Why Mobile

As you have read, I have decided to kick around here in Mobile for awhile. The reason being is it just feels right. From the time I rolled into Mobile everything has come into play. And it all started with Bucky Hicks. (He's not as redneck as it sounds!). Bucky is the man in Mobile, pretty much everyone I have met, young and old, knows Bucky. He's a town favourite and just a damn good guy!
I have come to know what Mobile has to offer by way of Bucky. He has taken me to a couple disc golf courses, bars, houses, rides and runs. On Tuesday nights there is an organised run that takes place down by the Mellow Mushroom. Bucky and I decided to join. We took to the wheels due to the fact that I don't run anymore. The last time I ran for fun was the last day I was in the Army! We met the runners in the street and peddled around and talked to them. When we got back to Mellow we parked the Trike and went inside for a couple pints. On the way back to the house we were cruising right along. It was dark out and at the last minute Bucky yelled for me to hang a right. Now I have been on the trip for 4 months, and this was the first time that I had ridden this beast under the influence. I wasn't drunk but I sure wasn't sober! So when he hollered out to turn I cranked on the bars to try to make the tight turn. With no weight in the back this thing took to two wheels and gave me the feeling that it wanted to tip over so I straightened the wheel in an attempt to keep all three on the road. But that lead me straight into the curb. It put a big warp into my tire. Bucky rode up next to me and started to apologise. 'You got nothing to be sorry about Buck its my own damn fault!'. He held up the front while I removed the wheel and slammed it as straight as possible on the street. Then we put it together and took it nice and slow the rest of the way. The next day I called Sun and told them my problem. They stand by their rims and are sending me a complete, bigger, tougher rim. I also got a new chain, bearings, and rear cassette from Main Street. So sometime this week I am going to head over to Spoke N Trail Inc. The owner Brad with the help of his trusted employee Jess are going to help me do some overhauling.
The disc golf courses down here are great. I have only played two so far and I think they have 8 or so. The first one was out at the University Campus. Really nice course but not labelled very well, if Bucky wouldn't of been there I would of been lost. The other course we went to was Municipal Park. Huge wide open course. I think the longest distance from tee to basket was over 600 feet! There was a guy sitting at the first hole waiting for a good game. We had met him a couple days before on the last couple of holes. He has a nice style about him. His name is Kelly and he's 71 years young. He's a retired cop and just spends his day outside throwing the plastic. He jumped up on our arrival and joined us for a round. He shoots from the hip. Just a couple of quick steps and a flick of the wrist and its sails out low and straight. I started calling him 'Cool hand Luke'! After the game we headed over to a organised bike ride. Jess from Spoke N Trail hooked me up with a bike to ride due to the fact I have a wobble in mine. It kinda sucked not having the Trike and dog. But it felt good to be on two wheels and moving fast. It took me a minute to get used to it. I haven't been on bike other than the Trikes this whole trip and 3 wheels is a lot different than 2!! During the ride I chatted with other cyclist mostly Susan. She works for a medical company and is very active, I met her on the Tue night run. She asked if I would be interested in going to a Senior Bowl house party on Saturday and I said sure.
The morning of the Senior Bowl she took me out for breakfast at the 'Tiny Diny'. We met her sister and niece there. This place was good, huge plate sized pancakes and homemade biscuits and gravy! Her sister Mary Stowe and I chatted about the adventure. While Susan and Mary Fran played at the table. Its been nice sitting with all these great people. There are some pretty lonely times on the road and its gonna get even more so once I get into west Texas and beyond. But I will be able to look back on these time of humanity and smile.
After breakfast and goodbyes. Susan gave me a tour. She took me by the Catholic Nunnery. Very old and beautiful church. Susan is somewhat of a history buff so she gave me a nice schooling on the area. After the tour she dropped me off at Kelly's house and we made plans to meet later at the Bowl house party. I got changed and got the ride and pup ready to go. As we were heading downtown to catch a parade, a jeep pulls up and the girl behind the wheel asked if I was the guy Bucky was talking about. I told her I most likely was. She is taking a photo journalism class and asked if she could take some shots of us. I told her sure. Lindsay got some good ones and then I told her I was heading downtown and to the house party if she wanted to join. She said sure. We had missed the parade so we went to the house party. The house was about a block and a half away from the Stadium so there were people everywhere. We pulled up to a lawn full of people and a little yellow lab puppy named Biscuit. We talked to a lot of people and took a ride over to the Stadium to get in on the action of senior bowl. That place was packed. There were people there that had camped for a couple of nights in their RVs. Grills were smoking, music was pumping, and beer a swigging! We talked some more to folks down there and then headed back to the party. I didn't really watch the game so I have no idea of who even won. I took it easy that night and hung out with Kelly.
Kelly has been unemployed for a month or so. She is an Architect drafter. Mobile is big but not really. People down here call it the Smallest big City. So she has been having troubles finding steady work. Even during her hard times she is generous to put us up for the duration of our stay. I have gotten groceries and try to feed her whenever we are home. I am going to be selling hot dogs for the busy wk leading up to fat Tuesday. I plan on paying some of her utilities before we go. If you stay somewhere for 3 wks your a room mate not a house guest! I'm not a mooch or a freeloader, I'm just lucky to have met really nice people.
The next two weeks are going to be filled with riding around and taking in the energy of Mardi Gras. I plan on hitting up some more disc golf courses and getting to know this great city some more. I want to thank everyone that I have met down here in Mobile. You all are great and are making this fine city number one on my list so far. If ya see me around please stop and chat and give Coop some love.

Till next time,
Love and Licks
Sean and Coop