TRAVEL
The Alabama Trip
I just remember feeling so much wonder in these various places that I had never seen before.
The year was 1998. I was nine years old at the time. Although I had learned all the names of the 50 states in the United States in elementary school, Leland (my hometown) & Wilmington, North Carolina were all I knew & saw at the time.
So when the time had come to head to Anniston, Alabama, I wasn’t excited at all to be leaving our mobile home. I would rather stay there & watch some of my favorite cartoons on the four channels we had — or eat my new favorite cereal (Frosted Cheerios).
The fear of being homesick took over me.
Little did I know, our family would be going there to see my oldest sister graduate from Army basic training.
I was a little terrified heading to Alabama — by the history I had learned so far in school about the civil rights movement, and wondering if race relations were still that intense in Alabama? Would it be safe going there?
Well, my sister was there, so it must have been okay.
The day we left for Alabama, I was thinking ‘’okay, here goes’’…
Our family rode in a van at the beginning of the trip. The van was really nice. It had a lot of room and felt like a mini-house. My dad & mom were in the front seats, my younger brother and I were in the middle ones and my other sister was in the back seat.
The journey was okay to me at first. I didn’t know what to expect since this was my road trip outside my home area. Seeing green signs with different town names was fun to look at.
North Carolina would eventually turn into South Carolina.
As the long trip went on, I began to fall in love with the trip.
We would listen to lots of 80s music while I was looking out the window at scenery I had never seen before.
Two songs that stood out to me on this road trip were I’m So Excited and Our House. Everyone was talking & having a blast cruising down the road.
I would fall asleep and take a nice nap, while my dad continued to conquer the road in the van, with my mom assisting with her words to him. When I woke up for good, we were still on the road passing around beautiful areas of green forests and trees.
As we got closer to Alabama, my preconceived fears of the state crept back a little in my head again.
Did whites & blacks get along better there? I had hoped so. What little I remember of Georgia was how beautiful it looked, particularly in Atlanta.
There was so much traffic that we had to ride through, but the scenery was just beautiful, especially a nice-looking church there that I couldn’t take my eyes off of until we got out of its range for good.
Then, we exited out of Atlanta and continued on our way to Anniston, Alabama.
I just remember feeling so much wonder in these various places that I had never seen before.
We finally arrived in Anniston. I believe we got something to eat before checking in at a nice hotel for the night.
The hotel experience during our time in Alabama was awesome! Unlike the last couple of times we stayed at a hotel, we didn’t have to worry about riding out a hurricane. Plus, we had power too.
At the time, hurricanes felt like a tradition after the summer in the Carolinas, until the new millennium came.
During our stay, I loved watching the Nickelodeon channel… particularly Rugrats, I also loved the weather channel & cartoon network.
I was so glued to those channels, that I completely forgot about the ‘’four channels’’ we had at home. ABC, NBC, FOX & PBC.
I think we spent almost a week there before my sister’s big day.
Anniston was a beautiful place…especially in the mornings when you could see the light blue sky, the hills and the humble-looking buildings.
The day when our family got to see my oldest sister’s graduation was a sweet day.
It was inspiring to see her graduate in her clean uniform with her peers, and celebrate with them, shortly before reuniting with her family, and before she got stationed in South Korea..
This trip to Anniston would be the last time our family would be together as a whole.
Little did I know, my other sister would do her basic Army training in St.Louis, Missouri the following year in ‘99.
We went to her graduation and had a good time traveling through certain states once again.
That trip would make my love for traveling even stronger.
I enjoyed the entire experience of this Anniston trip — and didn’t realize the effect it would have on me until I got much older.
When I think of my strong love for traveling and seeing new places, it all started with this trip to Anniston, Alabama.
To read another story about my travels: