We Be Trippin': The Great DIS-nee Road Trip

[DISgeeksfromDC]

DH and I have a fun sense for music, and that's why we chose that song. Our wedding party was introduced to Ozzy Osbourne's Crazytown and DH and I came out to the Austin Powers theme. For favors, we made a compilation cd of some of our favorite songs. We still have some left if anyone wants one!! Believe me, it took MONTHS to finalize the song selections!!

Fun! And, if you're serious about the wedding-favor CD compilations, I'd love one. (I have fairly eclectic taste in music, so I like to think I'm pretty easy to please...)

Here's the track list:

1. Beautiful Day - U2
2. Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry
3. Never Tear Us Apart - INXS
4. Sweet Caroline - Dave Mathews (My real name is Caroline, after the Neil Diamond song)
5. Love Will Keep Us Alive - Eagles
6. Brighter Than Sunshine - Aqualung
7. Into the Mystic - Van Morrison
8. Crazy Love - Van Morrison
9. Have A Little Faith - Jewel
10. Sweetest Thing - U2
11. You're My Best Friend - Queen
12. Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
13. Not Myself - John Mayer
14. St. Patrick's Day - John Mayer
15. Man and Wife - Michelle Featherstone
16. The Honeymoon Song - Everclear

Let me know if anyone wants one! Just PM me your address if you're not already on the mailing list.

Oooh! (I saw the first track, and I like it already! )

PMing you now...

'Sorry to go off-topic, but... 'Guess what I found in my mailbox today?!?

All the way from Atlanta ... It's a music CD mixed by our very own KigerKat (leftover loot from her recent wedding)!

Thanks for the great, new tunes, KigerKat! It's a "Beautiful Day"!

 

[madbrad76]

DIS-nee family, believe it or not, it is almost time for us to move on to the final desination of my part of the Road Trip. Before we move on to the Florence, AL area, I would like to make 2 short stops. Both of theses places are important places to me and my family. The 1st place is a place that my kids and I love to go to on the weekends. The other place is where I go just about everyday so I can afford my now yearly treks to WDW.


Huntsville Speedway

Throughout the years, Huntsville Speedway's name has changed several times, but the competition at the little quarter-mile track nestled at the foot of Green Mountain hasn't. Before a complete remodeling of the Speedway this year, the biggest change was the different names the track has been called, including Sportsmen's Speedway, Huntsville International Speedway, Huntsville Motor Speedway and today Huntsville Speedway.

But even though the owners and names have changed several times, the quality of racing has gone unchanged with some of the nation's top drivers competing at the local track. Huntsville Speedway has had its share of big name drivers, including NASCAR Winston Cup King Richard Petty. Petty captured the only Grand National race (which is now the Nextel Cup circuit) ever held at the track on Aug. 8, 1962. Petty won the Rocket City 200 in a 1962 Plymouth, leading all but two laps.

Bobby and Donnie Allison cut their teeth in racing at Huntsville, along with several other drivers that went on to fame, including Red Farmer, Darrell Waltrip, Neil Bonnett, Jimmy ``Smut'' Means and Davey Allison. Huntsville has had a mixed bag of drivers throughout its 36-year history, including Indianapolis 500 drivers Tony Bettenhausen Jr., Gary Bettenhausen and Sam Posey. Other Winston Cup drivers that have turned left a few times on HMS's oval track include six-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Sterling Marlin, Mark Martin, Ted Musgrave, Coo Coo Marlin, Hut Stricklin, Joe Ruttman, Rick Wilson, Tiny Lund, Mickey Gibbs, Bobby Hamilton and the late country and western singer Marty Robbins.

 

[madbrad76]

OK folks, this is our last stop until we reach the Quad Cities. This will be a very short stop because you have to go through a lot to get into this place. Unless somebody wants to stick around and wait for proper clearence, we'll just make a quick drive by.

