Nancy’s Notes
Alabama on my mind
We are nearing the end of our Stockton U.S.A. Road Trip, traveling to Stockton, Alabama this week and then finishing in Missouri next week. This has been quite an excursion, and we’ve certainly learned a lot and seen some awesome sights along the way. As we began following the GoogleMaps route today, leaving from Valdosta, Georgia, there was only one suggested route, and it was a two-lane highway. It has been a very long time since we’ve seen a two-lane highway! Mileage-wise, this looks to be an easier trip because there’s only 325 miles between the two Stocktons, with a five hour drive anticipated. Of course, by now we know it takes us longer.
The two-lane really wasn’t all that bad. Along the way we have seen nurseries, fields of all types of plants that we’re not sure what is growing, and orchards of something. We’ve never been in Florida at all, so we are definitely out of our element in this part of the country. It would be interesting just to know what it is we are looking at.
Before long, we merged onto Interstate 10, and traffic picked up as we headed towards Tallahassee. The lifestyle is so very different here than anything we know, it almost feels like we are in a foreign country. But, no, it’s just Florida. We broke our rule again of no franchise restaurants and pulled in at a Dairy Queen Chill & Grill just west of Tallahassee. I think it was the oversized ice cream cone on the sign that we saw from a distance that drew us in.
We drove through mostly forest land, mixed with some planted crops all afternoon and neared Pensacola in heavy traffic. Perhaps it’s always heavy traffic in these areas, but it didn’t help that we arrived late afternoon. Just because we were in the area and may never be again, we dropped down to the Bayfront Parkway and took the bridge across Pensacola Bay to the beach so we could dip our toes in the muddy waters of the Gulf Coast. We relaxed here and walked around long enough that we decided it was time to look for a place for night. Taking Hwy. 29 back up towards Interstate 10, we saw a sign for At Home Inn & Suites, and pulled in. While checking in the for the night, we told the desk clerk we were hungry for barbecue, and she said we were in luck — we could walk across the highway to Smokey’s On 29. Wow, was that some crazy good barbecue, served up just as we like it with creamy cole slaw!
We weren’t in too much of a rush to get started in the morning as Stockton, Alabama is only an hour away, so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at IHOP, just up the block from our hotel. On the road again about 10 a.m., we eased onto I-10, and just a short drive out of Pensacola, we bumped over the state line into Georgia, another state we’ve never been in. We have been passing by a lot of RV parks, and it renews our goal to move from an SUV to an RV so we can travel with our bed with us. When we got to Hwy. 59, we exited off to the right and headed in a northerly direction, through numerous small towns, towards Stockton.
It was shortly after noon when we pulled in to Stockton, Alabama, and no sooner had we entered town as we left town. At the edge of town is a Dollar General across from the Stockton First Baptist Church, and then two highways merge together at Powell’s Grocery Store (quick stop) and gas station, a very nice looking establishment that looks fairly new. On up the highway a short distance is the Stagecoach Cafe and the Stockton Heritage Museum, both of which we want to visit as soon as we are done exploring the town. But just as we passed the museum we realized that was all there was to the town, so we turned around and went back to the only side street we had seen, at the museum corner, and turning there, we saw the Stockton Equipment Company (a Stihl Dealer) and the U.S. Post Office for zip code Stockton, 36579. And that was it! So we made another U-turn and went back to the Stagecoach Cafe for lunch. This was a busy place with a buffet — inside a stagecoach! — of fried chicken with all the extras such as mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies, salad bar, and dessert for an incredible $11! And it was fantastic food! While we were there, we found out the Heritage Museum was not open, and although we were really disappointed, we visited with some of the locals and older people who have lived here all their lives and learned a lot about the town and the area.
This is another unincorporated community, located about 30 miles northeast of Mobile in Baldwin County, Alabama. It is near to Bottle Creek Indian Mounds, a National Historic Landmark. The community was most likely named for Francis Stockton, who was appointed in 1809 to select a site for the first Baldwin County courthouse. The Stockton Post Office first began operations in 1837. One of the guys there asked if we had seen the movie, “Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood.” And we said: uh, no. Well, he wanted us to know that most of that movie was filmed in and around the Stockton, Alabama area. Now there’s a claim to fame! Probably a Jeopardy answer.
They just couldn’t believe we had travelled all around the country, visiting Stocktons. I said, yes, we had been to 11 Stocktons so far, this being the 12th, and we just have Stockton, Missouri to visit before returning home to Stockton, Kansas. As we shared information about our hometown, they thought it would be fun to make a roadtrip to visit us! We invited them to come in August for the Rooks County Free Fair. We had a great time in this tiny little town with some very friendly people, but hey, they’re Stocktonites, and everyone from Stockton, wherever you find one, is friendly!
I will see you right back here in this space next week as we wrap up our road trip. I’m really kind of sad about it ending, but we certainly have had some great experiences along the way and seen some very interesting country. Now I’m thinking about getting passports and going across the pond to visit the Stocktons in other places in the world! What do you think about that?
