13 Aug 2024 - Arrived at Natchez Trace RV Park Tupelo MS

 

This morning at 0826 hrs we pulled chocks at the Arnold Air Force Base FamCamp and after a quick stop at the sewer dump station we were on our way.  We passed through Tullahoma, Lynchburg and Fayetteville before waving goodbye to Tennessee and crossing over into Alabama.  

Before long we were passing by Huntsville, and we will most definitely be coming back here.  The US Space and Rocket Center is calling our name!  I suspect you could spend quite a bit of time here.  It is also the home of Redstone Arsenal.  Not sure that is open to visitors, but we will be back to this area!

After Hunstville we passed over the Tennessee River at Decatur, and of course Doreen had to comment on "Decatur" as in Decatur IL where Uncle Bob lived.  

The remainder of Alabama was Highway 24 before we crossed over into Mississippi!  

They say everything happens for a reason.  Well today is no exception!  As we entered Mississippi the highway changed to Hwy 76.  We could have stayed on that and it would have merged with Hwy 25 and taken us to I-22.  Instead the Garmin told us to turn south on Hwy 23 which also took us to I-22.  But a couple miles before we got there, in Tremont MS we pulled into a random large parking lot to take a break, and what do you know!  It was Tammy Wynette's Legacy Center!  

Tammy was born and raised in Tremont!  During her childhood she picked cotton on the family farm but had aspirations of being a singer.  She married at 17, was divorced and moved to Nashville to pursue her singing career in 1965.  The rest is history.  Tammy was among the country's first female performers that had records certified gold and platinum.  She was inducted into several "halls of fame" and also sold over 30 million records world wide!

We had a soda explode in the coach, so I opened up the slides and was cleaning it up, but the lady in the museum let Doreen and Liberty in to take a few pictures.  

Tammy's Buick Riviera convertible

There was much more to see here, but we were not supposed to have Liberty in there.  Again, another excuse to come back this way!  Tammy taught us to "Stand By Your Man"!

Well, that was unexpected but very cool, and very friendly folks in the museum!  But we needed to get on down the road, so we bugged out of Tremont, hopped on I-22 and made our way to Tupelo, honey!  

Photo credit:  Good Sams

We arrived at Tupelo MS and hopped on the Natchez Trace Parkway, but not after a double take on the signage.  NO TRUCKS, usually means no 35 ft campers pulled by 21 ft duallys.  No trucks and no RV's is common on "parkways". but after closer inspection this one says "no commercial vehicles".  And we were not the only RV on the parkway.  What a beautiful drive!  We will be driving this parkway several times while we are here, including tomorrow.

At 1338 hrs after 226 miles we rolled into the Natchez Trace RV Park.  After a few phone calls we figured out what site we were going into, and we got all set up.  Man it was hot!  94F feels like 102 and humid!.  So we got disconnected, Powered up,  leveled quickly, slides out and A/C on.  The Alliances coaches have three A/C's so assuming the power is OK they cool it down quickly.  

Fishing pond quickly drying up with a lack of rain here

Our campsite

Tomorrow we have an 0900 hrs tour at the Toyota Factory in Blue Springs MS, about 30 minutes from here.  Also while we are here, we plan to see the Vietnam Memorial Wall, the Tupelo National Battlefield, the Final Stand of the Civil War Center, Elvis Presley Childhood Home and Museum, Tupelo Veteran's Museum, and possibly the Tupelo Buffalo Park.

12 Aug 2024 - Last Day at Arnold AFB FamCamp; Liberty Haircut

 

Our last day here at Arnold Air Force Base FamCamp.  We headed into Tullahoma this morning, which is the nearest town, and delivered Liberty to the local PetSmart for a spa day.  The last time she had a haircut was by Alliance owner Gina Grote at the Elkhart Campground, so she was due.  They trimmed her nails, and  shampooed/cut her hair.  Liberty is a Schnauzer-Poodle mix, so she gets the Schnauzer "skirt" and the "beard".

While in town we stopped at the Publix and replenished the pantry and fridge, and then stopped for fuel before returning to the campground.  Diesel was $3.279 which is not the cheapest for this trip, but it is one of the least expensive.

Tomorrow we pull chocks and make our way to the sewer dump station here in the park since this park is not full hookup.  After we have emptied our tanks, we will make our way west and south about 220 miles to our next stop, Tupelo MS. Wednesday we have reservations for a tour at the Toyota Automobile Factory in Blue Springs MS.  We also plan to see the Tupelo Veteran's Museum, the Tupelo National Battlefield, possibly the Tupelo Buffalo Park, the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Elvis Presley Birthplace.

