November 19-23, 2009. Days 123-127 Birmingham AL.

We’re just finishing a 5 night stay in Birmingham Alabama. We arrived on Thursday, November 19th from Jackson Mississippi. We came here because for several years now Kevin has had the idea to retire to Alabama. Since he calls Georgia home he’s wanted to move back to the south for a while now. However he doesn’t want to move back to the Eastern Time zone. As a big sports fan he’s found he likes it when the games he’s watching end well before midnight. On the Eastern Time zone many games finish after midnight. Even if you just want to stay up to watch the news you still are awake until 11:30. It’s not that our lives are all about TV; it’s just one thing that can make a difference. Anyway, we came here to look around at schools, homes, land and churches. Everything looked great and the people were so friendly. We mostly looked around Hoover, Alabama, which is south of the city off I459. It’s a very pretty area. There’s rolling hills and plenty of hard wood and pine trees. Everything was so pretty and green. It’s quite a bit different than Albuquerque. During our stay in Birmingham we also got to visit with Kevin’s niece, Paige. She attends school here and is finishing up her Doctorate. We think it’s in Rocket Surgery or Brain Science, we can’t remember we just know she’s very smart. On Saturday she came to see us at the RV and to have dinner with us. She also showed the kids how to play the card game, Spoons. They had so much fun and laughed and screamed a lot. We had a great visit. We camped at the Hoover RV Park at Regions Park Stadium. Regions Park Stadium is where the Chicago White Sox Double A team, The Birmingham Barons, play. It’s also where the SEC holds their yearly baseball tournament. The park is really nice. It’s all paved with W-E-S, cable TV and phone hookups, all for just $23 a night. If you pay for 5 nights you get 2 more free. It’s a great place to camp in south Birmingham. One of the things we liked about this stay was how slow a pace we took while here. We slept in till 8 each morning, and after 9 on Sunday. We got the bikes, the grill and the Rip Sticks out. We did a day of school before we went anywhere and overall just felt so much more relaxed. It’s our plan for this second leg of the trip and its working so far. Tomorrow we’re off to Montgomery to see our 35th Capitol.