Joe Wheeler Camping Trip - 7-25-14 - Sheffield





 



On our first night at Joe Wheeler, as we were going to dinner at the lodge, we picked up a handful of local attraction brochures, one of which was a schedule of events for W.C. Handy Week.  Handy was born in the Shoals area (Florence, I think), and there were music events, all day, every day, all week, somewhere in the Shoals.  We nearly wore out that brochure trying to decide what to do.  On taps for Friday was a concert on the lawn at the City Hall in Sheffield from 12 to 1:30.  A band called "Doctors, Lawyers, and Such" was playing, and we wanted to see them, so after a leisurely breakfast, we headed to Sheffield.

Let me take a moment to talk about the towns of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, and Sheffield.  I suppose that in "olden days," these towns may have been far apart, but these days urban spread has made them virtually one big ol' town.  But for city limits signs, you'd hardly know when you'd left one town and entered another. 

We got to Sheffield a little early, and for about 30 minutes listened to the band's sound check.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  A little after noon, they took up their instruments and started playing.  They were an absolute delight.  Talk about variety!  They eased out cowboy songs ("Drifting Along With The Tumblin' Tumbleweeds"), show tunes ("Summertime (and the Living is Easy)"), Eagles songs, Kansas songs, a Pure Prairie League song, and a bluegrass song called "Moonshine."  We loved it. 

It was almost 2 p.m. when they quit, and we were hungry.  We walked down the street a bit so that I could take a picture of a statue I'd seen from the City Hall lawn.  On the way there, we spotted a restaurant called "Brimstone."  Their sign said they were open until 2.  We sneaked in just under the wire.  They call the place "Brimstone" because many of the menu items are spicy.  There was a bottle of Louisiana Hot Sauce on every table.  They serve wraps, burgers, hot wings, etc.  The Husband had the A-1 Onion Burger.  I had the Cajun Burger.  Both were delicious!   There were also three burgers on the menu that I was scared to try - I believe they called them Hellfire I, Hellfire II, and Hellfire III, because they came with habanero, ghost, and (some other insanely hot) pepper, respectively. 

After lunch, we moseyed on back to the camp site.  A Tina Turner impersonator was scheduled to perform on the patio at the lodge that evening.  We intended to go see her, but after lounging around a bit, we were too lazy to get out again, so we spent the rest of the evening fooling with our electronic toys (the campground has Wi-Fi).  Since we ate lunch so late, we just snacked on left-over cheese dip and chips, and called it a night.

Going home tomorrow.