Reflecting

Monday, 28 January
Maxwell AFB FamCamp — Montgomery, Alabama
Temps: Lo 55F / Hi 66F (13C / 19C)

At the risk of jinxing ourselves, I have to say that we’re still enjoying great weather here.  Sure, the nights dipped down to the mid-40F (7C) range over the weekend, but the days were fantastically warm and filled with sunshine and mostly blue skies.  In fact, we saw 72F (22C) yesterday, and it’s forecasted to go up to 79F (26C) tomorrow.

What follows after that isn’t looking good.  There’s some bad weather moving in from the west that is projected to bring severe weather to the area — heard the “T” word (tornado) on the news last night.  There are no active alerts for our area as yet.  Needless to say, we will be monitoring the weather closely.

The weekend found us walking and triking to take advantage of the nice days.  There’s a figure eight path that we follow around the two lakes; great for our morning exercise walk — as long as I don’t take my camera ;-)  I usually go back out that way in the afternoon to see what I can see and photograph.

The surprising thing — at least to us — is that every time we go out, we have the lake to ourselves.  In fact, the campground has been exceptionally quiet considering the number of rigs.  Mui’s guess is that most of the campers here at the FamCamp are probably students at one of the military schools on base.  They’re probably spending their free time studying.  Glad it’s not us ;-)

Not that we’re complaining mind you.  We’ve been using these quiet days to reflect — and I don’t mean the beautiful “double the pleasure” images the mirror-smooth lakes have been providing for our viewing pleasure.  Sitting on one of the benches on the peninsula that reaches out into the middle of lake #2 … staring across the calm water … the silence broken only by birds chirping unseen in the tangle of trees on the other side of the fence … watching the mallards take flight at the slightest disturbance — it’s hard not to reflect on our life on the road, and give thanks that we are here and not still chained to the nine-to-five routine.

Enough about all that … here are some images from our lakeside strolls this weekend.

Looking across lake #1 towards the old section of the FamCamp and the tent camping area.

a wide shot over lake #1 shows plenty of blue skies and great reflections.

There’s an egret in this reflection shot … can you see it?

A “shooting-from-the-hip” Great Egret photo.  this is the same bird that is on shore in
the previous photo … just so you know that it wasn’t a figment of my imagination.

This shot of a pied-billed grebe is my favorite from Saturday; it popped out of
the water to surprise me just as I was walking away.

I was photographing the two pairs of mallards strolling around the picnic area
when an interloper hopped into the scene.  Can you find the intruder?

Here we go again … a mallard intrudes into the scene causing one of the Canada geese
to turn its head just as I click the shutter!  And then they flew off, of course!

“Double the pleasure” in the golden light of Sunday morning.

this shot of an Eastern Bluebird is my favorite from Sunday.
There were quite a few of them flying about, but only this one stopped for a photo op.

Double-Crested Cormorants were a rare sight in Alabama just a few decades ago; the ban on DDT has led to the recovery of the population.  I never expected to see one here at Maxwell AFB.

The trees get in the way of the colorful sunsets, but here are a couple of shots to wrap up this post.

Hope you’re all enjoying your days on the road … we sure are; even when we’re not out exploring!

Montgomery Recon

Friday, 25 January
Maxwell AFB FamCamp — Montgomery, Alabama
Temps: Lo 50F / Hi 71F (10C / 22C)

Amazing … just amazing.  We’ve barely left our campsite, yet the four days since my last post have passed in the blink of an eye.  Or that's how it feels.  If anyone has figured out how to slow down these retirement days, do share ;-)

We’ve been enjoying very nice days.  The nothing-but-sun weather in the 10-day forecast gave way to mostly sunny days this week.  The temps have ranged from a low of 30F (-1C) one night to a high of 71F (22C) today.  There was to be some rain today, but we haven’t seen any wet stuff … just cloud-studded blue skies.

The murals at the 42nd Force Support Squadron ITT Office represent some of the things for which military members can get discounted tickets.  The mask mural is for the Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery.

So, what have we been up to?  Talking to Mui about it just a few minutes ago, neither one of us can recollect anything special — except for our short wander around Montgomery on Thursday.  The rest of the time — well, most of it revolved around planning out this year’s travels … a few bike rides on base … a few walks near the campground.  Oh, and I got my military dependent ID card renewed today — I’m good to go until 2017.

As faithful readers know, I enjoy photographing murals.  It doesn’t matter whether they are elaborate works of art or simple drawings; painted or tiled.  I just like them, and they almost always make me smile.  Sometimes I find them in unexpected places.  Like at the ITT (Information, Tickets & Travel) Office where we stopped to make reservations for a campground later this year (collage above).  Or at the Bowling Alley ...

