road trippin'

I've got a couple of fun road trips coming up. Sometimes I think I'm the most myself out on the road.

First up is a "fun" trip to southern Alabama. To say that Alabama is not my favorite place is an understatement. It's just a totally different world than the one I live in. The people are nice and all but they are so very southern and that's just not my thing. The only thing that keeps me coming back is my family who have lived there since I was in high school.

The food is mostly all fried so if you're trying to eat healthier you're pretty much out of luck. However, if you're not being good, there are tasty options. There is a bbq place there that's really nice and they sell the most amazing pound cakes. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Charlie always enjoys her trips up there because my brother in law has several dogs and Charlie has become a member of their pack which means they all basically ignore each other. Every once in a while one particular dog gets bitchy and Charlie gets bitchy right back at her. Taz was always so proud that his little girl could hold her own and didn't back down. I was always a little worried there would be a fight but so far they have learned to tolerate each other. Charlie LOVES my brother in law because he gives treats all day long. She also likes their fenced in yard so that she can run around off leash. I like that too, gives me a break from the daily walks.

It's a long-ish drive - about 6-7 hours. I'm a pretty independent girl but I don't think I've ever driven that far all by myself so it's a little daunting. However, I'm sure it'll be fine and I'm looking forward to a trip without worrying about road rage. Because we did it so often, I have my favorite stops along the way.

I'll be meeting my little sister for lunch at a Vietnamese place that Taz and I discovered. It's in middle of nowhere Florida on the panhandle, not somewhere you'd expect to find Vietnamese food. I don't think the owner is even from Vietnam, I think he was in the US Army there and fell in love with the food. How ever the restaurant got there, it's really good. Taz was quite the food snob especially when it came to his own cuisine and he thoroughly enjoyed this place. I don't think my sis has ever eaten Vietnamese food so I'm going to point her towards things that will ease her into a new food experience. I'm thrilled that she's willing to drive 90 minutes to meet up with me and then we'll follow each other back to Alabama to start the weekend.

It will be my first visit there without Taz and Gari, I imagine there will be tears especially since it's the anniversary of Gari's death and I'm going there to be supportive of my family during this hard time. I don't think I could have made this trip a few months ago but I feel stronger now and this isn't about me, it's about them.

So, as a counterpoint to this kinda sad visit, I'm giving myself another road trip to look forward to later in September. I'm going on a book research trip to Georgia to see an aviation museum. Taz loved planes, especially planes from WWII. Through repeated exposure to aviation museums and television documentaries over 3 decades, he passed that love on to me. Although I prefer planes from the WWI era, I am fascinated by the timeframe of WWII and the 1940s, one of the reasons my book project is set in that era. My story centers on women pilots but the museum for them is in Texas which is not someplace I can visit right now so I was thrilled when I found a similar museum for WWII flight training in Georgia.

Women pilots went through exactly the same training as their male counterparts so this closer museum will really help with my research until I can find a road trip buddy for Texas.

I want to immerse myself in the world of flight training, see where they slept, ate, trained and played. That's my favorite part of research - trying to see life through someone else's eyes.

The museum is a 4 hour drive from my house. Since I can't take Charlie with me and stay overnight, I'm going to turn it into a day trip. I figure I can head out early, be there when the museum opens at 11, tour everything, take tons of pictures, and then get back on the road and get home before dark.

I feel like a broken record but, once again, this is something that would be way more fun with someone else tagging along. Taz would have loved it and I regret that I didn't make the trip with him. I could have, I discovered this place last summer but I put it off because I thought we would always have time later. Lesson learned.

So here's another thing I've always wanted to do but have put off - fly.

The picture above is a Stearman PT-17 which was the first plane most military aviators flew back in WWII. It was the training plane for both the men and the women. There is a company here in Florida that offers rides in the Stearman. This is a hands-on experience that recreates the first 6-8 lessons that a newbie pilot would experience back in the 40s. No doubt this would be invaluable in my research plus it would be wicked fun! Of course, it's not cheap, it's about $250 for a 30 minute hands-on flight so I'm going to have to save up for it but WOW, it's just one of those things I've got to do. I'll be doing it for Taz too, he always wanted to be a pilot but his eyesight kept him from it.

I guess I'll get to fulfill that dream for him.

But first, it's Alabama which is an experience all on its own. I once went into a Walmart there and, no lie, I think I was the only person in there not wearing camouflage. Ok, maybe that's a slight exaggeration but it makes for a great story, right?