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Since October 31, 2008, I have rarely driven on any part of Interstate 85 between Auburn and Montgomery. I can think of few things that make me more ill than that stretch of pavement. Instead, when I need to go to Montgomery, I take back roads, such as Alabama Road 14 through Loachapoka, Notasulga, Tallassee and Wetumpka. It’s a beautiful drive, and I get to stop occassionally and meet people, take pictures, etc. Here’s some pics I took last week of the Thurlow Dam, Textile Mill and Confederate Armory in Tallassee. A very nice gentleman from the Talisi Historical Preservation Society unlocked the gate and gave me a personal tour. I regret I didn’t jot down his name, but he told me he grew up in the house on the hill across the street, his father having worked at the mill, and that his playground as a kid was mill property.

Lake Thurlow was impounded in 1930. Thurlow Dam was built in Tallassee at the site of an early 19th century textile mill that was used during the Civil War as a uniform and ammunition plant. The Benjamin Fitzpatrick Bridge spans the river immediately south of Thurlow Dam. When the Confederacy feared security of Richmond, VA, the decision was made to relocate Richmond Carbine to the old 1844 cotton mill in Tallassee. The Tallassee Confederate Armory is the only Confederate armory to survive Civil War.

The Mill is in danger of being destroyed.

Priscilla and I are really looking forward to attending our first National Homebrewers Conference in a couple of weeks. RCB has a group of about 10 or 12 attending, ASS has a bunch and now 2 from Auburn. There are lots of other brewers from the mid-south attending, and I’m sure we’ll have a blast. I’m taking 5 kegs to include in RCB’s Club Night booth. We should have about 40 kegs total. We’ll be sending the kids off to visit their grandparents/aunt, unlce and cousins on Tuesday, going up to Cincinnati on Wednesday in time for the Zinzinnati Pub Crawl, where:

Participants will have the opportunity to explore Hofbrauhaus Newport , the first authentic Hofbrauhaus in America. There they can drink liters of German beers made in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot, eat the best pretzels in town, or seize the opportunity to dance on tables to an oompah band. The pub crawl will also visit the Newport’s other beer attraction, the Beer Sellar on the Ohio River with its 60 taps and 120 bottles. Unusual for a pub crawl, the bus will stop at a retail liquor store– but not just any store…The Party Source! With over 2,500 beers represented and just enough square footage to keep them all cozy, The Party Source in Bellevue, Kentucky, serves as a one stop destination for seven day a week access to an unparalleled selection of microbrews and imports. Not to be missed, the pub crawl will visit the heart and soul of the city of Cincinnati – Fountain Square. Here is arguably the best location of any Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery.

Then Priscilla will enjoy doing whatever with the rest of the RCB/ASS girls, while I get to soak up some knowlege and inspiration from

• Jim Koch, who began his career as a homebrewer, leading to the creation of Boston Beer Company.
• Jess Caudill and Greg Doss from Wyeast Laboratories, discussing Brettanomyces
• Denny Conn, discussing all grain brewing
• Jeff Current, discussing acidity in the Berliner Weisse
• Ray Daniels, author of Designing Great Beers and Director of the Cicerone Certification Program
• Kris England, Beer Judge Certification Program Education Director, discussing Mead Making
• Ken Ewing and Dave Harsh, discussing bourbon barrel-aged beer
• Michael Ferguson, discussing hop substitution
• Antony Hayes, discussing beer styles from an English homebrew perspective
• Steve Holle, discussing German brewing techniques
• Randy Mosher, author of Radical Brewing
• Ken Schramm, author of The Compleat Meadmaker
• Chris White, President, White Labs, discussing high gravity fermentations
• Jamil Zainasheff, two-time AHA Ninkasi Award winner, co-author of Brewing Classic Styles, host of “The Jamil Show” on The Brewing Network

Still alive. Left Austin on 10/16. Two days driving. Kindof depressing to drive through Mississippi and Alabama. Felt like we were going backward, not forward (lived in those states from 88 to 99), but seeing the cotton in bloom again was nice after so long.

Driving down (fellow UAB alumni) R.M. Scrushy Parkway, wondered if Birmingham will change the name of the road, now that he is charged in 1.4 billion fraud case. (He does still have his fans).

Stayed with MaMa and PaPa for a week in Athens, Alabama. Took boys to get their hair cut at the same barber shop that, 7 or 8 years ago I guess, they had their first ever barber shop experience. Ate Mexican at Casa Blanca in Athens and began to worry really bad that we would never have the kind of good Mexican food we had grown used to in Austin. Tornado touched down 10 or 15 miles north of where we were staying. Damn. It was nice to not have to worry about those for the last 5 years. Wonder if Louisville, Kentucky has tornados.

