With a morning to kill, I visited the Sloss Pig Iron Furnaces (blog post coming) and then began poking around town exploring the sights.
After a marvelous time spent at the Barber Vintage Museum, it was time to find a place to camp for the night. Rather than finding a nice Baptist church to camp behind, I headed toward the skyline of the city. The remaining daylight hours were spent exploring the industrial downtown area and back streets along turn of the century buildings. The city expanded in the 19th century with a focus on mining, iron and steel transported throughout the world by a fan of rail lines and ports south. The railroad tunnels through town have recently had LED lighting installed which changes through the spectrum like Willy Wonka's glass elevator. Night settled in and I continued riding around until the rain began. Finding myself in the working class and rough neighborhoods of North Birmingham, I figured the police would have more to do than worry about me camping out in the city park under a pavilion. Rain fell throughout the evening and I stayed nice and dry sleeping on a picnic table with my scooter beside me. Sure there were a series of gunshots but they were easily over a mile distant. No big deal. Before the morning light shined through the overcast sky, I found myself charging batteries in a McDonalds while sipping on a cup of coffee attempted to log in to their molasses-slow wifi. While there, an older distinguished man with knowledgeable eyes and a warm face asked me about the stickers on my scooter. "I've never met a stranger", he said inviting me over to his group of fellow retired pipe fitters, once union workers in the iron industry and elsewhere through town. We discussed the civil rights struggles they faced, the large families cultivated through the years and community on the north side of town. "I never stop learning. I'm 72 and I learn something new every day. That is my ticket to staying young." Naturally my description and recollection fails to capture his thick Alabama accent or the look in his eyes when he tells me about great grandchildren. With a morning to kill, I visited the Sloss Pig Iron Furnaces (blog post coming) and then began poking around town exploring the sights.
2 Comments
Martha
3/20/2015 02:06:48 am
Love that you captured some of Birmingham.
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Ryan
3/20/2015 09:31:14 am
This is truly amazing. Thank you.
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Mike SaundersIn May 2014 I quit my job to ride a Honda Ruckus over 69'000 mi and counting. Wild camping most nights and cooking most of my own meals, I keep the costs low and the landscape changing. Archives
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