Days Inn Birmingham-South/Hoover

Hello to everyone I think will want to know what I'm doing in Europe! I love you all! And I hope this blog is interesting. I'm bringing a computer with me so I will be able to write entries often, I hope. Don't worry, all my entries aren't going to be emailed to you like this one. I just emailed this one so that you guys could know about the blog and decide for yourself if you want to keep up with it.

So there's about a week ...

... 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.

As most of you know I have been sick since my last blog and yesterday was pretty much a write off. I arrived in Birmingham at 11.45am after taking a 4 hour ride on a Amtrak train. The train ride was quite comfortable. I was able to get two seats to myself and there is a lot more leg room on a train than an airplane. The taxi driver had never heard of the hotel I was staying at and couldn't find it on his GPS. Luckily I had the additionally information that it was off a certain ...

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!

... of the storm that passed through yesterday. According to the woman at the front desk, it tore through Montgomery and into North Carolina, killing eight people and destroying mobile homes. From here on out, it's supposed to be calm in the area. Birmingham just got the rain, rather than the wind, but it sounds like it was pretty intense. Did you know that 20 members of Congress that voted in support of funding WHINSEC were voted out during ...