November 15, 2010. Bessemer, Al. Ezell's Catfish Cabin.

This is why we travel. After eight hours driving in the fog and rain, we dined at Ezell's Catfish Cabin, just down the road from our hotel. The place pleases me. Within minutes of being seated at a booth, a waitress brought us a basket of fresh hot hush puppies along with a bowl of coleslaw for each of us. Nice gesture. Then we read the menu and discovered they serve food from Louisiana although the family came from west Alabama. Their fishing camp on the Tombiggbee River had been serving meals since before the Civil War but it was the 1950's that started the family to move and open restaurants. I'm glad they did. We found them by driving around, and tonight we hit the jackpot. The gumbo was tasty but not too hot. Delicious food. Well worth the drive!!

Driving in the fog is difficult especially when driving through mountains but this morning Ken took it in stride. He drove through fog and rain for his two hours, then when my turn arrived, the fog lifted and the rain stopped for my two hours. The same occurred all day, rain for Ken, clear for me. Even though we were only three hours from Jackson, when we came upon an accident on the highway we called it quits, found a hotel and opened a bottle of wine then went out to dinner. Tomorrow we will arrive for lunch at Andrew and Christina's home to see Kate and Mary Frances and Molly. We are excited to see them.