Reaching Alabama

I left off yesterday as we turned around and started to head back north towards Alabama, though I did just want to throw a few pictures of White Springs into the mix. This funky little village is close enough to the Georgia State Line to qualify as one of those ambiguous Florida communities that many people argue should put the northern part of the sunshine State squarely in Georgia.Florida was handed over wholesale to the United States by Spain and the shape of the state was set in stone, as it were, at that time. Besides, in the 18th century, peninsula Florida was pretty much uninhabitable except by people who were escaping the law, Native Americans, runaway slaves and eccentric hunters who preferred to share their lives with mosquitoes than with people. So the state capital was put in Tallahassee, a city on the periphery of the state as a whole, and only 50 miles from the date line that separates Eastern Time from Central Time.Northern Florida is a world apart from the palms and development and carpet baggers (like me) who prefer the southern sun to the northern Spanish Moss. It's that cold up here that temperatures around freezing are quite common even of a normal winter. Stephen Foster made a good living writing southern songs though he never actually saw the Suwannee River he made famous. There is a state park dedicated to him hereabouts and fame is a cause of tourism, if you have time to stop and look around. We didn't unfortunately as the Florida Panhandle is unconscionably long and we hadn't yet covered enough of the 900 miles (1500kms) separating Key West from Birmingham, home of Johnny Coley. Northern Florida is very picturesque. We drove and drove and drove, along the dark dips and hills of I-10 westbound. This is desolate country and exits are few and far between. You drive miles and miles of dark forests cut open by four lanes of traffic and not much else. There are no gas stations, no towns, nothing much to see. It was a relief when we turned north on the Federal highway toward Dothan, Alabama, at last. We stopped for dinner before we crossed into Georgia and found a rather peculiar chain restaurant, elderly, run down and quiet. We played silly games waiting for our food.We shared a dinner and spent $6 including a large (sweet) tea.Clockwise we see: Black eyed peas, grits, mac and cheese, sweet rolls, a chop and fried chicken. Very filling.And then it was onwards and up wards driving through the night. We were two days behind and we didn't want to waste a minute before we had to be back in Key West on Friday. Ah, dog-friendly La Quinta!

When you travel with a dog you get to see all sorts of things you never bother to look for when you are dog-less. Dothan by night, a string of neon surrounding the old historic district lost in the middle of the highway ring that streams traffic north and south as expeditiously as possible.

We don't have TV reception at home so television is a weird and wonderful change for us. We are invariably disappointed by the offerings...

...but the advertising is inevitably an education for me. I never realized how much money is spent advertising our high cost drugs in the US. Every ad offered relief from myriad pains I never knew I had. All offer side effects for free.

Thank you President Clinton for allowing this filth on the air. I turned in grumbling about the state of the world and the cost of medicines. In the morning I had something real to grumble about (note my Nissan Maxima comes equipped with a tach as standard equipment). These were winter temperatures I was seeing.

And soon enough I was grumbling about mainland traffic patterns.Oh for the open road!By the time Montgomery was coming into sight Cheyenne's head shaking was becoming unbearable. We looked for a vet and found one roadside. Dr Drake's ancestors came from England but he has never left his hometown and doesn't want to. He diagnosed Cheyenne who sat quietly on the examining table and took an injection of antibiotics up the butt with not even a whimper. My girl!

A hundred dollars later we left with good cheer on all sides and piles of medicine. An excellent deal all round and the head shaking stopped a few hours later as her ear infection subsided.

At last we took one more sloping hill and found the Magic City below, two days late but better Tuesday than never.

Spring had sprung and it was better than 70 degrees when we arrived. We were in for a warming spell and Birmingham was it's best, all full of blossoms and students at UAB.

University of Alabama, Birmingham is a big deal in the Magic City now that iron and steel production has tapered off. The city is overseen by a statue of Vulcan, the God of the Iron Forge, who represents the wealth that came to this instant city, created in the 19th century to exploit coal and ore reserves.Of course I had to forgo a trip to see Vulcan as our schedule was horribly compressed by our mechanical delays. I did get to see the Barber Museum though and all those lovely motorcycles...Lots to see apparently if you have a big camera.Birmingham is built of brick, new and old:

And up there on the left on Highland Avenue is Johnny Coley's apartment.

A hell of a character that Johnny Coley.