Historically, November 2nd has been a rough day for us. I’m not sure why but this day is just a b**ch every year. Prior November 2nds had seen John lose his wedding ring in the ocean on our honeymoon, a family member being hospitalized, household mishaps like shelves collapsing and dropping a cabinet full of heavy Fiesta dishes on my face, huge power outages, and terrible traffic jams. I woke up that morning dreading our move. I actually almost asked John if we could stay an extra day and move on Sunday instead. I wish I had.
The drive started out okay but about halfway through, a small flat piece of metal came flying at my car. I called John and described it to see if it was something that had fallen off of the house and he said it may be but he wasn’t sure. When we stopped for gas, he checked under the house and said everything looked good. We continued on our way.
So, lots of people ask why we drive separately and this is why. Following behind the truck and house, I can keep an eye on things. It saved us from catching fire when the wheelbearing went bad last spring and it saved us from a blowout this time. I always keep an eye on the tires as we are driving and I noticed that one looked a little wobbly. I called John and he agreed to pull over at the next exit. Just a few minutes after I called him, he noticed a difference in the way the truck was driving. We were able to make it to the next exit and pull into an abandoned parking lot. As we got out of our vehicles and approached the tire in question on the house, we could immediately hear a hissing sound. John put his hand on the tire and it was burning hot. He said that we likely would have had a blowout if we had gone on much longer.
On a previous trip to Alabama, we had also blown a tire back in early 2023 and at that time we didn’t have a spare or a jack capable of lifting the house so we had to call roadside assistance. That was a $650 lesson that we didn’t want to repeat. This time, we were at least prepared and John was able to change the tire quickly and get us back on the road. We figure that, regardless of where that piece of metal that I saw earlier came from, he had probably run it over and it sliced the tire.
We arrived at the “campground” (it’s an asphalt parking lot at a sports complex) and pulled towards our spot…only to realize that someone was already there. It was a little early in the day (but still after check-in time) so John went to talk to them to see if perhaps they were just a little late checking out but the people said that they were there for another week.
Because this wasn’t an actual campground with camp hosts or anything, John had to spend several minutes calling around to find someone to ask what we should do. He finally got ahold of someone on the phone and we got reassigned to site #7 which was thankfully empty. Because the whole place is just a giant parking lot, the sites are pull-through so we were able to get in and settle quickly. This new spot was also close to the main building on the property which has a grassy strip down the side of it so at least we would have a nearby place to walk Harley.
We spent a little time getting situated and decided to run out for some dinner. I told John to go on outside, I was going to the restroom and then would be right out. When I walked outside he said that we had a plumbing issue and my pee had gone directly onto the ground instead of into our tank. We went on out to grab food (we hadn’t eaten since breakfast) and found a Home Depot for the materials to fix our plumbing. When we got back home, John had to take apart the toilet and plumbing lines to do the fix. This meant that we didn’t have access to a bathroom until it was fixed (there is no bathroom or shower house here- it’s literally a parking lot). He said that it should take less than an hour and I figured I could make it for that long. Three hours and a two more trips to Home Depot later and it was finally fixed. This killed a lot of time so thankfully, our bad day was over and we could start fresh the next day.
On Sunday, we opted to visit the Birmingham Zoo. It was a smaller zoo but was decent. Parking was $20 per person but parking was free so that balanced out nicely. They have a small reptile building, several bird exhibits, a big elephant yard, primates, a predators building (Pallas’ cats, Black footed cats, coyotes, and more), and a lion. While they didn’t have a huge variety of animals, the exhibits were set up so that the animals could be seen pretty well and a lot of them had been given enrichment and were pretty active.
Between the move the day before and a morning exploring the zoo, we were beat. We grabbed lunch on the way home and spent the day laying on the couch reading and watching tv. We were being extra lazy so we even did something we rarely do- we ordered pizza for dinner.
On Monday night after John got off work, we attended a cooking class at Trimtab Brewing Company. Chef Kelly from Birmingham Sushi Classes gave a great class all about rolling your own sushi. We LOVE sushi and have tried making it at home with mild success but it was great to have someone who actually knows what they are doing to give us some tips and instructions. We started class with a roll that Kelly had made then learned about sauces, rice, and what “sushi grade” really means (basically it’s just fish that has been frozen appropriately to kill any parasites). She walked us through the whole process and we rolled our own rolls at the end. John’s came out quite nicely (as does almost any food he makes) and mine came out….edible. I am quite well known for making food that tastes pretty good but will never win any beauty contests and my sushi roll was no exception.
