Rigadoon has an Adventure

Nov 7, 2017

Leaving Russel Cave, I went south to Arab, AL (pronounced A-rab) for the night.  Rigadoon was making a curious ticking noise so after Googling a bit I decided to get the oil changed in case sticky valves were part of the issue.  For some reason Walmart thinks the truck wants 5w- oil but the manual suggests 10w- or 20w- and I hoped thicker oil might help.  Post oil-change the truck was making the same noise and after consulting the WM auto guys (who clarified that they weren't qualified to comment) I decided to drive to Cullman, the first town big enough to have a mechanic.

Well, in the metropolis of Baileyton, a place not even large enough to be called a wide spot, the dash lights came on and I pulled over into the edge of someone's driveway.  Popped the hood and discovered the shreds of the alternator belt calmly NOT spinning anything anymore.  Well, I can't fix this and I have no cell reception so kindness-of-strangers here I come.

First house across the street had no one home so I trudged up the long driveway where I was parked.  This is farm country and houses are back aways.

Lovely older woman opened the door and invited me in to use the phone when I explained the problem.  Her husband was also there and had some kind of dementia.  He kept politely but firmly demanding to know who I was and I kept politely explaining that I needed the phone for a toll-free call.

Except their phone didn't work.  After multiple tries that only resulted in a dial tone the woman explained that the phone had been acting up lately.

Okay....

I thanked her and went back to the road to ponder waiting for someone to stop.  Decided that was a waste of time and pointed my feet back in the direction I came where a road branched off the little highway and some houses were visible.  And a business!  Woot!   Mimi's Hair Salon (run by Madge, I think) is in the back room of her house and she was kind enough to let me in while doing a color-and-cut and let me use her phone.

It took more than an hour, but Progressive located the flat bed I wanted (remember the pic of the rv in Virginia?   wanted to keep my valves and tanks in one piece).  They also phoned the potential auto shop to verify they could work on my vehicle since I didn't want an rv shop.

I thanked Madge and trekked back up the road to wait for the tow which was 90 minutes away.  I played on the ipad and the cats napped while we waited.  When the guy showed up he was awesome. I fussed about smooshing the back end and he nodded and said he would be careful.  The guy watched the back end as he winched the truck up and when it got close to the ground he put boards under the wheels to give it enough lift to keep from hitting the ground.

The entire area has no street names, only numbers, and the tow driver had to call someone to get directions.  He was at least 80 and the inside of his truck was held together with duct tape in places but it ran and and he seemed pretty sturdy as well.

I was a little nervous when we made it to the shop but I guess combining home and business is common in that area and the owner came out with a big grin, saying that his uncle had the same camper.  Well, not quite the same, his uncle's is a V6 but the guy knew what he was doing anyway.

I had him replace all the belts since they all had to come out anyway and another of them was all cracked and ready to break on some other deserted rural highway.  The only belt in good shape was the AC belt - and I don't use the AC (not updated).  Ah well.  Alabama did herself proud taking care of hapless traveler.

One More Battlefield and Some Ancient Peoples

Nov 4,5, 2017

I had vague ideas about travelling across the bottom of Tennessee but I mad these plans without looking at map.  There is no road across the bottom of the state, instead you have to travel in a series of 'w's to get over all the hills 'n stuff.  I was still tired of hills and hey, there's another state right below me!!

First stop was Chickamauga Battlefield.  It's only one part of a larger park but Tennessee was enshrouded in fog rendering the view from Lookout Mountain (near, well, part of Chattanooga) kind of pointless.

I was burned out on Battlefields by this point so not so many pics.  Also no ranger talks and those are usually the best part of a visit.

Did see this sign in the ladies' room.  I can't imagine why it needs to be said but I sure wish I'd seen whatever events led up to it.

After the Park I headed vaguely west, still trying to decide which direction to go.  On the way I passed a sign to Russel Cave and decided Alabama looked like a good direction.

As is evident from the number of photos, this is more my style of National Park

Trail to the cave

The website made it sound as though you could tour the cave with a ranger but no, it's an active archaeological site and viewing is from a platform.  Ah well. 

The park has a trail as well that winds up the hill.  I went a little past the point where most people turn around and didn't feel like continuing to trudge up a now-mossy path with questionable weather on the way.  Still pretty and a bit of a workout.

Forests and Falls

March 12 - 23, 2017

Another heat wave was on the way and I headed into the DeSoto National Forest (MS) to ride it out with shade and trees.  It's a fabulous place to camp, providing cleared camping areas, water and toilets.  Although there were a few one-nighters, the campground was mainly me and a guy from Maine who spends the winter months traveling with his dog, staying where there is no snow.  Mornings were too cold for snakes so I let the kitties out for an hour or two.  Bo stays close to home unless I'm walking with him but Butch thinks it's nifty to find a spot just out of sight and sit there, pondering.

When we ran out of food, I turned the wheels north and drove out of the forest.  When we got to the grocery store I realized the latch on the hood wasn't latching no matter how hard I pressed on the hood.  A few minutes with Google armed me with a screwdriver for prodding the spring and a can of the stuff I use to lubricate my locks.

The spring was not caught in its sheath (most common problem) but jabbing at the hook mechanism caused it to suddenly snap closed.  Ah.  Another victim of the beach.  I sprayed the crap out of it with the lock lube and jiggled all the bits to spread the (graphite, silicone, oil?) into as many places as possible.  The whole thing started moving smoothly and with the vehicle once again safe to drive we were off.

After a brief stop in Selma, AL to appreciate the architecture we drove to the Little River Canyon National Preserve in Alabama.  I was hoping it would be a place to spend a few days but it's more of a summer recreation place requiring boats and maybe fishing poles.  There were plenty of places to stop and look even though the cooler flowers and plants weren't yet up.

You drive along the winding road, stopping at various viewpoints to see different aspects of the canyon.  Across the bridge is a walkway down towards the water that provides the best view of the falls.  If you don't mind stone steps, there's another stairway that takes you right to the water's edge.