Saturday: from Alabama to Mississippi and into Louisiana

Mobile was the original home of Mardi Gras and there was still a lot of evidence about of the festival, which ended on Tuesday.   In downtown Mobile, trees and lampposts and even parking meters were still festooned with beads and ribbons and the few non-tourists in evidence had a subdued air, as if still recovering from the excesses of the previous weeks.

We parked near the Old Fort and caught the free bus to Dauphin Street.  After coffee at Serda's ('best coffee house in town'), we browsed along Dauphin Street awhile, then detoured off up Jackson Street to find Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard and the African American Archives and Museum.  According to the displayed opening hours it should have been open, but the door was firmly locked.

On the way back to Dauphin Street we came across an ominous, fort-like building, guarded by gold, sphinx-like  figures.  One of the great black doors - which must have been at least eight feet high - stood open, but didn't invite entry.

The cornerstone of the building described it as a 'Grand Lodge of Alabama' - which we thought must denote some kind of Klan origins.  Later on, at lunch, Paul asked our waiter about the building.  He described it as the local Tabernacle and said that anyone could go and look around.


I looked for more information on Google, but couldn't find anything.  As far as I can make out though it was probably some kind of Freemason's Lodge.  I read somewhere that these often did have Klan connections in the south.

 We had lunch at Wintzell's Oyster House and Restaurant (established in 1938), where oysters are served 'fried, stewed and nude'.  I had an oyster salad and Paul had his first Po' Boy, with fried oysters.  Our waiter told us that the building is the oldest wooden-structured building in Alabama.  We weren't sure whether to believe him. 

Friday (Day 3): Interstate 65 to Mobile, via the Old Courthouse, Monroeville

Having spent the night at the KOA (Kampgrounds of America|) site at Clanton, on I 65, north of Montgomery, we began the day by driving south on I 65, back down through Montgomery - which has a very fine park and art gallery, apparently, and was also the home of Scott (Great Gatsby) and Zelda Fitzgerald.  We'd intended to stop in Montgomery yesterday and explore a little, but getting lost in Columbus put paid to that!


The previous evening, in Clanton,  we had been warned of the possibility of 'severe weather' during the night, in the form of high winds (we'd experienced a fair bit of buffeting on the way there).  Fortunately this didn't happen and I slept better than I had since arriving in the USA.  We did have a downpour of very heavy rain at around 8.00 a.m.

We set off from Clanton at around 9.30 a.m., when the rain had stopped, heading for Mobile - about 220 miles south, down Interstate 65. We found the Bama Country radio station on 98.9 FM - country music with regular updates on the weather.  Severe thunderstorm warnings had been issued for parts of southern Alabama that morning (downgraded from a tornado warning).  Fortunately we missed the worst of the storm and just had some heavy rain and glowering skies.


We took a planned detour en route, to Monroeville.  Monroeville was the hometown of both Harper Lee (author of To Kill a Mockingbird) and Truman Capote.  We arrived there in the early afternoon.  It is a small, friendly town but very quiet on a Friday afternoon - it seemed to be early closing.  


In Monroeville, we visited the Old Courthouse Museum, which has information on both authors.  The Courthouse was the setting for the courthouse scenes in the movie of the film.  Harper Lee spent much of her childhood there, watching her father  - a lawyer - present cases in the courtroom.

Lost in Columbus

On our very roundabout route from Forsyth, Georgia, to Clanton, Alabama, on Thursday (see Paul's post), we got lost in the vicinity of Columbus, which is about halfway between Macon and Montgomery.  I mentioned the other day that I am reading 'The Heart is a Lonely HUnter' by Carson McCullers.  Well, Columbus was her hometown and was the setting for the novel.  I'd have liked to visit, but we hadn't scheduled a stop there as there wasn't really time, so I'd forgotten that we were even passing through.  As it happened, if we'd had adequate road maps for Georgia and Alabama (particularly Alabama) and had known where we were going, we could have stopped off and explored Culumbus and still made it to Clanton in bettter time (and better temper). As it was we lost and found Highway 80 several times and ended up in 'Uptown Columbus' by accident.  But of course we didn't have the time or opportunity to stop.  Columbus is a big, sprawling city and \I'm sure Carson McCullers wouldn't recognise it now!


I did have time to take a couple of pictures.

Advertising, alongside Highway 80 in downtown Columbus.

Street art in uptown Columbus (where we stopped and asked directions).

Thursday - Day 2

Away from the campsite just after 9am and went to have a coffee in the Whistle Stop Cafe, Juliette. This was featured in the film 'Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe'. It didn't open however until 11am so we made our way through Barnsville and onto a  non intentional, circuitous route to Clanton, Alabama where we spent our second night on the road. This could have been very exciting as the site owner came around to tell all that if the extreme weather warning siren sounded we should congregate in the stormproof building at the edge of the camp and stay there until the stiff breeze had quietened to a mere whisper. It had been quite windy driving during the day and was also very warm and humid. A bit disappointing when it didn't happen!
~ Paul

Day 1: Atlanta to Forsyth

Picked up and drove away our RV by 2pm. On the road tried to convince my fellow road users ( who strangely seemed to be mostly American) that driving on my side of the road was the most appropriate course of action. This was not going to wash and so I begrudgingly had a sulk and gave in. We drove 50+ miles to Forsyth KOA site and stayed the night (photos to follow).
~Paul

Diner, Bud and Carson McCullers

Ate in the local diner yesterday evening. In an attempt to make up for the stodgy airline food consumed earlier in the day, I had a salad with ham and turkey.  It wasn't great.  I also had 2 bottles of Bud, thinking it would help me to sleep.  I drink so rarely that I forget that it disturbs my sleep rather than easing it! Slept ok  for about 4 hours then intermittently.  Read my book for an hour in the middle of the night.  I've been reading some southern literature in preparation for the trip and am about halfway through Carson McCullers' 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter'. 

Complementary breakfast in the hotel - not great!

Morning television

Sat in our hotel room watching breakfast tv - uniformly awful. People who have eaten too much talking to or about people who have eaten too much. Check out at 11 am then cab to pick up RV.
~ Paul

Arrival - Atlanta

View from the balcony of Room 805, Best Western Hotel, Atlanta.

Getting into the USA seemed a lot more difficult than when I was here in 1999! Baggage re-checked when we landed and we walked over a mile at the airport - no exaggeration! Very tired now - been awake for over 18 hours. It's just getting dark outside and fire engines have been screaming along the freeway beneath our window. Clear sky, 16C.

Enough said for the moment! Tomorrow we collect the RV and the trip begins ...