On The Road...

On the road…

This past weekend got off to a wild start with an all night severe weather episode in the weather office. I did go home for a couple of hours after the 10:00 news Friday night while John Oldshue took over here in the weather office, but I was back in by 2:30 a.m. as the first tornado warnings were issued. We wrapped up our long form coverage at 7:00 a.m., and it was back home to take a nap. After a whopping two hours of sleep, I checked the baseball situation (our seven year old plays in a “machine pitch” league in Hoover), and as expected all of the games on Saturday were called off due to the wet fields.

For some reason, at that point I figured it was time for a road trip. Kind of like the time the guys in the movie “Animal House” have their fraternity house shut down. But, instead of heading to a girls college like those guys, it was a road trip into the core of central Alabama for some strawberry picking and barbeque eating. Doesn’t get any better than that.

It was south on I-65 out of Birmingham and down to Clanton, with low clouds hanging tough and even a little light rain. From Clanton, it was west on Alabama 22, and then south on county road 37, to Sunshine Farms, where the strawberries are plentiful and ready for picking at only seven bucks for a big bucket. I think the best part of picking the berries is sampling them as you go along. Doesn’t get any fresher than that. After our two buckets were full, it was on down county 37 into Billingsley, and up to U.S. 82 and Jim’s Pit Barbeque, which still ranks number one on my Alabama barbeque joint list. The BBQ was better than ever… tender, tasty, mouth watering. I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

Thank goodness I did manage to stay awake on the drive back to the city. Who needs sleep with you have strawberry picking and BBQ eating to do????