One year ago today: May 9, 2021, you rent as needed.
Five years ago today: May 9, 2017, serves six.
Nine years ago today: May 9, 2013, pondering MP4.
Random years ago today: May 9, 2007, the throwaway is near.
We made it to Eufala, Alabama. A late start got me out to Countyline Road to skirt downtown Lakeland. Then via Zephyr Hills, past Land o’Lakes,, and Lake City, I got on I-10 heading west on that stretch for the first time since 2003. And back then I was carrying a load of one million toothpicks. But that’s another tale from the trailer court. Sixty-five dollars in gas got me only as far as Tallahassee. The van in behaving but remind me have the power steering checked for that rare odd noise. Garmin GPS does not update their info and is woefully out of date for smaller roads and towns.
I stopped in Eufala for an hour. Nowhere to be found are the historic houses in the brochures, and in this day of unannounced COVID shutdowns, I ain’t going looking for them. There’s somed nice ones down by the river. In the old downtown I found a curio shop and inside one of the most gorgeous babes ever, Bright green eyes, strawberry blonde, and a Dixie accent that melts ice. She was some forty years younger than me and folks, I repeat that is the only thing I regret about growing old. However, something like that isn’t in a pot hole like Eufala for no reason.
It being still bright, I decided to carry on up side roads all the way to Anniston, where I would have over-nighted but the Wal*Mart Arms was all wrong. Even with free parking, there are things to avoid. Don’t go over where all the trucks are, there wil be noise all night Avoid the employee parking. They love to show up for work at 4:30AM and hour early and sit in their cars, smoking ganja and blasting rap music. Keep away from any direct route to and from the store entrances. This left a treeless corner which I did not trust.
Abandoned trading post.
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I pressed on to xxxxx then Guntersville, where I could not find a spot to have a nightcap. Garvin in useless downtown, so I crossed the lake to, same problem. No place to stop I overruled my objections to driving at night and went all the way into Huntsville. I missed a lot of scenery. One surprise is I expected to see a lot of the foothills from the Tennessee mountains. It is miles of flat prairie land with a few stretches of rolling hills. Here’s a peek at the Chattahoochie through the van window. Otherwise it was all terrain we’ve ween before.
That found me inside with a cold Budweiser and a crowd of, my guess would be, older college students. Next thing I know I hear a horrible rendition of some Afro-Cuban gunk music. I ask the bartender what gives, he says they have had Monday Karaoke for a couple years. But nobody was paying attention and the DJ was spacing things out with filler music. I thought, what the heck. I got up there and after convincing that DJ there was really such a song, I hit them with “Guitars, Cadillacs”. The scene was ripe for exploitation and I brought down the house.
It doesn’t take much except forty years expereince to turn any crowd into country fans. This one lady, not too shabby, was near the DJ when I asked if I had time to do “These Boots”. It was late and I did not know they were open until 2:00AM. These are people who don’t have jobs, rather income streams and side-hustles. The lady says to me if I sing that song she is going to have a nipple attack. I do not know the outcome of that situation.
But, I sang the tune and by now the place was buying me drinks. They reacted wonderfully to my “big city” tactics, like having the lyrics memorized and audience participation. I finally left at midnight, noting I was only 99 miles from Nashville on the GPS. I found a quiet corner of the lot near Memorial and Smart Man and slept like a babe.
