May 29, 2008 Birmingham, AL; Destin, FL

First day of my vacation, so I headed out of Memphis, stopping by a Danver's on South Perkins for breakfast and then down into Mississippi on Highway 78, listening to a Supa Dave Baltimore Club Mix that I had downloaded from the internet. In Birmingham, I stopped at the FYE at I-65 and Lakeshore, looking for some of the seasons of The Wire in the used DVDs, but they didn't have any that weren't full price. I did find a DVD of The Corner however, and they had the complete run of all the Homicide: Life On The Street series, but, thinking I would find something better, I held off on buying any of those. The FYEs at Riverchase and the Summit didn't have anything I was looking for either, but at the Summit there was a Johnny Rocket's hamburger place, so I ate lunch there and then headed out for Montgomery. It was about 4 PM when I got to Montgomery, and I was looking for coffee, but didn't find any there, so I headed south on Highway 331 toward Fort Walton Beach. At Florala, I stopped and took some pictures of the downtown and the lake it was built on, then crossed into Florida heading toward Crestview. There I found a Starbucks, so I stopped for coffee there and then continued on into Fort Walton Beach. At the Movie Stop there, I bought season 2 of The Wire used, and then drove across to Destin and Miramar Beach, where I checked into my room at the Embassy Suites. I was hoping to catch James Brown's old drummer Jabbo Starks playing at the Red Bar in Grayton Beach, so I decided to eat dinner there as well, and I drove east on Highway 98 into Santa Rosa Beach and down to the restaurant, which was quite crowded. I had a red snapper dinner, and did enjoy the jazz band's last set of the evening. I got to meet Jabbo Starks briefly, and he told me that the group had recorded two CDs that were on sale in the gift shop, but I soon found that the gift shop was already closed for the evening. Heading back west, I drove into Fort Walton Beach, hoping that I could find a rap club that was happening, but I didn't, finding instead that the city was full of police posted up on nearly every corner, as if expecting something bad to happen. The only clubs that were happening were out on Okaloosa Island, but they were clearly geared to a rock audience, so I headed back to the motel and to bed.