Day 6 & 7 - I Come From Flora-Bama With a Shot Glass on My Knee!?

Ever since we hit Orange Beach Cherri has been trying to get us to go to the "Flora-Bama". I thought it was the condo building on the border between Florida and Alabama. We managed to put it off for days, but on the last day she insisted. All week as she talked to the other Golden Girls they kept asking if she had taken us to the Flora-Bama. The kids and I were shocked to walk into a place that soooo did not look like someplace Cherri, Tammi, Kandi, and GG would go, much less have fond memories of. I am begining to wonder if there are not some untold stories from their trip!

As a final update on Onan, he would not turn over on the last two cold mornings. Wade will not be happy, but, the booster switch worked and it turned over right away. Long ride home but we made it back in time to clean the RV, refuel, fill the propane and empty the tanks.

Brian's Blog:

My favorite part of today was when we went to Flora-Bama. Mom kept insisting we see this place, so we drove there and pulled up. Now I'm lookin' at the wooden exterior and rather rustic looking entrance; and I'm thinkin' "Wow! Seriously?! What's so great about this place anyway?" We walk in; and the moment I'm in the entrance, I'm looking around at the different walls that make the outdoor part of this palce and notice every one is covered with a beer company logo or sign. EVERY single piece of wood in the joint is COVERED in some form of writting or another such as "Kimmie Loves Karl 4eva!" and just to remind you that you are in Alabama "The South Will Rise Again", that sort of thing. I walk in past the outer bar-like place and into an indoor room full of tables and benches. As I look up, I can't help but say to myself, "MY GOD this has to be the LARGEST number of BRA'S I have ever seen in my life hanging from the ceiling". NOT, of course, that I would have anything to compare it to! But um... *Cough*... anyway, I walk out and inform my posse of one of the GREATEST finds a 20-something male could EVER make! WAY better than a gold mine or an oilfield! The others did not seem to share my enthusiasm for the find; and said, "eh, it was probably just the wet T-shirt contest". Well that's just peachy! All the 20-something males in the world and I have to come to Flora-Bama with the

Cherri's Blog:

Well, here we are on our way home, not wanting to go!!! :( We met my cousin, GG, and her family at the McDonald's in Loxley, Alabama (they were on the way to Disneyworld for their Spring Break). What a coincidence to be at about the same place at about the same time on the road three states over from Texas! The last two days have been a blur! Holli and I have spent a lot of time on the beach "sea shelling" - Holli has caught the bug! We're already trying to figure out when we can come back! Holli understands, now, my "addiction"! Once you find that perfect sand dollar or "olive", you want to find more, and more, and more! It's VERY addictive!!! While we were in Alabama, we went back and forth from Gulf Shores to Orange Beach (they were right next to each other).

*Sorry, but I had to take a break last night from blogging - kept falling asleep with the laptop in my lap!). I tried to go to the back bedroom to lay down for a little while, but have you ever tried to sleep going 65 mph down a bumpy freeway in a 31' RV? It's a lot like trying to sleep on a trampoline with someone bouncing on it! And it's really not pleasant when you have to go to the bathroom, but you're just too tired to get up! Well, Brad finally pulled over into our "familiar" Wal-Mart parking lot in Lafayette to try to get a couple of hours of sleep before going on; so he set the alarm for 5:00am and snoozed away peacefully and calmly. We made it home after an EXTREMELY bumpy ride down I-10 to Houston! It was nice to finally NOT hear Holli singing Mariah Carey's Christmas song, "All I Want for Christmas...is You!" or Holli saying, "Is that YOU making ME a sandwich, Mommy?"; or Brian saying, "Just a minute, Mom" and then, an hour later, me reminding him again what he was supposed to do; or BOTH of them rapping in unison "Big Rob's" part in the Jonas Brother's song, "Burnin' Up"!

We clearly had a wonderful Spring Break, as you've been able to read! We're ready to rent, again, and go on another exciting "Hollingsworth Adventure"!!! :)

Holli's Blog:

After going to see Flora-Bama that my Mom went on and on about we went back to the beach to the same spot we went the day before. There Mom and I were looking for seashells like we always did (Of course I was way ahead of her becasue I got tired of waiting) and then there, off in the distance, I see Mom talking to some lady I have never seen before. So after I watched Mom bring the lady over to meet Dad and Brian. I decided I was going to have to go over there sooner or later and walked over. When I got there Mom introduced me to Shirley. She had met Shirley the other day at the beach while looking for seashells. It turns out that Shirley was from Michigan and is also a fellow seasheller. That is when Shirley and Mom chat some more and she invites us to her condo so she can give us some of her seashells that she wasn't going to keep. The three of us then walk and talk all the way down the beach to Shirley's condo, that's when we meet George, her husband. By the time Mom and I left their condo I knew that Shirley and George stay on the beach for 3 months in a row every year and have been doing it for 28 years, George has been to the emergency room within the past month, Shirley is 77 and George is 81, they have twin grandsons and many others, Shirley likes to bake even though she doesn't eat what she makes, she has a friend who is staying on a lower floor that is very creative, she has a friend whose grandson went on a mission trip to Costa Rica last summer and they helped fund his trip, she has only found one sand dollar, one of her son's got married on Fort Lauderale beach to a girl from Mexico, and she also gave me a present! It was then we decided to go and Shirley walked Mom and I back to our spot on the beach. But of course that was not the end of our time with Shirley. Mother and Shirley exchanged addresses and kept talking about who knows what for at least another hour or so! Oh, what a fun filled day it was!

Brad's Blog:

Journeying into the Phoenix X after a frightening trek through Flora-Bama, it was then that I first caught sight of them; a group of "Knitters" in the wild. The gathering appeared to be all female, although I was not initially sure about their leader. Their natural habitat involves air conditioning and comfy chairs. It was easy to spot the Alpha Knitter, Alberta (aka AKA). They gathered in a more or less horseshoe shape with AKA at its head and dominating most of the sound making. At first their sounds just seemed like Charlie Brown's parents only higher pitched; but, after a while I was able to decifer their simple, but beautiful language.

I was not sure whether a group of Homo-Erectus-Oldus-Knitus should be called a flock, a gaggle, a coven, a school, a herd, a den or perhaps they operate at a higher level like an association or a community. Since AKA was not elected, but rather, assumed power through domination and the membership seems to ebb and flow throughout the day and season, I think they could best be called a flock.

The odd thing about this flock was that there were no males present. Once I learned their language, I was able to detect that males existed, or once existed, outside the flock. The males are mostly referred to in the past tense such as "My Jim and I used to go there" or "Bob ordered that one time". Occasionally a male is mentioned in the future tense "George and I are going to go there next Summer". I initially thought all the males could be away participating in some sort of tribal conflict, but, given their advanced age I am going to conclude that the female of this species greatly outlives the male, or, the male has been domisticated to the point that he never leaves the nesting area. More research is required.

Their discussions must have been in a code because, although intelligible, it did not seem to have meaning. "I don't usually go for green, but this was more of a teal" and "It's only five ninety-five before six". I am sure that they were actually discussing world domination, but it will take much more field work to make headway on their code.

As we ended this season of work and prepared to leave, an odd afternoon fog rolled in. I think I will miss them; those Knitters in the mist.