Day 05 - U.S. Space & Rocket Center

 

We woke up at 7:15am this morning and had our breakfast. The temperature was a very comfy 60F. We were on the bike at 9:00am to make the short 10 minute ride over to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. The facility is right off of I-595. From the interstate you can see the Space Shuttle and the Saturn V rocket. We have ridden past this facility many times on our trips and always wanted to visit.

In addition to hosting Space Camp, the Huntsville facility is responsible for all of the science on board the International Space Station. They coordinate with the Houston facility on the ISS operations.

We found dedicated motorcycle parking up front, just three spots from the CEO’s reserved spot. The first building had a lot of the beginning history of space flight and the impacts the program had on the culture  of the country. They had examples of the flight suits through the program.

We walked through some mocked up modules of the ISS. The sleep quarters are about the size of a small single door pantry. Just enough room to sleep (vertically) and space for a laptop or two. A wall of velcro substitutes for a night stand. Just stick your stuff on the wall to keep it from floating around.

The operation of the bathroom was explained as was the environmental control system. The “gym” was on display as well. The treadmill was on the wall! When walking through the modules, it becomes obvious that there is no ceiling, floor, or wall. All can be used similarly in a micro-G environment.

They also discussed Robonaut which was aboard the ISS from 2011 to 2018 as a prototype of eventually using robots to perform tasks in a microgravity environment as an aid to human spaceflight. 

We walked outside to the Space Shuttle exhibit. The shuttle (named Pathfinder) was removed from atop the external fuel tank in 2021 and is being examined for restoration. Its frame is on the ground to the left. The center hopes to also restore the tank and the two solid rocket boosters (SRBs).

We made our way over to the Saturn 5 building. They have both a Saturn 1B and a Saturn V rocket standing vertically on the grounds. You have to really crane your neck to see the top when standing next to them!

 

Inside the Saturn V building, there is a full size Saturn V rocket laying horizontally. The size of the five F-1 rocket motors on the first stage of the rocket are mind blowingly large. They are to-date the most powerful rocket motor developed and operated. The produce about 1.5M lbs of thrust each. That means that just one F-1 engine produces more than 3 Space Shuttle engines. The engines pumped 670 gallons of fuel and oxidizer per second!

It was really interesting to see all the very delicate tubing structures on the nozzles used to cool the motors. How do you keep a motor producing 5800F heat from melting? The short answer is you use the -425F hydrogen you use as fuel to first pump through the motor before you burn it. Pretty amazing engineering. 

 

There are lots of displays that discuss the history of the race to the moon and the multiple hurdles that had to be overcome. Michele liked the hand calculations for the booster stages, pre computers. One of the few women on staff was a mathematician and physicist and was critical in figuring all that out. 

Here is the 2nd stage of the Saturn V and the five J2 rockets it had to propel it. The J2 rocket motors were the first rocket motor that could shut down and then reignite later in space. 

The “brains” of the Saturn V were built into a ring that was between the stages. Here is an example of one.

And here is the third stage of the Saturn V with a single J2 motor.

On top of the rocket was the Command Module where the astronauts sat. The pointy tower was part of the emergency ejection system. If something went wrong, the tower (which is actually a solid rocket booster) would ignite and pull the command module away from the rocket.

  

At the far end of the building two lunar rovers and a lunar lander were on display. Of course all of this hardware are either models or extras that never flew. The only part of the Saturn V that ever returned to Earth intact was the command module with the astronauts inside. The recovered command module from Apollo 12 (the 2nd mission to the moon) is on display along with one of it’s parachutes. You can see how the ablative heat shield was used up more in some places than others as it wore off during re-entry.

 

 

 

There was also a moon rock on display that is labeled as priceless in value.

Outside in the rocket garden, there were a few other pieces of Army hardware. Michele likes the mobile rocket launcher.

They also had a tiny submarine that the Army built. It was used to aid in the recovery of rocket debris during testing. The sub could go deeper and carry more debris than scuba divers.

We finished up walking through all the exhibits at around 1pm. We took a short ride to a nearby restaurant square called Stovehouse. It is several restaurants around a common square where there were tables to sit down and eat. They had a stage for music and areas for kids to play. We ate pork BBQ that was really good. We also picked up mediterranean food for dinner tonight.

 Severe thunderstorms are expected tonight so we plan to stay indoors, do laundry and pack. Since wind is forecasted, we zip tied ziplock bags onto the bike’s handlebars to protect the most important switches from rain. We are parked next to a high wooden fence and hedge and are hoping that is enough to protect it. 

Tomorrow we head south to Birmingham.

Day 04 - Lookout Mountain Scenic Ride

Today we planned a scenic ride up to Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. We got up at 7am and were backing the bike out of the driveway at 8:30am. The temperature this morning was 50F making it the warmest of our trip to date. Temperatures would steadily climb throughout the day to the mid-70s. Very nice!