Next report, Natchez Trace RV Park near Tupelo, honey!  Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey"

11 Aug 2024 - Jack Daniels Tour/Tasting; Arnold Air Force Base

 

This morning we drove west of Tullahoma to Lynchburg TN to tour and taste Jack Daniels Distillery.  This distillery was established in the 1830s by Jasper "Jack" Daniel and officially registered in 1866, making it the first registered distillery in the United States. 

We loitered in the lobby area until our tour time, looking over their various displays. 

We will see the entrance to this cave system later during our tour.

Soon our tour commenced, led by a young lady with a very thick Tennessee accent.  I found her very difficult to understand with the background noise of the distillery and other tour participants.  We loaded into a tour bus that transported us to where the walking portion of the tour started.  The rest of the tour we walked and climbed / descended stairs.  

As we drove to the starting point we passed one of their oldest rickhouses, where the barrels are allowed to sit on their sides for years while the whiskey ages.  

As we deboarded the bus, we made our way to a trailer where they were serving Jack and Coke slushies, or Jack and lemonade slushies, depending on the color wrist band you purchased.  Doreen is pictured above with her Jack and lemonade.  

 

Jack Daniels is made like many other whiskeys, using charcoal to "mellow" the product.  Like George Dickel, they make their own charcoal by burning stacks (ricks) of two-by-two-inch (5 by 5 cm) sugar maple timbers. The timbers are primed with 140 proof (70% ABV) Jack Daniel's and then ignited under large hoods to prevent sparks.

The ricks ready to be moved to the burn facility

The resulting charcoal is ground to pea gravel size here, shown below

The tour took us by the entrance of the cave system.

In front of the cave is a statue of Jack (on the rocks!!)

Next stop was Jack Daniel's original office building.  The inside remains nearly like it was back in the day.  

Our next stop was the grain mill where the various grains are ground and mixed into the mash.  From here on they restricted pictures or the use of any electronic devices, due to the chances of explosion.  Of course my electronics/technical side kicked in and as we proceeded I took note of the lack of intrinsically-safe or explosion-proof products in their buildings.  But I complied with their no-picture rules!

In fact the next place we were allowed to take pictures was the barrel making display where we saw the tools they use and a video on the process.  They make all of their own barrels out of American white oak.  Like George Dickel, they only use their barrels once and then they are sold to other users such as Tequila, winemakers, beermakers, etc.  You can buy their barrels also.

  

From there we passed by the bottling facility, but they do not operate on the weekends.  

Our last stop before the tour ended was the tasting building.  

We sat in a room surrounded by barrels that were aging.  

They were dated 2013, so approximately 11 years old.  

So this is a recreated display of the Jack Daniels products we tasted in the same order as shown below, left to right.  After each taste we cleansed our palates with water provided. 

 

I asked about the significance of the "No. 7" which is their signature whiskey.  No one could tell me where that came from, except that it came from Jack Daniels himself.  I asked if the was a "No. 6" and no one knew, but not that they were aware!

After the tasting we exited through the bottle room where you could purchase any of their products, plus shirts, trinkets, etc.  Here are a few pictures.

Jack Daniels No. 7 with cinnamon added.  We did not get to sample this.

This was my purchase, which is not available anywhere but here from what they said. 

We enjoyed our tour and tasting but it was time to head back.  On the way we drove around the downtown Lynchburg area which is full of shops, restaurants and even a general store that sells Jack Daniels products.  You could easily spend a few hours walking around here and visiting the shops.

Later in the afternoon we drove through Arnold Air Force Base. The Commissary and Exchange were both closed, but we thought it would appropriate to see the base while we were here. 

This base has a unique mission, apparently. From their fact sheet, "The Arnold Engineering Development Complex operates more than 68 aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistic ranges, sled tracks, centrifuges and other specialized units."  So the normal things you would see on a normal Air Force Base are absent here.  They did have static displays coming in the gate, so a few pictures:

 Other than that, I did not think it would be appropriate to photograph anything inside the gate, but it was pretty awesome!  Humongous structures, piping, towers, etc.  But we saw no Airmen.  We saw no one at all except the gate guard.  We saw no vehicles driving around, and very few parked.  It was just really odd.  

Well, we took the longer way back to the FamCamp and that took us by some University of Tennessee facilities.  These facilities are surely related to the functions on the base.  But again, totally void of people, likely because it is summer and school is out right now.  

The area was far from void of life, though!  Doreen was calm and collected as we traversed this area, in fact she took the pictures.  A few years ago she would have been on the floor.  She had a very bad deer accident while driving our truck in 2011.  The deer hit the driver side mirror (at highway speed) and they both came through the driver's window striking her in the face.  This resulted in awful facial trauma, dental trauma and years of PTSD.  Proud of you, Nana!

That's it for today.  Tomorrow Liberty gets a hair cut so we will likely do lunch in town, get groceries and then come back and make preparations to depart here Tuesday morning.