Browns Ferry

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant – TVA’s first nuclear plant – is located on 840 acres beside Wheeler Reservoir on the Tennessee River, near Athens, Alabama. The plant is named after a ferry that operated at the site until the middle of the 20th century.

The plant consists of three General Electric boiling water reactors. Units 2 and 3 are capable of producing enough electricity to supply the needs of about 1.3 million homes every day. Unit 1 returned to service in June 2007 following upgrades.




To help congratualte the TVA employees for bringing online the 1st nuclear plant in over 11 years, we had a visit from a very important person, the President. Here is a picture of him sitting in the Unit 1 Control Room.

For a special treat, here is a picture of the actual reactor core from one of the nuclear reactors. This picture was taken during a refueling outage when we take off the top of the reactor vessel itself, replace old reactor fuel, and repair equipment. The large round shape in the picture is the reactor core and the long rectangular shaped object in the top right corner is a fuel bundle being removed from the reactor core. That blue glow you see is called Cherenkov radiation. Cherenkov radiation, when it is intense, appears as a weak bluish white glow in the pools of water shielding some nuclear reactors. The Cherenkov radiation in cases such as this is caused by electrons from the reactor traveling at speeds greater than the speed of light in water. That's right, you are actually seeing the electrons travelling through the reactor core.

For more info:
TVA - Browns Ferry
Browns Ferry Wikipedia page




Believe it or not folks, we are headed to the last stop on my part of the Dis-nee Family Road Trip. This final stop should be short. Disneymommom, if your keeping up, once I finish up in Florence, AL we are on to Dry Prong, LA.

 

[Mrs. Fleagle]

Awesome trip MadBrad! This is fun.....and Eric's company owns a TV station in Huntsville...so it was neat to see the area.

 

[madbrad76]

Awesome trip MadBrad! This is fun.....and Eric's company owns a TV station in Huntsville...so it was neat to see the area.

Thanks Mrs.F. It has been a fun trip for me too, even though it has been kind of LONG!

Since Eric's company owns a TV stataion here, y'all should make a "business" trip here. I would feel honored to get to meet the both of you and the rest of your family too.

 

[Marshay]

Wow - MadBrad -- you have raised the bar yet again on our great road trip!!

Wonderful tie-in with Walt Disney and Outer Space!

I've never been to a speedway/car race/drag, etc but it's on my list. My DH goes out to West Virginia Speedway to take photos of the drag racing, etc.

Wow -- nuclear reactor core!!! Pretty hot stuff!

 

[Mrs. Fleagle]

Thanks Mrs.F. It has been a fun trip for me too, even though it has been kind of LONG!

Since Eric's company owns a TV stataion here, y'all should make a "business" trip here. I would feel honored to get to meet the both of you and the rest of your family too.

That could be a possibility......?????..........As long as his company pays, hee hee. I'll mention it!

 

[Suz D]

Hi Everyone,

I'm afraid I'm going to have to back out of the road trip. I had planned on all of you visiting us, but it looks like you'll arrive here about 10 days before we move. With the situation with my mom and the fact that we still don't have a place to live in Morgantown, I don't think I can manage it. We're leaving again Wednesday to try to find something and we close on this house on the 30th. The timing of the VRT just hit us wrong. Bobbie was in the hospital on Sunday and Monday with pneumonia. I tell you, if it wasn't for our house selling so quickly, I'd say that we just can't catch a break. I'm grateful for the sale of the house. What a blessing. We're just maxed out on the stressometer.

I'm sorry to bail on all of you. I'm still following the thread as time allows. It's one of my stress relievers. Miss you all and I've loved the trip so far!

Suz D

 

[Marshay]

Hi Everyone,

I'm afraid I'm going to have to back out of the road trip. I had planned on all of you visiting us, but it looks like you'll arrive here about 10 days before we move. With the situation with my mom and the fact that we still don't have a place to live in Morgantown, I don't think I can manage it. We're leaving again Wednesday to try to find something and we close on this house on the 30th. The timing of the VRT just hit us wrong. Bobbie was in the hospital on Sunday and Monday with pneumonia. I tell you, if it wasn't for our house selling so quickly, I'd say that we just can't catch a break. I'm grateful for the sale of the house. What a blessing. We're just maxed out on the stressometer.

