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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

We Spent Tuesday Night in Huntsville Alabama

A giant Saturn 5 rocket like this one took astronauts to the moon - three at a time. It is the equivalent of a Washington Monument in size - filled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen. They were built in Huntsville and floated down canals and rivers to Cape Canaveral in Florida.



They launched the moon rockets from Cape Canaveral - but those giants were built in Huntsville Alabama at the Redstone Arsenal by the German scientists that we captured during World War II. Huntsville is still a booming town - we saw very few empty store fronts there. We had lunch at the Berlin Cafe and enjoyed a full menu of German dishes.

From there - we drove north to Louisville. Lulu will be at the Kentucky Library Association convention here at the Galt House along the Ohio River. It was about 250 miles from Huntsville to this city across the river from Indiana.


The Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. Note reflection of giant Saturn 5 rocket. 22 years ago - I interviewed Werner Von Braun's secretary here.

The Redstone Arsenal was always in the news when I was a kid. This is where Werner Von Braun and the "kraut heads" built our rockets that went to the moon. We still build lots of weapons here.

Harry was too cheap to pay the $20 admission to go inside and see the exhibits. He was only going to be there for an hour - and was already there ......... 22 years ago when he visited Space Camp. Here he is eyeballing a German V2 Rocket - the kind that destroyed London.

The highways of Northern Alabama are lined by cotton fields - note some of the balls not popped yet.

Lulu loved the simple elegance of cotton growing. The fluffy balls had plenty of seeds in them - also the stems were stickery.

Slaves spent hours and hours in these fields - probably hated them - they were so hot - but for a few minutes - Lulu and I loved the simplicity of it all. No cloth like cotton.