Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Pell City

On Thursday 7/23/09 while our RV was being worked on at the Precision Commercial Vehicles we went into Birmingham to visit the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the South Eastern Conference (SEC) Headquarters, and Vulcan Park. If you are ever in Birmingham and have the time the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame is very ingteresting. Vulcan Park offers very scenic views of the Birmingham area. The Vulcan was built for the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Lewis then returned to Birmingham where it was displayed at the Alabama State Fairgrounds. The statue was moved to Vulcan Park in 1939, where it overlooks the city to this day.















We returned to the repair facility around 1:30 PM to pick up our RV and proceed to Lakeside RV Park and Marina in Pell City where we arrived at about 3:00 PM. Lakeside is a very nice park with gravel sites with a concrete patio, 50 AMPS, full hookup, cable TV, and WiFi access.

On Friday 7/24/09 we drove over to Atlanta to pick up Galon, Maggie, and Susannah. We then returned to Pell City where Galon, Maggie, and Susannah cheched into the Quality Inn, and we returned to our campsite.

On Saturday Galon, Maggie, and Susannah attended a picnic for Maggie's High School Reunion. After the picnic they brought Susannah over so we could watch her while they attended the Reunion that evening. They had a great time and so did we keeping Susannah.

On Sunday we attended church with Maggie and Galon at Maggie's former church Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church. In the last ten years since we were there for Galon and Maggie's wedding the church has expanded to a new Sanctuary. It is a beautiful building.

After church we went to Cracker Barrel to have lunch. Galon, Maggie, and Susannah then went off to visit some of Maggie's old friends. Dianne and I relaxed at the RV and watched the NASCAR race at the Brickyard in Indianapolis.

On Monday we all went to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, and Museum at Talladega Motorspeedway, Talladega, AL. This is another highly recommended site for a visit if you find yourself in Talladega with time on your hands. They have several real Stock Cars in their museum. I took a picture of one. A 1964 Ford Galaxie. As you can see they are much different from what is raced today.
























I also took a picture of an original Flat Head Ford V8 that was used in the begining by NASCAR Racers. Ford introduced the Flat Head (L Head) V8 in 1932. The Ford Flat Head V8 was the most widely used engine until Chevrolet came out with the small block Overhead Valve 265 CU Inch with 162 HP in 1955. In 1954 Ford came out with the Y-Block 239 CU Inch with 130 HP. Today NASCAR V8's are built on a 358 CU Inch platform that produces between 700 to 800 HP. This is quite a bit different from what it was in the late 1940's at the beginning of NASCAR racing.


Compare the two pictures to the right.









Tuesday, 7/28/09 we drove over to Birmingham so Galon and Maggie could rent a car and proceed to David and Sandy's in Franklin, TN for a visit. Dianne and I then returned to Pensacola, where we are now staying at the Pensacola RV Resort on Wild Lake Blvd.

We plan to stay in Pensacola for a while. Not sure where our next trip will lead us.

Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable rest of the summer.

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