Oct. 22, 2016 Tom’s Wall near the Natchez Trace Parkway, Florence, AL

Note: This is the last of 5 stories being published today. The first is dated Oct. 14-21. Please scroll back to find it.

Originally my birthday activites didn’t have an afternoon component. Then Kim and David from the Kadey Krogen Manatee Overtime invited us to join them in the marina courtesy car to go see Tom’s Wall. I jumped at the chance and Wally followed suit.  After all, it was MY birthday!  After a 20 minute drive, we parked along a corn field and found Tom Hendricks seated in a circle of folding chairs in his driveway. We took our places in four remaining chairs and Tom’s story began to unfold. From a very early age, Tom, a white kid, began to hear stories about his Native American heritage from his grandmother. Her great grandmother, Te-lay-nay, was a Yuchi Indian. At age 17, she and her sister were part of the forced migration from Alabama to Oklahoma that came to be called “The Trail of Tears”.  Around their necks they each wore a brass tag with a number stamped on it.  Te-lay-nay, #59, was the only to walk back. Her sister, #60, did not make the trek. Tom’s great-great grandmother claimed that there was no music in the rivers in Oklahoma like there was back home; she couldn’t live without the music. As Tom reached his 50’s, the urge to honor his great-great grandmother became stronger and stronger. A Yuchi Indian from Oklahoma made the trip to Alabama to explain much about Tom’s heritage. She told him that his people believe that the only things that survive the test of time are the rocks. Right away Tom knew what he was going to do; ten miles away, lining the Tennessee River, was an unlimited supply of river rocks. Tom’s Wall was about to begin. Each stone would represent a step that Te-lay-nay had taken. The wall was built in two sections. The first was built in two straight lines with space for a walking path in between; it represented the forced march that followed the soldier’s compass course. The second was winding and curvy. Like the first it was built in two lines with ample room for walking in-between. Unlike the first, it encircled trees and allowed for alcoves with huge stone seats for meditation and contemplation. This wall represented Te-lay-nay’s journey back home. Tom has the #59 medallion; the others are all in a museum in Oklahoma City. In her later life, Tom’s great-great grandmother met with a local historian who recorded her story in a journal. Tom has that journal and recites from it as he shares his story. Over 35 years, Tom Hendricks moved 8 1/2 million pounds of river rock... one pick-up truck load at a time. He went through 3 pick-up trucks, 27 wheel barrows and 2,700 pairs of gloves. He was proud to show that he still had all his fingers and thumbs and no arthritis! To learn more, check out “Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall” on-line.

  

Created by Darcy O Campbell

Oct. 22, 2016 The Rosenbaum Home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

We learned that The City of Florence opened the Rosenbaum Home up to the public at 10 am. each day. What we didn’t know was that visitors are part of a very strictly guided tour schedule and those tours begins at 10 am on the dot. Traveling in the marina courtesy car, we arrived at 10:10 and had to scoot to join a tour of a dozen or so already in progress. Oh, well! The Rosenbaum Home was 1 of 26 of Frank Lloyd Wright’s pre-WWII Usonian houses. “Usonian” referred to a collection of home designs that shared a theme of architectural traits... the homes were single level, often L-shaped, flat roofed with an overhang that allowed for natural lighting, featured radiant heating in the concrete floors, were small is scope and usually built on inexpensive or unusual pieces of property. They were meant to be affordable; problem was, his designs were expensive to build. A typical house of the mid-1930’s cost $3,500. The Rosenbaum Home cost $11,000. We also learned about Frank Lloyd Wright’s personality quirks. He not only designed the exterior of his homes, he also had very defined ideas about the interior. He demanded that nothing be altered from the original arrangement of furnishings in the living spaces. He believed that his furniture was artistically perfect for it’s small size, low height and placement in each home. Unfortunately, his pieces were uncomfortable. Mrs. Rosenbaum didn’t dare replace them with more comfortable pieces because FLW was known to make unannounced visits; he would chastise the owner if anything was found to be out of place. The day Wright died, she carried the chairs out to the street for disposal and replaced them. Rumor has it that those chairs became dorm furniture at a nearby college. Just recently, a FLW-designed chair like those sold at auction for $17,000!  Almost 20 years ago in our early RVing days, we visited Falling Waters in Ohiophyle, PA. It is one of FLW’s most renown homes and one of the larger ones. It features a cantilevered living room thrust out over a river...quite fetching! Always interesting, we’ll be on the look-out for yet another Frank Lloyd Wright house and the stories that go with it.

Created By Darcy O Campbell

Oct. 22, 2016 Darcy’s 70th birthday gets an early start in Florence, AL

We were awakened before first light by a voice projected through a loud speaker... “Gentlemen, remove your caps and prepare for your National Anthem.” Peeking out the portholes of our stateroom, I saw a twinkling of lights filling the Florence Harbor Marina. We were surrounded by 300 bass boats, two men per boat... currently standing at attention... about to participate in the end-of-the-season Heartland-sponsored bass fishing tournament. Pickwick Lake, an area of 67 square miles, is known to be one of the most prestigious small-mouth bass fishing grounds in the country. For the next 40 minutes, the boats left the harbor in a single-file by the numbers. Quite a start to my 70th year!

