Brown: Easy to forget things are different in other parts

Down on the farm

link Audra Brown

The natural geography and landscape of a place is a defining aspect of identity. In the wide West, it is easy to forget how different topography can be.

A recent visit to verdant Alabama demonstrated a definite contrast to eastern New Mexico.

The reliance on visual navigation common to the Plains is not the most useful in other lands where trees and hills can hide even the biggest Bass Pro Shops. After turning in at the sign off the highway, and a couple of miles of one-lane asphalt through the overlapping woods, I was beginning to wonder if the store would ever appear, or if this was just one very well-designed redneck trap. It turned out to be nothing more than the longest parking lot driveway I have yet encountered.

The very range where we spent most of our time was surrounded on all sides by residential developments and the outskirts of the city of Birmingham.

It seems quite likely that were the concealing trees to suddenly turn transparent, there would have been houses well within what a marksman of the Plains would consider reasonable shooting distance. And did I mention the train running right behind the berms?

The traffic was denser than small-town me is used to, and it was fast, but for different reasons, I think, than here. In these parts, in my experience, the speedier end of driving is encouraged by the long flat highways and frequent isolation of any one motor vehicle outside the city limits.

Indeed, the thought occurs that if I’m the only one out here, how likely is it that the one other car I encounter will have a set of flashing red lights?

When it is, of course, there is no one else to blame and plenty of room to get pulled over.

Down there, however, it looks like to me there’s not much of a place to pull anyone over, and too many ups and downs to get a clean shot with a radar.

The ground not being flat, and there being a lot of waters as well, the roads are all built up to go over and around. Ditches do not appear to be applicable alternative parking spots.

I enjoyed the green and the people down Alabama way, but I’m still a flatlander that’s glad to be home.

Audra Brown likes beef in her barbecue. Contact her at: [email protected]