27 Let’s Turn It Up a Little

Chapter 27 LET'S TURN IT UP A LITTLE A thunderstorm was on the horizon as Dr. McDonald flipped on the wipers and steered the RV back on Route 48 heading west. To his relief, the GPS began working again as soon as he left the state park. It was a quick ten miles to the small town of Menlo, and from there just two miles until this appeared.... "Woo-hoo!" yelled Coke. "Sweet home Alabama! Hey, can you guys name two things that the following people have in common? Hank Aaron, George Washington Carver, Nat King Cole, Helen Keller, Joe Louis, Willie Mays, Jesse Owens, and Satchel Paige."

"They were all from Alabama?" guessed Pep. "That's only one thing they have in common," Coke said. "The other thing was that they were all human beings." "You're a moron." "Don't call your brother a moron," said Mrs. McDonald. She dropped her dog-eared copy of Georgia Off the Beaten Path into the garbage bag and took her brand-new Alabama Family Adventure Guide out of the glove compartment. "What's the plan for Alabama, Mom?" Pep

asked. "It's starting to come down hard," said Dr. McDonald. "Let's keep the driving to a minimum today, okay?" "Well, there's the MOOseum in Montgomery," said Mrs. McDonald. "It tells the history of beef and cattle. And they have a pest control museum in Decatur." "Great," said Dr. McDonald with a groan. "A museum devoted to bugs." "Let's see," Mrs. McDonald continued. "There's a spear-hunting museum in Summerdale. And at the Hall of History Museum in Bessemer, they have Adolph Hitler's typewriter!" "Why is Hitler's typewriter in Alabama?" asked Pep. "It doesn't say," her mother replied. "Hmm, this is interesting. In the town of Sylacauga, there's a monument to a lady who got hit by a meteorite that crashed through the roof of her house in 1954. And in the same town, they have

a tribute to Gomer Pyle...." "Who's Gomer Pyle?" the twins asked, in unison. "Never mind," replied both parents. "Well, you'll be pleased to hear that we're not going to any of those places," said Mrs. McDonald. "Yay!" "So where are we going?" asked Coke. "Wherever it is, it won't be much fun in the rain." "Oh, you'll see," said his mother. "Stay on Route 117, Ben." Outside, the sky was getting darker and more ominous. A few small towns passed by—Valley Head, Henagar—as they traveled across rural northern Alabama. It was pretty, but after a while pretty loses its appeal and the human brain yearns for "different" instead. "Are we there yet?" asked Pep an hour after they had crossed the state line. "Color me officially bored."

They stopped for lunch at the side of the road near Guntersville Lake, but didn't get out of the RV because of the rain coming down. After lunch they switched to Route 72 West. It wasn't long before they reached the outskirts of a large city—Huntsville, Alabama. Dr. McDonald pulled off the highway just past the University of Alabama campus. A strange sight came into view: three or four huge, white rockets pointing toward the sky. He pulled into a parking lot. The rain had tapered off a bit, but now there was lightning and the rumble of thunder in the distant sky. "Is this where we're going today?" asked Coke. "Yup," said Mrs. McDonald. "Oh," Pep said, disappointed. "Rockets are cool," said Coke. "You think anything that ignites is cool." "Well, anything that ignites is cool." Huntsville, Alabama, is known as the rocket capital of the world. It was here where the

rockets were developed to put our astronauts in orbit around the earth and on the moon. Parts of the space shuttle and the International Space Station were designed here too. "The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is a museum devoted to the space program," Mrs. McDonald read from her guidebook. "The Apollo 16 capsule is here, as well as a full-size replica of a Saturn V rocket. They have all kinds of interactive exhibits, demonstrations, and IMAX movies. They even have a rock that was brought back from the moon."