Newsletter
EN 2009Apr 08 Weather Inc. |
| Posted by Administrator (adminEPL) on 07 Jun 2009 at 15:50 |
When you watch the weather channel in the US, it is surprising how accurate all the forecasts are. Naturally, because of all the sophisticated technology, such as Doppler radar and satellite. Than of course with all the experience gained over the years, the long term forecasts are pretty accurate too. Our "agent" Nasser Shukayr is even better! He was able to plan our trip so well, that we didn't face any severe weather on our route at all. We did get some rain, but when we got out of the car the weather was mostly sunny with good temperatures. Nasser started planning this trip about a year ago. With this kind of long term forecasting he should be able to make a fortune at the Weather Channel, but yet he chooses to work as computer specialist. Tuesday, March 31, We were with Plus Unlimited in Nashville, a great group with a good caller; "Little Joe" Goins. Joe was kind enough to share a CD with me with all instrumental singing calls the he had recorded over the years with Eagle Records. We had a great dance with them, and good food too. So Wednesday, we set off again, down south heading for Biloxi Mississippi. Our first stop was Lynchburg, TN, because we really wanted to visit Jack Daniel's distillery. We had a very interesting tour of the premises and learned everything (Ok not everything) about the production and maturation process. Did you know that JD's is matured on new casks? After maturation the casks are shipped to other countries for other drinks to mature, such as to Scotland. Yep, the Scots use second hand casks. Now according to local regulations, Moore county is what they call dry. No alcohol is being sold. There is one exception made however, In the White Rabbit store at the distillery a special bottling (90 proof) can be sold to the public, so sure enough we bought one bottle of that special Lynchburg Lemonade. After visiting the distillery, we went on to the historic town center, mostly with shops full of Jack Daniel's stuff. From there we drove on to the south passing Birmingham Alabama, then Montgomery, to find a billboard with "Hank Williams Museum". Now that's a place you just can't pass without visiting. It's only a small museum and in actual fact the house where Ol' Hank spend his childhood and learned to play the guitar. If you want to learn more about the short life of this remarkable man, just follow this link: http://www.thehankwilliamsmuseum.com Coming down in Biloxi, Mississippi, we found that there has been some extensive damage when Katrina hit the coast. That was not just Louisiana, which filled the news, but the Mississippi coast was also struck hard. We followed Highway 90 across all new bridges and could still see the remains of the old bridges that were all washed out. On Friday, Martha and I were with the Magnolia Swingers where we had an excellent dance. The callers of the club are Ron and Gloria Hurt. They have only been dancing for like 3 or 4 years, and calling for 1 year, both are now 70+ years old! Hat's off! They really want to keep the activity going. It was a real pleasure to share a singing call with Gloria! Saturday morning we set of to go back to Texas. Since we were passing through Louisiana, we just had to stop and visit New Orleans. We took a horse and kart tour through the French quarter. This part of New Orleans was hardly damaged by Katrina. But around the center we did see that a lot of new condominiums are built and being build. Then we were back in Texas to call the last dance of the tour for the Texas Bluebonnets in Schertz, near San Antonio. We had a good dance and Martha got to dance with the sheriff of the Waterloo Squares. Sheriff Milton was outside his jurisdiction, but he sure wanted everyone to believe this was not the case. Great food was served: chocolate dipped strawberries and homemade pie. We didn't have the chance to sample it all. When you're in San Antonio, there are a few things you need to visit: The Alamo and the river walk. We went to the Alamo with Jeanna to absorb some history. We learned how 200 brave men faced 3000 Mexican soldiers and died for the freedom of Texas. Among them was the famous Davey Crockett. http://www.thealamo.org This link will tell you a lot more than what we can do here. See y'all later! Erik & Martha, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
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