Day #6- They're Coming to Take Me Away, HaHa

Probably only madre knows the song title for today.  And I guess I shouldn't joke about crazy people because what we saw today was no laughing matter. 
Day #6 was all about the paranormal.  We watch so many shows on the subject that I often forget why I had us stop in a spot.  I couldnt for the life of me remember what had orginally brought us to Northport.  We ended up at University of Alabama, which is in the sister city of Newport.  I think the spirits kept us in the area via the storms, otherwise we would have missed something amazing.  Google jemison center of old bryce hospital and you will see where we were.  It is a totally abandoned old insane asylum.   We were left to our own devices- oh and we had all of our devices with us- to explore this place.  It is over grown and crumbling.  I can honestly say I have never been scared before on all of our investigations...until today.  I felt like my legs were paralyzed in the front hall.  We were there during the day, but the place is so overgrown that it could have been night.  It probably took us an hour to move deeper into the hospital.   Our equipment was not disappointing us and the place was very active.  At one point, some teenagers showed up with their mom.  Apparently they had been there the night before and wanted to show her the place.  We encouraged the kids to brave the crumbling stairs and go upstairs.  During this, the mom wandered off.  All of a sudden she came running down the hall saying she had to get out of there.  I have never seen a person so terrified.  She stood there trembling.   I was telling her it was ok and to breathe.   She said she had heard a voice saying, "Help me!".  This was very likely given words that we heard and the history of the place.  She gathered her kids and we were once again left alone.  Somehow 3+ hours melted away and we finally had to pull ourselves away. 
Our next stop for the day was Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama.   This place has been investigated by several shows that we watch.  Once upon a time, Sloss Furnaces was a steel mill.  The steel was sent to make the high rises in NYC and the cars in Detroit.  The working conditons were horrific and many people died here.  The place itself was pretty impressive,  but it started out as ho hum on the paranormal end.  That's until my device said "basement" at the top of a set of stairs that may have had a "Do Not Enter" sign which we chose to ignore.   Everything changed once we were in the tunnel.  I caught multiple pictures of a bright blue light of some sort moving around and trying to form.  This was clearly not from any light source in the tunnel because there were none! 
Moving further on down the highway, we stopped in Huntsville, Alabama.  Maple Hill Cemetery is very old and the biggest cemetery in Alabama.  It supposedly has a playground called "Dead Children's Playground" hidden away in the center.  After winding forever thru this massive cemetery, we realized that the playground was not in the center as reported.   We finally got out, hiked thru some woods, and found it hiding at the back.  Unfortunately,  live kids were there playing.  I figured taking pics at that point would get the cops called on us.  We waited out the kids and were eventually able to go sit on the swings.  That's when the teenagers came.  Loren asked if they were there to swing or for the ghosts.  They said both, so we decided to let them have at it.  
Our plan was to make it to Chattanooga.  But after so much time outside, we were just done for the day.  We stopped in a small town called Scottsboro and that's where we will end our day.  Tomorrow will take us to Tennessee,  so stay tuned. 

Day #5- Sweet Home Alabama

Ya, ya, I know that everyone has different feelings regarding the new legislation on abortion in Alabama.  At this point, a few wont like my song title of "Sweet Home Alabama" as things are none too sweet for some here right now.  But oh well.  My blog, my songs!  I always have song titles and this happens to be one of the all time greatest songs- both the Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Kid Rock versions. 
Here we sit, hunkered down from the rain in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  We left Vicksburg and headed on down the road to Alabama.  We enjoy exploring college campuses and wanted to see the University of Alabama and all of its "Roll Tide" glory.  The campus was pretty dead with it being summer.  We did manage to spend a lot of time and money in the college bookstore.  The campus is beautiful.   Of course we had to find the stadium and hoped to run into Nick Saban.  He didnt appear to be at work today, but we got some pics of the stadium.  An old cemetery is across the street from the football field.  It interested us, but might creep out potential recruits. We found the "6th Street" of Tuscaloosa and wanted to have lunch at a local spot.  Turns out, half the restuarants have limited summer hours and were closed.  We found an open place called "Moes".  It turned out to be a lesser version of Freebirds.  A mexican place called "Moes".  That's different.
We were planning on driving on to Birmingham, but the storms once again caught up to us and had better ideas.  We pulled off the highway and got a room.  Weather allowing, we have some haunted adventures planned for tomorrow,  so stay tuned. 

