Solominer and I took a trip to Alabama to visit Makinstuff AKA Alabama Man. We drove from our home state of Georgia on Saturday morning and arrived a little after 4 pm. The point of this trip was to just see an old friend we made from the Hive community. We were having a lot of fun so I didn't take as many diverse pictures of what were doing, eating, drinking, and smoking.
I think it had been 3 years since we went to visit him the first time. Which was more or less a hell vacation because of the weather conditions and unseen predicaments .
When we got there it was sunny with no clouds or wind and within 24 hours the temperature dropped about 40 degrees, the wind picked the fuck up, clouds blocked the sun, there was big fat rain that came in sideways, the rain turned into snow, my tent decided it would no longer stand up to the elements in the middle of the night, and then everything froze over. We spent the better part of the second day drying out all my gear and standing in the almost freezing drizzle. It’s said that shared trauma and misery makes brothers out of men.
This dog, along with 3 others who belonged to Alabama Man's neighbor, came running up to bark at us. Only this one came close enough for us to pet. It ended up staying with us the whole time we were there following Solominer, MakinStuff, and me on a rotation. Or rather whoever he thought had food or would pet him. Most of the pictures I took are of this dog at various stages of interaction with us. I think if it was a stray I would've taken him back to Georgia with me.
Here's Solominer getting into the Dickel Rye Whiskey. We shared the bottle that weekend.
Solominer bought some coolers for Alabama Man with some beer and the state of Alabama on the side of it. The dog took an interest in our luggage when he saw us take potato chips out of one of the bags. He insisted on inspecting them all.
Here is Solominer checking our supplies. Along with the dog who's on his other side.
Here is my tent this time. It's a 3 season tent. The only reason it's not a 4 season tent is that it can't hold a foot of snowfall on it. When I put the rain-fly on it can stand up to all weather in Georgia.
I dunno if the Hive community knows of the children's book "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie". We got to live a version of that story, but it was more like "If You Give a Puppy Pieces of Food or Pet Him". He was particularly fond of Solominer's tent always attempting to enter. It was better he didn't manage to rush by Solominer during his multiple attempts bc I was picking ticks off of him the whole first day. The puppy, not Solominer.
This is where the fire happened. That was a great night of cigars, whiskey, and beer accompanied with a lot of good intelligent conversation and more unintelligent joking around.
Here's a couple pictures of the camp.
I love visiting Alabama Man. He never fails to impress me with the things he builds and can envision on his land. These are some terraced growing boxes with a chicken wire mesh hanging over so the critters with wings don't pick at what he decides to grow. I can't wait to see what he grows. I'm sure it will flourish and be delicious.
Here is our camp dog with one of his buddies with him. He wouldn't come close to us but they spent some of the day playing in the sun. When I went to get some snacks our camp dog decided getting some food off me was better than playing.
Here are our tents after we decided to put the rain-flies on them afterall. We were planning on keeping them off so we could look at the stars as we lay in our beds. We ended up thinking that the morning dew on us would wake us up early, damp, and uncomfortable. Also we were thinking the weather and conditions might flip on us again like last time, but thankfully the weather was and stayed beautiful the entire time we were there.
Here we are next to our setups. My vestibule wasn't pegged down so that's why it looks a little wrinkled.
This is the Alabama State Dog. If you were wondering I didn't name him until the last moments of our trip bc if I named him right away I would have definitely offered the neighbors something in exchange for him. I got attached unusually quick to this dog. I named him Bingpot, it's a mix of Bingo and Jackpot.