Another very stormy day and lots of traffic on the way to Montgomery. We made only one stop - the Civil Rights Memorial Center which is part of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The memorial was designed by Maya Lin the same person who did the Viet Nam memorial in DC. Beautiful. See pictures. The little museum is quite moving and there are exhibits honoring the 40 people whose names are on the memorial although they know there are many many more who died in the cause of civil rights that remain unknown. The last exhibit is a Wall of Tolerance where each visitor asked to "sign" a pledge that they will commit to justice, equality, and human rights. Your name then is added to this huge wall of names that evolve with each name in a different color. It is really something as the names scroll from floor to ceililng. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a very imposing building across the street. There is lots of security. The guard told Jack that they frequently get bomb threats.
When we got back to the rv, a guy came up to us to ask where we were from because he saw the plates. He is from Plant City. He is an electrician who is working on the new prison across the street. I think it may be a federal jail if there is such a thing. I don't know because we got all turned around with the one way streets but I think it was the back of the Federal Courthouse. As we were walking along, I told Jack it looked like a jail or some kind of archives because there are no windows. He said the wrought iron fences looked like they were to keep people out not in. Anyway, I told the guy the museum was great and he said he was surprised at how much history there was in Montgomery and he was hoping to get around on his next trip to finish the work. Jack strongly hinted that our retractable step that won't retract just needs a whack of a hammer, but he didn't bite. I said he's an electrician, not a carpenter.
When we came into town there was a big traffic jam at a major intersection just before you get to the capitol. Could not figure out what was going on. It was people waiting for people to pull out of the parking places so they could pull in and pay their electric bills. As we were leaving town, we were at the same corner and it was the same thing. You wouldn't believe the confusion. Seemed strange to me that people go through all that. I guess because I pay all of our bills online.
Although still raining we made our way to Tuskegee to see museums of Booker T Washington and George Washington Carver. The parking lot for the home of BT Washington was full. We parked in the bus lot and walked up quite a few steps and a block or so to the front door. Guess what? Sign on the door saying that it's closed. Aggravating. Turns out there is a huge sign in the front lawn that you can't see from the highway saying they are renovating and it is closed for our safety. Still don't know who was parked in the lot that said visitors only. Walked across the street to the campus. It is very, very nice. Reminded me of Howard University but smaller. All of the bricks of all the buildings and the home were made by the students in the 1880s. This part of the campus is a national historic site. There was not a soul in sight which also doesn't explain all the cars in the lot. I think I'm going crazy?!?! See picture.
Because it was raining and foggy we didn't even try to find George Washington Carver museum or Tuskegee Airman Monument. Sad to say that the town of Tuskegee is pitiful. Shabby and so many closed stores etc. Stopped in gas station for directions. The clerk was clueless, but a very nice black guy walked me outside to show me the direction to go. He didn't recognize the road numbers but knew what I meant when I said we were headed to Union Springs. A sign on the door of the gas station said that everyone had to remove their "hoodies" before entering. Probably not a good sign. An old man came in for gas while I was there and only had $2. Not even enough for a gallon.
From Tuskegee we headed to Eufaula AL and Lakepoint State Park. It is beautiful. We are staying another day to kind of recuperate from the rain and traffic and gear up for the push to Tampa. Along the way we discovered that Union Springs is a center for hunting with a monument to a hunting dog. Large plantations/resorts for hunters as we traveled along a good highway, although we were the only ones on it, through these small deserted towns. We stopped at the Dollar General in Union Springs for pork and beans. I was the only white person in the store except for one clerk. The store was very, very busy. As the commercial at Grand Ole Opry said, Dollar General isn't cheap, it's thrifty.
Jack, who loves to be by the water, is out in the rain with a poncho. It is a great view. The park is, sadly as usual, empty. I would say there are about 10 rvs in this section of the park that would hold at least 60. I would definitely come back to do all the things we missed in AL and other things in west AL that weren't on our way this time.
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