Day #4- Black Velvet

...in that slow Southern style.  Mississippi.   Black.  Southern.   Those are all words to describe Vicksburg.  It is an ominous town where nothing feels quite right.  Even as advid watchers of TVs Ghost Adventures,  we did not remember the show being asked by the town's mayor to come and investigate.  We ended up here 3 days ago because I had seen it in a ghosts of the Civil War book.  Just a little blurb.  Originally,  this was going to just be a place to sleep for the night and maybe poke around a bit before heading on to our next stop.  It has become so much more than that. 
Today we wanted to explore historic downtown Vicksburg.  Situated right along the mighty Mississippi  River, the downtown is made of old brick streets, cute little shops,  and stately mansions.  One shop we had really wanted to go in was antique doll shop.  After being reminded of the series of episodes Ghost Adventures had filmed in Vicksburg, we were especially interested in the doll museum.  Sadly, the elderly owner passed away since the filming of the show.  Her husband tried to keep the store running  but as he was also elderly- in his 90s, the shop was just too much.  The dolls were all actioned off and the shop that had been a part of historic Vicksburg landscape for many years sat vacant.  
We walked thru an area of town with old mansions that had gone from private homes to field hospitals and are now potentially haunted B&Bs.  Some offered tours, but for whatever reason, I was only interested in one.  Mcraven Mansion.
Google maps sent us on a wild goose (ghost?) chase through the same neighborhood over and over until we finally found the home.  The path leading up to the home was truly ominous.   Behind an old rusted wrought iron fence, down a brick path darkened by the heavy moss from the archway of trees, sat Mcraven Mansion. 
I could be here all night retelling the stories of what this home saw since it was built in the late 1700s.  I wont get into the history, but it is impressive.   What I will say is this place is 100%, without a doubt, haunted.  While in the bedroom of a young bride who died during childbirth, we watched the heavy wooden door of her chest swing shut.  This happened 3 times!  Loren pushed the door all the way open, jumped on the floor near it,  and did anything he could think of to try to debunk the experience.  Nothing he did would budge that door of the chest. 
This has been such an exciting few days!  If the rest of our trip is even a fraction of the fun we have already experienced, we in for one helluva ride!  We are off to Alabama tomorrow,  so stay tuned!

Day #3- Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory...

...of the coming of the Lord...His truth is marching on!  The real song is a little different from, "Glory, glory hallelujah, teacher hit me with a ruler, she bopped me on the bean with a rotten tangerine and she aint my teacher no more!"  Are you singing?  Who knew as a kid that the lyrics to this song were quite different?!?
Today was all about one horrific siege of the Civil War.  We spent hours exploring the Vicksburg National Military Park.  It was peaceful, solemn,  and amazing.  1,300 monuments marked the 16 mile loop.  This seige lasted 47 days.  32,000 Confederate soldiers and citizens of Vicksburg were killed.  14 year old kids gave their lives for a battle they just couldnt win and should have never been a part of.  All through the park markers showed where Union soldiers held the line and trenches that became mass graves for the opposition.   No matter what side any of our ancestors may have fought on, the whole thing was tragic.  Luckily, we did not encounter any loud disrespectful visitors.  This is not a place for acting foolish and climbing on the monuments.  Of course we had our gear out and had some really interesting  experiences.  Our Spirit Box gave us the most direct and relevant communication we have ever experienced.  It was a beautiful day and the temp didnt even get into the 80s while we were out. 
After our hours outside, we went and got some groceries for lunch and dinner.  A short nap turned into 3 hours.  Oh well, it's vacation!  We have tentative plans to head on tomorrow,  but I am just not sure.  Mom pointed out that we are in no hurry, so why not stay and take it all in?  She just may have a point.  Speaking of mom, she starts radiation tomorrow.  I'll try to stay busy so I dont fret all day. 
There is still the Vicksburg historic district and several old mansions to see, so we just may make another day of it.  Stay tuned to see what adventure tomorrow brings- here or elsewhere!

