A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
Day 6 (5/21/2022)
This morning after breakfast, Terry and I headed off in search of the Blue & Gray Museum located in Decatur, AL. We found the address, but the museum had closed (another victim of Covid I guess). As we were walking down Bank Street, looking for the museum, I saw this historical marker and took a photo. It seems that Ellen Hildreth was the founder of the Alabama Women’s Suffrage Club, there in what was then called New Decatur, in 1892 and hosted many National Suffrage Leaders at the Echols Opera House which is also located there on Bank Street.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
We gave up on the Blue & Gray Museum and it was only a few blocks to where we visited the Historic Decatur Railroad Depot Museum there in Decatur. This small museum is situated in the old restored 1905 Southern Railway Depot and displays many antique railroad artifacts and memorabilia related to the early development of Decatur and the surrounding De Kalb County, dating from the early 1800s. The museum also has a model railroad layout on the trackside of the depot. The curator informed us that as many as 100+ trains still pass by the museum in any given day. Busy place!
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Terry grew up in the Decatur area and he and the museum curator, who was also from Decatur, had a wonderful time talking about old times in the area and the many things they remembered that had changed over the years. I finally pulled Terry away from the curator, so he could talk to other visitors, and we headed for one of Terry’s favorite restaurants there in Decatur. This turned out to be the Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q Restaurant, where I ordered a plate of their St. Louis Bar-B-Q Ribs with a sweet potato, coleslaw, and a glass of their ‘real southern’ iced tea. The ribs were falling-off-the- bone delicious and tender. After that wonderful meal, I still had enough left over to enjoy that meal again tomorrow night.
Photo Credit: lastoneeating.wordpress.com/big-bob-gibson-bar-b-q/
After that fantastic meal, we headed back to Terry’s house in Lester where I took a quick nap. That was my first nap since I started this trip, and it really felt good. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the ‘Good Old Times’ in Titusville, what had happened to all the friends we had worked with, and how so many things have changed. We brought each other up to date on our children, grandchildren, our lives, and the many ailments us old geezers have to deal with. We pretty much exhausted every subject we could think of until it was time for dinner. Mary had prepared a light meal of chicken Taco Salad (Tostado) and it was delicious.
Photo Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/ Chicken-Tostada
After dinner I called DiVoran with my nightly update, and we spent a good hour, each taking our turn talking to her. Mary went to bed after that, and Terry and I stayed up talking about my trip plans and all the new aviation books he had read.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
So ended another great day with friends. The trip to the museum, all that good food, and reminiscing with Terry and Mary, were just the thing I needed to put me to sleep for a good night’s rest. ZZZZZ.
—–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 