Dothan, Alabama

Entering Alabama from Florida
Murray chatting next door

Sunset

Our current campground in Dothan, Alabama is only about 18 miles north of the Florida/Alabama border and 20 miles west of the Georgia border. It is known as the Peanut Capital of the World. A quarter of US peanuts are produced nearby. Tornadoes are common here, copping 79% above the US average. Please Lord, no tornadoes this week.

We haven't regretted our decision to stay here for a week. It has been so hot though. By 10am it is already 32C (89F) but according the the weather channel, it feels like 40C (104F) - and it does! I did have plans of setting my table up in the shade outside, and doing some beading, but it is like a sauna out there. The dinette table will be perfect.

If we have an evening shower it helps to cool things down a bit. 2 nights ago that happened, and we went for a stroll after dinner. The sunset was vivid, but mainly hidden behind the trees as you can see in the photo above. The humidity also must have bought the fireflies out. Lots of flickering going on in the bushes!

There is a lovely African American family in the site next to us. The mother was an Air Force nurse, but is now a civilian nurse. She has just come back from 7 months nursing with a company in the Middle East. One of her son's is raising his cute 2 year old daughter alone, so the mum has returned to help out. She owns a house locally, but had it rented out while she was overseas. She thinks being a grandmother is the best job of all, although she really enjoyed her work in Doha. Meeting people on our travels is the highlight of the RV life.

The Alabama accent is very strong, very southern - der! When I was in Walmart yesterday a teenage girl was in the oral hygiene aisle looking at some dental floss product and talking on her mobile phone. She was commenting on the difference in the price she saw advertised somewhere else, and the price in Walmart. It was almost difficult to understand what she was saying. I had a chuckle to myself and it hit home how I am really living my dream. Here I am just going about my business in a place in Alabama that I had never even heard of until I found it in my RV campground review site. Next week we'll be doing the same thing in a town in Mississippi, then Louisiana, then Texas.