Holiday Inn Birmingham-Airport, Al

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 ...

... GUESS WHO WON...ME, YEAH!! THE NEXT MORNING WE ATE BREAKFAST. THEN WE CHECKED OUT AND HEADED TO THE BOTANICAL GARDENS. BESIDES SEEING ALL OF THE PLANTS AND SOME WILD LIFE WE, ALSO, TOOK ONE OF THE TRAILS. THE GARDENS WERE VERY PRETTY. WHAT I LIKED THE MOST THERE WAS THIS HUGH ALOE PLANT. THEN
WE HEADED ON HOME. ANOTHER WONDERFUL SHORT TRIP FOR TWO SENIORS! THANKS, FATHER!

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 ...

Alright, so today started out with a semi-early breakfast at Cool Moose. Some delicious sandwiches, blueberry coffee, and a few teary goodbyes later... we were on our merry little way. We headed out of Jacksonville on the never-ending I-10.... Good God. Longest, most boring stretch of interstate in Florida. Upon finally leaving I-10 and turning into Alabama, we decided ...

... and Jason at the post race party. Any and everyone who lives in Brmingham should be there. FREE BEER! And live music and all sorts of random free stuff people are giving away. We didn't stay to see if either of us won the Mercedez though. We just drank and hung out awhile and headed home. Hey, I said it wasn't going to be exotic... Next weekend- cabin in the Big South Fork. Last year's cabin trip led to a near death experience on an icy road and a snow in. Can we top that?

... aircraft, vintage 1912 to 1990, and hundreds of models; a WWII Link trainer used to teach pilots to fly "blind," and mementos from the notorious WWI Red Baron. Robert R Meyer Planetarium on Birmingham-Southern College campus has open-to-the-public presentations the first and third weekends of each month; if your interest is astronomy, you'll enjoy the feeling of being on a giant space platform where celestial bodies seem almost within reach.