Opelika, AL

US 280 is a four-lane divided highway that mainly connects Birmingham to Savannah. I say mainly because highways in this country were much more multi-purpose in the pre-Interstate Highway Act of 19-whatever days. Highways were mainstreets of towns and parade routes and spectator sports for the locals long before they evolved into efficient and convenient ways of getting from A to C without being bothered by B. This highway has intersections and stoplights and if you aren’t careful it might peel off one direction or another and let you glide right past into some new and unintentional adventure (i.e. getting lost).

I’m sitting at a rest stop now and was contemplating the differences in rest stops from one state to another. Many are just your basic bathrooms and picnic tables style. Some of these have added vending machines in a small nod towards capitalism. Others, like the turnpike rest stops in Pennsylvania, have visitors centers complete with fast food, Starbucks, a gift shop and a gas station. Iowa had wi-fi and fully touch-free restrooms (everything but the door operated via motion sensors). Here in Alabama (as in most southern states) they are pretty basic, but with one little oddity. There is a little red button located just outside the men’s restroom which (if pressed) will give you the local weather. I’m guessing it’s outside the men’s room because all you women shouldn’t worry your pretty little heads about such things. You should be focused on cooking and tending to the young‘uns, at least that’s the way it is (or was when this place was built) in Alabama.