LAST STOP, Birmingham, Alabama! Today I saw a sign that said "100% deer urine" and wondered what the hell that meant. My dad read aloud a billboard that he caught a glance of as we were passing, "Guns and Guts."
The South is a whole new world to us. Never have I seen a restaurant that touts their menu of Sharks, Chicken and Fish. Apparently, it's not usual to see alligator on the menu, either.
The hotel that the venue arranged for us was one fancy joint. We have a
huge suite. What a grand finale way to end the tour - in total luxury. I
liked the view out of our window.
I wish there was time for more
photographs. I saw so many cool things on our way out of the city I
wanted to capture, but there just wasn't any time.
The small but good-humored audience was having a fun time watching the film, it sounded like from the green room. I busied myself with playing catch-up in my journal.
My dad snuck into the theater to listen firsthand to the reactions. He's funny like that. He has seen the documentary probably a thousand times, but yet he still relishes every moment.
As I write, the clock on the wall is stuck and the second hand pulses. I find it distracting only because it reminds me of Groundhog Day with time repeating itself. Will the movie play forever? Throughout the end of time? Have I preserved my dad's legacy for future audiences to enjoy past my own lifetime? All existential babbling aside, now all I can hear is the noisy Diet Coke my dad left behind in the dressing room. The bubbling and fizzing is deafening!
As we were pulling out of Birmingham, on our way back to New York by plane, two guys on the back of a pick-up truck sat staring at us, smoking cigarettes. They didn't take their eyes off of us for a second. My dad and I looked at each other and knew it was time to go home.
We were total outsiders, Yankees, weirdos. We will at last bid farewell to the South that we got a delicious taste of for the past 2-1/2 weeks. I guess we would have made our escape a bit more stealthily had my dad not accidentally pocketed a butter knife from the restaurant that morning.
He set off all of the security alerts and a team of TSA officials were on the case immediately. Luckily, everybody had a good sense of humor about it. I mean, who else besides Alan Abel unknowingly steals silverware and carries it through security before boarding a plane? I turned to the TSA people and said, "I just can't take my dad anywhere." They laughed. And so did we.
Back to New York City without mishap, it was good to be home. But this trip will be one that we'll never forget.
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