We headed east out of Huntsville on US72 into Scottsboro where we jumped onto CR35 into Rainsville. 

After crossing I59 we headed south on US11 for a few miles. We then headed east on CR176 which took us into the Little River Canyon National Preserve. We slowly made our way along the canyon rim parkway occasionally getting glimpses of the shear cliff walls. The park road had been recently tar and chipped so 25 mph was as fast as we could comfortably go. The overlooks were all gravelly so Michele tried to get pictures through the trees as we rode by. 

We exited the preserve at the northern point and then headed north-west on CR35 for a few miles before turning north onto the Desoto Parkway (CR89). The park had ziplines and a neat spiral staircase up to swinging bridges.

We followed 89 into Georgia until it turned into CR157. We turned north and followed CR157 all the way to Lookout Mountain just inside the Tennessee state line. Michele liked this sign of signs.

We rode past Point Park and then headed down into Chattanooga for lunch. 

We shared a sandwich and cookie from Subway and made our way back south following I-24 west and then US72 west into Huntsville. We arrived back at our Airbnb at 3pm. Today’s scenic ride clocked in at 275 miles.

We rested a bit then walked to dinner at Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint. We had the Greg Brady burger, which is mac and cheese and chips on the burger. Good combination of flavors! We thought the disco ball decorations were funny. We ordered their fried oreos for dessert. It is a soft oreo surrounded by a donut covered in powdered sugar. Yum.

After dinner we walked back to the house. As we passed by the owner's house, Yogi and Lucy were out front and barked ferociously at us from behind their invisible fence. Michele was offended that they didn't recognize us given how much attention she gave them yesterday.

Tomorrow we see rockets!

 

Day 03 - Jack Daniels Distillery Day, Huntsville, AL

We woke at 6:30am Monday to have enough time to eat breakfast, suit up and get the bike uncovered to leave around 8am. Our distillery tour reservation was at 10am. 

 

They required a 9:30am check in, so we had plenty of buffer time on the hour ride back up to Tennessee. The hour drive along US431, US64, and CR50 was quiet with hardly any traffic. 

Rob noticed the aroma just a mile or so from seeing the first rick houses where the barrels are stored.

Michele predicted that on a Monday morning in late March we'd be the only people on the tour. Rob said no way, there would definitely be other people. Rob was correct! The distillery grounds were really well kept and scenic, and dedicated motorcycle parking was right in front. We shed our bike gear for sensible walking shoes. Inside the visitor center, we checked in and the lady said we could catch the 9:30am tour since we were early, so we didn't have to wait at all. Our tour guide, Brandi, loaded our group of 11 onto a little shuttle to drive us over to the distillery operations section. In our group were people from Nebraska, Michigan, and Florida. On the bus she told us a little about Jack. He did not get along with his stepmother so he left home at six years old! He worked in the distilling business from that age onward, ultimately creating his own distillery. She also told us right away that the property is in the only dry county in the state! They have special permission to operate the distillery and sell alcohol, thanks to a later owner that got elected into local legislature to make that happen.

Off the bus Brandi discovered a spy in our midst. We laughed that the turkey was at the wrong distillery. 

We learned about the charcoal operation. Tennessee whisky is different from bourbon in that it gets processed through ten feet of charcoal. They make their own charcoal on site, burning slats of sugar maple wood bought from furniture makers. Two men are in charge of that and have been for the past 20 years. They basically set the wood on fire, then put it out with the right amount of water at the right time to get the charcoal. 

Next we visited the spring where the water is sourced. Brandi said it goes back a mile into the cave. The location in front of the cave used to be the exact site of the early days distillery. 

Jack was just 5 feet 2 inches tall even though his statue is 5 feet 10 inches tall. 

She took us into several buildings out of order from the operation: the original office, distilling, then the fermentation tanks that were bubbling from evaporating off the CO2 from the yeast. We were not allowed to take photos here due to "cameras and phones could cause a spark from the vapors." We didn't fall for that excuse but got a good chuckle from it.

We saw the bottling plant where a bunch of workers were bottling up the huge 3 liter bottles that are illegal to sell in the US. They ship them overseas. Brandi also told us early on that the distillery has 650 employees, and her sons and 20 cousins work there! Each lucky employee receives one bottle the first Friday of every month (called Good Friday). Nice employee perk!

After bottling she took us over to a rick house. It smelled really good in there from the barrels and whisky. We went into the tasting room and had six samples in front of us: Gentleman Jack, Old No. 7, Rye, Tennessee Honey, Tennessee Fire, and Tennessee Apple. She told us about them one by one and we got our tiny sips of each. Once done, the tour ended. One lady looked at Michele and said, "I'd like to just stay here and keep sampling!"

