The Best Day In Alabama

Oh yeah!

Alabama Journal 5
Friday, May 27, 2005

It was only 62 on the back porch when I was talking with my Bride on the phone this morning. A ten degree difference from yesterday, yay! I had a shirt on today, too! After returning to the warmth of Dad’s house, I got a hot shower, and got ready for what would be a most eventful day. Lil Bro and I spent some time on the porch chillin’ and then headed to the Anniston Public Library for some Internet time. Thus, the earlier posts from Alabama.

After our trip to the Library (and the near-miss with the stealth red car at the four-way stop), we returned home to find the “vampires” had all risen. We had the hanerkin’ for some Sonic Frito Chili Pie, so plans were finally hammered out for the trip. Lil Bro, Baby Sis and I made the journey, and when we placed the order that confused the poor Sonic Employee to no end, we got the bad news. Sonic is apparently removing Fritos Chili Pie from the menu. We were told that they only had enough ingredients left to give us three orders (not the four that we wanted)! No Fritos Chili Pie? That is not Sonic! It was a foreshadowing of many “interesting” things to come on this most eventful day.

Now, Lil Bro and I had been wanting to make the trip to Cheaha Mountain (almost as badly as we had been wanting to show “Napoleon Dynamite” to Dad, Middle Bro and Baby Sis), so after eating the last of the Fritos Chili Pie from Sonic ever, we firmed up the trip to the mountain. Baby Sis didn’t make the trip with us as she was not feeling well (more than just a little “run” down, with the key word in quotations, if you catch my drift…if you don’t, then never mind). Middle Bro had the highlight of the day to that point with his blast on Bald Rock! I’ve never experienced that kind of nasty stink on top of a mountain. An enclosed structure, like the mall concourse that Lil Bro stunk up the day before, maybe…but in the open air of a mountaintop? WHEW!

We took a different route back home from the mountain top, and the drive was beautiful! The winding roads and the lush green forest were perfect. Lil Bro was in driving heaven! Please check out the pictures Lil Bro will post on his Flickr site.

If the day had ended then, it would have been classified as a Top Ten Day of all time. But, no! The best was yet to come!

We had dinner plans for the Top O The River and it was the best meal ever! After taking a picture of Middle Bro with the bunnies outside the restaurant, we made our way in and had no waiting to be seated. Our waitress, Derrika, commented that we were a “quiet group.” Serious mistake. Middle Bro lay in wait for her with his straw and straw paper loaded for some blow dart action. He nailed her right in the face from point blank range! She smiled, and said she would take care of matters. Lil Bro reminded her that Middle Bro was the one who ordered onion rings (the rest of us had baked potatoes). Soon, a guy from the kitchen came to deliver three of the five meals, so Dad, Baby Sis and Lil Bro had theirs (we had munched on the cornbread, and cole slaw as well as some greens and fried pickles…great stuff!). Shortly afterwards, Derika showed up to apologize because they had “run out of fish” and were fixing some more for us. Right. At her next appearance, she gave me my fried catfish and baked potato (both of which were delicious). She then “served” Middle Bro his plate, which has already been pictured on the blog: raw catfish and raw onion rings. Derika rawks! I told the cashier so, and wrote a nice comment on the bill as well. She got a nice tip from us all, and Middle Bro eventually even got a cooked meal. Now, the day had moved into a top seven status.

Desert was the long-awaited “Napoleon Dynamite” screening at Dad’s house that night. I didn’t think Donna would ever stop laughing during the Napoleon Dance scene after Pedro’s campaign speech. Dad just kept saying “there’s something not right about that boy” throughout the movie. Tim was in awe. Mission accomplished. GOSH! They finally watched the flippin’ movie! After taking them through the hidden wedding scene and the deleted scenes from the flip side of the disk, I went to bed dreaming of a trip back to Paradise on Earth: Vero Beach. The day had to be a top six day (Number one is August 27, 1985 when I was baptized into Christ. Number Two is August 8, 1981, when my Bride said “I do.” There is a three way tie for third with the dates January 30, 1985; November 7, 1988; and December 27, 1989…yeah, the kids’ birthdays)!