Visiting, Sightseeing, and a Travel Day

On Wednesday morning, after our great Atlanta adventure on Tuesday, we decided to slow the pace down a bit. But not too much! Jim and I drove over to Carol's house, a little before 9 a.m. and went with her and Shirley back to O'Henry's for another of their wonderful lattes.

Shirley is on the left, Carol on the right, sitting in front of O'Henry's, enjoying their lattes:


We made another visit to Penzey's Spices, where Shirley found a few things for her pantry. Oh, yes, and Jim found a few more spices that our kitchen needed too!
Carol had been telling us about "The Vulcan" - a statue that has been standing watch over Birmingham for many years. We decided we should see it while we were close by.

This is the largest steel statue ever cast in the United States. It is a symbol of the nation's steel and iron industry:

With a panoramic view of the city from the park:

Jim took a picture of Shirley, Carol and me while we were there:

Shirley had to go back to her home in Columbus, MS, and we needed to get a few things done, so we parted company after another great lunch at Mellow Mushroom. Carol and Steve came over for dinner that evening to complete a great day.

Thursday was our last day in Birmingham, and we got a special treat. Carolyn and Joe, a couple we first met at the RV-Dreams Rally last summer in Branson, live in this area. They had stopped by a few days before, but we weren't home at the time, so they left their card. We were able to coordinate schedules to go to lunch. They came and got us, and we spent some time visiting and getting caught up before going to Olive Garden for a delicious lunch and more visiting. They are waiting for an improvement in the housing market and economy in general so they can sell their house and get on the road. Thanks for lunch, Joe and Carolyn, it was great getting to visit with you!

Our last evening was spent with Carol and her family, going to dinner one last time. We've enjoyed their company and hospitality so much and will really miss them!

This morning, we got up and got the Castle ready to roll. We were on the road right on schedule at 9:00. Traffic had thinned out enough that it wasn't a bad drive across Birmingham at all. I turned off the driving directions on "Misty" because I knew the road we would be traveling isn't on the map. This is a section of the new I-22 Corridor, called Corridor X. It begins on the northwest outskirts of Birmingham and joins US 78 West near Tupelo.

It's a new, smooth road with very little traffic:

It was an easy travel day, and we arrived at the Hollywood Casino RV Park just after 2:30 this afternoon. Dortha and Mark finished up at Red Bay yesterday and had already come over last evening. They arranged for us to have the site next to them here for the weekend. Dortha fixed a tasty dinner for us and then we drove around the area before stopping to try out a few slot machines at Harrah's.

I never realized how many casinos there are in this area - 9. I also learned that they are all built on water, since that is the only legal way to build casinos here. Tomorrow we hope to visit the river park and maybe even take a riverboat cruise. Did I say something about slowing down our pace? Not likely!