Day Four: Sweet Alabama, Civil Rights Institute and The Nazar Heroes

We crossed into Alabama, our 8^th state on the trip (our 24^th state overall). I spent the morning re-jailbreaking Scott’s iphone; the kids use his phone as a wifi hotspot for Netflix and Pandora throughout the day. We’ve already received a text from AT&T stating we are downloading too much data; since we have an unlimited data plan we ignore the messages. It irritates us. This is a photo of the ‘charging station’ in our RV! Think we may be pulling more power than the manufacturers intended?

           

We drove a couple hours to Birmingham, and visited the Civil Rights Institute. It was fabulous. Very interesting reading about the key people involved in the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham, the place it all began. Of course I shed a few tears throughout the exhibit ..

We had a little extra time in our schedule so we decided to stop at an O’Reilly’s store to buy a fuse reader, as our automated steps weren’t working. This may seem like a small issue, but in a vehicle that is two feet off the ground it is tough jumping out and pulling yourself back up each and every time you leave. We met Jerry in the parking lot, who graciously got the steps working. He took the motor apart, removed the corroded parts, and put it back together. Yes, right there in the parking lot. Amazing! The girls had a great time hanging out with his two sons, Gerardo and Ruben and their new puppy. Thanks to all three of them for giving us some of their time … they are our heroes for the day!

Yesterday I forgot to mention our friends, Dennis and Jason. They both helped us score license plates for Kentucky, Georgia and Illinois. We meet so many great people on our travels .. we just love, love, love this country!

We continued east and passed through Georgia; state #9 on this trip, 25 in total. Half-way through our goal of seeing all 50 states by the time the kids leave home. We stopped at a Wal-Mart just outside Atlanta, and cooked mac-and-cheese in the parking lot. A really good day.

                                          

Day Four: 273 miles (1,579 total); $154 on gas ($893.37 total); 3 states (9 total); $10 Lodging – dump the RV at a truck stop ($10 total); $24.92 Souvenirs ($97.25 total); $27 Tourist Traps ($179 total); $0 Redbox ($6 total); 0 fights (0 total); 0 injuries (0 total)