Getting Lost

Mom wanted to visit old friends from high school which she hasn't seen in 34 years. She also managed to find the house of her old math teacher. HE RECOGNIZED HER! I kind of hope in 34 years, however, I don't have to worry about old students showing up at my house unexpectedly.

Anyway, we managed to get lost at one point. There are A LOT of dirt roads here. In fact, I'd venture to wager that probably every 4th or 5th road one passes down here is simply an old clay dirt road. This is fairly alarming for someone like me who really appreciates pavement.

The following are the peanut fields we encountered along our dirt road.





Here's an idea of what the roads look like.




And here's us discovering pavement.

Boiled Peanuts

Just a quick entry this morning.

Yesterday, we went and bought boiled peanuts. You can't get these up north. In fact, if I mentioned to most people up north that I ate boiled peanuts, they'd probably just look at me strangely and make a universal disgusted face. I suppose I should mention that Dothan, AL is the peanut capital of the U.S.

Anyway, they take green peanuts, before they ripen and harden in the ground, and boil them in a vat of salty water. When you eat them, they're soft, you bite the end of the peanut shell, sucking the salty water and juice out. After you pry it own, you eat the peanuts out, but they're soft too... not like a hard nut. The best way to describe them is like a salty type of bean. They still taste like peanuts, but without the richness of the roasted varieties. I find them a lot easier to eat, actually.

Of course, after you eat two quarts of them, you get a little thirsty, but take my word for it, they're good. You also can't get these babies up north... and if I could, I'd probably have some serious blood pressure issues due to the salt.

Anyway, we're doing a lot of visiting and seeing the sights around here. Dothan must have like 8 Waffle Houses... an IHop, several Sonics, two WalMarts, a mall, and various other signs of civilization. I can easily say that this area is larger than the home town. I can also easily say that pretty much every family owns at least one truck. Not sure why... since 4 wheel drive isn't necessary around here due to lack of snow, but I figure they must do a lot of hauling of something around here... so I keep my eyes peeled. Haven't heard any banjos yet.