Van Tour 98 The Corps 2002

Roadtrek Tour No. 98

Tour of the CorpsOctober 2002

19 Days

3,019 Miles

Itinerary Oct 27-Nov 13, 2002 Tour No. 98 Tour of the Corps (18 Days)

Ladew Topiary Gardens, Jacksonville, MDSkyline DriveLewis Mountain CG, Elkton, VANational D-Day Memorial, Bedford, VAWarrior Creek Corps of Eng CG, Wilkesboro, NCOld Burke Co. Courthouse, Morgantown, NCDucktown Basin Museum, Ducktown, TNHarrison Bay State Park, Chattanooga, TNRaccoon Mountain TVA Facility, Chattanooga, TNCullman Co. Museum, Cullman, ALWhitten Corps of Engineers CG, Fulton, MSAmory Regional Museum, Amory, MSColumbus, MSTwittley Branch Corps of Eng CG, Collinsville, MSLaurel, MSPaul Johnson State Park, Hattiesburg, MSArmed Forces Museum, Hattiesburg, MSOld Depot Museum, Selma, ALGunter Hill Corps of Engineers CG, Montgomery, ALF Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum, Montgomery, ALTuskegee Instiute National Site, Tuskegee, ALR Schaefer Head Corps of Eng CG, West Point, GAChattahoochee Nature Center, Roswell, GACheraw State Park, Cheraw, SCRichland-Americamps, Ashland, VA

Roadtrek 190 VersatileChevy Van Motorhome

FALL TOUR 2002Southern Loop2,630 Miles, 19 Days

Campgrounds:

Boydton, VA: North Bend Park, CofE, 804-738-6662Jeffersonville

Dep-Sun Oct 27 48/67f

Arr-Thu Nov 14 40/55f

220 Mi

Boydton

PA

Tue Nov 12 42/66f

Prestwould Plantation

Ladew Topiary Gardens

Tue, Wed Oct 29, 30, 47/71f

Sun Oct 27 50/70f

Wilkesboro

Chattanooga

Collinsville

Wilkesboro, NC: Marley’s Ford, CofE, 910-921-3750

Chattanooga, TN: Harrison Bay St Pk, 423-344-6214 (2 Nights)

Fulton, MS: Jamie L Whitten, CofE, 601-862-7070

Collinsville, MS: Twittley Branch CG, CofE, 601-626-8068 (2 Nights)

Fulton

MonroevilleMontgomery

West Point

Hattiesburg

Hattiesburg, MS: Paul Johnson St Pk, 601-582-7721 (2 Nights)

Monroeville, AL: Isaac Creek CG, CofE, 334-282-4254 (2 Nights)

Montgomery, AL: Gunter Hill, CofE, 334-269-1053

West Point, GA: R Schaefer Head CG, CofE, 703-645-2404

Roswell

Hartwell Cheraw

Hartwell, GA: Watsadlers, CofE, 706-376-4788

Cheraw, SC: Cheraw St Pk, 803-537-2215 Henderson

Henderson, NC: Nutbush Bridge St Pk, 919-438-7791

Greensboro Arboretum

Raccoon Mtn

TVA Plant

Burke Co Courthouse

Amory MuseumCullman Co

Museum

Depot Museum

Scott Fitzgerald Museum

Tuskegee Institute

Chattahoochee Nature Center

Pinehurst

Lansford Canal Park

Patterson’s Mill County Store

Ducktown Basin Museum 281 Mi

92Mi154 Mi

85 Mi

105 Mi

242 Mi

101 Mi

197 Mi

189 Mi

331 Mi

215 Mi

167 Mi

359 Mi

Fri Nov 8 42/64f

Thu Nov 7 44/68f

Sat, Sun Nov 9, 10 42/64f

Mon, Nov 11 42/64f

Thur Oct 31 50/78f

Mon Oct 28 48/71f

Wed Nov 13 40/60f

Fri, Sat Nov 1, 2 44/68f

Sun, Mon Nov 3, 4 44/68f

Tue, Wed Nov 5,6 44/68f

Jimmy Rodgers Museum

TN

SC

NC

MD

VA

MS

GA

AL

Roswell, GA: Mike (2 Nights)

