Roll tide

January 9, 2010

Last week, my wife and I spent a week camping in Death Valley with Matt, her brother from Alabama.

Below is a picture of Matt golfing on the Devil's Golf Course. He was not without some form of Crimson Tide attire all week long.

He's a total tourist here with his bright yellow disposable Kodak film snapper thingamejig.

The funny thing is, as far as Death Valley is from Alabama, quite a few people we met in Death Valley happened to be from Alabama. Including a cook at one of the restaurants. We'd never have known were Matt not decked out like a true Crimson Tide fan. Wait, who am I kidding! He is a true Alabama fan.

But I'm writing this to tell of a small story of one such conversation which started up because of his Alabama cap. We went to a Park Service ranger presentation one evening on fish in Death Valley (or perhaps it was the one about rain), anyway it was after the ranger had given his presentation and folks were milling about that this lady (not from Alabama) behind us struck up a (thankfully brief) conversation with our dear Bubba - Matt. She asked if he were a student. Perhaps she thought he went to The University of Alabama (he doesn't). He said "Yes, Ma'am" and so the conversation went and she asked what he was studying, and he told her "Machine tool technology" and she understood and asked if he was going to be a machinist, "Yes, Ma'am" says Matt. And then the kicker shortly after, "So do you live on a farm?" as though everyone in Alabama must live on a farm. It was all I could do not to die laughing so I turned away to let Matt handle the situation with grace and aplomb. Matt handled this well giving the lady a chance to modify the question with the classic "I'm sorry?" and when the question was in no doubt, there came the brilliant "No, I wish I did though." Well handled Matt. Roll Tide.