Hampton Inn Birmingham/Mountain Brook

... forth between why I am doing this in the first place--to study the Holocaust or to live a new life and be a new me. Is it ok if I am doing both? I don't want to downplay my genuine commitment to the study of the Holocaust, but this trip is becoming more and more like an adventure meant to change my life by me meeting so many new people and seeing so many things I have never seen before. I'm afraid I will get over there and miss ...

... of wonder bread, plain bagels, and sometimes stale donuts. We've stumbled upon 2 hotels with Dunkin' Donuts donuts, and that was exciting. If you're lucky, these items will be followed by one or more of following: tiny yogurt packets, waffle maker, fruit bin. Originally, the waffle maker was exciting... but there's usually something called "breakfast syrup" instead of maple syrup and trust me after a week of waffles, you're more ...

We had a one night stop over in Moody. We passed Talladega raceway on the way there but as it was a longer drive we didn't stop off along the way. We also got held up in our first traffic jam. A truck had gone off the interstate and crashed. Delayed us by about 40 minutes. The Super 8 wasn't the worst or the best motel but we both slept well after dinner at Cracker Barrell.

... otherwise I’d still be at the train station. Soon after arriving I took a headache tablet and immediately felt like I was going to throw up. I was then unable to get up out of bed. So I slept from about 1pm to 7pm and then again from 11.30pm to 8.30am. I am feeling much better this morning and now just have normal cold like symptoms. I think I will just stay in the hotel and do some washing, basically taking it easy and saving my energy for the trip to Memphis in the morning.

A few days ago we realized that the day we leave, marked in our brains as Memorial Day, comes a week earlier than we'd been thinking. Oops. At least we saw the light soon enough so we won't miss the flight. (Memorial Day this early in May feels very odd.) This trip is no big deal but will serve well as a test travel blog. Something to play with between meetings and meals.

A little over a week and we'll be on the road! Our Volkswagen Eurovan Camper is just about ready; it's getting a new "kitchen" water pump tomorrow and then we'll actually start loading it up. We'll be traveling pretty light: the Porta-Potty, one roller bag each, one sleeping bag and Therma-Rest each, one pillow each, a new Coleman grill/stove so we don't have to ...

( ) JULY 3-4, 2002
THIS IS A TIME OF GOODNESS FROM THE LORD...ALL IS WELL AND THE KIDS ARE FINE. AGAIN, JUST GETTING AWAY BY OURSELVES... AWAY FROM THE NORM. WE CHECKED IN THE HOTEL. THEN WENT TO THE U CHINA BUFFET TO EAT DINNER. THE FOOD WAS REALLY GOOD. THE WE HEADED BACK TO THE ROOM TO START OUR EVENING TOGETHER.THIS HOTEL IS REALLY LOVELY. WHAT WE DID NOT UNDERSTAND ...

Here we are in Alabama, the birthplace of Marty. She found a map at the visitors center that actually shows the town where she was born. Yesterday was good. After the trip down the Natches we had a drive on I-20 with a lot of trucks. Why don't they put all that freight on the train? We are planning a stop on Huntsville to visit Martys cousin and to see the old family home; then on to Chattanooga.

We rode with a local rider on the beautiful backroads of Alabama. we stopped in a town called Blountsville and met the local people at their fall festival- what a hoot. we looked at the old farm equipment and car show. one half of the town was in the parade that we participated in and the other half watched the parade. during the parade, I was run over by one of my co-riders and fell in front of the whole town on Main Street- we ...

... Hoover Metropolitan Stadium; or try your hand at picking the winners at the Birmingham Race Course where year-round greyhound racing is live; horse racing from tracks all over the country is simulcast; track level accommodates 2,500. Alabama-Auburn still duke it out in Legion Field, a Big Event at the end of November, for those who love the taste of SEC football. For golf, Oxmoor Valley is on Alabama's Robert Trent Jones Golf ...