It’s a Pie in the Sky: A Drive for Adventure

The Second Stop and an Unexpected Gem!

This starts out similar to our previous adventure, with two people driving in a car and looking for adventure. And boy did we find it! Starting off the day, we left our little apartment with a clear objective: The Lodge Cast Iron Factory in South Pittsburg, TN. I had gone before with my mother, but Jon had a vested interest in seeing the place due to our wish to be “perma-campers”. So, we set out that morning with a bag of Doritos and to adventure we went!

Our first try at getting to the factory did not…. go to plan. In my *infinite wisdom (read as stubborn ego) I had confidently stated that I could direct us to the factory WITHOUT the use of Google Maps, to save phone battery of course. Definitely not to show off my marvelous sense of direction…. Well as you can guess we ended up shooting right past the exit and the next off ramp was an extra twenty minutes down the road due to traffic. Great job Brooke. So with traffic backed up both ways, instead of getting off the interstate to get right back on we took an old state highway which was roughly headed in the same direction as we wanted to go.

This little detour was like going back in time. Before the interstate had been put in, this little highway was most likely one of the most direct paths to Chattanooga, which was a railroad mecca in its prime. All along our path were little towns and older buildings long since abandoned since the people stopped using this road in favor of the faster and more direct interstate. All in the name of progress I guess, but this little road was a gem of beautiful sites that I made multiple pit stops to get pictures of.

I don’t know if you can tell but the church was my favorite one to take pictures of. I plan on doing some digging to see if I can find any historical significance of this place but it was so neat to stop and look at. My poor husband puts up with photography shenanigans like a saint, even though I asked him to stop about every five minutes to look around he endured it with a smile. Love him.

Anyways, luck was on our side and this random highway ended up taking us right to where we wanted to be! Onward to the Lodge we went! As far as pitstops go, the lodge factory is a bit underwhelming. It’s been modernized to keep up with the times and you can’t really do anything with the factory itself, BUT the factory store is the absolute best place to acquire cast iron cookware at awesome prices. Unless you are absolutely set on a piece of cast iron from the the bulk of the store, bypass it all and head straight to the right hand side. All the way to the back is the seconds aisle. This is where they sell the pans that didn’t quite make the quality check at great prices. It’s the best part of the store. Alas, we are poor millennials and couldn’t buy anything so we got bored rather quickly. Since it was only noon, we decided to drive around looking for more adventure and to take in the quaint little town.

Besides the copious advertising for the Cornbread Festival that the town holds every year, the little town of South Pittsburg is somewhat lacking in things to do so we decided to follow yet another random brown sign that we had seen on the way into town. Taking us to Russel Cave National Monument.

Anybody who knows me knows that I have a deep passion for history and archeology, something I hope to dedicate my life to after I finish school. Alongside adventures of course. Little did I know as we putted along some Alabama back roads, that my love for the subject would once more be ignited from our destination.

Location wise, Russel cave is probably the strangest place to have a national monument. Driving through rural Alabama is beautiful, but sticking out like a sore thumb in the countryside a big sign greets you “Russel Cave National Monument and Archeological Park” OMG. My breath stopped. We had followed a random sign to probably one of the coolest things EVER. After watching a short presentation in the main building and perusing the artifacts in a mini museum the park kept, we set out along the boardwalk.

Birds sang in the trees and the air smelled of decaying leaves as we trekked our way directly towards the cave. And then, there it was. Tucked away in a gorgeous mountain side, the mouth of a cavern looms above you like an ancient beast; greenery sprouting anywhere it could find purchase. Coming to a dead end of the path there is a few infographics telling you of the native americans that would use this cave during the fall and winter seasons. Russel Cave has one of the most complete records of prehistoric culture from 10,000 BC to 1650 AD and when it was first excavated in the 60’s they pulled over two tons of artifacts from the cave. Now the only evidence of the archeological digging is a little pit in the cave marked off with wooden stakes.

Jon and I sat for a good half hour or so just soaking in the scene, listening to the stream flow into a cave hundreds of generations of hunter/gatherers had sought shelter in for over 10,000 years. You could almost see the crowd of native americans near the pool, gathering water and washing utensils preparing for the winter months. Kids would have still been kids, running along the edges of the cave and climbing over boulders until a sharp word from an elder spoiled their fun. The bounty of the North American wild would have provided plenty for these people living their lives, traveling from place to place following the game and seasons. This place was a treasure trove for just a glimpse into the day to day lives of the original Americans. A physical diary left by these people for years.

Giddy with a rekindled love for archeology and of adventure days, we set off home. Back to our lives that may someday be studied by archeologist looking for glimpses into the past. My hairbrush, the unsettling amount of pictures I took of my dogs, even the wear and tear on my favorite skillet, all could be studied looking for answers to who we are and how we lived. Documenting the mundane parts of our lives we never thought were glamourous, and I find this strangely comforting. Even if I don’t find myself interesting there may be an archeologist hundreds of years from now that finds me fascinating. A comfort to my existential dread at least.

So moral of the story, that’s one more stop on the Pie in the Sky trail finished! And if you’re looking for something to do in north eastern Alabama I cannot recommend the Russel Cave National Monument highly enough! Especially for artists or those just looking for a place to meditate. Thank you so much for tuning into my adventure for this week and I hope to that you’ll subscribe!

Until our next adventure!