Stories & Polls: Alabama Adventure! 6/29 - 7/3

Over the holiday weekend, I traveled down south to visit my brother (Jonathan) and sister-in-law (Jessica). My other brother, Daniel, and Jonathan's former roommate, Nick, and I left Thursday morning at 6:45am, spent about 14 hours on the road, and arrived at Fort Rucker, Alabama that night.

Over the next three days, we had a blast enjoying each other's company, being entertained by the rambunctious pets (they have a puppy and two young cats), learning about helicopters, and exploring all there is to explore in and around Ft. Rucker.

Here I am in the Apache cockpit.

Jess, Jon, Dan, Nick, and me at the beach.



A list of highlights from the trip:

1. Eating a great BBQ sandwich at a po-dunk restaurant in western Georgia. Until that day, I'd never before seen a warthog head mounted on a wall.
2. Trying Coca-Cola's newest experiment, "Coke BLAK." It's a weird combination of coffee and coke that left me wondering if I like it or not. (Please comment if you've tried it.)
3. Watching Jonathan in his element: wearing his flight suit and showing/telling us all about one of his biggest passions, the Apache helicopter.



4. Trying to "fly" a helicopter in a simulator. It's tough. Plus, I got a bit nauseous.
5. Going to the drive-in movie theatre! I'd never been to one before, and this one was NICE.
6. Spending a day at a GORGEOUS beach in Destin, Florida.
7. Having great conversations with my brothers, Jess, and Nick.
8. Grilling and hanging out in the backyard.
9. Worshipping at The Wings Chapel.
10. Riding in a speed boat!
11. Tubing (it was a first for me, but not a last)
12. Watching my brothers and Jessica successfully water-ski.
13. Seeing Jess and Jon's house and playing with their pets.
14. Eating crab at Joe's Crab Shack.
15. Daniel's hilarious and random comments.
16. Mingling with all the laid-back country folk.
17. Listening to almost all of the songs on my iPod (I knew long road trips were good for something!).



Here I am tubing.



Here I am wiping out.

(I actually hit the water really hard and jammed my left shoulder, which excluded me from further tubing and waterskiing activites.)





Sights that reminded us we weren't in Northern Virginia anymore:

1. Mullets.
2. Confederate flags.
3. "Get 'er drunk" bumper stickers.
4. lower gas prices
5. Lots of wide open space.

The weirdest sight of all happened in Montgomery, Alabama, about an hour and a half north of Rucker. We were driving along a main road when we noticed a car next to us that had a Chuckie doll stuck in its side window. It was an authentic Chuckie doll--just like in the movie--half of its body inside the car, the other half out. It totally weirded us out. About 5 minutes passed and we had just finished commenting about it, when all of a sudden, we saw ANOTHER CAR (this one was actually an SUV) with ANOTHER CHUCKIE DOLL sticking out, this time it was in the sunroof! We were stunned (and slightly disturbed). We later asked Jon and Jess about it and they were just as baffled. They'd never seen or heard of the Chuckie-Doll Epidemic before.

Poll #1: What do you think it meant?

a. It was merely coincedence.
b. It was some sort of cultural thing unique to southern Alabama.
c. It was a symbol of some sort (please describe).
d. It was perhaps a gang-related icon.


And now for something completely different...

Poll #2: In the following photo, whose is the displayed derriere?



a. Some random Alabaman man who lost his way
b. My brother, Daniel
c. Nick
d. Chuckie
e. My brother, Jonathan

Extra credit: What is he doing?

(answer to follow in a week or so)

When we saw this water tower in South Carolina, we couldn't help but notice the resemblance, although this one's a bit more...rosey.



To view more photos from the trip, click here and then select the "Alabama Adventure" album.