Greenbow Is No More

Coker, Alabama

Weather: low 61 degrees, high 79 degrees, partly cloudy to mostly cloudy

After my morning walk and before I returned home, I stopped at the barbershop and got a hair cut. Carolyn cuts my hair most of the time and does a good job of it. Sometimes, however, she doesn't do it because of the vertigo. I was at the point that if I didn't get my hair cut, I was going to have the dog catcher chasing me down the road. I stopped at a place in Northport that has a female barber. She has cut my hair about three times, and does almost as good a job as Carolyn. That's about as close as I come to using a beauty shop. I feel more comfortable going to a barber shop than I do going to a beauty shop. Is that being sexist? I hope not, because that's not the way I feel about it.

Today was spent taking care of little chores we need to do from time to time. I dumped the holding tanks, mowed our little yard, did a little weed eating.... In the afternoon, I went to the WalMart Mall to pick up the things we usually buy there. While I was in the checkout line, the people at the head of the line tried to use a credit card that was refused. The people insisted there was nothing wrong with their card and that WalMart was the problem. Finally, I got tired of waiting and went to another cashier. When I left, the debate about the refused card was still going on. I have a feeling the people were going to lose that battle.

Last year when we had some spare time, we did some exploring of this area. Imagine our surprise to discover that Forrest Gump was from Greenbow, just down the road. That prompted us to try to find Greenbow to see if we could recognize landmarks from the movie. Forrest is well known in this area, and is considered a hero, both for his exploits on the football field and in Vietnam. Many people here remember his days as an All-American football player for Bear Bryant. As I recounted in a post last year, Forrest had been selected to be the football coach in an attempt to return the University of Alabama football team to their rightful position on top of the college football world. When the current coach, Nick Saban became available, Forrest graciously offered to step aside so Coach Saban could be hired as the football coach. That's just another example of the kind of person that Forrest Gump is.

Since we have been back in the area, we had been continuing our search for Greenbow. Unfortunately, we have sad news to report. It appears that when Hurricane Katrina passed through this area in 2005, the tornadoes that were spawned by it caused so much damage to Greenbow that FEMA decided to move the few people left in the town. Then, the ruins of the town were bulldozed and the land was cleared off. At this time, the land is being used as a pine tree plantation, with no hint that a town was ever there. What a sad state of affairs.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Greenbow, Alabama: May It Rest In Peace

Not all who wander are lost.