Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - Tuscaloosa AL
< previous day | archives | next day >
The Bobby Joe James on the Tombigbee River, Dec 14, 2007
There's not much to report today except that, having had enough of the interstates for a while, I worked my way south from Shelbyvile TN by taking US 231 south through Huntsville AL and then AL 69 south through rolling southern yellow pine forest into Tuscaloosa.
Hanging out in bookstores
I miss my favorite Barnes & Noble in Pittfield MA and this may be my last chance to hang out in bookstores for a while. Unless I can find one in Demopolis I'll be out of range of a bookstore. So tomorrow I'll spend some time at the Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million bookstores here in Tuscaloosa before I head on to Demopolis.
Night Camp
Wal-Mart Parking Lot in Tuscaloosa AL
Wal-Mart Supercenter in Tuscaloosa AL
Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #715, 1501 Skyland Blvd E, Tuscaloosa, AL 35405 - (205) 750-0823
This Wal-Mart is one of my favorite parking lots for overnight dry camping. There is good, level parking and access to lots of shopping and services useful to the traveler.
- Good level parking, reasonably quiet
- Books-a-Million & Michaels Craft store across the road
- U-Haul propane nearby, Lowe's and Home Depot 1 mile
- Major shopping centers nearby
- Verizon cell phone service is excellent
- Verizon EVDO Broadband service is excellent
- Find other Wal-Marts in the area
- Check the weather here
A Call to Nature
"About as far as from here to the station," went on Mr. Baca, "was a graveyard where the gang was supposed to camp out. I rode over to it and found where they had lunched the day before. There were {Begin deleted text}sardin{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}sardine{End handwritten}{End inserted text} cans and cracker boxes and one thing and another. Then I found where one of them had had a call to nature. I told one of my men to put it in a can. Saiz didn't know about this, and in a little while he went over behind some mesquite {Begin page no. 4}bushes and had a call to nature. After he came back I sent my man over, and by God it was the same stuff -- the same beans and red chili seeds! So I put Saiz under arrest and sent him back to the jail at Socorro with one of my deputies, although he kept saying he couldn't see what I was arresting him for."