This mural at the Bowling Alley inspired us to get a couple of cones for ourselves ;-)

The interesting thing is that these murals were all painted by inmates at the federal prison on base.  And they were done freehand.  There were a couple of other murals, but I am saving them to post on my Viewfinder blog for the Monday Mural challenge.  (Here’s my first contribution to the mural meme from this past Monday.)

Enough about murals.  Onto yesterday’s recon trip into Montgomery.

Thursday, 24 January

We took off under cloudy skies, but by the time we got to the Visitor Center at Union Station — a mere 3.3 miles (5 km) away — the sun was out and there was plenty of blue sky to cheer us up.  Our goal was to collect information on things to do when we come back through the area sometime in February.  The short 15-minute video was a good introduction to the area, and thanks to the very helpful ladies at the center, we came away with a lot of ideas; they even showed me how to get up to the second floor to photograph a stained glass window.

The Montgomery Union Station — opened in 1898 and closed in 1979 — houses
the Visitor Center as well as some businesses.

Love the colored glass detail in the roofline of what was once the train shed.

I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t notice the beautiful detail on the floors while I was there;
not even when I took this photograph.  But I didn’t miss the carved newel posts and the corbels.

One of four identical stained glass windows on the second floor of the visitor center.

With the brochures stashed in the car, we took advantage of the free “tourist parking” at the visitor center to walk around town for a bit.  The small map that one of the ladies marked up for us proved most useful, and we found it quite easy to get around and see a lot of the important sites.  Plenty of sightseeing awaits us when we return.

The story goes that one of the owners of the Steiner & Lobman Building wanted to be
buried on top of the building; hence the the casket-like structure atop the dome.

Thanks to a friendly local, Two to Travel has a photograph at the spot where
Rosa Parks boarded the bus, thus sparking the Civil Rights Movement.
[click here for a more legible version of the sign]

Court Square Fountain, crowned by Hebe, the Goddess of Youth and Cup Bearer to the Gods.

A little side story about this fountain.  A well-dressed gentleman asked me if we were tourists, and when I acknowledged that we were, he asked if he could share some information.  Sure, I said.  According to him, “Contrary to what THEY would have you believe, the spot where the fountain sits was not just an artesian well, but a slave pit as well.”  I did find some information on the web that seems to verify what he told me.

The ladies at the Visitor Center had suggested Chris’ Hot Dogs as a place to grab a quick bite.  We’re not hot dog people, but when they told us that this landmark eatery has been serving since 1917, we figured it was worth checking out.  I will tell you now that if you’re a finicky person, you probably don’t want to go to Chris’.  But the dogs with chili were good; the fries were perfectly crisped; the server was efficient and friendly; and the diner-like atmosphere was right out of the past.  As for the rest — keep your sunglasses on and don’t study things too closely ;-)

Serving since 1917; the painting hangs just inside the entrance; it was painted by an R.P. Adams.

The prices are right!
[the menu and the collage in the bottom right downloaded from the website]

On with our meandering tour …

I had no idea that Montgomery had served as the capital of the Confederacy until it
moved to Richmond in 1861.  According to this marble marker, the inaugural parade of
Jefferson Davis went up this road and Dixie  was played for the first time on that occasion.

I did something here that I never would have attempted in Washington DC …
I stood in the middle of the road to take this photograph of the Alabama State Capitol;
and I lived to tell about it!  Where’s the traffic anyway?

First White House of the Confederacy, built in 1832-1835.
Moved to Dexter Avenue in 1921 from Bibb and Lee streets, President Jefferson Davis
and his family lived in this house until they moved to Richmond in 1861.

The Civil Rights Memorial stands in front of the Civil Rights Center.

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the Civil Rights Memorial as follows:
“A circular granite table records the names of the martyrs and chronicles the
history of the movement in lines that radiate like the hands of a clock.  Water
emerges from the table’s center and flows evenly across the top.  On a curved black
granite wall behind the table is engraved Dr Martin Luther King Jr.’s well known
paraphrase of Amos 5:24 – We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like
waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

The Riverfront Park overlooks the Alabama River, which, as indicated by the high water
mark on the column (left), reached 58 feet 1 inch (17.7 m) during the 1961 flood.

As we wandered around Riverfront Park, the clouds started moving in … our cue to go home.  We really enjoyed our few hours in Montgomery; we look forward to exploring it further next time we’re in town.

Things That Fly … Or Did At One Time!

Monday, 21 January
Maxwell AFB FamCamp — Montgomery, Alabama
Temps: Lo 35F / Hi 65F (1.5C / 18C)

Wow!  The days are flying by here at the Maxwell AFB Famcamp.  It’s not like we’ve been doing much of anything, and yet we’re already wrapping up day four at this campground.

(The image to the rights shows you what we’ve been waking up to here at Maxwell — frost!)

We’ve been spending our time mapping out the upcoming months and looking at our non-Phaeton adventures for next fall.  Airfare and hotel for Ottawa are in the can.  But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, and I have a long ways to go before I can consider those plans final.  There is a hint … other than the obvious reference to Ottawa … about part of our future plans in this paragraph ;-)  So, have fun guessing!

