“Nice weather you’re having here,” I said the other day to a guy at the marina in Huntsville Alabama, as icy sleet battered our heads.
He laughed and replied, “Well, you know what they say…if you don’t like the weather here in Northern Alabama, just wait. It will change.”
I already knew that, because it’s the same thing they said last week in Tennessee, and last month in Illinois, and come to think of it, in Maine, and definitely Scotland (optimistically instructing to “wait 5 minutes”), and pretty much everywhere we’ve ever been, because, you know, weather changes.
But add to the long list of things I did NOT know that it sleets and snows in Alabama. Word of caution to anyone planning to move South for the weather. You’ll certainly need to go a bit further than Huntsville.
We’re way behind the pack of Loopers now, to the point where marina staff are openly laughing at us. (In a supportive friendly way. Maybe I should say laughing WITH us. Except, we’re not laughing.)
We had intended to be in the Gulf of Mexico before now, but there were the lock closure delays, and then we needed some repairs. And now that it’s wintry, there are fewer days where it’s safe and pleasant to travel, so we fall even further behind.
It feels more pioneering and adventurous being on our own like this. We carefully plan each day’s travel consulting three weather apps, two wind apps, and a special Tennessee Valley Authority app with info about the locks and dams, as well as various charts, guidebooks, and navigation apps. We layer up in fleece and down (purchased in Chicago because we packed our winter clothes away in Tuckahoe, thinking we wouldn’t need them hahaha…). When we stay at marinas, we never have to worry about finding a slip, because we’re the only ones still traveling downriver. When we anchor out at night, we run the generator so Long Way Home stays nice and warm inside. We’ve also added a wreath of holiday lights to provide psychological warmth.
The tourist attractions are uncrowded, with everyone else stuck at work and school during the day. Huntsville was a stop requested by Felix, who has been eager to see the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. It did not disappoint! Their display of “space artifacts” included an actual, MASSIVE Saturn V moon rocket, various iterations of rocket engines from the 1960s, and an old Skylab oxygen tank that fell to earth and landed in Australia. There was also a life-size walk-through reconstruction of the space station, a ride where you can experience 3Gs of force, and a climbing wall.
We learned there that Huntsville was the original location for NASA, first headed by Werner Von Braun, who had previously developed the rockets Germany used to bomb England during WWII. Once the war was over, to gain advantage over the Soviet Union the United States brought some 1,600 German scientists and their families to the U.S. in a secret initiative called Operation Paperclip. Some of them -- including Von Braun -- had definitely been members of the Nazi Party, but that was overlooked. This part was not included when we learned about the space race in school.
Apparently Von Braun's team was first based in Texas, but they didn’t like it there. According to the tour guide, Huntsville reminded them of Germany (?) and also, of particular relevance to us right now, had the advantage of being a river port. What’s the best way to transport a massive rocket? On a barge, of course. So a shuttered arsenal in Huntville was repurposed to become the Marshall Space Flight Center, and later the Space and Rocket Center was founded to display and celebrate their work.
The best thing about this is that retired NASA researchers now volunteer as docents in the museum. Felix got to spend some time with John Reaves, who had worked at NASA for 50 years, including a stint on the International Space Station. Like the other docents, he also had his own trading cards to share with us!
I hope it's not too late to find something as awesome as "Spacelab" to put under our names for posterity, too.
*The title of this post is, of course, a reference to the incomparable El Vez's 2002 Mex-Mas Tour. Happy Holidays everyone!
@mbholman thanks for sharing! I think “shiverings” is actually better :). And Terry and Terri, really?
Oops - shivering not shiverings...
I want to visit the space station, too! What a treat to meet and hang out with John Reaves! I certainly didn't know that members of the Nazi party helped build the U.S. Space Program. It makes me think about what we don't know today that will be common knowledge in 50-75 years. Your psychological warmth via a wreath of colored lights reminds me of one of my favorite stories from my time working at Gramercy Tavern. Scott, Terry, and I started our jobs at GT on the same day so we inevitably became buddies. Scott, who'd previously owned a Manhattan restaurant, became a manager quickly. Over time, Terry became GM at Tabla and then the same at Maialino. He and…
@selahway1 we wish you safe travels down river and into the Gulf! We enjoyed Pensacola and Apalachicola, and especially Tarpon Springs. Hope to run into you again soon; we’ll be around Charlotte Harbor/Ft Myers for the next couple of weeks, then generally around the Keys for Feb and the Bahamas for March, we think, on your same general timeline for heading back up to NY. Happy New Year!
Great read, especially about the Space Museum. I believe we met you guys while anchored at So Manitou in Lake Michigan. We are wayyyy in the back of the pack of loopers also and might have seen you at Green Turtle Bay or Nashville--or it might have been a look-alike boat. Anyways, we are currently at Demopolis, Al hoping to leave as soon as the debris clears after the flooding that's transpired, and head to Dog River in Mobile. Where are you guys at this point? We are from VT and will be crossing our wake north of NYC at Shady Harbor Marina in June if all goes as planned. Stay warm and dry!!
Amy & David