Driving through Alabama

My job took me to Fort Rucker today, which is somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Alabama. And let me tell you: I think the area that surrounds this installation is country as country can be! People are really stationed there for three years? Bless your heart, as the Southeners say. Well, the good thing is that it is two hours away from some really nice beaches in Florida, and Columbus is also only two hours away.

I decided to take the fastest route, so I took a highway and then a county road. The roads  had numbers - not names - and  they were seamed by red dirt, old barns, and abandoned vehicles. One time I took the wrong turn, and stood in front of a farm house, nothing around it for I don't know how many miles. Signs for the presidential election were still up in a lot of front yards, and they all displayed a name with five letters. Even more signs, however, were either blue and orange or red and displayed the homeowners passion for their football team. I also saw a few large plantation style homes, some beautiful historic houses, more older houses, and unfortunately even more trailers with junk in their yards. It was surprising to see so many trailers and while driving through the countryside and trying to find a radio station that would not play country music, I wondered what made people stay there. I thought about how hard it must be for a teenager to grow up in such a rural area, and that one can be lucky to get out of there. My guess is that military recruiters are pretty popular in areas like these? On the other side, I'd be interested in how many people return back to their home towns in their forties or fifties.

Ozark, Dothan, and Eufala are some cities in that area and I am sure there are people who love to live there. Maybe it's comparable to living in smaller German towns, and maybe I could see myself living there when I am sixty years old and about to retire - when my hobbies are feeding my chicken and fishing at a nearby lake. Growing up in Germany, we have a lot of American TV shows on TV and driving through Alabama made me think of shows like "Dawson's Creek", and "One Tree Hill". I wonder if these cities have their own town villain, their darling homecoming queen who never got to leave the county limits due to an unforeseen family tragedy and who now owns a hair and nail salon, and I wonder how high school kids spend their time on the weekends. As an outsider, driving through this southern State, it seems rural yet charming, poor yet rich in beauty that nature has to offer - and I bet there's a couple of people that enjoy drinking their sweet tea right now on their front porch and they're happy as happy can be.