On to Decatur, Alabama

Hey y'all,

We made it to Decatur Alabama Sunday early evening after (believe it or not) deviating from ‘our plan’ as we drove north. We did a good job getting out of Mexico Beach early, driving away from there at 8:45am heading for Helena, AL. As we approached Helena tho the weather forecast was questionable with showers looming, so I mentioned to Anne how I hoped we wouldn't have to set up in the rain there. She replied, “So how do you feel about driving another 110 miles thru to Decatur?”. Both being 'up' for that, we just continued on and got here at 5pm.

The rural drive north thru the panhandle was interesting, lots of back woods stuff. We noticed that most businesses here were closed on Sunday. I think that is good, the way life should be. I guess the boiled peanuts at the Indian River produce stands were the highlight of this mornings ride. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t try the boiled peanuts, but they seemed to be the big attraction everywhere we looked. Peanuts want to be dry, not hot and soggy. Thanks anyway.

After going for some time thru what seemed ‘the sticks’ we made it to a major route, Highway 65 which took us directly thru both Montgomery and Birmingham, AL. We noticed many historic markers, but neither of us being history buffs, we never stopped.

You may remember, I was intent on being somewhere by 2:30pm, CMT Sunday to see the Celtics beat up on the Lakers. Well, we listened to it instead. The victory was just as sweet tho, and I was proud of the boys in green who put the game away in crunch time. Thank God for the Celts, considering what happened to our boys in Blue and Silver a couple weeks back. I’m afraid the Pats 14-2 season was a fluke after all.

I was lucky to have found ESPN radio on the dial as gametime (and Birmingham) approached, but the suburban highway there was wicked noisy, made up of those short sections of concrete pavement, and traffic was extra heavy for a Sunday afternoon. I had to crank up the V to hear the game, and although Anne understood, we became more concerned that the bumpy sections of road were going to jar our teeth, never mind what it might have been like for Beasley riding solo in the RV behind us. Anyway, we all survived, and the highway eventually turned smooth and quiet, thru rolling hills and evergreens in northern Alabama, a lot like parts of Maine.

In the morning we called our friends Gary and Amanda and visited with them for the entire day. We all went out to Big Bob Gibson’s award winning Bar-B-Que for dinner and had some fun. Times have changed for G+A from their previous jet-setting major league career, but we're no less proud of them now. They have 2 beautiful little girls and a nice new home. Gary is a police officer in Florence AL, he gives pitching lessons on the side, and Amanda is a full time wife and mom.

On Tuesday we spent some more time with the Knott’s family, then rain arrived on que mid-day. It poured off and on the rest of the day. We picked up a couple of things on our way back to our RV, then Gary called and suggested we have dinner together again, but with the nasty weather we all just decided to sit tight that night.

Tomorrow we head out early west across Alabama, thru Florence and into Mississippi where we’ll pick up the Natchez Trace Parkway and follow it diagonally south till we set up for the night (or 2) near Jackson, MS, at Coal Bluff. After that we’ll make our way thru Lousianna to Huntsville TX where 'our plan' finds us taking in a world famous (according The Food Network) Bar-B-Que there outside at a Baptist Church, but we must be there Tuesday thru Thursday to take advantage. And now we have ice storms forecast all around us, so that could be a problem.

We don’t want to get too close to Dallas this weekend, if that's even possible with the Superbowl taking place. I’d like to see the new multi-billion dollar Cowboy Stadium tho. How much do you think a Jerry Jones $5 tour would cost? Hey, maybe my friend Phillip can get us in for free.

I forgot to mention, we’ve been without cable TV and internet at our site in Decatur, a beautiful campground and family fun complex here at Pointe Mallard Park, but we want to avoid being caught without the internet going forward. With the big storms and cold fronts lingering around here the Weather Channel would be a welcomed sight right about now so we could keep on top of those things.

We miss you all, so stay tuned, and thanks for being there with us.