5th April 2026

Gosh, I never thought I’d be visiting Alabama or Mississippi, but here I am, and greetings!  These two states just seem so exotic to me, even after having been to the USA many times before, and I was really quite excited to be turning my experiences of the country to the heart of Old Dixie, and the true American Deep South to my mind.  I had a wonderful time in these two most southern of states, and the people continued to be so very welcoming and friendly, aided in no small part by their heartwarming accent that I could just listen to all day.

After a really fun and fond weekend of good friendship in Atlanta, I waved goodbye to my friends and set off again on my travels.  In fact, my socialising time on this trip was still set to continue, as I had arranged to meet up with the family of two former students in the city of Montgomery that evening.  In the meantime though, I had a few places to visit on the way.

Having driven out of Georgia and over the state border into the town of Oxford, Alabama, I stopped off at what had just pipped KFC to the post of my new favourite US fast food joint on this trip, and that was Waffle House!  Such a friendly, efficient and seriously good value classic US diner type of place, where the coffee refills are bottomless, and there is an endless choice of greasy filling hot food to go down well.  I sat on the stools at the bar and was perplexed by the sheer efficiency of the cooking up process there, as the orders on the till right next to me just kept coming in – it reminded me of the video game “Overcooked” if anyone has ever played that!  I learned what the Bloodhound Gang had once said in a very memorable song that came out during my teenage years, when I had my Waffle House hash browns both smothered and covered that day…!

It seems there were a fair few old English settlers who had arrived in Alabama back in the day, as after travelling through Oxford and Leeds (and stopping a few days later in my trip in Sheffield!), I ended up in my first stop for the day, that of Birmingham, Alabama (pronounced Birming-ham of course, rather than Birmingum back here in the UK).

In Birmingham, I was heading for two sights.  Firstly, the Vulcan statue atop Red Mountain overlooking the largest city in Alabama at around one million people.  Testament to the city’s coal, iron and limestone mining days and concurrent steel manufacturing industry, the figure of the Roman god of fire is the world’s largest cast-iron statue at 17 metres high.  There was a great view over the city after riding the lift up to the top of the statue, but the viewing platform induced some serious vertigo in me as the floor was made up of just meshed metal meaning you could just see straight down below your feet – I wasn’t up there for long.  I spent more time in the attached and fascinating Museum dedicated to the city’s history, mainly during its late 19^th to mid-20^th century mining and steel making days.  It reminded me a bit of the background to my own Steel City of Sheffield.

I then drove into town and parked up in the Downtown area, heading for the Birmingham Museum of Art, but getting sidetracked on the way by a fun-looking Easter Egg Hunt organised in central leafy Linn Park by a large Baptist church nextdoor.  The kids were having a great time!  I then enjoyed an infusion of art and culture at the free Museum, whose attached café was doing a roaring trade on this day serving an all-day Easter Brunch, and attended by dozens of well-dressed local Alabamian families – no wonder the Museum’s car park was full and I had to find a public car park nearby.

I understand from speaking to many people and doing a bit of reading that Birmingham is one of America’s most dangerous cities, but on this day I felt a lovely vibe there, with very pleasant weather and friendly people.  Perhaps it was a Sunday, and of course I’m sure I wasn’t in the dodgiest of areas, but I left the city with a positive experience and enjoyed my time there.

I’m afraid the same can’t be said for the next place on my travels, the seriously run-down and desolate city of Selma a two-hour drive to the south-west.  The drive there was just beautiful though, and reminded me of a few films I had seen of people driving through rural Alabama – a single lane highway passing through forests and fields.  Since many of these films were based on themes such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Ku Klux Klan though, I felt a little nervy driving it to be honest, often looking in my rear view mirror for some dodgy police car following me.  Of course there wasn’t and it was of course perfectly safe, but such was my idea of what the state of Alabama was like, and I was so glad to be have been proven wrong.

