Monday, October 14
57 degrees this morning and blue skies.
We had heard about the Unclaimed Baggage store several times and plan to check it out this morning. We are only about 8 miles away, so we stop at a McDonald's for breakfast and check emails, etc. until it opens.
When luggage is lost the airlines go through up to three months of searching and usually get things back to their owners. Only .03% are left abandoned and that's where Unclaimed Luggage comes in. They purchase the orphaned bags and give them a second life through selling, donating and recycling the contents.
Things that look like new are resold, so there was a lot of clothing, especially coats, jackets, boots. The very high end things were in cases or cabinets. There was also sporting equipment, lots of jewelry, purses and electronics. They had a small room with some of the most unusual things, like this tuxedo and dress outfit, musical instruments, and more.
They never know what the next day will bring, from some stolen Egyptian artifacts to an array of weapons, sculptures, and more. Some the items for sale included fur coats, expensive jewelry and designer accessories. Amazing what people have abandoned!
We next stop by Honeycomb Natural Bridge, but even though we read it was ok to explore, it IS on private property so we just took a few photos and moved on.
Huntsville Botanical Gardens calls our name next. Huntsville is a sizable town and they have done an excellent job on their Botanical Gardens. Although there weren't a ton of flowers, the layout, pumpkins and decoations made it interesting. A butterfly garden, glass sculptures, miniature train set-up, and vegetable garden were nice. The flowers that were blooming attracted many bees and butterflies!
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Liked this tug-of-war sculpture
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This swing for people in wheelchairs was interesting.
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We decided to head towards Brushy Lake campground in another National Forest. But along the way, we stop at the Jesse Owens museum in Oakville, Alabama, where he was born James Cleveland Owens, 10th child of a sharecropping family.
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| replica of the home he shared with Mom & Dad and 9 siblings! |
The family moved to Cleveland, Ohio when he was 9 and it was there that a coach recognized his great athletic abilities. It was also there that a teacher didn't understand his response as to what his name was, (he was known by family and friends as J.C.) and wrote Jesse - which followed him ever after.
There is a film shown, narrated by Jesse himself and a brother, which covers his college accomplishments at Ohio State and amazing performances at the 1936 Olympics where he was snubbed by Adolf Hitler but idolized by much of the world. In a touching story, he recounts how he won the broad jump due to some excellent advise from a German competitor. He won four gold medals in all and in 1950 was named the Greatest Track and Field Athlete in the World by the Associated Press.
We continue on to Brushy Creek campground, site #5 which is a whopping $2.50 a night. There are 3 other campers. Bird baths and hair washing before we settle down to a salad and chicken tortilla soup. Sweet nectarines for dessert.
There is a pier down by the lake so Beth wanders down there and chats with a family of four who are fishing. A seven year old has just caught a 6" bluegill and is thrilled. The 17 year old girl catches an even smaller fish, but is happy to have caught something! Nice folks.
Greg manages another fire and we just sit and stare at it for a while, surrounded by the sounds of crickets, cicadas and who knows what else. A pleasant sound to go to sleep by.
