A Little Fall House Cleaning

This week’s blog is dedicated to doing a little house cleaning. I have a special announcement to make and I’ll be answering a couple of the many questions I have been receiving, but first, that announcement because I can’t keep a secret. Trust me I was much better at keeping secrets when I was a radioman in the Navy than I am now.

I wanted to do something special for all of you this holiday season, something to say thank you for buying my books, listening to my podcasts, watching my videos, and for all of your support this past year. So, in the spirit of the season beginning Thanksgiving Day I’ll be giving away some freebies. I think you’ll like what I have lined up if you like my short stories or you like my hiking guides and writing. It all begins Thanksgiving Day with a new giveaway each week until Christmas.

I’ll have the details on my Facebook page, my website JoeCuhaj.Com, and on my Blog on November 20th.

From the mailbag (do they still have those?) I have been asked about my podcasts and videos. On the videos I have been asked if there will be any new ones released soon. It has been a while since I posted one. As a matter of fact I have one on “Hiking the Mining and Steel History of Birmingham” that will come out in the next two weeks….that is if I quit watching baseball and my latest Mystery Science Theater box set.

As for the podcasts, people are just curious about them as in, “What the heck are these?”

For the podcasts I return to my radio roots so many years ago. I used to do an overnight trucking show (I know, right? Me?) on an AM station in Mobile, Alabama, WUNI.  I would take calls from listeners, truckers, and other jocks doing shows on other stations and between songs about Mama, trains, getting drunk, and prison we would just talk and get on a subject. Many times I would start rambling on about whatever we were talking about with a story from my past.

Well, those stories became the basis for my short story collection, “Living in a Banana Dream”, all stories about growing up told in what humorist Jean Shepherd called the “universal eye” – they can be about you, or you, or you. They were stories that we all could relate to in some way or another all loosely based on my faulty memory.

A few years ago, “Banana Dream” was released as an eBook to test the waters and it did fairly well so I have been revamping the collection and it is now heading to publishers for – hopefully – an eventual hard copy release. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to do a podcast with those stories just like the old days. Once a month I sit down in the studio and crank one out for your listening pleasure.

As I’ve mentioned before in an earlier blog entry I had a few issues with the company I chose to host the shows on but, as I said, I’m in the process of re-mixing and re-releasing them so be on the lookout for those plus new ones, soon.

So that’s the story behind the podcasts. Hope you enjoy them and please, drop me a line with your comments on Facebook or from the contact link on my website.

 Till next time….

The Legend of Nancy's Mountain

Finally, there's a crispness to the air here in south Alabama and it feels like fall, just in time for Halloween!

And with the spookiest night of the year just around the corner, I wrote an article for RootsRated.Com about some fascinating, and eerie, haunted hikes in Alabama. I also wrote about a personal experience I had on one trail in particular for my book, Hiking through History Alabama, one that left me, and my big rescue lab Archer, a bit spooked. So in the spirit (pun intended) of the season, a little tale from the book about Nancy's Mountain....

You may have heard this story before. Every town, city, and village across the country has something similar. It’s a story as old as history itself, the story of lost love and a never ending search.

The Nancy's Mountain Trail at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Haines Island Park is, on its own, a beautiful walk in the woods. The path is lined with Christmas fern, American beech, water oak, and yellow poplar trees. Snowy white dogwoods flower here in the spring. In the fall the hardwoods flame brightly with orange, red, and yellow color.

But there is a story here on this mountain. It’s a story that’s part history and part legend. It’s the story of Nancy.

From all accounts Nancy was a strikingly beautiful woman. She was known to have dressed in white gowns of the antebellum period. Nancy, her husband, and son all lived on the top of this double hump mountain on a bend in the Alabama River.

It was sometime during the Civil War that Nancy’s son decided to head off and enlist in the Confederate army to fight for the Southern cause. It wasn’t long that, as was the case in many families both North and South, word came that her boy had died in battle but a body was never ever found.

In shock and disbelief Nancy would walk day after day down the mountain to the river where there was a steamboat landing. She carried a pail of water with her in case her son would someday return on one of the boats.

Overwhelmed by his wife’s grief, as well as his own, Nancy’s husband took matters into his own hands and made it his mission to locate his son either dead or alive.

No one knows how long her husband was gone but eventually word arrived at Nancy’s doorstep that her husband was found dead, frozen to death near the grave of an unknown soldier near Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.

Soon after Nancy disappeared from the mountain and was never seen again. No one knows where she went. Her house fell into ruin and was reclaimed by nature. But not long after her disappearance locals began reporting seeing a woman walking the mountain in the dark. Her beauty indescribable, her dress a white antebellum gown of the period. In her hand she carried a lantern as she glided silently to the riverbank where the old steamboat landing was and the current Davis Ferry paddles back and forth.

To this day many people say they have seen this ghostly figure and all agree it must be Nancy waiting the return of her husband and son. Rangers with the Corps of Engineers will tell you stories about people camping on the mountain only to be found running down the hillside white as ghosts claiming to have seen her.

