06/17/08 - It's hard to believe that it was only a year ago that I went to a family reunion on the Florabama coast – aka the Red Neck Riviera – also known as that gaudy stretch of water parks, bars, condos and restuarants saddling the state line between Florida and Alabama. Only it doesn't exactly saddle the state line, it sidles on the Alabama side and only leaves a toe in Florida, possibly to justify the name. Sign-wise you have to look close to spot the point where Alabama leaves off and Florida begins, but from the beach it's quite easy to note the demarcation. Like little tin soldiers in the distance the oil derricks stand as close to each other as possible. You almost get the feeling that if there wasn't some kind of sanction against it there would probably be a solid wall of iron and gas light out there. But then you hit Florida it just stops. The coast looks just as it might have when Spanish Explorers ventured through the waters a few hundreds of years ago. Out on the road the change is not so striking but it is there. The buildings get smaller, more functional and less fun. The waterparks disappear. It truly seems to blow holes in the saintly... | 