Two weeks off between jobs. All projects wrapped up at last job. Clean slate at next job. What am I supposed to do for these two weeks. Slept late. Played chess with PaPa.

Made it here. Still upacking, but most of it is done. Twice as much house. Amazing how much more furniture it needs so that it will look homey. We live outside of Louisville in a rural area. Intentional change of pace and lifestyle. Horse farms everywhere up here. Kids forced to play with each other and get along.

The thuhmbnails here are of our front yard and some hot air baloons that lift off from time to time from a field across the road from us.

Found the Claudia Sanders Dinner House and working on becoming frequent visitors. (Claudia and Colonel Harlan are dead, but paintings of them are on the wall, so we felt like family friends). Long distance football betting with Edward. Still don’t have cable yet, so no broadband internet, which sometimes causes depression. Patiently waiting on cable company construction department to run a line up our driveway (its over 1000 feet, so they are in no hurry).

Work is great. Fast paced. Lots of issues to challenge me and lots of room to grow. Updated my resume.

Edward and Johnny dragged me down to Nuevo Laredo against my will on Saturday night for a kind of going away celebration. We were supposed to leave at 3, but didn’t leave until 7, which in Edward’s world meant we were right on time. But that’s OK because it gave me a chance to sleep off the depression experienced as a result of Texas’ loss to Oklahoma.

We made it to the border around 10:30. We would’ve made it sooner except that Johnny needed to stop about 18 times.. rather than take care of everything he needed at one store.. we had to stop once to get him pork rinds, once to get him Rolaids, once so he could go to the restroom, etc… etc… But it was worth it because Johnny takes abuse well, and you always have to have one person in the car you can abuse.

For any of my readers that have never been to a Mexico/Texas border town, I didn’t take my camera, but I found a few taken in Nuevo Laredo on the internet that work. The first is of El Centro, which is the center block of the 9 square block area just across the border. There are gazebos and lots of park benches and the big monument you see in the picture which is surrounded by steps all around. People sit, relax, and chat in the square all day and most of the night on the weekends. The square is surrounded by clubs, restaurants, and shops. Our safety (and the safety of our American dollars) was sufficiently secured by the presence of Federalis with AK-47s.

And so we started our Cerveza Tour of Nuevo Laredo. We started in the club referred to as the “open-air one where all the Americans hang out and dance because it is the closest to the border.” Then we went to “the one where Johnny’s band played this year.” I liked this one because the weather was perfect and the club is on the top floor of a building and is one of the few with a large balcony overlooking the main strip.

Ten clubs later (at around 5am), after sampling mucho cerveza, enchiladas, and other mexican delectables, Johnny and I found two big recliners and tried to take a short nap, but couldn’t because Edward kept yelling at us (something about what was wrong with us and he was just getting started). We insisted on leaving… and he yielded under much protest…

Then we found the perfect taco… I swear I have never had better tacos. The tortillas were home made, the fajita meat was sliced very thin and chopped, marinated and grilled to perfection, and the pico de gallo was so hot it gave me hiccups on the first bite. (I tried to recreate them last night, but didn’t come close. The ones we had last night were the best we’ve ever made at home though, so it was a partial success.)

The second pic is one I stumbled across in my search for Nuevo Laredo images and thought I should add it as a note to self. Don’t stay at the hotel at 718 Guerreros in the summer time. Edward had convinced us on the way down that we should get a hotel on the Mexican side. I didn’t want to be accused of being a pansy, so I didn’t object, but I did want to know 3 things before I agreed: (1) are the beds clean, (2) is there air conditioning, and (3) do the doors lock. I received what I thought were satisfactory assurances from Edward that he knew of a hotel (the one with the coke machine outside) that was no different from an American Day’s Inn or Motel 6. So I agreed.

But for some reason, we didn’t make it to the one with the coke machine outside, and instead stayed at the one called simply “Hotel” at 718 Guerreros. I don’t know why I remember the address. I guess I have selective memory. The last thing I recall is Edward standing on the dresser with his arm raised over his head and his hand in front of the vent yelling, “Johnny, the air conditioner’s not working….. Johnny, it’s been 10 minutes and they’re not up here yet…. Johnny, call them again… Johnny… Johnny..” and then I recall Edward on the phone arguing with the front desk (in what Johnny said later was very broken and unintelligible Spanish) that we wanted our money back and we were going to another hotel. But it was 6am, Johnny and I had already claimed the 2 beds and our last words for the night were “Edward, there’s no way in hell you’re getting us out of these beds…. we’ll each give you one of our pillows and a blanket… you’ve got the floor.”

The 3rd picture is also one I found on the internet and is of Bridge Number 1 that crosses the Rio Grande between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. It’s the one that most people use to cross over the border. Or maybe this one is of Bridge Number 2. I’ve never seen that many cars on Bridge Number 1.