Bubba’s spicy boiled peanuts

Okay, so again Trish, Julysa, Alison, Zahra and I have found ourselves on I-10 driving through the long white tunnels near downtown Mobile, Alabama. All the girls decided to hold their breath every single time we went through the tunnels.

But, anyway, Tuesday was a great reporting adventure. First we all met downtstairs in the hotel lobby for breakfast and a planning meeting. Alison and I visited the USS Alabama battleship with Tricia. The ship felt so authentic with the way they staged the rooms, for example there were boxes of cereal in the mess hall with old cereal brand labels. It was like stepping back in time

We picked up Zahra and Julysa from the children’s museum, Exploreum, and headed to Dauphin Island. On the way to the island we met Bubba Turner, the owner of a farmer’s market sort of fruit and veggie stand. He didn’t let us leave until we tried spicy boiled peanuts. It was so good! And if you know me then you know how picky I am with food and my hardheaded resistance to trying new foods.

So yeah Dauphin Island was pretty neat. We ran into a Coast Guard and a young woman visiting from Buffalo, New York who were staying at some condos on the island. The guardian couldn’t say much but still talked with Zahra and I about having to travel for his job and he told us that Anderson Cooper, the CNN journalist, came down to the island and couldn’t get anyone to talk to him. That’s crazy because we ran into so many locals that told us exactly how they felt about the BP incident.

My favorite interviews were from the convenience store clerk and owner. They told us about the island’s annual fishing rodeo being cancelled because of the oil spill. The event had been every year for about 80 years the owner said and BP closed off access to the waters thus eliminating the chance of catching any fish for competition. The town however, create an unexpected spin on the situation. There’s more to the story but you’ll have to wait for publication to find out.