2/10 Alabama

 Thursday, 2/10/2022

35 degrees this morning and we go to a nearby McDonalds for a breakfast sandwich and coffee.  We meander through some of the Florida panhandle as we continue into rural Alabama to the town of Enterprise - home of a statue of the boll weevil. 

We almost missed it, but soon discovered it in the center of main street, surrounded by a small fountain.  We read a plaque which sort of explains the why of the statue, but when we go into the Weevil Nuts and Candy store, we get a nice history from the salesman there.

He explains that in the late 1800's, cotton was king all over this area.  But George Washington Carver and others heard about the approach of the boll weevil, which was destroying cotton crops across the south and headed towards Alabama.  Carver, whose experiments with peanuts were so successful, encouraged farmers to diversify and grow peanuts.  Those who heeded his advice survived the attack of the boll weevil and actually flourished, as it was discovered that rotating these two crops, cotton and peanuts, kept the soil rich and gave farmers a new cash crop!  Therefore, they were glad that the weevil had come.  We bought some honey peanuts and peanut butter before moving along. Unfortunately the peanut butter factory we wanted to see was closed.

Next we head to Dothan, Alabama - the peanut capital of the world!  80% of US Peanuts are grown within 100 miles of Dothan.  (Jimmy Carter's Plains, GA included. We've been there before.)They had lots of murals throughout downtown. 

Here's that nasty weevil.

This mural depicts the Dothan Riot . In 1889, a skirmish arose over a tax which the town instigated on heavy wagons passing through the town, which of course the cotton farmers objected to. Two were killed and several wounded, but the tax still exists today.

This is a hometown boy who made good.  Johnny Mack Brown was an outstanding athlete and western movie star.

Other murals showed the importance of the Civil War, turpentine making, peanuts, railroads and a more modern award-winning marching band and country music performers.  And there were more.

When Greg went to get a photo of the above mural, a lady parking her car started to blow her horn frantically.  Guess she thought he was going to mug her or carjack her or something!  He showed her his camera and explained that he was just taking photos.  She was placated, but moved anyway.

Some other cute paintings around town, too!

Also in Dothan, was E.R. Porter Hardware Co.  Established in 1889,  it is now maintained as a museum of sorts by a descendant who enjoyed sharing photos and stories.  Beautiful tin ceiling in the building, as well as ladders on wheels to reach the high shelves.  Lots of old hardware, boxes and supplies.  Thought this Bear Bryant coke bottle was kind of neat. 

We spy a few of the painted peanuts scattered throughout town.  Can't say this town isn't trying!

We tried to go to the George Washington Carver museum here, but it was closed even though the signs indicated it should have been open.  There is another in Tuskegee...

Some cute clever names along the way, like a storage container company advertising "Mobile Attics", and Dirty Hands Farm.  There are quite a few farms with cattle as well, and we bypass a local "Moo-seum". A few Trump signs here and there.  

Todd's Farms was the next stop.  They were supposed to show how Syrup is made from sugar cane.  The large store with cafe was open, but unfortunately the syrup demonstration area was closed due to illness of the owner.  The season for making the syrup is October-November.

Greg had a craving for a milkshake, so we ordered a pair.  As the lady was making them we discovered they were made with good old Bluebell ice cream - from Texas! (She just shrugged and said "It's the best!") They also had quite a few Amish items for sale with the name Yodor.  Apparently a common Amish name since there is a large Yodor's store near Greg's Mom in Lancaster, PA.  (This store got their Amish things from a Yodor's in Ohio.)

Next stop was the Octagon House in Clayton, Alabama.  Built in 1859, it was quite unusual and pretty,  but - you guessed it - CLOSED.  We walked around the back porch and found the back door open, but guessed it shouldn't have been, so left.

We walked down the street to the city cemetery where there is a tombstone in the shape of a whisky bottle. No story, but we read that it was put up by a widow whose husband drank himself to death.  Couldn't read the inscription... People have left coins there, as we have seen numerous times in numerous locations - just as an acknowledgement.  Greg added one.

We've discovered we are in Wiregrass Country, after passing Wiregrass Hardware, Wiregrass Mechanics, etc.  The Wiregrass region or Wiregrass country is an area made of parts of southern Georgia, southeastern Alabama and the Florida panhandle, named for native wire grass. (The portion of US84 through Georgia is known as the Wiregrass Georgia Parkway.) Here's wire grass near Tuskegee.

We planned to spend the night in the Tuskegee National Forest north of here.  The first site we come to has a bit of charred ground and a sign that said they were doing preventative burns -dated yesterday.  There was a faint smell of smoke.  We thought we'd stay anyway, but after walking a bit we noticed there were still a few spots of smoldering brush with a few flames, so we moved a few miles away to a safer spot. We had a map which showed 14 different primitive spots for camping here. Nothing fancy, but quiet and wooded.

We haven't seen many animals in our wanderings through the countryside.  A few birds, a turkey, a single deer.  There are current as well as older signs of clear cutting of pine trees.  Lumber is big business across the south, we discover.   Some of the clear cut areas had random stumps and brush piles with muddy tracks, while others were better cleared and cleaned - ready for new growth.

 The clear cutting is mostly interspersed with fields of trees in various stages of growth. Logging trucks, lumber yards.  In talking with people later, we learn that there is a new hybrid type of pine that is 4-5x faster growing, so logging can be done more often.  They may plant densely and log some trees in a few years while leaving others to mature more.  Greg read that most of the trees here are on private property rather than large company-owned lots, so people handle it in different ways. 

Apparently burning off underbrush is done this time of year, as we saw it in several areas.

  We also saw people harvesting pine needles and discovered it is a bit of a business, bundling the needles  

which are sold as mulch. Needles have a lot of vitamin C and other nutrients.

 

2/9/22 Mississippi-into Alabama

 2/9/22 Wednesday

Blueberry pancakes this morning at the campsite, yum. Glad we had heat last night because it was 31 degrees this morning with frost on the ground!

We head back down to the coast and pass the Pascagoula lighthouse just before going into Alabama. 

 Rather than I-10, we take smaller roads across Mobile bay. Past lots of pecan orchards. A variety of housing as we travel through some industrial areas and then more small towns.  How rural?  

Beth had heard of Fairhope over the years and thought it might be an interesting stop. It was founded in 1894 as a Geologist "Single Tax" colony. They hoped to create a model community, a kind of utopia and attracted artists, intellectuals and others.  It now seems a kind of affluent suburb of Mobile with nice homes, lots of shops, restaurants, etc. close to Mobile Bay. They had beautiful flowers around town and a nice museum. very busy.

Jubilee is an event that happens on the shores of Mobile Bay occasionally when crabs, shrimp and fish flock to the shallow waters waiting to be scooped up by locals.  It has something to do with oxygen levels but is not predictable and can last only several hours.

Lots of majestic oaks.

 We were surprised at how close to shore some of the visible oil rigs were, all along the Gulf Coast.

Lots of homes along the water.

   

From here we decided to go take a look at Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan on the coast. We stopped at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge but found their Visitors Center and Boardwalk closed.  We did walk the four mile  Pine Beach Trail.

Heading east again, into Florida the coastal area was pretty busy.  Not much in the way of camping, so we settled for the Walmart in Pensacola. Quiet night but still pretty chilly!