I'm sorry to bail on all of you. I'm still following the thread as time allows. It's one of my stress relievers. Miss you all and I've loved the trip so far!

Suz D

Hey Suz! Wishing you the best during this stressful time!!

Just know, that if you really want to do the road trip:

(a) we can always fit you in...doesn't have to be in order...and it could be the new area, too (as you find out about it!)

or

(b) your "road trip" could just be a picture of a single place that you like to picnic at

or

(c) one picture of your cool-looking mall or church or movie theater or playground etc

or

(d) even just a picture of your family in front of the old/new house waving goodbye...your stop could be a drive-by...

Of course, if it's just "yet another thing to do", don't worry about it!

This is supposed to be for fun -- nothing to get stressed about!

 

[Mrs. Fleagle]

Hi Everyone,

I'm afraid I'm going to have to back out of the road trip. I had planned on all of you visiting us, but it looks like you'll arrive here about 10 days before we move. With the situation with my mom and the fact that we still don't have a place to live in Morgantown, I don't think I can manage it. We're leaving again Wednesday to try to find something and we close on this house on the 30th. The timing of the VRT just hit us wrong. Bobbie was in the hospital on Sunday and Monday with pneumonia. I tell you, if it wasn't for our house selling so quickly, I'd say that we just can't catch a break. I'm grateful for the sale of the house. What a blessing. We're just maxed out on the stressometer.

I'm sorry to bail on all of you. I'm still following the thread as time allows. It's one of my stress relievers. Miss you all and I've loved the trip so far!

Suz D

Aw, don't worry Suz........just let us know how things are going. Wishing you all the best....a wonderful new home, an easy transition, and comfort in all the decisions that you'll be making!

 

[DISgeeksfromDC]

This is supposed to be for fun -- nothing to get stressed about!

Agreed! (Thanks, Marshay!)

And, Suz: Hang in there!

 

[Circusgirl]

Hi Everyone,

I'm afraid I'm going to have to back out of the road trip. I had planned on all of you visiting us, but it looks like you'll arrive here about 10 days before we move. With the situation with my mom and the fact that we still don't have a place to live in Morgantown, I don't think I can manage it. We're leaving again Wednesday to try to find something and we close on this house on the 30th. The timing of the VRT just hit us wrong. Bobbie was in the hospital on Sunday and Monday with pneumonia. I tell you, if it wasn't for our house selling so quickly, I'd say that we just can't catch a break. I'm grateful for the sale of the house. What a blessing. We're just maxed out on the stressometer.

I'm sorry to bail on all of you. I'm still following the thread as time allows. It's one of my stress relievers. Miss you all and I've loved the trip so far!

Suz D

I agree with Marshay - should you want to wait to have us visit for a tour when you are settled and able to enjoy it, I'll be happy to visit whenever it is! Don't worry about it, though. You have way more than enough on your plate. We'll be here whenever you come by, and look forward to seeing pictures of your new place when it all comes together. And I still want to catch some time with you when you make it out to Seattle!
Take really good care of yourself, and all our best thoughts and energy are with you!

 

[DSNY4ever]

Good Luck Suz, we'll all send good vibes your way so that you find an even better place to call home

For everyone else, great job on the road trip so far. I am now very sad that I missed out on the opportunity to go to Space camp! But I went and did some research for my wing of the trip today...except I ate some of my research before I took a picture of it, I guess I'll have to try again! Good thing we are cruising below the speed limit so there is still time

 

[madbrad76]

Suz D- Let me apologize for taking so long on my part of the road trip. It has really taken longer then I had planned.

Marshay had some good ideas about you still posting something. If you want, feel free to post something anytime you want and during any part of the trip. This was planned to very informal.

