Chicken Poop, Pecans, Moonshine, and Fighting Cock

I bet you’re wondering how I’m going to tie this all together in one blog, aren’t you? Well stick around, it all works out.

As always, we had a good time hanging out with my son Travis and his wife Geli in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for three days, though we thought we might have to cut our visit short. When we checked into the Hampton Inn near their house on Wednesday afternoon, I reserved the room for three days, but since I was hoping for a call from my doctor’s office about my nerve ablation procedure, I asked if there was a penalty if we checked out early. The young lady at the desk assured me there was not, and we assumed everything was okay.

Well, we did until we got a phone call from the hotel Thursday afternoon telling us we were past checkout time and they had rented the room to someone else. I told the lady on the phone that we were not leaving until Friday morning, and she said we had a problem, since they had rented the room and there were no others available. No, “we” don’t have a problem ma’am, you do. I suggest you fix it. It took a while for them to figure out that the miscommunication was on their end and get it all resolved, but we stayed put and apparently, they found the guest lodging at a nearby facility.

It is about 300 miles from Tuscaloosa to Tifton, Georgia, where we planned to spend last night, and after stopping by to say goodbye to Travis and Geli we hit the road about 11 a.m., following U.S. Highway 82 all the way. It was a nice day and there wasn’t much traffic, so I expected to make good time. But before we took off, I made sure to take a picture of Geli’s Chicken Poop lip balm. She says there’s not really any chicken poop in it, but the name keeps other people from borrowing it. Maybe so, maybe not. I mean, it is the South, where they eat things like chitlins. If you don’t know what chitlins are, look it up. Then you might understand my skepticism about Chicken Poop lip balm.

As we approached the Georgia state line we passed through Eufaula, Alabama, which played an active role in the Civil War. At least one ironclad warship was built there for the Confederate Navy, and what may have been the last battle of the Civil War was fought in Eufaula, on May 19, 1865, ten days after Confederate General Lee surrendered to Union General Grant at Appomattox, Virginia. Word had not reached Eufaula yet, and a Confederate detachment attacked a 44-man Union unit. One soldier was killed, and three others wounded in the skirmish.

Crossing the Chattahoochee River that forms the border between the two states, Terry took this picture of a railroad bridge beside the highway.

We are both still weak and worn out from a month of travel, along with our colds, and though I had planned to drive all the way, about an hour or so into Georgia I could not keep my eyes open any longer and Terry took the wheel, while I napped off and on. I did manage to take a picture of this cool water tower in Cuthbert.

Cuthbert is a charming looking town with a long and sometimes sad history. Settled after the Indian Removal Act forced the local Native peoples to move west, the region was home to extensive cotton plantations that thrived on slave labor. It was in Cuthbert that an African-American maid named Lena Baker was convicted of the murder of her white employer in 1945. Baker claimed she acted in self-defense, but her plea was ignored, and she became the only woman in Georgia to be executed in the electric chair. In 2005, the state posthumously pardoned her, and there has been talk of building a museum in her honor. The 2008 movie Hope and Redemption: The Lena Baker Story, recalls the tragic events. A number of sports figures came from Cuthbert, including NFL players Thomas Davis, Donnell Harvey, and Rosie Grier.

We got to Tifton just after 5 p.m. and checked into the Country Inn and Suites, a nice hotel we have stayed at before. We were both hungry, so once we took our luggage to the room, we went to dinner at a place called Charles Seafood, just a couple of blocks away. It being Friday night, there was a crowd but we only had to wait a few minutes for a seat. Terry had grilled grouper and I had shrimp and calamari. Both were good, though I still prefer the local fare at home.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Adcock Pecans, which is known throughout the region for their pecans, peanuts, and all sorts of other goodies.

Terry loves baking with pecans, and her pecan pancakes are beyond delicious, so she stocked up on the tasty nuts, along with some other items that are hard to find. And yes, we did buy some of their delicious chocolate covered pecans, too.

What we didn’t buy was any of their barbecue sauces, which included Moonshine Madness and Fighting Cock. There, I used all four, Chicken Poop, Pecans, Moonshine, and Fighting Cock. Didn’t think I could do it, did you?

Today we’ll stop at a couple of antique shops along the way, but we probably won’t linger long. We both really want to get home and sleep in our own bed tonight.

Be sure to enter our latest new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of Birdsongs, the first book in my friend Jason Deas’ excellent Benny James mystery series. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.