A GREAT DAY IN MUSCLE SHOALS ETC.

 So we are spending 3 days in Aqua Marina in Iuka, MS - this is where the three states converge - can't tell if we are in MS, AL or TN.

We rented a car and went to the site of the Shiloh Battlefield.......Shiloh, TN. Where was I in History class cause I seriously did not know about Shiloh. During the Civil War, April 6-7, 1862, the bloodiest battle that only lasted 2 days and produced more than 23,000 casualties. This park was transferred to the National Park Service in 1933 - 4200 acres.  This site is spectacular. They have all the sites marked of the different battles - depending on if you were from the North or from the South. If you are a history buff, this is a must see.

Inked Mermaid and Talisman








State of IOWA Memorial - Spectacular


State of ILLINOIS Memorial - not as spectacular








Shiloh is also a national cemetery.
3500 Civil War dead - 2300 are unknown soldiers


CHAMPY'S FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN

We had lunch at Champy's Famous Fried Chicken in Muscle Shoals, AL.  Doug actually has been to Champy's many times. We had a large Customer in the area.  Doug remembers his restaurants!  Have to admit, the chicken was fantastic - the restaurant, eclectic.




FAME RECORDING STUDIO - MUSCLE SHOALS, AL

THIS WAS THE BEST!

If you are a music buff ( particularly from a certain era), you must watch the documentary "Muscle Shoals". I know its available on Netflix....and possible Amazon. It tells the story of a man named Rick Hall, who was possible the most ambitious record producer of all times. Started a music studio in his hometown of Muscle Shoals and the rest is history.  The documentary is told by the artists who recorded there.....Aretha, The Rolling Stones, etc.....great documentary - don't miss it!

Muscle Shoals is a very small town on the Tennessee River. The great music that came out of here is astounding. We toured the practice studio and then had to wait to get into the main studio. It is still an active recording studio. Our tour guide happened to be the Grandson of Rick Hall. Mr. Hall passed away in 2018, but his family still owns the studio. He had personal interesting stories to tell us while we waited.

A certain amount of time passed and the Grandson says, " I am really sorry but it looks like we are not going to get into the studio, so I will make it up to you by taking you into Grandpa's office". PAYDIRT!

Felt like we were in the inner sanctum! Gold records lined the walls. Pictures of so many artists that have graced those walls. We were not allowed to take pictures of the pictures of artists.









MUSTANG SALLY!

Aretha - I never loved a man the way I love you.
This one kick started Aretha's career.

Rick Hall - with his friend Jimmy Carter.


WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY!



We ended the day driving into the lovely town of Florence, AL - a looper favorite we could not get in to. Had the best pizza so far at a lovely place called "The Pie Factory". Highly recommend!

This was a really great day!


















































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  WEEK TURNED INTO A MONTH ON LAKE BARKLEY / KENTUCKY LAKE We had planned on spending a week in Green Turtle Bay Marina but staying in the Kentucky Lake area for a month exploring coves etc. We ultimately decided it was cost effective to just stay in this marina and go out and anchor out when we wanted to. Staying in a marina for a month is ultimately the same price as staying in a marina for 10-ish days. Yes - Green Turtle Bay has turtles! Lot's of turtles that like when you feed them. We loved the quarry at Pisgah Bay ( grafitti bay) - notice the BIG I ( Illini)!  Our favorite is Duncan Bay - beautiful days and spectacular sunsets here on Kentucky Lake Grand Turtle Bay is 1 mile from Grand Rivers, KY - famous for Pattie's settlement which is a village of stores, restaurants known for the 2 LB Porkchop - which Doug indulged in.  We took the courtesy van from the marina and went back to Paducah one day and visited the National Quilt Museum - fantastic! Look at these pictures of
Read more

Mobile Bay - Intracoastal Waterway to Orange Beach, AL

Image
 We left our anchorage at Big Bayou Canot at 6:20 AM, Big Bayou is at MM16. Heading South the Tombigbee River ends at MM 0. It turns into Mobile Bay which is MM 127. The topography instantly changed. We started to see Palm Trees on shore, a few dolphins and the water turned from dirty brown to clear. Mobile Bay was very busy. Shipyards, Container ships etc. We had to stay alert. We were suddenly in civilization after the desolate Tombigbee. These warships are huge! We worked our way through Mobile Bay and instead of taking the channel down the west side to the mouth of Mobile Bay we took a bit of a shortcut across ending up at the east side of the mouth to  enter into the Intracoastal. We watched our charts closely as Mobile Bay has some very shallow sections. Halfway through this "shortcut" we could see on our AIS system we would be joined by some looper friends. "Lady C" who we met in Alton this summer...and "Gemini Gypsy" who we met when we were held up
Read more

HISTORY OF THE TENN-TOM WATERWAY

 It is amazing how relatively unknown the Tenn-Tom Waterway is to the U.S. public - including the crew of Talisman. The Tenn-Tom Waterway is the 253 mile stretch of river from Tennessee mile 450.7 to Demopolis, AL at mile 217. Note - at Demopolis, the river turns into the Black Warrior-Tombigbee all the way to Mobile. The Tenn-Tom connects the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee. Prior to this the waterways were not connected. The Tenn-Tom shortened the trips for vessels by as much as 720 miles. Vessels going from Pensacola, FL to Chattanooga, TN only have to travel 771 miles via the Tenn-Tom instead of 1541 miles via the Mississippi River. In addition, vessels could avoid the swift currents of the Mississippi when north bound. The first engineering investigation proposed for this waterway was in 1874-1875. After various proposals were rejected, finally in 1946 Congress approved the waterway. There was strong opposition causing delays, delays, and delays. Construction finally began in 197
Read more