I'm glad you were able to sell your house and I wish you lots of luck on finding a new one. Heck, as long as I'm taking, you'll be moved and settled into a new house long before I'm finished with my part of the trip.

 

[madbrad76]

OK, I'm sure everyone is glad we're back on moving again. However, it does seem as if this thread and the Adventurosity Thread are close to meeting their maker. I hope that's not the case though!

Anyway, I'm going to finish up my last part of the trip by giving a tour of the 4 cities that make up the Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area. I'll start with the smallest city, population wise, and end with Florence. I hope everyone enjoys visiting where I live.


Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area

The Shoals is a metropolitan area in northwestern Alabama, officially known as the Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area, including the cities of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, and Sheffield, and the counties of Lauderdale and Colbert. The population is about 142,950.

The Shoals is home to the University of North Alabama located in Florence and is the birthplace of Helen Keller, Tuscumbia. Every summer the play "The Miracle Worker" is produced for the public to view on the original Keller homesite. The water pump at which Helen rediscovered language is used as a prop in the play. Other area attractions include the Zodiac Theater located in downtown Florence.

The Shoals is also noted for its rich music traditions and is sometimes referred to as the birth place of the blues. W. C. Handy, credited by some as the father of the Blues was born there. In addition it is the literal birthplace of three members of the contemporary southern rock band Drive-By Truckers. In the 1970s and 80s, and to some extent even today, The Shoals was home to a thriving recording industry. Popular groups and musicians including The Rolling Stones, Julian Lennon and Lynyrd Skynyrd have recorded there. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame is located in Tuscumbia.

In the summer, late July and early August, the area hosts the famed Handy Music and Helen Keller Festivals.

Notable attorney, actor, former senator and presidential contender Fred Thompson was born in Sheffield. Also the actor Cedric Pendleton, Tyler Perry's House of Payne, is from Florence.


For more info:
Gateway to Northwest Alabama

 

[madbrad76]

Tuscumbia, Alabama

Tuscumbia is a city in and the county seat of Colbert County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census, the population was 7,856 and is included in The Shoals MSA. Tuscumbia is the hometown of Helen Keller and the location of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Tuscumbia is also home to Deshler High School, whose football team currently holds the record for all-time winning percentage in the region. Deshler has won 3 4A state championships. Their first State Championship victory was in 1990 in an amazing game against T.R. Miller which was played at Deshler's home stadium. The team was down 21 to 13 with 30 seconds left in the game but managed to win the game 28 to 27 in overtime. Their other two state championship victories came in 1998 and 1999. The team went to 3 consecutive 4A state championships from 2002 to 2005 but lost all 3 of the games. The team had a bit of a down season in 2006, winning only 6 games and being eliminated in the first round of the Playoffs. Currently, the team is marching towards another State Championship appearance. On November 30th, 2007 the Tigers defeated the Brooks Lions to earn the right to play in the 2007 State Championship at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.




Helen Keller

Helen Keller was born at an estate called Ivy Green in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880, to Captain Arthur H. Keller, a former officer of the Confederate Army, and Kate Adams Keller, a cousin of Robert E. Lee and daughter of Charles W. Adams, a former Confederate general. She was not born blind and deaf; it was not until nineteen months of age that she came down with an illness described by doctors as "an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain", which could have possibly been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left her deaf and blind. At that time her only communication partner was Martha Washington, the six-year-old daughter of the family cook, who was able to create a sign language with her; by age seven, she had over 60 home signs to communicate with her family.

n 1886, her mother, inspired by an account in Charles Dickens' American Notes of the successful education of another deafblind child, Laura Bridgman, dispatched young Helen, accompanied by her father, to seek out Dr. J. Julian Chisolm, an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist in Baltimore, for advice. He, subsequently, put them in touch with Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children at the time. Bell advised the couple to contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind, the school where Bridgman had been educated, which was then located in South Boston. The school delegated teacher and former student Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and then only 20 years old, to become Keller's instructor. It was the beginning of a 49-year-long relationship, eventually evolving into governess and then eventual companion.

