August 14: “A day that will live in infamy!”   For it was on this very day in 1952 that a freak snowstorm enveloped the farmlands of North Dakota, freezing carrots in the ground, asparagus on the stalk and the entire watermelon crop on the vine.  Coincidentally, this was the very day chosen by Mother Nature to deposit a whining scrawny baby girl on the Jamestown doorstep of the unsuspecting Schwartz family.  Times being what they were, and 73-year old Mr. Schwartz, not easily duped, immediately transferred the new arrival to the rear doorstep of his neighbors, the Zimmermans.  The Zimmermans, whose first child had arrived on the front doorstep, were a bit suspicious but nevertheless welcomed the little stranger into their home and in short order had her fully immersed in the family business, raccoon wrangling...

  Heart Of Dixie                                                             August 14, 2011

When traveling through the southern portion of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama you will soon discover that food is either boiled or deep fried and most folks believe that cholesterol is some kind of Yankee catfish bait.  I happen to be a big fan of deep fried anything and especially enjoy deep fried soft shell crab Po-Boys…

We actually get 4 inches of standing water surrounding our Urban Assault Vehicle within minutes of one of these “showers” and have begun parking the Jeep within a foot of our front door so we can leap easily into and out of it without the annoyance of water-filled footwear.

On those days when the sun breaks through the clouds, we enjoy revisiting some of our favorite spots along the Gulf Coast including the Fairhope Yacht Club for one of their signature Bushwhackers (an adult beverage consisting of vanilla ice cream, light rum, dark Crème De Cocoa and chocolate syrup).  A new addition since our last visit is an oak tree sculpture created by Marlin Miller…

Happy birthday, Zook!!!!

After leaving Louisiana, we stayed on the southern route through Mississippi with a stopover in Pascagoula, home of “the Mississippi Squirrel," for a few days and lunch at a local seafood café…

Well, guys, I know this ain’t much but we’ll try living a bit more on the edge for the next few weeks so we have something a bit more interesting to report next time.  See y’all soon, Chuck & Kalyn

If you’ve never had one, you have no idea what you're missing!

We arrived in LA (Lower Alabama) in mid-July and just in time for monsoon season.   After two years of drought, the locals’ continuous rain dances have been abundantly successful…

I was somewhat disappointed that our waitress wasn’t dressed in a multi-colored costume with large floppy feet and a large red schnozzola.  Although it was served on a flimsy Styrofoam platter, the terrific low country boil of crawfish, sausage, corn and potatoes more than made up for the absence of costumed clown servers…

In spite of our location so near the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach resort areas, cotton fields can still be found a bit further inland and crop dusters can still be seen performing aerobatic maneuvers while spraying for that pesky boll weevil…

We plan to be here through the winter and have already lapsed into the mindless mediocrity associated with actually living in only one place as opposed to our usual modus operandi of changing locations on a near weekly basis.  Our days usually begin shortly after 6am with an hour-long walk or bicycle ride before the heat and humidity drive us back into the air conditioned confines of the RV. We do occasionally trek back into the local forest and swamplands where my budding nature photographer chases down the local wildlife and myriad of summer plants and flowers, including the occasional carnivorous pitcher plant…