We were stationed in Norfolk, VA, from 2004-2010. Two years in, we bought a Craftsman-style bungalow built in 1912, and we learned that loving an old home means a lot of work — some of which we loved.
And the facts that the house is located in Larchmont, a neighborhood filled with charming older houses with wonderful families inside ’em, and that our boys did a lot of growing up there, make 1138 Manchester Avenue a place we’ll always cherish.
That said, after 6 years of playing long-distance landlords to three sets of tenants, we’re done. It’s time to own even less. I wrote about it here, and now we are here, and this is how we’ve spent our first few days:
Speaking of long distance landlords, we’re parked there at the blue dot, and our house is at the red dot. A shortage of RV parking in this area means taking what we can get, for the longest stretch possible. Pro: RV spot at the beach Con: Loooong daily commuteLola was happy to sink her paws into the sand once again.She became part of our family here, when she was just over a year old. Life is a little different for all of us, now that she’s ten.Inside job: repairing drywall in the bathroom. Ceiling paint to follow…Outside job: constructing a drying rack for cedar shake shingles. We’ve uh… we’ve got a few to replace.Channels going in. Don’t worry. You’ll see. And remember what I said about the wonderful families here? It’s because of them that we’re able to borrow tools and garages and driveway space, and get this work done. Lifelong friends, y’all. Lifelong friends.Before we hammer the shingles into place, they get the dip-and-stroke treatment in a 5-gallon bucket of paint. It’s very time-consuming, but I figured out a “fat end first” routine that worked quite well. No puns about fat ends, please. I was painting alone in that basement for nearly two hours, and I thought of all of them.After the dip, they go in our homemade racks to dry.Tim got ’em started, but I took over so that he could go outside and begin removing the deadbeats from the house. I did this many.Weather permitting, we’ll start making this wall look a lot better tomorrow.This one too.But the weather might have other plans for us. The hail seems to have followed us from San Antonio, dammit! We made it through those storms with only minor damage. Dare we hope for the same here?We’re happy to see Lola so happy in her old back yard, but dang, we wish she had opposable thumbs. We could use more help!
The Toad is all set up here at Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, AL, and it. is. lovely. After two months of living in military RV parks with few trees and with burn restrictions in place, it’s refreshing and restorative to spend a few nights under these tall beauties, falling asleep to the crackling sounds and toasty smells of neighboring campfires.
Home for 3 nightsWe walked all over the park today, covering a little more than 6 miles in distance, and 150 years back in time, to the Civil War — errrr, I mean the War of Northern Aggression, now that we’re sitting here in the heart of the Confederacy.
Come join us…
From our campsite between the train tracks and the office/museum loop, we walked the perimeter of the park counterclockwise. Historic cabin along Mill creek The old furnaces date back to 1830, and they produced iron for the Confederate military during the Civil War. That’s me there in the archway, for perspective. View of the charging bridge into Furnace 1 Close-up of some of the works at the ironworks
When we stopped to read this sign, I said to Tim. “Hey. I’ve heard of Montevallo! Mom & Dad have some old friends there.”
Remember that. It’s gonna come back later. Along the Iron Road Trail was a spur that led to this marker, which allowed us to stand in three counties at once!
It also tells me which county each of us peed in afterwards.
Look. We were in the woods, there were no facilities, and… you know the rest. We couldn’t walk that far without stopping to visit the old slave cemetery. It was sad in its starkness. Those rocks in the background are the headstones.
I know. The grist mill is long out of use. Probably because people stopped buying grist. After we finished our walking tour, we wandered into the Alabama Iron & Steel Museum to read up on everything we’d just seen. I happened to glance at the shelves in the gift shop, and that’s where I saw this book. Remember I said my parents had friends in Montevallo? That’s him. I very nearly peed again. Um, hi Norman and Joan! All that walking worked up an appetite, and even though I’m not a big burger fan, I’ll support a local business that boasts the best (Yelp users concurred). I had a much harder time choking down that apostrophe. Thanks for joining us on today’s walkabout! One more day of rest tomorrow, and then we’ll hit the road again on Saturday.
