Culture.

It's an interesting concept. But what's also amazing is that you can either become part of the culture of a particular area, or change your latitude and become part of another, or effect(infect?) the new one with your old or present culture.

I had an interesting experience today. I forsook the city life and ways for a few hours and met a few people a few miles east of my home in Alabama and was pleastantly suprised to see a variety of lifestyles and personalities alive in the mountains of North East Alabama. Indeed, I was at the very foot of Lookout Mountain, a local hill of fame for the ability to visually locate seven states from the peak.

It was a refreshing journey. I didn't take any pictures, as I was the driver. But the drive was refreshing, once I left the influence of the city behind and saw the inspoiled countryside. A tiny mountain town and its ways... while people whispered behind my back about the guy in the black shirt and ponytail. Still, if they knew my roots, they'd realize I am but a displaced neighbor. Perhaps the greatest gift of all is the ability to cross social strata without having to try.

Always interesting to see the strong types, those who life off of nature and its wonders. People are closer to subsistence living there, a simple life of merely surviving like those settlers before them who came to the valley. Indeed, I believe Fort Payne may be the jewel of the Tennessee Valley. It reminds me of where I was ten years ago, in a simpler place and time.

Stop in and see Desoto Park if you're driving through. It's worth the stop. It may yet be the only redeeming mark of Alabama.