Greetings from Eutaw, AL! It's been an interesting last few days without Internet or cell service but we made it. Today started with a delicious breakfast care of the folks down at HERO and got on our way. As we headed out of town we stopped at the local gas station for some supplies. HERO told us to put whatever we wanted on their tab and thats exactly what we did. Thanks for everything guys.
Today was a beautiful day, mid 60s, partly cloudy and a light breeze. We were moving at a pretty good pace for most of the day. Ken is finally running totally pain-free, he was a real champ today. He even pushed the jogger for the first time in days! I on the other hand am starting to move in the other direction. For the past couple of days I have been having problems with my shins. It's nothing to get worried about yet but I am going to keep a close eye on it.
We made it to Eutaw around 2pm without really knowing what we were going to do for the night. HERO was working on finding us a place to stay as well as Seth making calls to Mayor Steele. We finally caught some cell service for the first time in days and got a couple different voice mails with promising places to stay. We opted to stay with the Banks family and spend the day with their close friends while they were out of town until 9pm.
We stopped at a local pizza place for a late lunch and were interviewed by one of the local weekly newspapers just as we were finishing up. It was interesting to learn that a town of this size had two separate newspapers. I guess news of our magnitude deserves a second paper.
Our new friend Billy picked us up downtown in her BMW and drove us around town, showing us all that it had to offer. She immediately reminded me of my Aunt Char and I could tell she was excited to meet us. We saw the Civic Center (where we originally were going to stay for the night), both high schools in town, the Kirkwood Mansion and finally ended at Billy's house. It's always great when people take the time out of their day to show us (drive us) around town. It might not seem like much to the people we meet but all three of us truly appreciate the adventure of the drive. Without their help we would never be able to experience as much as we have already seen on this trip.
As we were preparing to leave Billy's house and head over to the Banks resident to get cleaned up Billy asked "Does anyone want to drive my car?" Excuse me, I said to myself. We literally just met her and she was offering up her BMW to us. Without hesitation Ken grabbed the keys and we were off. After a few minutes of Ken driving I informed Billy that Ken has already totalled 3 cars in his life. She was less than impressed when I told her I was only joking a few minutes later. Thanks for the great memory Billy. I know I will never forget it.
We quickly got cleaned up and got ready to eat again. If you haven't figured it out already, we only do two things during our day, eat and run. I prefer the eating over the running but both have their perks. Our new friends Monk, Jennifer and her husband, Katie, and Kimberly took us out to eat to the local BBQ house. It was this neat little place out of the way that was truly one of a kind. The walls were covered with people that signed their names over the years. It was a shame to learn that over the next few months it was going to be shut down for good.
The meal was delicious (complete with our new favorite drink, sweet tea) but the company was even better. As much as we all like to talk about ourselves (especially Durkin - just kidding buddy) it's always so enjoyable to just casually talk to people we meet. I like hearing their stories and finding out interesting facts about the town we are currently in. Jennifer had grown up and lived in the area her whole life so it was great to talk to her about the area and the HERO projects that we just learned about.
After our meal, Monk, Katie and Kimberly drove us out to the most "Pimptastically" house we have ever seen. If we were running past this house it would have taken us a good 10 minutes to clear the property. Complete with a main house, workout house, cabin on the lake, workshop, apartment and a fourth house that had recently burned down-this place was amazing. We drove around back and got out to take a look at the indoor pool. Our attention was immediately drawn to something else, an outdoor bed swing. Ken, Matt and myself climbed on and tested it for ourselves. It was NationRun worthy.
We drove even deeper into the woods and had a look at the cabin that once stood where the main house currently sits. It was cut down the middle with a chain saw and moved as two separate pieces. Being so far out in the country there were no lights to obstruct our view of the sky, and what a site it was. This night was extra special because a lunar eclipse was taking place. The view was amazing. The night sky got all of us excited and anxious to get further west and for the weather to get warmer at night. Earlier in the day Ken and Matt were talking about sleeping under the stars without a tent. I can't wait for those days to come.
As we were heading back to the Banks' Monk took us to one more stop. The Bamboo Guy was something we could not miss. This man made almost everything he owned out of Bamboo. It was hard to see at night but from what they described him as I was already impressed. We were finally dropped off close to 10pm and got ready for another day on the road.
Tomorrow Mr Banks is taking us out to breakfast before we get started. With one more day before we take our second day off its hard to believe that three weeks are already here and gone. After tomorrow we will be 1/6 of a way across the country. It seems like only yesterday that I was telling Ken 2 more miles and we will be in the double digits for total miles. It was a long time ago since that cold and windy day on Tybee Island and we have seen so much so far. I am excited to see what is around the next corner.
Thanks for reading and we hope to see you on the road.
-Andy
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