Columbus

112 Mi

Jacksonville, MD Log Entry: Toured Ladew Topiary Gardens and Manor House, Jacksonville, MD. We did it again! After 8 years of our travels in the van we still find great attractions. Of courses they are on the byways not the hiways but we like the country roads. The estate was the home of Harvey S. Ladew, an artist and foxhunting devotee. There are 15 gardens including a pink garden, white garden, iris garden, Victorian garden, berry garden which are still all still in bloom. There is topiary everywhere, including sculptured swans atop a hedge and a man on a horse jumping a fence with dogs chasing after a fox.

Ladew Topiary Gardens

Log Entry: There is a giant Buddha with folded arms and a ship on water. Ladew was an artist and his studio is open as well as the house. Carved on steps in on of the gardens is the saying "If you want to be happy for a week-get married, if you want to be happy for a month -kill your pig, if you want to be happy forever-build a garden". There are also many large bird houses.

Jacksonville, MD

Ladew Topiary Gardens

Virginia and North Carolina

Log Entry: Along Skyline Drive we saw a spectacular panorama of fall colors - lots of tourist. The road reaches 3,680 feet in elevation and there was a steady stream of cars. It was free with our Golden Age card. Drove as short distance on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Even in the rain the trees are colorful. We ran through some fog.

Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway

Bedford, VA Log Entry: Stopped in Bedford, VA to tour the National D-Day Memorial. The small town of Bedford suffered proportionately more casualties on D-Day than any other town in the country. We took a tour in the rain on a golf cart with a very knowledgeable guide. The current state of the project is an impressive, large outdoor memorial featuring an English garden leading to a LST landing craft in stone at the edge of the water, a pool, leading to a sand beach and then a high wall. Statuary depicts troops in the water, pinned down on the beach and scaling the wall. In back of the wall is a memorial arch inscribed with the word "Overlord" which was the name of the operation. The arch is 44 feet six inches high, to represent the day, June 6, 1944. On of the fallen men on the beach has a replica of a bible that was picked up and returned to his sister in Bedford. There are 13 flags flying in front of the arch, each representing one of the nations involved in the invasion. At the sides of the pool are individual tributes to the Naval and Air Forces. The overall project won't be completed for 4 or 5 years.

D-Day Memorial

North Carolina Log Entry: Stopped in Morgantown, NC to tour the Old Burke County Courthouse built in 1837. There is a heritage museum with local exhibits and a replica of the law office of Sen. Sam Ervin, who is from Morgantown and was the chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee. Helen Keller went to the school for the deaf here. We drove through the tail end of the Smokey Mountains and along the Nantahala River in Nantahala National Forest. We saw a lot of the Kudzu vine, which is taking over the trees in the area. It grows over anything that stands, including fences and old houses making them into sculptures. The fog in the mountains really did look like smoke. The river is a popular site for white water rafting.

Natahala River

Burke County Courthouse

TennesseeLog Entry: We next toured the Ducktown Basin Museum in Ducktown, TN. We saw a slide show on the area's copper-mining industry and how native Cherokees were forced to join The Trail of Tears to Oklahoma in 1838. There is a simulated copper mine tunnel, and displays. A chimney near museum is the remains of the first copper mine in 1850 and you can see where a section of the mine being dug caved in. Copper mining was the area's industry until 1968 when a mining by-product, Sulfuric Oxide took over. Surface mining destroyed vegetation and all the trees were cut for fuel for steam engines at the mills, leaving barren land. Reforestation has restored much of the valley.

Ducktown Basin

Chattanooga, TN

Log Entry: 4:00 PM we arrive at Harrison Bay St Park for a two night stay. We got a gravel site with large trees on a lake for $16. The park is huge and has a marina, swimming pool and a "Jack Nicholson Signature Golf Course". This is our first night without the heater. Saw Roadtrek number 3.

