Up in smoke, drive ins & keys

I reset my GPS to "Avoid Highways' anticipating finding more unexpected treasures as I begin today's road trip towards Birmingham.  I lower all my windows to enjoy the morning cool breeze rushing throughout my car.  I catch a site worth a stop.  I pull over onto the small dirt embankment wondering what I have stumbled upon.  It looks like a huge teapot.  No, it looks like a huge teepee.  Not sure what it is I walk around the entire monstrosity.  It sits in an open field with an old operating log mill across the road.  I open my Google App and begin the search.  I learn this is a wood waste burner. They were used to incinerate sawdust and scrap trimmings These smokestacks would bellow out large quantities of smoke and ash into the atmosphere.  In the late 1970's these huge polluting steeples went out of use.   I return to my car, full of energy, hoping to discover more unexpected finds with my travels today.

A short time later I make a U-turn as another unexpected discovery comes my way.  I drive past the old ticket booth and park in one of the designated stalls.  Amazing!  I try to imagine the stalls full of vehicles, blankets out on the grassy patches and voices coming from all directions.  The smell of popcorn, the sliding sound of the plastic straw rubbing against the lid and sticky fingers tearing at the cotton candy spindle.  In 1953, Emory Johnson decided to convert a field into a drive-in experience.  Sixty-nine years later the same family continues offering the nostalgic experience of a Drive-in.  Personal memories flood my mind of the excitement and fun being at the drive in.  Located on the outskirts of Centre, Alabama (pop 3,584).

This might be the most obscure stop I will make in Alabama.  Are you ready for this?  In this small family cemetery is John Pratt.  Who is John Pratt?  In 1868, this man changed written community for the world.  He invented a writing machine called the "typewriter".  A small plaque shares the timeline of John Pratt bringing his invention to the world. The original writing machine is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.

​A true Roadside Attraction.     A good day on the rural roads.  Tomorrow that changes as we are about to spend a few days in Birmingham Alabama.  Until then.