Arrive early in the morning just as the sun is rising, a light mist rolling in off of the river, and see what you think. Walking the trail, as I did in these conditions, will make you wonder. You will find yourself looking around, the goosebumps will rise on your arms. Is it because you have just heard the story or is Nancy really there? 

I will tell you this, my black Labrador Archer usually leads the way on my hikes. This is the only hike we have ever taken where he had to be coaxed into hiking the trail, whimpered all the way,and darted back for the car when we made the turn-around. Spooky!

Everyone's Gone to the Moon

Since I revamped the website (JoeCuhaj.Com) and teased about a new book I am currently researching and writing titled "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", I’ve received a lot of comments and questions about it. I thought that today I’d go into a little more detail about what the book will be about.

As we all know, there has been a lot written about the legendary flight of Apollo 11 and mankind’s first steps on the moon. Many of those writers poetically describe how the Earth virtually stood still during the epic voyage of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin but that was a fleeting moment. In reality life went on and the world kept spinning as wars raged, people fought and died for equality, and every day people just tried to make it through life one day at a time.

That is what "Everyone’s Gone to the Moon" will be about. It will focus on the entire month of July 1969 one day at a time covering not only the preparations for and the eventual historic first landing on the moon but also dig deep into life here on Earth during the month and the events and pop culture that ran parallel with the lunar landing that shaped who we are.

It will cover the major space events of the month as the U.S. space program was hitting its stride not only with the lunar landing but other space feats as well while the Soviet Union’s space program was crashing (literally) and burning. It will cover the continued fight for Civil Rights, the Vietnam war that relentlessly raged on, and violence in the Middle East that was escalating exponentially.

The book will also relive the pop culture that helped shape the world and the attitudes of both young and old: "Monty Python" was born, the Who releases the album "Tommy" while David Bowie sings of a fictional astronaut, and "Midnight Cowboy" becomes the only X-rated film to win an Academy Award.

Finally, the book will take the story literally down to earth with tales of ordinary people and their lives in July 1969, their struggles and what the landing meant to them. They may be workers at one of the countless NASA facilities around the world, a teacher in a poverty stricken neighborhood, or simply a family relating what life was like in 1969. 

I’ve already started on the enormous amount of research for this title and will be asking for YOUR help soon! In January after the holidays I’ll be asking for your own unique story about the historic month of July 1969 to include within its pages.

By the way, the title of the book, Everyone’s Gone to the Moon, was the title of a 1965 song written and recorded by Britain’s Jonathan King which I felt summed up the tone of this book quite nicely.

The Oranges of Fall

Ah, it’s fall again. The most beautiful and perfect season to get out and take a hike among the brilliant autumn colors of the hardwoods that line the mountains and hillsides, the air is crisp and cool.

While it’s the best time of year to take a hike, it’s also that time when hikers need to be alert, smart, and knowledgeable before they hit the trail - it’s also hunting season.

Now most of you know the rules already but there are a lot of you who are new to the sport that may not know them. Heck, there's probably some seasoned veteran hikers out there who could use a refresher. So, today I'm departing from my normal weekly banter about writing and the good old days to review the basic rules that will keep you safe when hiking during hunting season.

1. Do You Know When Hunting Season Is? 

You might "think" you know but you could be missing something. There is deer season, squirrel season, duck season, rabbit season (don't go there with the Looney Tunes jokes!), then divide those down into bow season, rifle season, hunting dog season. You can see how tricky it can be. Visit the National Forest Service website for dates in the national forests around the country as well as the department of conservation in your particular state. If you're in Alabama visit the ADCNR site.  

2. Do You Know Where Hunting is Allowed?

I find that many hikers aren’t familiar with areas where hunting is permitted. Look it up before you head out. Even a place that you would assume wouldn’t allow hunting just may. I went to Brierfield Ironworks Historic State Park in Brierfield, Alabama, a couple of years ago and was very surprised that they had a bow tournament going on. They weren’t hunting but it was a bow and arrow competition on the trails. Lesson learned.

3. Wear That Orange!

This is simple enough – hunter orange jackets, hats, sweatshirts, even pack covers will do the trick but be sure you wear more than the minimum. Some states require 400 square inches of orange while in Alabama it’s 144. Don’t skimp on this!

4. And Your Little Dog, Too

If you hike with your dog, don’t forget to dress them in orange, too! There are many companies out there like Chewy.Com and L.L. Bean that make vests for them in hunter orange.

5. Is there a Time of Day to Avoid Hunters?

A general rule of thumb is that the best hunting is early morning or late evening but that is not a hard and fast rule. Use your best judgment about when to hike a trail where you know there is hunting.

6. Let Them Know You’re There

If you hear gunshots, let them know your there. Talk louder, whistle, walk heavy. Make it known that you’re there, too, and you’d like to pass through.