But as mentioned, Selma was seriously dodge though, and many people warned me of this before I arrived, so I was expecting it and acted accordingly.  The city is most notably famous for the Civil Rights March of 1965 in which thousands of people across the racial, religious and political spectrum crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River on their way to the Alabama state capitol of Montgomery, 50 miles away, to deliver a petition to the State Governor at the time, George Wallace, calling for equal voting rights for all.  It is additionally known for the first of the attempted three marches which took place on what came to be known as “Bloody Sunday”, in which the peaceful protesters were violently attacked by state troopers and 58 people were injured.  The Selma March is significant in the Civil Rights Movement for drawing the world’s attention to the inequalities and injustices in the southern states of America, and effectively leading to the 1965 Civil Rights Act signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson just five months after the March.  After having learned and taught about this particular protest in my lessons, and also watching the fantastic film “Selma” starring David Oyelowo, I was looking forward to seeing the place for myself.

Upon immediately arriving on Broad Street a couple of blocks from the bridge, I realised my visit there should be short.  Perhaps it was just this quiet Sunday afternoon in which no-one else was around and there were no other cars parked which gave rise to an intimidating atmosphere, though I imagine it is probably like this on other days of the week as all retail and commercial establishments were either closed or boarded up.  Even the Selma Interpretative Centre just opposite the bridge was closed and boarded up, seemingly for renovations, but I’d heard it’s been like that for years.

I enjoyed the walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge that I took, in the footsteps of the marchers 61 years ago – it was moving and emotional, and I got a few smiles from some of the drivers driving over the bridge.  The view over the Alabama River below was also beautiful.  The only other people on foot that I encountered were two homeless people on one side of the bridge, one of whom approached and started talking to me – I politely moved on.  There was no-one else around – it felt eery, and I didn’t feel safe.  I was glad to get back into my car again, and glad also that my car and all my travel belongings were still there.

It is such a shame, as many other people I spoke to about this agreed with me, that the city of Selma has become like this, particularly considering its national and historical importance in the country.  But I was glad I visited, and felt lifted by it.

Driving over the Bridge, I was now headed along the exact same route the Selma Marchers would have walked along, the 50-mile road to the Alabama state capitol of Montgomery.  My journey took around an hour, the marchers’ took five days, stopping at four designated camp sites along the way, giving them food and shelter.  The march started with around 8,000 people and ended with around 25,000, as many joined them on the way.  I was particularly excited as I myself was also heading to the Montgomery State Capitol, where the aunt of two former students of mine works.  I was very kindly offered a guided tour of the place the next morning, but for now I was first headed to meet this absolutely wonderful lady and her family, who had very kindly invited me for dinner that Easter Sunday evening.  I was looking forward to meeting them.

Arriving in a lovely suburb of Montgomery, I joined Lee, her husband, one of her sons, and his young family, for a lovely and very hospitable meal.  They were such a wonderful family, and I felt honoured to meet them – the mother of my former students had put me in touch with them when I said I was travelling through Alabama, and she mentioned being able to offer me some of the very famous southern hospitality that these parts of the country are famous for.  I certainly felt that, and had a lovely evening with them, talking about lots of interesting things.

Just after dark, I bade farewell to both Lee and her husband until the next morning, saying goodbye to the rest of the family, as I was heading around ten miles south out of town, to my AirBnB accommodation for the night.  I was really excited to be getting a rural Alabama experience, and the place didn’t disappoint as I’d booked myself into a very warm and welcoming farm stay.  I met the chickens, Highland cows, goats, pigs and pony before bed, and slept well that night.  It had been a really fantastic day!

I continued my adventures in the Deep South the next day with a brilliant morning back in Alabama’s state capital of Montgomery.  Having said goodbye to my welcoming hosts and all the animals, I drove back into town again and parked up near central Dexter Avenue running through the main sights in the city.  I first visited the Rosa Parks bus stop where a statue was recently erected in 2019, dedicated to this very famous of moments of the Civil Rights Movement.  It was pretty much what kicked it off to my mind, when a sweet-looking middle-aged lady carrying a handback was arrested in 1955, finger-printed and mug-shotted for simply having the audacity to not give up her bus seat to a white person when requested.  I remember reading about this a while ago, and what touched me the most was her responding to a question of why she did it, with the simple fact that she had just had enough.  Brave and very admirable lady I say.

