Snow in the South?

28 January, Cullman, Alabama

This is the second time today that we have been in Cullman. Why?  If you listen to the Weather Channel, it was because of the “Polar Vortex”. Talkback radio out of Birmingham called it the “Blizzard of 2014”. The long and short of it was that about 20 million people across the South experienced one of the greatest winter storms on record.

Winter in the southern states is usually a fairly mild affair in comparison to what is experienced in the north. Consequently, your average Southerner has no idea how to deal with snow, black ice and freezing rain. On the most part, the locals realised this and slowed to 10-15 kms/hr on the Interstate. A few ‘good ole boys’, saw the whole thing as a bit of an adventure. They were the ones whose pick-up trucks sat in the snow and ice just off the side of the road every now and then.

We were headed to Birmingham from Decatur, where we had had a great afternoon exploring the historical centre of the city with the help of a couple of locals, in particular, David, the curator of the Old State Bank. David took us on a tour of this historical building which had survived the Civil War Battle of Decatur and gave us a couple of leads on some other local historical gems like the 19^th century village of Mooresville.

 

Heading south, all went well for the first few miles, until we hit the traffic tailback from the ice and snow that had all but stopped all three lanes of the I-65 into Birmingham.

Ducking off the interstate only bought us more grief, so we settled in, with millions of others across the south, to several hours of crawling through black ice and drifting snow. Finally getting to the outskirts of Birmingham, we discovered that all the motels were booked out, so with darkness closing in, we headed back north.

 

So this is why we are back in Cullman, and it isn’t a totally happy return. We had been disappointed earlier in the day when the focus of our initial visit, a reportedly spectacular grotto at a monastery near the town, was closed! At least we were able to find a room here. We had tried motels at four other exits before we finally scored here. The alternative of spending the night in the car like thousands of others stranded in the storm, was extremely unattractive, with temperatures forecast to drop to -10C tonight.

We have kept ourselves amused listening to local Birmingham radio during the emergency. A couple of the announcers were on the air for the best part of 24 hours. The longer it went on the crazier they got. How they managed to talk solidly for that length of time we just can’t imagine. Most of the talkback contributors sounded like Jim Nabors -  Gomer Pyle for those who remember the 1960s TV show.

29 January, Corinth, Mississippi

Bright sunshine greeted us this morning, even though the temperature was around -8C. Surprisingly the southern sun does have a bit of power in it so the sunshine was a welcome relief from the grey icy weather we had yesterday.

We have landed in Corinth on the advice of the people at the Mississippi Welcome centre. We have learnt to avail ourselves of the excellent services provided by these agencies in each state we visit. The only drawback is that we end up with a ton of books and brochures that we have to dispose of.

 

Folk in the South are just so hospitable and easy going and when they hear the Australian accent, they just can’t do enough for us and as we are about the only travellers about in some of these towns, we are getting truly royal treatment.

 

 

 

 

Corinth is a bit of a rarity amongst country towns in the US. We have commented before on the sad decline of the downtown areas of many small towns, but in Corinth the small town centre, clustered around the beautiful old courthouse, is alive and well. Hardly a free parking spot to be had! One of our favourites was the Borroum Drug Store. The business, in the same building, was started in 1865 by AJ Borroum, an ex-Confederate Army surgeon. The family still owns and operates the business today with old AJ’s 83 year old, great-great granddaughter still dispensing just beyond the original soda fountains.

There is so much to do here that we are staying the night!