perhaps the highlight of the day...

along the roadside stood a crucified effigy with two other pipe crosses backed by an american flag, with christams lights... wow.

after birmingham...

we hit the road on saturday morning. the next stop was in parrot, georgia. parrot was the site for a long admired and much loved movie... ummm what was it now...oh yeah... "the longriders" i believe. quite a memorable saga. starring all of the carridine family and many other notables. it is a quiet little burg with a bar-b-que cafe in which we enjoyed lunch. rick's bar-b-que was the name of the place. we shared the dining room with june who was having her birthday lunch with a friend. june is a portrait painter who has a studio/gallery in the old bank building... the one with the columns... two white ones and a tree just above. quite a nice peaceful town with old brick buildings. land for the town was donated by a guy named parrot in 1887 and has remained largely unchanged ever since. seems no need to change it. the cafe featured a decapitated deer with a stuffed catfish in the corner... a nice touch.

2000 miles, a week and two days and we are getting into it...

birmingham was fun... lots to see and do. we visited the heart of dixie railroad museum. they advertized hours 9:00am to 4:00pm with train rides on friday and saturday. we were there on friday at about 1:00pm, they were closed... until march. a walkabout revealed much old roling stock rusting away on sidings. many were restored or preserved and in rolling condition. very interesting and photogenic. have a look!

it has been almost a week now..

since we left maine. we are now in atlanta leaving for birmingham tomorrow. we will be there for just two days then move on to tampa area. then to anna maria island just south of tampa. after taht, our roadtrip begins in earnest. it takes a lot to satisfy obligations when you have family spread out from thither to yon, but we will have that taken care of shortly. not that it is a burden... it is just that these things have to be taken care of before we can poke around at our leasure.

so far we have gotten the monkey house set up inside and out. i applied the new "yelowstone" graphics front and rear, now we are official.

after we leave anna maria island we are thinking about visiting "the villiages" in central florida. it looks like an interesting thing to experience and should be fun to see. after that i think a large number of oysters will be eaten at saint george island in the vicinity of appalachacola, florida, before we are on to mardi gras. there it will be beads and blues abatch. more to come... it begins to get interesting soon.

and we're off...

well.. thursday moring at least we are. the winter weather has set in ernest and we have winter itch to get on the road. the first stop will be an rv store in bangor to pick up some last minute items then it is boogie time. i hope to make it to danbury, connecticut for the first overnighter then on to richmond, virginia the second day. ahhh, the best laid plans. we really don't have to push but hope to be out of the "danger zone" for winter storms before one hits.we hope to be in atlanta by sunday night to see the atlanta contingent of the pajewski krew (judy's family). my favorite market in the universe is in atlanta. it is an asian supermarket that defies description. i could spend the whole day in there looking at shelves full of "secret ingredents". they have a fabulous hardware section and some of the most useful reasonably priced cutlery i have ever seen.
i can hardly believe the time has come to take the monkey house on its maiden voyage... the honeymoon we never had! much more to come... stay tuned.