In 1890, ten-year-old Helen Keller was introduced to the story of Ragnhild Kåta, a deafblind Norwegian girl who had learned to speak. Kåta's success inspired Keller to want to learn to speak as well. Sullivan taught her charge to speak using the Tadoma method of touching the lips and throat of others as they speak, combined with fingerspelling letters on the palm of the child's hand. Later Keller learned Braille, and used it to read not only English but also French, German, Greek, and Latin. Later she wrote 2 books and acted in a movie.

In 1888, Keller attended the Royal Institute For the Blind. In 1894, Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan moved to New York City to attend the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf and Horace Mann School for the Deaf. In 1896, they returned to Massachusetts and Helen entered The Cambridge School for Young Ladies before gaining admittance, in 1900, to Radcliffe College. Her admirer Mark Twain had introduced her to Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleton Rogers, who, with his wife, paid for her education. In 1904, at the age of 24, Keller graduated from Radcliffe magna cum laude, becoming the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Keller went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities amid numerous other causes. She was a suffragist, a pacifist, a Wilson opposer, a radical socialist, and a birth control supporter. In 1915, Helen Keller and George Kessler founded the Helen Keller International (HKI) organization. This organization is devoted to research in vision, health and nutrition. In 1920, she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Keller and Sullivan traveled to over 39 countries, making several trips to Japan and becoming a favorite of the Japanese people. Keller met every US President from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson and was friends with many famous figures, including Alexander Graham Bell, Charlie Chaplin, and Mark Twain.

Keller suffered a series of strokes in 1961 and spent the last years of her life at her home. On September 14, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Helen Keller the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the United States' highest two civilian honors. In 1965 she was elected to the Women's Hall of Fame at the New York World's Fair.

Keller devoted much of her later life to raise funds for the American Foundation for the Blind. She died in her sleep on June 1, 1968, passing away 26 days before her 88th birthday, at her home in Arcan Ridge near Westport, Connecticut. A service was held in her honor at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC and her ashes were placed there next to her constant companions, Anne Sullivan and Polly Thompson.


For more ifo on Helen Keller:
The Life of Helen Keller




Ivy Green

Built in 1820 only one year after Alabama became the 22nd State of the Union, Ivy Green is a simple, white clapboard home design in typical Southern architecture. The main house is of Virginia cottage construction, with four large rooms on the first floor bisected by a wide hall. Each room boasts an individual fireplace. Upstairs are three rooms connected by a hall. Having survived untouched through the ravages of the Civil War, Ivy Green is maintained to the smallest detail in its original state.

Since 1954 Helen Keller's birthplace has been a permanent shrine to the "miracle" that occurred in a blind and deaf seven-year old girl's life. At that time Ivy Green was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Here is a picture of DS's Early Arts class at the famous well where Helen Keller "spoke" her 1st sign language word - WATER. My DS is the one wearing glasses and the green & white striped shirt.


For more info on Ivy Green:
Official site of Ivy Green, Helen Keller's birthplace
Ivy Green Birthplace of Helen Keller Virtual Tour

 

[madbrad76]

Sheffield, Alabama

Sheffield is a city in Colbert County, Alabama, and is included in The Shoals MSA. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 9,652. Sheffield is the birthplace of notable attorney, actor, former senator and presidential contender Fred Thompson. It is also home to the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio where many popular twentieth century musicians recorded their work. Cher, The Rolling Stones, Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Paul Simon, The Staple Singers, Joe Cocker and many others recorded the biggest hits of their careers in this small studio, that was well known and respected through out the music industry.

Sheffield, at the Spring Creek boat launch and park area was also recognized as one of the Colbert County sites of embarkation, by riverboat and barge from the southern side of the Tennessee River enroute to Waterloo, Alabama, on the north side, during the historical relocation of Eastern and Southern United States Indian Tribes, known as " The Trail Of Tears".




