Beans!

Today was a good day on the Born Free Trek! We had a good turnout for lunch. I think about 11 people showed up ... can't be sure - I lost count when I ran out of fingers.

One of my favorite things about Born Free caravans is the people you meet. Everybody's got an interesting story and background.

For instance, I had lunch today with a guy who was a nuclear engineer on the USS Enterprise (CVN-65, not the more popularly recognized NCC-1701-D). We chatted about the relative benefits of a water pressure system vs. a steam system, public opinion of nuclear power plants, and life in the navy. Among other things I learned that all of the navy's aircraft carriers are powered by nuclear reactors now - pretty interesting, right? The USS Enterprise, the first ever nuclear powered aircraft carrier, has eight reactors, but the other carriers only have two. The Enterprise taught the navy that eight reactors was overkill - they couldn't use all the power if they wanted to. But, if/when we start putting laser cannons on these bad boys, that extra power may come in handy!

And of course, no discussion of nuclear power would be complete without Homer Simpson's pronunciation guide.

Pop grilled pork burgers on the chuck wagon for lunch. Having grown up in Iowa, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I think this was the first time I'd had a pork burger. It was good!

When Pop is cooking, he goes big or goes home. Humboldt is a long way from here, so he had Gram cook up a can of beans the size of your head - we're going to be eating leftover beans for every meal this week! Fortunately, we're each driving our own RV, so we'll have no one to blame but ourselves for any resulting unpleasantness. He also sent me to KFC to pick up a gallon of coleslaw, but I skimped and just got half a gallon.

We're still in Clanton tonight and it's surprisingly cold! Fortunately, there's a heat strip in the roof a/c unit. Just pop that sucker on and it's comfortable in here.

We're all exhausted, but in high spirits after the showing today and we're looking forward to meeting more people tomorrow!

In the morning we'll be heading to Monroe, Louisiana, after a stop in Starkville, Mississippi. I'll be cranking Sweet Home Alabama - it's always a bit sweeter when you're in Alabama!. If you're near Monroe, come see us Saturday night or Sunday morning!