Alabama and Apple Pie

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care. And that's about as much as I have done for Christmas so far.

We have packed so many times recently for travel to basketball games or football games, that my clothes have just about learned to jump in there by themselves. I'm not kidding. Gardner Webb colors are red and black while Wofford colors are Old Gold and black. So I have black jeans, several white t-shirts and black coat as standard attire. Then depending on which team we are following I put on either a red scarf or a gold scarf. This little tip has greatly reduced the scramble during the five minutes I have to get ready for travel.

So last week, we followed GWU to High Point for a heartbreaker loss by two points. Then we headed down to Alabama for Wofford's SoCon playoff game with Jacksonville State. The ride to Alabama was uneventful until David decided to follow the IPad Maps feature through the Talladega National Forest. The nice lady at the Visitor Center warned against it, saying the roads weren't well marked. But she could tell David's mind was made up so she said to me, "Honey you can call me when ya'll get lost and I'll come pick you up." There's alot of sweetness in Alabama.

When we turned onto Camp Cottoquilla Road and started winding up the Talladega Forest Mountains, I wondered if the Google Earth people had really been there or not. The Apple IPad Maps feature is very cool with the way you can zoom in and really see where the Google people have driven their cameras all over the world and taken pictures. Recently we were with someone who had just returned from Iraq and he zoomed in on the exact house he lived in. Jamey and Teresa actually saw the Google Earth Van when it came down their street with cameras snapping all around. But I really wasn't sure Google and the IPad knew where Camp Cottoquilla road in Alabama was. Eventually we crested the mountain top and started winding back down. At a little crossroads there was a church and huge cemetery. I looked at David and said, "Looks like a lot of people have died here."

Magically we drove a little further and we came out exactly where our hotel was located. Those Google Earth people have been everywhere.

We met up with about 25 Wofford fans and since it was JoAnne's birthday, we had a good reason to celebrate on Friday night. Susan and George had found a perfect place for our big crowd and after we had dinner, a band called Sweetwater cranked up. There was a good bit of firewater cranking up as well. Sweetwater consisted of two males and two females singing harmony and playing a mix of country rock and mountain music. This was not Carolina beach music for shagging and it was fun for me to teach Dale how to two-step. And then it's always fun to break out into some clogging.

On Saturday, Wofford and Jacksonville State played an exciting game with a lot of ups and downs and when it was all said and done Wofford won 17-14. Playoff games are do or die and we were so glad Wofford survived to play another game. We were keeping up with playoff games all over and our friends at Appalachian were playing in a blizzard. They won their game as well and so did Georgia Southern. So with only 8 teams left in the whole country, there are three teams from the Southern Conference. As Jay pointed out, that shows just how strong the SoCon really is in football.

While we were in Alabama, Jay was with GWU in Radford, Virginia where they also had alot of snow. We listened to the game on the laptop as we drove home Saturday night. GWU came out with a win so it was a perfect Saturday.

Before we left for Alabama, my friend Linda asked if I would make two apple pies for Earl and Gary Scruggs. (recipe August 29, 2010) Earl and his son, Gary, were playing a concert in Shelby and they wanted some apple pie for supper before the concert. I was happy to make the pies and sorry that I would miss their concert. If I had been there, I might have clogged to Foggy Mountain Breakdown.