Perfect Day on the Great Loop

What We Noticed in the Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi Area

-Houses don’t have garages, they all have carports instead. Pretty strange given the weather back here.

-There are dollar stores everywhere. Every town no matter how small (200 people or so) has a dollar store.

-There are lots of churches! Every tiny little town has several at least.

-The liquor laws are crazy! In Mississippi you can buy tequila and margarita mix in a liquor store, but they can’t sell margarita salt. The same liquor store can sell you a wine glass, but not a single shot glass. However they are allowed to sell a 6 pack of shot glasses. Grocery stores can sell beer, but not wine or hard liquor. The liquor store in some places is state run, and only one per city. The next city may have private liquor stores. You can’t buy alcohol at all on Sundays. Some counties are totally dry, the ones next door aren’t. Walmart can sell beer, but not wine. Across the street CVS can sell beer but not wine.

-People in Alabama have 3 different accents, dependent upon if you are from the northern, central or southern part. Sometimes the accent is so thick you’d think it’s fake.

-In general people back here are really friendly. They are not in a hurry, and have all the time in the world just to talk to you.

-Lots of people smoke.

-Everyone drinks “sweet tea”.

-Catfish is on the menu everywhere.

-There is a lot of fried food.

-In lots of small restaurants (small towns) when you get your restaurant receipt the food prices are not on it, just the food items. When you go up to the register they give you a total out of their head.

-There is a large logging industry here with many logging trucks on the road. We thought the only place you saw logging trucks was up north.

-Weather is a huge factor. In Calif. we never really have to think about it.

The Tenn-Tom. Waterway