Birmingham! I like to pronounce it like “Bummingum.” Also, on the way there I saw a rocket ship!

Amazingly, I had three people contact me in Birmingham and I was unable to meet with any of them.

I played email / phone tag with one fellow, and one time I think he answered but he sounded far away and crackly and I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

Another guy who plays funk/R&B guitar was actually in Huntsville but I had forgotten his location and mistakenly thought he was in Birmingham. I drove right past him on the way down, but by the time we connected again it wouldn’t work out for him schedule-wise.

The third guy, a singer, actually set up a session with me for the next morning, but I was set to pick up a friend from the Atlanta airport two days later.

“So how does that–”

I was getting to it. When I double-checked his ticket I saw that it was actually arriving in Atlanta the next day! So I had to leave Birmingham not too long after waking. I could have recorded with the singer, but then my friend would have been waiting for hours at the airport. I sadly made the call to cancel the session.

“So did your time in Birmingham suck?” asks AG sympathetically.

Not at all! I stayed with an awesome bloke by the name of Richey.

Richey retired not long ago, and has plunged into the world of Couchsurfing, meeting new people and hosting many travelers in his comfy home. He was a great host, and we had a great time chatting about everything under the sun over some great new (to me) beers. Naturally, we sat on his balcony for this, since his backyard is pretty awesome and features a lake. Well, kind of a pond. But a big pond.

NEXT: My doctor said Atlanta.

“Wow, is that a 90’s medication commercial reference?”

Haha, yep.