Road trip, day 2 . . .

Today started out well enough if you don't mind OJ on your cereal along with soy milk and blueberries. It wasn't too bad until I got to the congealed mess on the bottom of the bowl. Have the kids mix the OJ and milk as a chemistry experiment!
We got an early enough start, around 9 a.m. When we crossed over from the panhandle into Alabama two things happened: gas dropped by 20 cents a gallon and the temperature dropped by 15 degrees.


Next a sign advised that we were entering the central time zone. Great! We got an extra hour back. We also noticed that there seemed to be more "civilization" than we had come across in Florida. There is evidence in this part of the country of a great Native American presence mainly in the names of towns and rivers like Wetumpka, Chattahoochee, Lake Seminole, and my favorite, the Apalachicola River. I was also reminded of the Civil War history of the area by the numerous Confederate flags still flying proudly.

This is a very "manly" area if it's appropriate to describe it that way. Lots of pick-up trucks with bearded men in camouflage, gun and knife shops, taxidermists, places advertising "deer processing." The nice thing is these men have places to go to stay in touch with their feminine side -- we saw a number of men's "spas." The interesting thing is they were generally in buildings without windows.

The land is becoming much more hilly now -- we can feel the RV straining on some of the hills. No doubt this will hurt our outstanding 7 miles per gallon obtained on the flats!

We're also noticing the awesome red dirt in this part of the country. I don't remember our Georgia dirt being quite this hue. It makes me think about the lovely pigment the Native Americans had for their painting and pottery.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and our destination is Memphis, TN where we will hook up (we can hope) with Jim. We're excited to get together and get him moved into the RV park that will be his home for who knows how long.