I'm Back...and closer

The pneumonia is gone and it allowed me to quit smoking quite easily. We left Texas and stopped off in New Orleans on our way to Alabama. Spent a few days visiting family and friends before heading out into this strange new world they call Alabama. It's only a four to four and half hour drive. Much more manageable than the nine I was doing. People are friendly. However, witnessing true rural poverty in the small Alabama town that's just a couple of miles from where we now live was eye opening. It was also a little frightening to experience a tornado siren (at 1:30 am) in our first week here.

But I am overjoyed that its a short road trip to New Orleans and I can come home whenever I want. So the trade off is fair.