Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

Today I walked through Reece City, Attalla, and Steele, Alabama. I covered 18 miles – a new high for this year’s effort. The weather was better, but not as fine as I hoped. It was 70 and cloudy in the morning and 82 and sunny in the afternoon. The air was drier than last week, but I think it will be even better tomorrow.

Reece City is a wide spot in the road. It has a little City Hall, a Volunteer Fire Department, and a little park. I put a photo of the fire department on the Wikipedia page for Reece City. A nice find was this little general store. What is odd about it is that it was a what looked like a 1/8 mile-long driveway. The store looks like it is still in business and even selling gasoline. No one was there, but I went by at at about 8 AM.

Attalla was depressing. The part that route 11 runs through was full of little houses that are not maintained, have lots of trash about them, and just don’t look good. I hate to say that about a town, but that was Attalla. The houses north and south of town looked much better – they were maintained, the grass was cut, and there was no clutter about them.

I put photos of downtown Attalla and the Post Office on the Wikipedia page for Attalla. Downtown covered about two blocks by two blocks. All the storefronts were occupied, but the place was deserted. I don’t understand how that happens, businesses with no one visiting them, but that was the case.

Attalla is one of these towns that is on the other side of the Interstate. East of I-59 is the city of Gadsden. Gadsden is much bigger than Attalla. I guess it is much newer and much of everything else you could think of. Attalla is on the west side of I-59. Like I wrote, Attalla is on the other side. It has been left out of much of the progress of the last few decades. There are two exits from I-59 to Attalla. The southern-most exit has some new stores and fast food places that look better than the rest of the town.

South of Attalla the road improved. There is an 18″ paved shoulder. That doesn’t sound wide, but it is a great improvement over no shoulder, and no shoulder is what Alabama has between here and the Georgia line. I hope the better road will continue.

South of Attalla I saw this little log building. I wouldn’t call it a house, but maybe it is a small cabin of sorts. It is interesting.

The next town is Steele. It has a few churches and one gas station on route 11. I put a photo of its post office on the Wikipedia page for Steele.

I was chased by a few more dogs. One was a big hound dog late in the afternoon. Maybe he was tired or maybe it was too hot, but he “chased” me at a walk. I was walking; he was walking, and now and then he would let out a bark or a howl or whatever you call it when hound dogs yell. He walked with me for a half mile before turning for home.