Day #2- The Thunder Rolls...

...and the lightning strikes!  That's my song for today.  Well,  for the second half. 
Our main scheduled activity for today was Myrtle's Plantation.   We got up and on the road at a decent hour.  We stopped for breakfast at Shoneys and had an old lady try to hitch a ride with us when we left.  Umm, nope.  She wasnt pleased, so she spit.  🤔 
Since I was driving,  Loren couldnt put up much of a fight when I wanted to stop at the alligator farm tourist stop.  He ended up loving it, too!  We got to hold a baby gator named Ethel.   Her toenails were painted red and she kept a close eye on Loren.  She may have thought he was her mama.  He scratched under her chin and rubbed her belly.  I'm not sure, but he may have thought she was just an ugly dog.  A bunch of rowdy kids came in and I was worried about Ethel, but I bet she could take a finger off if the kids scared her too much.
Myrtle's Plantation has quite the violent past and has been investigated by many paranormal groups.  I do my research and knew the stories.  While I can not say that we had any tangible paranormal experiences there, I did feel like I was constantly being watched.  I am sure the other people on the tour enjoyed watching me constantly spinning around trying to catch whomever-or whatever-was following me around.  We took tons of pictures and loved every moment of the Plantation.  The trees were heavy with moss that almost touched the ground and just sent the imagination back to the late 1700s when the home was built.  The inside of the home was well air conditioned  (not original to the house), but the outside was not.  Temps were in the 80s, but the humidity was in the 200s.  I was a dripping drowned rat after walking the grounds.  We got about 5 minutes down the road and the sky opened up.  It stormed for 2 and a half hours straight as we drove to Vicksburg, Mississippi.  By the time we arrived, we were DONE for the day.  White knuckle driving thru a monsoon can make even the cheeriest people (me, of course) a little crabby.  After a nap and some Popeye's chicken for dinner,  we are all snug and dry while it still rains outside.  It turns out, Vicksburg has quite the Civil War history.  We may spend more than just tomorrow here touring and investigating, so stay tuned! 

Day #1- Free

We always start our day of travels listening to Zak Brown's Greatest Hits.  When the song "Free" came on, I knew it would be the title of today's blog.  There is a line in the song that says, "...travel all across this land, me and you..." Well, that's us.  Another summer of travels has begun. 
It was bitter sweet leaving today.  So much is going on at home that it made it very hard to leave.  Not only are there people to think about, but life will be very different when we return.  Different good, but still hard. 
Anyway, we stopped for gas and started to hit the road.  Well, as per usual, there was a small kink in our plans.  I forgot to pack my contacts.  So, home we went.  Then it was finally time for the open road.  We stopped for a quick visit in Beaumont.  Marty and Beth have sunflowers like 10 feet high in their garden.  They also have PURPLE green peppers.  I have never seen such a thing!  But I pulled one off the vine and bit into it like an apple.  Yep, tasted like a green pepper.  
Only 40 minutes after leaving Beaumont,  we arrived in Lake Charles, LA.  We decided to start our adventure here at the Isle of Capri casino because this was the first trip we ever took together.  We came here in 2012 to see Big and Rich.  I cant believe how long ago that was!!  Well, the place has totally changed.  Total disappointment.  I guess they think they improved it as the place has been redone.  We disagree, however.  All these years we have called it "the bird hotel" because of the tacky bird wallpaper and neon birds everywhere.  No more birds.  Sigh.  Guess you can never go back- even to dumpy casinos.
We had dinner with Alexis and Morgan.  After dinner we came back to the hotel and hit the casino.  We would have been walking out of here with ALOT of money if we knew how to play the Roulette game they have here.  It is video in that we have the board in front of us to select our #'s, but then there is a live guy somewhere dropping the ball.  We each put money on 00 and it hit!!  I was cheering thinking we were millionaires since we had both put money on it, as we always do.  My cheering turned to wailing when we realized our bets had been invalid because apparently the $5 minimum bet means you have to have a $5 minimum on the inside or the outside and can't split the money up and use it for multiple squares equaling $5.  Grrr!  Anyway, I won $20 so we took our money and left. 
Tomorrow we are on to Myrtles Plantation, so stay tuned!