A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
Day 16 – July 30:
This morning, after breakfast, I headed east about 30 minutes on US-72 to visit the Apron Museum located on Main Street in downtown Iuka, MS. The only thing moving this early on a Sunday morning were the big 18-wheel trucks rumbling thru town on their way somewhere. Of course, the small street-front museum was closed, but the beautiful First Baptist Church of Iuka across the street was very busy! A few blocks from the Apron Museum, I tried to visit the Old Courthouse Museum, but it was also closed.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
It didn’t look like I was going to have much luck finding museums open today. That was okay, since my plan was to visit friends later today, and wanted to spend as much time as possible with them. So, now I continued east on US-72 for another 30 minutes, across the border into Alabama, to visit the Rattlesnake Saloon Restaurant where I was hoping to have lunch. I had visited this ‘unique’ restaurant on another Road Trip, and wanted to enjoy that unusual dining experience again. However, they wouldn’t open for another hour, so I just took a photo and headed for my next museum.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
It was another 15 miles from the Rattlesnake Saloon to where I wanted to visit the Helen Keller Birthplace, located in Tuscumbia, AL but here again they were closed. Well, I’m batting 1000 today finding anyplace to visit! Next, while I was in Tuscumbia, I tried to visit the Tuscumbia Railroad Depot Museum, but guess what? You guessed it. They were closed.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Now it was only about 10 miles east on US-72 and then north on US-43, across the Tennessee River, where I wanted to visit the William C. Handy Museum located in Florence, AL but they were closed. This is really becoming a habit today. While in Florence, next I tried the Indian Mound Museum, but it was also closed. This was too much. I’ve never had a 100% museum failure day on any of my Road Trips before. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
I chucked the ‘Museum’ idea for today and got back on US-72 heading east and then north on SR-99 for about 45 minutes to visit my friends Terry and Mary, who live out in the boonies near Lester, AL. I had worked with Terry on the Apollo Manned Lunar Landing program, and our families had been church members at the same church back in the 1960s. Our children were friends and had grown up together, so I try to visit them every chance I get.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
We had a great visit, talking about our families (children), their families (grandchildren), friends, and my road trip adventures. Then we headed to Monrovia for a delicious meal at one of Terry’s favorite BBQ restaurants, Jim ‘N Nike’s BBQ Restaurant. I had their Baby Back Rib Plate with baked beans and cold slaw. Yummm! For dessert, I had a slice of their ‘To-Die-For’ cornbread with butter and honey. My tummy was about to bust by the time I finished all of that, and I still had enough left over, in a dogy-bag, for another meal tomorrow.
Photo Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;baby+back+rib+plate
Back at the house, we reminisced about ‘The Good Old Days’ until we couldn’t think of anything else to talk about. I said my goodbye, and headed to the motel, a good hour southeast, in Guntersville, Al for the night. By the time I got to the motel, put my things in the room, and recorded my ‘LACK OF’ museum visitations today, I was ready to relax and watch some TV. But as usual, there wasn’t anything to hold my attention, so I just went to bed and enjoyed another good night’s sleep.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
—–To Be Continued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is: John 10:10
Old Things R New 
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