Week Five–Talladega & Lincoln, Alabama National Motorsports Hall of Fame

The museum is located adjacent to the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. It houses many racing and high performance vehicles.  The collections are constantly changing and features racers from the world of Indy cars, stock cars, Can Am, TransAm, sprint cars, powerboats, truck racing, drag racing, motorcycles, air racing, and even racing snowmobiles.

 1940 Mercury Eight, ran on the beach in 1947.

1978 Dodge Magnum, Red & White Series Show Car. Built by Petty Enterprises. Documentation shows that is was the last Dodge Richard Petty drove.

Dale Jarrett's #44 

One of the many galleries

1980 Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Dale Earnhart to his first NASCAR Winston Cup Championship in the 1980 season.

Patty Moise 1988 Buick #45 Amway/Freedom Fuel Car. Patty won four pole awards and was NASCAR's most successful female driver.

Hemi Hurricane 1940 Willies Coupe. Raced in the mid 1960's by Lamar "Bunky" Bobo from Rome, GA. He won three championships in the 1966 and 1967 Winter Nationals in Deland, FL.

The Budweiser Rocket Car 39'2" long and weighs 4,430 pounds with fuel. Fastest run 739.666 mph at Edwards Air Force Base on December 17, 1979.

Dale Earnhart 1951 - 2001. (One section of the museum is the Earnhart Gallery.)

1964 Alfa Romeo Guilia Spider Veloce, one of only 1,091 ever built. Top speed 125 mph, it won numerous SCCA races.

1966 Chevelle, raced by Ray Owen. Raced 186 consecutive times from August 1966 to July 1968 without a loss. Won 676 runs out of 692.

1933 Chevy Modified Car #41 Goody's. Raced for 17 years in the National Dirt Track Association. 1967 Dirt Track Championship in Kingsport, TN. 

Davey Allison's Battlestar #28. 

1986 Buick LeSabre #22, driven by Bobbie Allison. He drove it to victory in the Winston 500 at Talladega in 1986.

And the one that didn’t win the race. Pontiac Grand Prix #30 driving by Michael Waltrip. Wrecked at Bristol on April 7, 1990. Sustained no serious injuries. 

Week Four–Dunn Falls, Mississippi

On my way to Dunn Falls Water Park located in South Lauderdale County, Mississippi along the Chunky River. Created by John Dunn in the 1850's the waterfall is 65 feet. 

This view is typical of the two lane highways in Mississippi. Very picturesque with hills, curves and lots of trees lining the road. Since you can’t see beyond the trees, you never know what’s back there!

I inadvertently took the back road (if you could call it that) down the hill to Dunn Falls. Just off this “road” is a very small, primitive campground. There were two families staying there for the weekend.

Fortunately, this area provided enough space to turn the truck around. However, at this point I was not too impressed.

Then this wonderful 1865 historic grist mill with some of the original equipment. This mill was moved in 1987 from Cave Spring, Georgia and reconstructed on the site of John Dunn's original mill. The front of the mill.

Some of the original equipment.

The back of the mill.

Steps down to the falls.

This is the actual entrance on the highway to the Falls, I was pleased that I experienced the back road that ended at the mill. From the front entrance to the mill it is a pretty long hike. 

This is what should be  feeding the falls. There is construction and there are no falls. When they are finished some time toward the end of 2015, the falls should be in place again. Back once again to provide fishing, swimming and canoeing

Week Four–Causeyville General Store in Mississippi

A delightful encounter with the owner of Causeyville General Store was worth taking the trip and the time to discover unincorporated Caseville, MS. (Actually a part of rural Meridian, MS.) The store is official closed until the sale of most of the items. Because Mrs. Dorothy had been interrupted by a frequent local customer while painting a room in her house, I was able to spend a couple of hours listening and looking at the wonders inside the store. The store has had so many break-ins I chose not to take any photographs inside. However, here are the ones I did take of the interesting historic buildings:

The Causeyville General Store and Grist Mill are late 1800s establishments that are great testaments to the old times, ways, and life. The general store is packed with merchandise and mid 20th century memorabilia. There’s also an 1869 gristmill on the property. The structures are historic in themselves, once being a trading post for between the Europeans and the Choctaw Indians.

Unfortunately, this old general store and grist mill may soon be just another memory of things of the past.