Harrison Bay

Chattanooga, TN Log Entry: Drove to the West Side of Chattanooga to tour the Raccoon Mountain Pumped Storage Facility, a Tennessee Valley Authority power generating plant 1,160 feet inside Raccoon Mountain. We drove what seemed like forever up the mountain to the top, where a huge dammed reservoir and a visitor's center are located. From there, it was a 52-second, 1,160 foot ride straight down in an elevator to the underground power plant. The visitor's center and elevator were built because "people built it and want to see it". Water is pumped from the Tennessee River up to the reservoir on top of the mountain during times of lower power cost, usually at night. During high usage, high cost, time during the day it is released to run through generators, producing power.

Raccoon Mountain

Cullman, AL

Log Entry: Stopped in Cullman, AL to tour the Cullman County Museum, which is housed in a replica of the home of John Cullmann, the town's founder. There are displays of the town's identity and German heritage include antique clothing, American Indian artifacts and a street scene with various historical artifacts displayed in storefront windows. Among the atifacts were an advertisement for 1924 Chevrolets, an old ballot box and a beautiful quilt made from cross-stitched panels. Life-size bronze statue of Cullmann stands outside.

Cullman County Museum

Fulton, MS

Log Entry: We arrived at Whitten Campground of the Corps of Engineers at 3:00 PM after driving all over the countryside trying to find it with conflicting directions. It is on the Tenn-Tom Waterway and has a dam and canal locks nearby. Since 9-11, all the Corps dams are off limits and the directions were via the dam road. The drive was worth it; we got a flat concrete pad site in heavy woods with a lake vista off a paved road. There are some pull-thru sites. The campground has paved, lighted walks down to the water which is very wide here. We drove into the Central Time Zone today.

Whitten Campground

Amory, MS

Log Entry: Stopped to visit the Amory Regional Museum in Amory, MS. What was planned as a half-hour stop lasted two hours. The museum is a ten. The town was built by the railroad and has a lot of railroad related memorabilia, including a passenger car. We saw many old implements, some we've never seen before, like the workings of an old wooden tumbler lock. They have a Mardi Gras dress whose train takes up half the room it's in.

Amory Regional Museum

Continued: The museum was originally a sanitarium then a hospital. It has a lot of related medical items, an iron lung (both adult and child), a complete hospital patient's room with hand crank up bed (Fay cranked them as a nurse) and a hand lever propelled wheel chair with a front wheel steering lever. There is a whole room on Indians and another on buildings in the town with many old photos. Out back, there is a fully furnished 1840 log cabin, complete with a rifle hole in the wall to shoot out.

Amory, MS

Amory Regional Museum

Columbus, MS

Log Entry: We stopped to walk in Columbus, MS. The visitor center is the birthplace home of Tennessee Williams, who wrote "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar Named Desire". The town's historic district has many stately homes built in the early to mid 1800"s. Memorial Day started here as Decoration Day by southern women who decorated the graves of the union soldiers as well as the confederates.

Historic District

Hattiesburg, MSLog Entry: Arrived at Paul Johnson State Park, below Hattiesburg, at 2:00 PM. You drive right over a spillway to get to the campground area. This is one of our favorite state parks and one of the nicest. Many people winter here, you only pay for 20 days a month at $9 a day senior rate. The campground is 3/4 full and 2/3 are here for the season. This is an ideal place for snowbirds, it is closer than either TX or FL. There are paved roads and long paved sites, many on a lake in tall southern pines. Prisoners from the Hattiesburg jail work in the park and they wear striped pants. We got a nice level site on the lake for a two-day stay.

Paul Johnson State Park

Hattiesburg, MS

Log Entry: Stopped to tour the Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby, which is just up the street from the campground. The museum recently moved into a new building and all the exhibits have been newly redo. There are many dioramas and displays, which cover all the American wars, from the War of 1812 through the terrorism of 9-11. There are exhibits on the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish American War, the Civil War, WWI (when Camp Shelby was established), WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Shield and 9-11 with displays on Afghanistan.

