stardognine

This is between Ventura & Santa Barbara, going along routes 1 or 101. Somehow I always thought Mussel Shoals was down around Louisiana, or at least somewhere in the Deep South. Mostly because Lynyrd Skynyrd mentions it, in “Sweet Home Alabama”, lol.

So I gotta ask, were they talking about California, or is there maybe more than one Mussel Shoals. 🤔 And don’t tell me to just google it, what would we all talk about on the interwebs, if we just googled everything? 😁😉

stardognine

BTW, sorry about the blurry pic, it’s been raining here, obviously. 😉

jon c. 

The city of musical fame is Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

smudgy

Muscle Shoals (note spelling difference) is located in northwest Alabama. Yes, many famous musicians recorded there.

alan s 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muss...ls,_California

stardognine

Yeah, but they spelled it wrong. 😁😉 Once I actually googled it, I felt pretty un-cultured. 🙄🤥 What can you expect, from a dumb yankee? 😉

Of course, now I’m thinking about a little ride to Alabama, or Louisiana, or somewhere like it. 🤔

Cougrrcj

At your rate of progress, you'd better start now before the REAL heat of Summer kicks in... Then again, it took you almost a month to go from PHX to LA...

BTW, we had SNOW here in the southern Great Lakes yesterday and a dusting on the ground again this morning -- after 70° and tornadoes on Tuesday. Ahh... life in the Midwest in Springtime...

stardognine

Hey, I’m a tourist, not a go-fast-in-a-hurry person. 😁😉 I’m still getting used to Spring, here on the left coast, so Summer can wait it’s turn. All this rain lately is great for the previous drought conditions, but a huge change, from being in Arizona.

I wonder if I can take credit, for bringing the rain? Remember the story about turquoise & rainmakers? 🤔😁

smudgy

Muscle Shoals, Alabama is about 10-15 miles east of the Natchez Trace Parkway. Not far from a place called Colbert Ferry, where the Old Natchez Trace crosses the Tennessee River.
In the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Sweet Home Alabama", they sing, 'Muscle shoals has got the Swampers, they've been known to pick a song or two!" I believe that the Swampers were studio musicians that played on just about every recording that came out of Muscle Shoals.

stardognine

This is what I meant, when I said I felt un-cultured. Pretty embarassing, not to be more aware, especially after all the times I’ve cranked up “Freebird”. 😎

Thanks for the further education. 👍

BTW, for those who don’t know, Ventura is short for San Buenaventura. So there’s a small smidge of education back at youse. 😉 Now we can all google that, unless some Californian enlightens us. 😁🤔😉

UKFan4Sure

Interesting story: I once lived in Huntsville, Alabama and worked as an Electronics Technician at the Post Office there. There was a mail clerk there who tinkered around with writing songs. He used almost every spare minute of his time promoting them to the artists and producers. He always said if he could hit it big on one song, he could make a lot of money, and that money would keep coming in in royalties. Well, needless to say, we all just sort of snickered at him, but not to his face, as he seemed serious. Then one day it happened; the Ol' Possum himself cut one of his songs. I wish I could remember the name of it, but it had fairly good success. I think he could have died that day and been a happy man that his song had been immortalized by George Jones.

njkayaker

While it seems like an odd name, there's no reason why there couldn't be more of than one.

What is a "mussel shoal"? Might that explain why there might be more than one?

skidder

The Mussel Shoals, California you show in the picture is an oil terminal (I believe Exxon Mobil still owns and uses it) that used to be used for ship transfer of oil, now its just a point where crude from offshore wells comes ashore. The rocky 'island' has always been there, covered in mussels, but it was expanded and built up into the oil island it is today. I've rode past there many times on multi-day coastal rides.

You also got a quick picture of that nice bicycle lane the County of Santa Barbara/California built along Hwy 101; really nice not having to use the highway to get through that geographic 'pinch point' where there used to be no alternative route to the shoulder of Highway 101.

stardognine

Yeah, it really is a nice ride, staying on that path, though it’s not ALL as new as this section. So far, I’ve done one trip in each direction, so still getting a feel for it. There are a few places that aren’t really marked too well, where the path goes through an underpass or something, that can trick someone unfamiliar. I had a police escort off the freeway, on my first Westward ride, lol. 🙄😉