2023 DIXIE ADVENTURE - THE BEAR, BART & BOBBY

 

DAY #3-MAY 20, 2023 - HUNTSVILLE, AL. to JASPER, AL

 230 MILES/722 TOTAL MILES

I am on Day 3 of this little mini-adventure and today started off in Huntsville, Alabama. The Sleep Inn & Suites on University Dr. was another below average hotel. As I have stated before this is becoming the Norm for the Choice Hotel Brands. But that horse is dead so it's time to get off.

This for the most post is going to be a cemetery day, and I hope to get a lot of footage that will eventually show up on my YouTube Channel If you get a chance, please check it out.

Leaving Huntsville, I made my way out Interstate 565 where I joined up with Interstate 65 and headed south. It was just about 100 miles to my first stop of the day. The drive was uneventful and being a weekend, the traffic in the Birmingham area was flowing at the speed limit.

Two Hours after leaving Huntsville, I arrived at the Jefferson Memorial Park which is several miles Northeast of Downtown Birmingham. The sole purpose for coming here is to visit the final resting place of a Hall of Fame College Football Coach.

The GPS Coordinates on Find-A-Grave were correct, and I was able to quickly find the grave of Coach Bobby Bowden. Coach Bowden was one of the winningest coaches in the history of College Football. During his 6-decade career he amassed a record of 377-129-4. His coaching career started at Samford, with stops at West Virginia and Florida State.

At West Virginia he had a record of 42-26 and took the Mountaineers to two bowl games. He left West Virginia in 1976 and moved to Florida State where He had his greatest success. His record with the Seminoles was 304-97-4 while leading them to 12-ACC Championships and two National Championships.

During career he earned several awards including the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year, Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award, and the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. Coach Bowden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. Coach Bowden passed away at the age of 91 on August 8, 2021, in Tallahassee, Florida.

From the Jeffersonville Memorial Park, I headed into Birmingham and made my way to the Top of Red Mountain. I had been here before when I attended the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament back in 2008. Here on top of the Mountain you can get a grand view of Downtown Birmingham. But in addition to the views, the centerpiece of the park is the Statue of Vulcan.

The Vulcan Statue is the largest cast iron statue in the World. The statue was built in 1904 and stands 56-feet tall and is perched atop a 124-foot pedestal making it visible for miles. In addition to the Vulcan Statue the park features a visitors’ center, which features interactive exhibits about the City of Birmingham and the growth of the iron and steel industry.

 I didn’t spend much time in Downtown Birmingham as the city in general has a very high crime rate.

But there was one place in Birmingham that I did want to visit, so I set my Google Maps to take me to Elmwood Cemetery.

Elmwood is a very large cemetery located just a mile or two southwest of downtown and just a mile or so from Legion Field. But neither place is in a very good or safe part of town.

In this day and time, you can’t be too careful, and even though I am here in the middle of the day and most likely the little thugs are still home in bed, crime doesn’t have a clock. So, I am just going to try and locate one grave here and Elmwood Cemetery and then be on my way.

Even though I have been to this grave before, it has been several years. The first thing I did was check the GPS Coordinates on Find-A-Grade and put them into Google Maps.  I also had the section Number but if I remember correctly, Section 30 is a large section so the GPS Coordinates will help.

But as I arrived at the GPS Coordinates Listed, I found that they were Incorrect. So, I began driving around looking for Section 30. Now Elmwood, like most there seems to be no rhyme or reason to how they are laid out.

Driving around, I come to section 34, then section 33, and section 32. I think I am getting closer to the section that I am looking for when suddenly, I come to section 17 then section 19. I ended up driving around for almost 40 minutes and never found Section 30. 

As I was driving around, I saw several homeless people who has staked out a place and a couple even appeared to be living in tents. I personally think this is totally unacceptable but, in this day and time that opinion is not politically correct.

I finally stopped and asked three cemetery workers if they could direct me to Section 30. The were Hispanic and spoke absolutely no English. But through sign language we made it work.  Their directions were good, and I soon found myself in Section 30 and in no time flat I was able to find the grave of Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.

Coach Bryant is best remembered as the longtime head coach of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. He got his nickname “Bear” when he wrestled a captive bear for a theater promotion when he was 13-years old.

Prior to accepting the Head Coaching position at Alabama Coach Bryant served as the head coach at both The University of Kentucky and Texas A&M. In 1957 he left Texas A&M to take the Head coaching position at Alabama, where he remained for the next quarter century.

During his 25-years at Alabama he led the Crimson Tide to 13-SEC Championships and 15 Bowl Victories including 8-Sugar Bowls.  He also led the Crimson Tide to six National Championships.

After finishing my visit to Elmwood Cemetery, I headed south on Interstate 65 to my next stop in Pelham, Alabama. My next stop is at the Southern Heritage Cemetery that is located less than a mile off the interstate.

There are two graves here that I want to visit, and I had no problem finding the grave of legendary Green Bay Parker Quarterback, Bart Starr. Even though Find-A- Grave had accurate GPS Coordinates, I found his final resting place from a Photo on Find-A-Grave.

Bart and other members of his family are entombed in an above ground crypt on the banks of the Cemetery Lake that is really close to the entrance.

 Bart Starr is best remembered as the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. He played his college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide under then Coach Red Drew. He was selected by the Green Bay Packers as the 200^th overall pick in the 1956 NFL Draft.

 With the Packers Bart led Vince Lombardi’s Packers to three consecutive league championships in 1965, 1966, 1967. He was also selected as the Most Valuable Player in Super Bowl I and II.

During his 15-year career with Green Bay he won a total of 5-NFL Championships and was one of the most successful quarterbacks in NFL history. He passed away at the age of 85 on May 26, 2019.

