We left the hotel under cloudy skies; the first we have seen on this trip. We had about a five hour drive across Alabama and into Mississippi ahead of us today – 247 miles or 397 kilometers. We had no ‘tourist’ stops planned but had made a geocache list to take some breaks and find some caches.

One of the nice things about the geocaching hobby is that local people hide caches in their area and often take you to places you would never otherwise know about – like the smallest city block in the world in Dothan. Most caches are hidden in trees or bushes or signs, but there are always a few that show you something interesting.

There was a cache hidden at the base of the flag pole at this mural. It was painted on both sides and just at the edge of a parking lot. There was no plaque or sign telling why it was made or by whom.

I snapped a quick pic of this nice mural as we went through one of the towns along the way.

At Enterprise, Alabama, in the center of the Main Street=College Street intersection there is this statue. It is dedicated to the Boll Weevil and is the first statue ever made honoring an insect pest. It was erected by the citizens of Enterprise on Dec. 11, 1919, hailing the beetle as a ‘herald of prosperity.” Cotton was king in the area and all the farmers grew it. The boll weevil made it’s way up from Mexico in 1915 and by 1918 was destroying entire cotton crops. A man named H. M. Sessions saw this as an opportunity to convert the area to peanut farming. In 1916 he convinced C. W. Baston, an indebted farmer, to back his venture. The first crop paid off their debts and was bought by farmers seeking to change to peanut farming. Cotton was grown again, but farmers learned to diversify their crops, a practice which brought new money to Coffee County.

We drove by a lot of peanut fields as we traversed Alabama.

I have a large Canada/USA map book that I take on all our road trips and pencil the roads we travel. The maps of each province and state show the locations of quite a few colleges and military bases and museums. As I was coloring in a new section of Hwy 84 that we were driving I noticed that there was a Hank Williams, Sr. House and Museum in Georgiana about 20 or so miles north on Highway 55. We had plenty of time to get to Laurel so a detour was made.

I have alway said that I have been a country music fan for so long I have Hank William’s albums so I thought it was kind of neat to wander through the house he grew up in. He was born in a log cabin near the Mount Olive Baptist Church in Butler County. The family moved serveral times as his father progressed from a day labourer in the lumber mills to engineer on the log train. When Hank was in first grade his father had to be admitted to the veteran’s hospital and his wife moved with her children, Hank and Irene to Georgiana. They lived in a four plex until it was destroyed by fire. A local businessman who owned houses that he rented out offered her used of the house on Rose Street until she got back on her feet. They lived in this house for 4 years – Hank was 7 when they moved in.

Every wall in every room was covered with photos, paintings, record covers, music sheets, etc. It was not a professional collection at all. There was hand-written papers with names or dates below things. There is a ‘proper’ Hank Williams museum in Montgomery I think. Still I enjoyed wandering around and looking at all the pictures. I even spotted the record albums I have among all his recordings.

Billie Jean was his second wife. His first wife Audrey divorced him in 1952 due to his alcohol abuse. They had been married almost 10 years. Hank and Billie Jean had only been married a couple of months before he died on Jan 1, 1953 from a heart attack in a drug and alcohol induced stupor as his driver drove him through West Virginia on the way to a concert in Canton, Ohio. He was 29. Hank had 11 #1 hits songs in his short career.

We drove up and down hills today!

This massive coal barge was sailing down the Tombigbee River.

I finally got got a photo of the pink flowers we often see along the roadside.

We crossed the border into Mississippi at 4 o’clock and not long after we were nearing some very dark clouds.

And then it started to rain – heavily and the wind was so strong it almost shifted the car on the road.

But by the time we entered Laurel about a half hour later, the storm was done. There was a lot of leaf and other debris on the ground and road as we made our way to the hotel for the night.

“Hometown” is a renovation show on HGTV that we really enjoy and stars Ben and Erin Napier of Laurel, Mississippi. The downtown of Laurel was dead before Hometown began, but now it has been revitalized due to interest created by the TV show. Ben and Erin fix up old houses in Laurel for people in the town or who are moving to the town. The show is in its 8th season and since it began they have renovated over 100 homes. More than 45 new businesses have begun in Laurel and over 250 new jobs have been created.

Tomorrow we drive around Laurel for awhile, go visit Ben & Erin Napier’s General Store and see Ben’s woodworking shop before we head to Natchez.