Alabama

"Can I see your passport please?"

My first impression is...Damn, Huntsville is dark. Street lights are apparently considered unnecessary in the south. Lots, of hills, twists, turns and wide open spaces. My second impression is that these folks loooooove them some Jesus. There were churches everywhere. And the cotton field behind Neil's house kinda blew my mind but I guess if people want new clothes they still gotta grow cotton somewhere.

I got to Neil's place around mid-nightish. Neils is taller and way skinnier in person. We bypassed handshake formalities and hugged like old friends. We blazed almost immediately, then as expected we just kicked it- plain and simple. Neils has a head full of ideas, dreams, and stories so it was easy to find things to talk about. We had many laughs at the expense of Nigerian men and passport disposal. We also ate at a sweet Thai place called 'Surin'--the Chicken Curry was outstanding and the wait staff moved so fast I swore some of them were flying.

Neils is pretty much the chillest, sweetest, dude I've met in a long time. No drama, no attitude, no problem. When I got scared while roaming an unfamiliar cave all he had to say was, "Trust me" and I was down to keep moving. I could kick it with Neils everyday and never get tired of his company. He does sleep more than most newborns and his apartment was like tryptophan, but sleep can be hard to come by in the real world so I was more than happy to catch up on my vacation. There's still much about Neils that remains a mystery but I look forward to getting to know him better in time. Neils seems like an open book and I'm sure it's just a matter of asking what I want to know.

And then... There was Yank. *Sigh* This dude....Man, I almost don't know what to say. Yank should have his picture in the dictionary next to the word antagonist.

He wasn't as tall as I thought he would be. Definitely not as menacing as his constant shit talking would suggest. In fact besides the facial hair he has the face of a child. So adorable. I figure he knows this and tries to counter act this sweetness by relentlessly reminding everyone how hard he really is, but eyes reveal a kindness that can't be countered by anything he says.

Speaking of what he says--I can honestly say he gave me shit about everything from the minute we met. My height, my clothes, my "punkish" ways, my music choices, etc, etc,etc. His teasing was non-stop. Then of course I had to hear is about every pro and con stance he takes on how life is. All in good fun mind you, I didn't take much of it seriously. The spiel about the war between modern women and men was hilarious. I'm thinkin', dude, you sound like someone who's had his heart recently broken--but hey, I know you're too hard for that right? Then the part about how I (and everyone else) should stop smoking weed. We'll never see eye to eye on that one homie, but I can say I understand and appreciate where you're coming from, and remember--I'm not a hype!

At times, he seemed very guarded. Like there were things about him that he wasn't ready to show me. He definitely had issues about letting me take pictures of him and he never let me see his reptile collection. Both of which I found disappointing but by no means detracted from our over all good time.

Aside from his constant ribbing it was awesome to hang out with him. He provided me with one of my most memorable moments on the trip. He made me a CD entitled 'Prayer'. The first track immediately made all heads in the car start bobbin'; Hootie-hoooooo. That song made me smile. Then, when he slipped in 'Champagne Supernova', I realized he's probably not the music snob he appears to be. It's like hip-hop is his wife and he doesn't want to get caught cheating, or speaking as highly of another woman. It's all good homie, we all know how much you love her.

Once, and only once, at the Waffle House, I felt a spark of something old. It was cool to feel it again, if only for the moment.

Now, I have a confession. I like to argue with Yank as much as he likes to bait me. It's like an infinite game of chess and I'm almost always in check.

Yank's girl (um..Ex-girl?) fell through while I was there. Our meeting was brief and not really worth mentioning, pretty much as expected. I gotta wonder if that would've gone down differently if the circumstances hadn't changed. ?.

So that's Alabama. Assuming my homies dug me as much as I dug them I'll definitely be bouncin' through there again. Oh yeah, I should mention that the hike we took completely kicked my ass and I'm very glad Indiana land is so flat.