Heading up the Avenue I then stopped off at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King was preaching at the time of the Rosa Parks incident, and where said lady attended church.  And the rest, as they say, was history.  It was MLK’s leadership at the time which built upon what happened, leading to the very well-organised 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott.  Instead of taking the buses, black people in the city walked and car-pooled it to work for a whole year, protesting segregation and discrimination.  The bus companies lost money and the US Supreme Court eventually declared bus segregation unconstitutional.  It is this form of peaceful protest, along with many others that came later which were also attributed to Martin Luther King, that I admire the man most for.  For me it speaks of how the peaceful teachings of Jesus can be successfully applied to modern and real-world situations, and I felt honoured to be in these important places on this day.

So as mentioned, I had arranged to meet up with both Lee and her husband again the next morning in Montgomery, and had no idea that I was able to get such wonderful, insider views and experiences of the places where they worked.  I felt honoured and very grateful to both.

Lee actually works in the office of the State Governor in the Alabama State Capitol Building, so as well as following a really informative standard tour of this fascinating place, I was also given a private tour of the State Governor’s office.  I even sat in her chair, and was introduced to her personal secretary and her two chiefs of staff!  Kay Ivey is apparently really popular, and has been twice-elected to the highest government position in Alabama.  A few people I spoke to separately about this referred to her very fondly, one of them considering her the “granny” to the people of Alabama!  She wasn’t in her office that day, and I actually felt quite glad about that to be honest.  I would have felt so humbled to meet her – who was I, after all?  I think I would have felt rather awkward.  Just being in that place was itself amazing.

Then I wandered down Dexter Avenue to my next meeting for the day, with Lee’s husband, in the Supreme Court of Alabama – I only found out the evening before that he is in fact one of the nine Supreme Judges of Alabama!  No way!!  I had another fascinating private tour by none other than one of the Supreme Judges himself, Lee’s husband, of all three court rooms in the building as well as the Justice’s own office.  The building was powerful, and Americans certainly don’t do anything by halves, not least of which their political buildings.  Columns, huge ceilings, massive spaces a-plenty – power personified, and this building reflected that.  What another awesome and humbling experience, and I am so grateful to this delightful family for my most amazing first-hand insights into the State of Alabama.

Leaving Montgomery feeling a little overwhelmed and actually quite emotional to have had these experiences, I drove all the way through the south of Alabama, across the state line, and into the Panhandle of Florida.  I hadn’t expected to fit this into my driving, but seeing that it would “only” add an extra two hours onto my driving time for the day (that’s not really that much at all in America, I assure you!), I thought why the heck not!  It also meant that I beat my previous record of seven states in one go on a US trip, setting foot in eight states in total on this one!

This part of Florida, away from the power and the wealthy retirees further south, actually felt poorer and more rundown than Alabama.  Indeed, I had been pleasantly surprised that my experiences of Alabama were of a really cared for, clean and orderly state – all kudos to “the granny” for that!  I drove through Pensacola in Florida, stopped at the Perdido Key State Park and Beach for great views over the Gulf of Mexico/America, and had another fantastic Waffle House lunch on the Florida-Alabama state border line, affectionately called “Florabama” here!

Then finally for the day I drove through the southern coastal area of Alabama, through the city of Mobile and its rather spectacular bridge-tunnel system over Mobile Bay, across yet another state border into the fascinating-sounding state of Mississippi, heading to and checking into a casino hotel in Biloxi, on Mississippi’s southern Gulf Coast.  I was excited to be in a new state again, particularly this one with the interesting name, and since I hadn’t had the pleasure of staying in a Las Vegas casino hotel last year due to the extortionate weekend prices, I booked this one instead and at a very affordable weekday price too.  After settling in to my rather comfortable room, I enjoyed time in the hotel’s pool and jacuzzi (or “hot tub” as they call it in these parts), gawked once more in its casino, and had dinner at a Steak ‘n’ Shake fast food joint inside.  It was a fascinating end to a truly unforgettable day exploring this rather unexplored corner of America.

The next day I was heading across yet another state line, this time into Louisiana, and down to New Orleans, baby!  That’s not to say I had yet finished with Mississippi, as my driving plans would have me back again two more times in fact, but for now, “Norrlins”, here I come!