Are we there yet?
June 12-18, 2017
Goodbye Blue Mountain
By Jay Edwards
jedwards@dailydata.com
Happy. Just in my swim shorts, barefooted, wild-haired, in the red fire dark, singing, swigging wine, spitting, jumping, running—that’s the way to live. All alone and free in the soft sands of the beach by the sigh of the sea out there, with the Ma-Wink fallopian virgin warm stars reflecting on the outer channel fluid belly waters.
– Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
My sister in law and her family sold their beach house, which now creates a void in my life every second week in October. So goodbye Summer Winds, it was truly wonderful.
And goodbye to anticipation of going to Summer Winds, that usually starts in August, along with shorter days and football season.
Goodbye driving through the Delta on 65 South, passing Pine Bluff, and Varner Unit, and not stopping for hitchhikers, and Dumas and McGhee and Lake Village, and all the love bugs covering my windshield. Goodbye Tallulah, and the Brushy Bayou Christmas Trees. Goodbye Mississippi, and your great river at Vicksburg, and Jackson and 49 South to Hattiesburg, and the sweet potato sellers on the sides of the road, and Sanatorium, the community named for the old Tuberculosis hospital.
Goodbye waking up to sunshine in Hattiesburg, with only four hours left to the Gulf. Goodbye Moffett Road, and the great nursery and Live Oaks and Snuffy Smiths. Goodbye Mobile tunnel, and USS Alabama (which we will for sure stop at next time). Goodbye passing Gulf Shores exit, because why stop in Alabama when you’re this close to Florida.
Goodbye “Thanks for Visiting Alabama” sign and whoever their current governor is.
Goodbye driving 85 on I-10, and trying to decide which exit to take. Goodbye Pensacola and Gulf Breeze and Navarre and Niceville and Ft. Walton and Destin and De Funiak Springs and Highway 98 and 30A.
Goodbye stopping first at The Back Porch; and gumbo and chargrilled Amberjack and slaw and fries; and beer you have to drink fast because of the wonderful salt air humidity. Goodbye bikini volleyball and wave runners and parasailers. Goodbye that one-year of Red Tide.
Goodbye Mike, the leathery beach chair umbrella lifeguard shirtless guy.
Goodbye Santa Rosa Beach and Stinky’s and Goatfeather’s Old Bay steamed shrimp. Goodbye Blue Mountain Road.
Goodbye Alabama game.
Good riddance Alabama game.
Goodbye Regatta Bay, and number 18 and the almost double eagle. Goodbye Regatta Bay beer cart girl and your three-dollar beers. Goodbye much cheaper beers smuggled in our golf bags, and the airplane size Crown Royal bottles, saved for refilling.
Goodbye losing the rabbit to Dennis on 18. Goodbye sunburn and jumping in the Gulf to wash off the day’s golf. Goodbye Bill and Bill and Peggy and solving the world’s problems while we hold our Styrofoam cups up out of the chest-high salt water.
Goodbye dolphins and pelicans and sea gulls and crabs and sandpipers and stingrays and jellyfish and butterflies.
Goodbye Peggy’s cake.
Goodbye longibitty and “I’m losing my #*%$@ mind!”
Goodbye lights out at 8:30. Goodbye bedroom door held shut by a Footjoy. Goodbye twin beds and getting up at 5:30 and drinking coffee.
Goodbye next-door big house to the east with the pool, and the soon to be big house to the west without the pool.
Goodbye day’s first walk on the beach, and yoga-guy and fishing guy and shells and shark teeth. Goodbye Red Lake.
Goodbye Donut Hole and your long lines and huge portions. Goodbye Whattaburger and two kinds of ketchup. Goodbye Waffle House and Dennis getting Surly because he didn’t get his coffee in time. Goodbye McDonald’s and your slow service.
Goodbye tent over the deck and old grill and coffee cups with all the names.
Goodbye KM, Le-Le, MF, DF, LaVerne, Surly, Colonel, Barb and Patty and Peggy. And Sophie and Hi-Ho.
And all the laughter.
Jay Edwards is publisher of the Daily Record. Contact him at jedwards@dailydata.com.