Armed Forces MuseumCamp Shelby

Continued: The exhibits include arms, equipment (including planes, helicopters, and tanks) and uniforms of both sides along with maps, dioramas, film, etc. There is a MS servicemen's Metal of Honor Tower. The museum covers all the services, including the Merchant Marine. Camp Shelby is primarily a National Guard training facility and handles about 100,000 people a year.

Hattiesburg, MS

Armed Forces MuseumCamp Shelby

Monroeville, AL

Log Entry: Arrived at Isaac Creek Corps of Engineers Campground at 2:45 PM for a two day stay and got a large, long paved concrete site in the woods for $7 with Golden Age card. You could put about six Roadtreks in a row on the site. There are some pull-thru sites.

Isaac Creek

Selma, AL

Log Entry: Toured the Old Depot Museum in Selma, AL. The museum is in a restored railroad depot. There is a section covering the 47-mile Civil Rights March by Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery. Our tour guide was a woodcarver in Williamsburg who moved to Selma and continued carving. There are many old photos of people and buildings in the area. There are WWII photos of Pacific battles and old military uniforms.

Old Depot Museum

Continued: There is an old local bank teller's cage from a bank robbed by Jesse James, farm machinery, a dentist chair, a one man band, a stove made from the patterns used to cast it and other memorabilia. Out back is a bale of cotton, an old caboose and a building with fire department equipment including an old fire truck.

Selma, AL

Old Depot Museum

Montgomery, Al

Log Entry: Arrived at Gunter Hill Corps of Engineers Campground at 1:15 PM. We got a graveled site in woods off of a paved road. The campground is on a creek and so big it has both hunting and fishing. A couple from California pulled in next to us in a Roadtrek. That is number 4. They are out on a 6-month trip. They plan to install solar panels on the roof in place of a generator.

Gunter Hill

Montgomery, AL

Log Entry: Stopped in Montgomery to tour the F.Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum. It is in a 3-room section of the house the Fitzgeralds rented during writing of "Tender is the Night" and her "Save Me the Waltz." The rest of the house is now apartments. It features stories, pictures, film scripts, letters and memorabilia of the lives and works of noted the novelist of the 1920s and '30s, his author/artist wife and daughter Scottie. He wrote 5 novels including "The Great Gadsby".

F.Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum

Tuskegee, AL

Log Entry: Drove on to Tuskegee, AL to tour the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site on the campus of Tuskegee University. The campus is very large and well kept with many of the original buildings recently refurbished. The museum features the history of Booker T. Washington and his efforts to start a school for black men and women. He invited George Washington Carver to join the faculty as the head of the new Department of Agriculture. The school wanted to teach better agricultural methods to the black people in mostly rural areas and to equip them with skills to improve their livelihood. They had a bus called "The Booker T. Washington Agricultural School on Wheels" that visited the workers in the fields. The museum has many of Carver's experiments and classroom tools. He taught them to use everything - "Nothing in Nature is Wasted". He was best known for his work with peanuts. Tuskegee Institute was the only center in the United States to treat black polio victims. We saw a film on the WWII Tuskegee Airmen. They were trained here but until young Senator Harry S. Truman intervened, they were not taken into the air corps. Then first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, interceded to get them active duty - no blacks were allowed to fly before then. They finally saw battle in 1943 and went on to distinguish themselves as great airmen.

Tuskegee Instiute

Roswell, GALog Entry: Stopped in Roswell to tour the Chattahoochee Nature Center, a wetland area directly on the Chattahoochee River. The center was a self-guided tour through a butterfly garden, beaver habitat, lakes and wooded areas. Several people were holding eagles and hawks. There are large cages of raptors, with turkey buzzards, a bald eagle and many owls. There is also a reptile building. We took a guided tour on a raised boardwalk to the wetland area along the river. We saw Willow Bark Trees, Bayer discovered the component for aspirin that comes from their bark.

Chattahoochee Nature Center

West Point , GA

Log Entry: Arrived at R. Schaefer Head Corps of Engineers CG at 2:00 PM and got a site with a concrete pad directly on a tree lined lake for $10 Golden Age cost. All the campsites are waterfront and there are many fishermen with boats here.

R. Schaefer Head Campground

Gregg Graphics Gradyville, Pa.

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