Regardless, the class was fun and Chef Kelly was knowledgeable and hilarious. Our classmates were all super nice and made a few new friends who gave us some recommendations on things to do while we are in town. Unfortunately, on the way out of the brewery after class, I noticed John walking with a limp. Welcome back, foot problems. We spent most of the week sitting around at the house to let John rest his foot. He was able to get into a doctor on Friday and they prescribed some medication to help.
On Saturday, John was feeling a little bit better so we decided to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. We had visited Civil Rights sites in Memphis (the Lorraine Hotel) and in Jackson (the old Greyhound bus station that saw several freedom riders arrive) so we thought that visiting the museum in Birmingham would be a worthwhile experience. It had a lot of information that we had already learned at other museums but also presented a lot of information that was unique to the Birmingham area and events that happened here. We learned about Pastor Fred Shuttlesworth, a local minister who was a civil rights leader in this area and often worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Civil Rights Institute sits right across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church was organized in 1873 and was the first black church in Birmingham. The congregation gathered at other locations for about 10 years then moved to a building at the corner of 16th Street and 6th Ave North. The current church was completed. The church played a large part in the Civil Rights Movement, serving as a gathering place and a headquarters for leaders in the movement.
I took this next part from their official website ( https://www.16thstreetbaptist.org/our-history/) as I didn’t want to get any details wrong: “Sunday, September 15, 1963, at 10:22 a.m., the church became known around the world when a bomb exploded, killing four young girls attending Sunday School and injuring more than 20 other members of the congregation. Later that same evening, in different parts of town, a black youth was killed by police and one was murdered by a mob of white men. It was a shocking, terrifying day in the history of Birmingham and a day that forced white leaders to further come to grips with the city’s bitter racist reputation.”
The Civil Rights Institute has a detailed exhibit about the bombing and subsequent investigation (it took 40 years for justice to be properly served) and a park across the street includes a statue of the four girls who lost their lives that day.
The Civil Rights Institute was a very somber and moving experience and we needed something to lift our spirits a little after our visit so we drove to nearby Vulcan Park to see the giant statue of the Roman god Vulcan which watches over the city. This is the largest cast iron statue in the world and is the symbol of the city of Birmingham. It was created for the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri and was moved to its current perch above Birmingham in 1939. The statue underwent repairs and renovation from 1999-2004 and was coated with a durable paint to protect it from the weather. You can take an elevator to the top of the tower and walk along the observation deck around the statue but we opted not to because it was starting to rain and we had to make a mad dash for the car.
When you visit the statue, you cannot help but notice its rather…voluptuous…rear end. They actual sell “bobble heads” of the statue in the gift shop but instead of the head bouncing, the part that wobbles is it’s amble buttock. I will always regret not buying one.
On Sunday, we drove the short distance to Pelham, Alabama to Oak Mountain State Park. For just $5 per person, we got admission to the entire park which includes hiking trails, a water fall, a lake with swimming beaches, and the Alabama Wildlife Center.
The Wildlife Center was very small but makes a HUGE impact on area wildlife each year. The center takes in birds and some other animals that have been injured or are sick and works to get them healed and released back into the wild. They have some reptiles on exhibit inside the center itself and a nice exhibit with Shelby the Bald Eagle and a Eurasian Eagle Owl (I can’t remember its name) behind the building and off to the left who are permanent residents as they are unable to be released.
Off to the right, there are a few buildings that house birds that are in the rehab and release program and will hopefully soon be returned to the wild. Because they will be released, their contact with humans is limited. They are visible through very small windows that are heavily tinted so that they can’t see the people looking in at them. I managed to get a few photos but they aren’t my best work as it was really hard to take good pictures with the poor lighting and less-than-optimal viewing angles.
The Center also has a small gift shop area and a sitting area that looks out onto several bird feeders. We enjoyed sitting at the window and watching the wild birds outside come to eat.
After the Wildlife Center, we tried to hike to the waterfall – Peavine Falls. The trail isn’t long but it was super steep. (Full disclosure I think we wandered off the main path at some point which probably would have been easier) I stopped about 3/4 of the way down for fear that my knees would give out (it was basically a vertical rock climb at that point) and that I wouldn’t be able to get back out or that I would fall and get hurt. John managed to climb to the very bottom but said that it was a little underwhelming and that I didn’t miss much. We did enjoy some really pretty views along the way, though.
John was also off on Monday November 11th for veterans day but we just ended up running errands and hanging out at home. We had some bad Chinese food for lunch while we were out and we were exhausted from our activities over the weekend so we rested.
We really didn’t do anything else the rest of the week. We spent a lot of time relaxing around the house and giving John’s foot plenty of time to heal. We wanted to make sure we were reading for our 4+ hour move on Friday from Birmingham to Foley, Alabama so a few days of rest was absolutely what we needed.
