, and good food. A family place, the owners granddaughter came in to trick or treat.

This is Rusty showing us around. He loved the morning frost!! He is like a puppy in the cold.

 They even have a real palm tree! Maybe we will be warm soon.

 

Left Scottsboro to continue down the Tennessee River. Next stop Huntsville. A completely different feeling here at Ditto’s Landing. Still drop dead gorgeous but with a more sinister or less friendly atmosphere. Still the 4 guys catching the lines but then they disappear. Kermit still gives a nice tip to the boss guy but he pockets it with the clear indication that it will not be shared with the other fellows, even after Kermit indicated the purpose of the tip. Laundry facilities in which the one washer and dryer look like they have been jimmied for the change. In fact after one load it is clear the machine does not work so we have wet towels draped all over the boat. I walked Rusty around and noticed the camp ground across the road. Kermit tried to take a shower but was concerned for his safety due to the high number of banjoes in that campground and among the folks who appeared as he prepared to enter the shower.

So this is a different place. Unfortunately we will be here for two nights. Too bad Huntsville has the stuff we want to see and Scottsboro is a day behind us because we would rather be at Goose Pond Colony.

On Friday 11/2 (Grandma Dreuth’s birthday!) we plan to visit Jack Daniels in Lynchburg. If one more person reminds me that it is in a dry county I will scream. Then on Saturday we will go to the Huntsville space museum. More on those stops later!