Sunday morning. We have been "on the road" for 3 weeks.....getting a little antsy for "home". In this part of the country, Sunday morning revolves around church.... and nothing else opens or moves. In fact, many public attractions do not open at all (and I think that the rest all close on Monday).
We left Birmingham under grey, drizzly skies and hit Interstate 65 enroute to Montgomery. South of Birmingham is an interesting place called "The American Village" which is outside the village of Montevallo. We knew (from the AAA book) that it was closed.....but being a bit crazy, we went anyway. Well! Somebody forgot to close the gate, so we drove in and took lots of pictures. No costumed guides (and no tourists). They have an exact replica of the Liberty Bell and many full-sized buildings including a church. It is fully landscaped and meant to reflect American villages of the 19th and 20th centuries. This worked out okay for us!
If you don't dilly-dally, it would take about 1 1/2 hours to drive from Birmingham to Montgomery. We took longer. Our first stop in Montgomery was the Visitor Center which is located in a beautifuly old railroad station. Some of the stained glass windows and the intricately inlaid floor, date back to the original construction in 1898. The woman there was very helpful and she gave us good maps too.
We headed first to the Oakwood Cemetery to visit the Hank Williams Memorial. (I told you that Tom is "a good ole boy".) He has been immortalized in Montgomery and is much loved here. Dying at the age of 29 (in January 1953), he left a huge musical legacy and many a tale of his shenanigans. He and his wife are buried at the Memorial and there is a life-size bronze statue of him outside the Civic Center where 28,000 mourners marked his passing. There is a museum documenting his musical history and including the actual blue Cadillac in which he died (heart attack in the back seat).
The other "attraction" open today was a fledgling museum honoring F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Both were popular authors in the 1920's and 30's ("Great Gatsby", etc.). He produced more novels and she was also an artist of some acclaim. They produced one daughter named "Scotty". They had lived life on the fast-track in the Jazz Age. Extravagance, alcoholism, and mental illness.... all contributed to their decline. They lived in many places but this place was their home for less than a year 1932/33. Sometimes, greatness walks a tightrope with personal disaster in the abyss on all sides.
We needed to find Maxwell Air Force Base and our new "home...for a couple of days". Accommodations look like barracks from the outside, but we have a cozy studio apartment .....for a ridiculously low cost. We ventured out for dinner (which was harder to do than we had expected). Near the end of dinner.....the skies opened up and the deluge fell! What a mess. We were glad to come "home" and watch Ken Burns' "The War" on television.
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