Deer Hunting Season in Alabama

 Here we are in Tuskegee National Forest in southeast Alabama. It’s the height of deer hunting season. I wish I didn’t know that.

National Forests, in general, are much less “managed” than state parks. And by “less managed” I mean – no firepits, no picnic tables, no water, and no toilets, not even of the pit variety. As we bounced along the unpaved road toward the ranger station, my anxiety grew; Jeff, on the other hand, was ecstatic. “This is really camping!” he said with enthusiasm.

We were greeted at the ranger station by the ranger to whom I immediately expressed my alarm about guns and the possibility of being mistaken for a deer. He chuckled and tried to allay my doubts, “We’ve never had an incident,” he assured me.

We chatted for a few minutes and I took his business card off the counter – “just in case,” I said. He took the card from my hand and said, “Here, let me give you a better number.” With that he wrote down his personal number. Though he lives thirty minutes away in Montgomery, he told us, he can contact the ranger who lives right nearby if there’s a problem. I felt so much better. You should have seen the look I gave him before I followed Jeff out of the office. Thank you, Darrius.

Let me tell you about 5-a-7. In Quebec, 5-a-7 (cinq-a-sept) is “happy hour.” Bars advertise 5-a-7 and friends gather for 5-a-7 to enjoy a glass of wine or a beer, etc. Of course, “cinq” might be 4 o’clock and “sept” often goes on into the night. It’s just an expression. In our case, we are operating on three time zones right now. The clock in the van remains at eastern daylight time, since Jeff never bothered to reset it in November. Jeff’s watch remains at eastern time, so he can judge when to feed Teddy and Lady. My Iphone, of course, is accurate to the second. Right now, it’s announcing Central Time. The great thing is – we don’t really care what time it is. We eat when we are hungry, sleep when we’re tired, and wake up in the morning. And, the best part – it’s always 5-a-7 somewhere.

Oh, by the way, Teddy and Lady are having a great time. They wish you were here.

Cheers!