Muscle Shoals Sound Studio

The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio was formed in 1969 when musicians Barry Beckett (keyboards), Roger Hawkins (drums), Jimmy Johnson (guitar) and David Hood (bass) (called The Swampers) left FAME Studios to create their own studio. They were the first rhythm section to own their own studios and, eventually, their own publishing and production companies. The distinctive accompaniment and arrangements have been heard on a tremendous number of legendary recordings, including those from Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, and the Staple Singers amongst others.

The original rhythm section that broke away to create these studios first formed in 1967 and initially played sessions in New York and Nashville as well as on the famous FAME recordings. The initial successes led to the arrival of more mainstream rock and pop performers all desperate to pick up on the group's golden touch, among them The Rolling Stones, Traffic, Boz Scaggs, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, and even 1950s rock band Bill Haley & His Comets (who recorded their final two albums at Muscle Shoals) as well as the 'next' generation of soul talent such as Bobby Womack and Millie Jackson.

Some of the famous artists and the songs they recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio include:
1. Hey Jude - Wilson Pickett
2. 3614 Jackson Highway - Cher
3. This Girl's In Love With You - Aretha Franklin
4. Right On - Wilson Pickett
5. Sugar, Sugar - Wilson Pickett
6. Call Me - Aretha Franklin
7. Eleanor Rigby - Aretha Franklin
8. High Time We Went - Joe Cocker
9. Brown Sugar - Rolling Stones
10.Sticky Fingers - Rolling Stones
11.Wild Horses - Rolling Stones
12.A Very Lovely Lady - Linda Ronstadt
13.Back In '72 - Bob Seger
14.The Percy Sledge Way - Percy Sledge
15.Kodachrome - Paul Simon
16.Loves Me Like A Rock - Paul Simon
17.There Goes Rhymin' Simon - Paul Simon
18.Phases and Stages - Willie Nelson
19.Bloody Mary Morning - Willie Nelson
20.Still Crazy After All These Years - Paul Simon
21.I'll Be Your Everything - Percy Sledge
22.Katmandu - Bob Seger
23.Sailin' - Rod Stewart
24.Atlantic Crossing - Rod Stewart
25.My LIttle Town - Simon And Garfunkle
26.Tonight's The Night - Rod Stewart
27.Street Survivors - Lynyrd Skynyrd
28.Down South Jukin' - Lynyrd Skynyrd
29.We've Got Tonight - Bob Seger
30.Stranger In Town - Bob Seger


For more info:
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio

 

[catotigger]

I really like all the info you've given - but thanks especially for the Helen Keller stuff.

As a youngster, I was always fascinated by what Helen Keller accomplished, and how Annie Sullivan made it happen! It would be neat to see all the stuff there, especially the pump.

 

[Circusgirl]

Such cool things, MadBrad - thanks! Helen Keller's story also fascinated me so really enjoyed the trip to the famous first word site. And the studio story and pictures were also fabulous. So much of our great popular music was fueled by studio groups like this.

 

[madbrad76]

I really like all the info you've given - but thanks especially for the Helen Keller stuff.

As a youngster, I was always fascinated by what Helen Keller accomplished, and how Annie Sullivan made it happen! It would be neat to see all the stuff there, especially the pump.

Such cool things, MadBrad - thanks! Helen Keller's story also fascinated me so really enjoyed the trip to the famous first word site. And the studio story and pictures were also fabulous. So much of our great popular music was fueled by studio groups like this.

Thank you both for the nice compliments. Helen Keller was truely a great woman. My dad was born and raised in Sheffield. He remembers several times going by Ivy Green and seeing Helen Keller outside. I myself have been to the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. and saw where both she and Anne Sullivan are entombed. Here is a picture of the marker at their tomb. If you notice where the color on the front of the plaque is worn away, that's where the thousands of visitors each year run their fingers over the braille.