Rob said upon seeing this wall of bottles, that if you can make a wall out of this many bottles, you have a little drinking problem.

By then it was 11am so we walked into the town of Lynchburg, which is really tiny, just a block or so around a town square. Michele wanted to go to Barrel House BBQ that she read about in Yelp or somewhere. She made a new friend. 

It is wild inside decor-wise. The walls are covered floor to ceiling with people's names handwritten on every inch, so we added ours to booth #1. We shared the grilled cheese and smoked pork (called Grilled Cheese on Crack) that Michele read about in a review, potato salad and sweet potato casserole. Holy moly it was so amazing. We then walked around town a bit and popped into a few of the shops. If we had not been so full we might have tried the whisky ice cream or whisky fudge. We went back to the bike and suited up to head out. A nice couple in their car stopped to ask where we are from and ask if we paid $30k for the bike (no!). He said he is 89 and "a bit too young to ride motorcycles" but was super nice and wished us a safe drive. 

On our way back we stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few items. The Publix on highway 431is really nice, according to Michele. A man asked Rob in the parking lot about the trailer since he was considering getting one for his bike. After that, we fueled up and headed back to our house. 

We met our house owners before dinner. They have two standard poodles, Yogi and Lucy. Lucy was very taken by Michele and put its paws up on her shoulders! For dinner we walked into town and ate at Melt, different from the burger place by our house at home of the same name. The food was really good and service was quick. On the way back we admired this clever wall painting.

Tomorrow is a day of scenic riding. 

Day 02 - Abingdon to Huntsville, AL

We were excited to get moving today to begin exploring outside of Virginia. Today’s ride was only 337 miles and check-in at our destination was no earlier than 4pm CT, so we did not leave the hotel until 9:30am. We had plenty of time to get up, eat breakfast, and load up the trailer.

The winds were much calmer this morning and we were pleasantly surprised with the temperature at 36F. This was a fair bit warmer than the 28F forecast the night before. Rob added his heated pants to his riding gear today. We rolled out of the hotel parking lot at 9:30am, topped the bike off with fuel and headed south on I-81.

We crossed into Tennessee about 14 miles later. 

 Traffic was very light and the winds were less gusty than yesterday. After about 100 miles, Michele was getting a few “hot spots” in her helmet so we stopped at a fuel station so she could pull her helmet off and adjust her hair. She did not have any issues for the rest of the day.

There was a couple at the gas station with three fluffy golden retrievers. One was a very cute puppy that they were just putting back into its little safety carrier.

Shortly after jumping back on the interstate we entered Knoxville and traffic picked up significantly. Traffic was heavy until we got on the southern side of Knoxville. 

We saw this ad for tours. An interesting combination.

We also saw this boat that reminded Rob of a three hour tour.

We turned south on l-75 and then stopped near Lenoir City at a Subway for lunch at noon. While waiting in line to order our sandwich, a nice gentleman asked about our trip. He was familiar with the Houston, San Antonio, and Austin areas in Texas as he had done construction work in those cities. Although less windy than yesterday, we elected to eat inside today. 

We were back on the bike 45 minutes later and made our way to Chattanooga. We turned west on I-24 and into Georgia and then back to Tennessee just a few minutes later. We hit really slow traffic for about 15 minutes through the Chattanooga area, nearly stopping a few times, but caught nice scenery along the way.

We made our last stop of the day about an hour from Huntsville in Kimball, TN. We were running about 45 minutes ahead of schedule so we decided to take a long break since we couldn't check in to our Airbnb until 4pm. We had just entered the Central time zone so we gained an hour. 

We fueled up the bike and parked on the side of the parking lot for a little break. While resting, a group of local motorcyclists also stopped for a break and we chatted with two of them. One said he was looking at buying a Goldwing. Another had just traveled to the Hill Country in Texas in January and had recommendations on where to go. Both said the Top of the Rock restaurant up the mountain just above the gas station was a cool place to eat and see the view. We might go there on Tuesday.

We hopped back on the bike at about 3pm and headed west on US72 into Huntsville. We crossed into Alabama and an hour later we arrived at our Airbnb right at 4pm. 

 

The Airbnb is a small cottage with a little kitchen, a nice living room, a full bath, and a bedroom. Michele thinks the oven is cute. This place will work perfectly for us while we stay in Huntsville and see the nearby sites.

Rob cleaned the bike, and we walked a short way into downtown past many well maintained historic houses. For dinner we got carryout at Moe's Original Barbecue recommended by our host. It was packed. We stopped at a small grocery store on the way back for breakfast items.

Tomorrow we visit the Jack Daniels Distillery.