Back to what else we’ve been up to.  While I’ve been processing photos (I shoot Raw) and uploading them to my online galleries, Mui’s been trying out recipes — he concocted a shrimp and crab pizza, made tasty shrimp wraps with a remoulade dressing, grilled salmon fillets and artichokes, and baked a batch of cranberry bars.  All quite yummy!

Today Mui installed the replacement over-the-door motion sensor light we received from StarLights (original install post here); and shortened the chain on the rear mud flap on the coach so that it doesn’t drag when he’s maneuvering over less-than-smooth roads.

Sorry, no photos of any of the above, but I do have some to share from our outings around the base.

Although we’ve been waking up to cold temps, our days have been filled with sunshine, the temps quickly warming up to the mid- to high 60F range (18-20C), and staying there for quite a bit of the afternoon.  To take advantage of the nice days, we took our trikes out for a spin on Saturday and Sunday (Mui went out today, too).  With little vehicular traffic, we had the roads mostly to ourselves.

On Saturday’s ride, we did all of the red route and the small yellow circle, and meandered a bit around the commissary area — estimating about 8 miles (13 km) in all.

Our ride on Saturday was the productive one — photo wise — as we ended up exploring the small Air Park in the area around Chennault Circle.  Sunday’s trike ride held out a lot of promise on paper, but that’s all it turned out to be.  You see, the base’s fishing map shows two lakes and the Alabama River on the other side of River Road.  What the map doesn’t show is any warnings that access to that area is blocked.  Oh well; we got to see the prison (!) before coming home ;-) … and it was good exercise.

The sign is not a reference to Mui’s triking speed; there really are low flying
aircraft coming in for a landing at the runway to Mui’s right.

From our Saturday trike ride … if you don’t care for aircraft pictures, scroll past them.

The first thing we saw that had wings was this great blue heron taking off from the golf course.

This Sikorsky MH-53M 'Pave Low IV' Helicopter, painted and marked as it appeared in 2008,
has a rotor diameter of 72 feet (22m).  #785 most recently took US Special Ops personnel
into harm’s way in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, and led the final
MH-53 combat mission for Operation Iraqi Freedom before it was flown here.

The 27-year career of this Boeing B-52D "Stratofortress" started in 1956 and ended
after logging 14,204 flying hours.  It has a wing span of 185 feet (56 m), requiring me
to cross the street to get this shot.  The B-52 bombers have remained in operation
longer than any other bombers in US military history.

In addition to aircraft, there are a couple of memorials in the Air Park.

“Poopsie” is a North American B-25 Mitchell painted with the markings of an aircraft
that flew in the European Theater during WWII.

One of a series of identical officers' homes on Chennault Circle.

This North American F-86A "Sabre" is named "Chris Craft" for the plane flown by
Lt Charles G. Cleveland, USAF, who has been credited with five "kills" in Korea,
thus giving him the coveted status of "Ace."

This memorial is dedicated to 1Lt Karl W. Richter, who was killed in action in
North Vietnam; he is credited with being the youngest pilot (age 23) in the
Vietnam conflict to shoot down a MiG in air-to-air combat.

A granite plaque behind the statue is etched with the following words from A E Housman:
”Here dead lie we because we did not choose to live and shame the land from which we sprung.
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose; but young men think it is, and we were young men."

These four aircraft stand in a semicircle behind the Richter Memorial.
I found it interesting that the nose cone of each one was a different design.

Monument to Powered Flight — if not for the Wright Brothers where would we be today?
(sorry about the background clutter; I had no control over it.)

Monument to Powered Flight
"In tribute to the perseverance and achievements of the Wright Brothers and the
leadership and foresight of the Citizens of Montgomery, Alabama.  Together they
established the nation's first school of civil aviation in March 1910, launching
America on her journey to the stars.”

Prop & Wings: the symbol of the American Airman.  First worn by Aviation Cadets in 1917,
the tradition continued on in other commissioning programs.  It is now worn by all USAF
Academy, Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets, and Officer Training School trainees
who have met the challenges of the first phase of officer training.  All graduates of
OTS and ROTC lay their hands on the historic plaque at the base of the statue.

Ribbons of color
even though the trees block most of our sunset view, I couldn’t resist this photograph.

When I started to write this post this afternoon (the 21st), I didn’t think I was going to have any photos from today.  But then we went for a walk around Lake #1, and I found a few other things that fly to share with you.

Great Egret

Kildeer

Pair of Mallards

This is the same Great Blue Heron from a few days ago.
(Can you find the turtle that I was too far to see until I looked at the photo on my computer?)

And that wraps up the last few days here at the FamCamp.  Reading back through this post, I guess we have been doing quite a bit after all ;-)

I’ll be back when I have something new to write about.