Created By Darcy O Campbell

Oct. 19, 2016 Wally and Darcy go to the Polo Grounds, Rogersville, AL

 A special treat was being bussed one evening to an outing at the local polo grounds. Ed Robbins, age 85, is the owner of the ranch. He has been proclaimed by Guiness Book Of World Records as “the oldest active polo player in the world”.  We were about to see this amazing gentleman in action!  Upon our arrival, we were invited to join a hayride to the state-of-the-art horse barn where 24 race horses were stabled. Soon after that tour, we became spectators at an exhibition polo match. An announcer described the finer points of the sport to us, thankfully, since most of us were new to polo. As the sun went down, we enjoyed a steak dinner in a lovely gazebo. We then danced under the stars to a local band of talented vocalists and musicians.

Ed Robbins himself!

Created By Darcy O Campbell

Oct. 14-21, 2016 AGLCA Fall Rendezvous; Joe Wheeler State Park, Rogersville, AL

68 Looper boats, 300 attendees...Planners, In-Progress, and Gold Loopers who have completed the Great Loop. All three groups participated in seminars covering the upcoming sections of the waterway from Rogersville, Alabama to New Bern, North Carolina. Within the lodge/hotel, venues were available for large and small group gathering/meetings. In the corriders leading to the meeting rooms were venders of marine-related products or services making themselves available for consultation. “Looper Crawls” provided opportunities for participants, especially planners, to see a great variety of boats currently doing the Loop... up close and personal. (Summertime was always a hit. For a boat her size, she definately has the best use of space.) The meals were delicious. The 3-day Rendezvous was well-organized and proved to be very valuable for building a base of information as well as friendships.

Created by Darcy O Campbell

Oct. 7-13, 2016 Going south but upriver, we leave “The Land Between the Lakes” behind.

Previously, when our blog entry lagged by a week, the story was one of rough times; we had to let time pass to distill the events, leaving a residue of lessons learned. This week, however, has been one of delightful weather, water and wanderings. Truth be told, we have been savoring the moments. This is what we thought river travel would be like!

  From Green Turtle Bay Marina/ Kentucky Dam, KY MM32 to the I-40 Bridge MM161near Cuba Landing,TN, the Kentucky Lake created by the TVA spreads its fingers down the valleys of Kentucky and Tennessee. Sparkily bass boats, 21 feet in length, participate in bass tournaments on the lake. These fisherman speed around looking for a promising spot, usually by the mouth of a riverlet. After a few casts without success, they rev-up their engine and speed away to another spot, hoping to catch the trophy bass. So focused on their sport are they, these fisherman rarely have time to wave to the passing slow-moving trawler.  After MM161, the Tennessee River of days gone by reveals itself.  Here the local fisherman tend to have more utilitarian boats... not so glitzy and not so speedy.... and they do take time to repond with a wave. There is still some barge traffic; that makes for an interesting day. Our “Would you like to see us on the 1 (we move to the right) or on the 2?” (we move to the left) gets us us a melodic, silky southern reply from the Tug Captain. There are many creeks to slip up into or islands to tuck in behind along this route. We have delighted in seeing does with this summer’s fawns sipping river water, blue herons stalk-still, poised and waiting, been surprised by eagles strutting along the shoreline, and been amused by the turkey vultures gathered on the shore, ever hopeful for the arrival of something dead. Seasonal cottages, built up on stilts in case of flooding, line the river’s edge. Marinas are few and far between, but the ones that can handle boats 36 feet and up have made us feel very much at home. Of a more sobering nature were the glimpses of grave markers sighted high on the grassy knoll as we passed by Shiloh’s Civil War National Park. In the town of Savannah, TN, earlier in the day, we had marveled at the stately architecture of an antebellum home. Even though occasional wind gusts blow up and down the river, we rarely have had to consult weather reports. Only as wide as two football fields, the Tennessee River can’t get too frothed up. We cleared the Pickwick Landing Lock and Dam and last night tucked into a delightful hide-away anchorage in Pickwick Lake, TN. The cooler nights and the shorter days are helping to make the foliage become like Maine’s this time of year. This will be the last of our days cruising in west Tennessee waters. Today we cross over into Alabama and lock through to Lake Wilson. By Saturday we plan to join many other Loopers at the AGLCA’s Fall Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville, Alabama. It will be a great time for reflecting on the journey so far, sharing stories with folks we haven’t seen since Canadian waters or Lake Michigan and learning about the journey that still lies ahead. For us, that is about 12 more locks and 1,000 more miles. This is a perfect time to take a short break and catch our breath!

Created By Darcy O Campbell