There is one other notable person buried here in this cemetery that I wanted to visit. I did have to use the Find-A-Grave GPS coordinates to locate the grave.  The coordinates were spot on and just a few minutes after leaving Bart Starr’s Grave I arrived at the Grave of Coach Gene Bartow.

Gene Bartow is best known for being the successor to legendary coach John Wooden at UCLA. He coached at Central Missouri State from 1961-1964 before moving on to Valparaiso in 1964 and staying there until 1970.

He then became the head coach at Memphis State where he led the Tigers to two regular season championships in 1972 and 1973. When UCLA’s Legendary Coach John Wooden decided to retire, Gen Bartow who had just completed his first year at Illinois was selected to replace Wooden.

During his two-year tenure with the Bruins, his teams captured two Regular Season Conference championships and reached the "Final Four" in 1976.

In 1977, Bartow left UCLA to become the athletic director at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and in 1979, he returned to courtside to serve as the Blazers' head coach, a position he held from 1979 until 1996. He retired in 1996 with 647 career victories and was inducted into the National College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. He died at the age of 81on January 3, 2012, following a two-year battle with stomach cancer.

Completing my visit to the Southern Heritage Cemetery I set off toward my next stop of the day. But first I stopped at Driver Way Travel Center for a cold drink and a couple of Gas Station Hot Dogs. The Dogs were filling and about what you would expect from a gas station.

It was only about 10-mile to my next stop. But it took me almost 30 minutes to make the drive as most of the drive was on narrow two-lane country roads.

But I eventually arrived at Cedar Grove, which is a small country cemetery in Alabaster, Alabama. Here I found the grave of banjo picker “Little” Wendy Holcombe.

Wendy learned to play the banjo at an early age and when her father took her to Nashville for her 12^th Birthday. While shopping Wendy picked up a banjo and started playing foggy Mountain Breakdown.” Roni Stoneman’s Bass Player Heard Her and the next night she was playing on the “Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree.” A month later she was playing on the Grand Ole Opry.

By the age of 13 Wend was appearing on such TV Shows as Hee-Haw” and “Nashville on the Road,” with Jim Ed Brown and Jerry Clower.

Wendy was born with a congenital heart defect which claimed her life on February 14, 1987, at the young age of 23.

Cedar Grove Cemetery is located in a rural area that is several miles south of Birmingham, Alabama. After finishing my visit to the grave of Wendy Holcombe it was a 30-mile drive back north to Bessemer, Alabama.

Bessemer is where Byron and I stayed on that first visit to the NCAA Tournament in Birmingham way back in 2004. I had considered staying here again tonight but the hotels in the area including the Comfort Inn just off of Interstate 20 were getting horrible rating on Both Trip Advisor and Yelp. So, I chose to pass and continue on.

While here in Bessemer, I stopped at Highland Memorial Park to visit the grave of NASCAR Driver Davey Allison.

Davey was born in Hollywood, Florida and was the son of NASCAR Legend Bobby Allison. Having grown up in a racing family Davey raced in several racing series before making his Busch Series Debut in the early 1980’s.

Davey almost won the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship, finishing 3^rd to Alan Kulwicki. In 1993, Davey purchased a new helicopter and on July 12, 1993, he and fellow driver Red Farmer were attempting to land at Talladega Superspeedway. At some point during the landing, the helicopter went out of control and crashed. Farmer was seriously injured but survived. Davey on the other hand was seriously injured and passed away July 13, 1993, at the age of 32.

Located just a short walk from Davey’s grave are the graves of his mother Judy and his brother Clifford. Judy died at the age of 72 on December 18, 2015, in Statesville, North Carolina.

On August 13, 1992, Clifford was practicing for the Detroit Gasket 200 at Michigan International Speedway when his car crashed between turns three and four. He succumbed to his injuries from the crash on the way to a local hospital at the age of 27.

Leaving Bessemer, there was one more stop that I wanted to make while I was in the area. So, I made my way through the town of Hueytown, Alabama up to the Forest Grove Memorial Park where I wanted to visit the grave of another member of the Alabama Gang.

The Find-A-Grave Coordinates were again spot on, and I quickly found the Grave of NASCAR Driver Neil Bonnett.

Neil was a very popular and very successful driver in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. During his career was the back-to-back winner of the Worlds 600 in 1982 and 1983 and the Busch Clash in 1983 and 1984.  In addition to being a popular driver he was also a popular TV Commentator for various Networks who broadcast NASCAR Races.

Neil was fatally injured when he crashed during practice for the 1994 Daytona 500. A couple of years after his death Neil Bonnett was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 1997.

After paying my respects to Neil Bonnett it was time to head north toward my destination for the night.

For the past couple of years, I have tried to avoid staying in large cities when traveling. The crime and violence in the larger cities have increased dramatically since before COVID.  So tonight, I have chosen to stay about 40 miles north of Birmingham. Most of the drive was up relatively new Interstate 22.

It took me a little a little less than an hour to make the drive up to the Holiday Inn in Jasper, Alabama. I looked at staying at both the Holiday Inn and the Hampton Inn which sit side by side. For whatever reason the Hampton Inn’s rate was $180 and after adding on taxes it was just slightly under $200. 

The Holiday Inn was quoting a member’s rate of $132 and with Taxes it was still under $150. I am Not Sure why the big difference in Rates. As I said they are literally side by side.

This was a very nice Holiday Inn. The Young lady who checked me in was nice and friendly and once in my room I found it to be exceptionally clean and Comfortable.

After getting settled in my room I back tracked about 3 miles to Interstate 22 and had supper at my old standby, Cracker Barrel. The food was very good, and the service was great.

After supper it was back to the Holiday Inn where I set about making a plan for tomorrow. I have a general idea of what tomorrow will bring but none of it is etched in stone. We will see what tomorrow has in store. The Adventure Continues.