Last Thursday I left North Carolina for a tour of Georgia, Florida and Alabama with my sister and my parents. In three days (Friday through Sunday) we visited sites in three states; Mom and Dad’s childhood homes and what felt like a hundred graveyards. It was a magical history tour. My folks are in their mid-80s, I think it was important to them to show us our roots and it was a very special trip for me and Dana, too. We covered a LOT of ground, so I’ll share several short stories in the coming weeks. We learned so much about our family history and heard several funny stories and a few sad tales.
We laughed a lot, ate too much, saw some family and old friends. Did I mention that we ate way too much. It was border line gross. We stopped at a gas station that sold pickled pigs feet, pickled eggs, and five (I repeat FIVE) varieties of Vienna Sausages. We did not partake, but the Vienna Sausages were a tremendous temptation. We consumed the following items in the car, not necessarily in this order:
What we call circus peanuts – those orange, marshmallow-y peanut shaped things from childhood- Cheez-Its
- Pretzel chips
- Chewing gum
- Rolos
- Deep fried peanuts
- Vinegar and salt pork rinds
- M&Ms
- Those old-fashioned peanut butter bars with the stripes
- Seriously spicy boiled peanuts
This does not include two stops at Cracker Barrel. No wonder I came home sluggish. I have to go eat a salad now, will write more later.
Mental Farmer 
02/11/2014
Family History