Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

I awoke to the sound of thunderstorms (seems like a good title for a book or something). They were moving through the area. This delayed the start of walking today and also caused me to break the walk for an hour in mid-morning. The temperature was 65 degrees with the threatening skies this morning, but 80 degrees with not a cloud in the skies at the end of the day.

I walked through the towns of Boligee and Epes, Alabama. I walked 18 miles today. Given the late start and the distance, I am trying with all my might to complete this post before collapsing into bed.

Two Catfish Ponds North of Boligee, Alabama

North of Boligee are catfish farms with catfish ponds. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen catfish ponds before. I knew they farmed catfish is Mississippi, but I didn’t know they did so in Alabama. I must have seen two dozen catfish ponds today. The ponds are much bigger than I thought they would be. Here is a photo of a couple of them taken from between them.

There isn’t much left of Boligee. The railroad tracks run through the center of town, so my guess is that at one time farming and shipping produce by rail were big things in this little town. The saddest thing to see in a little town are concrete slabs with no building on them. I saw half a dozen of these in Boligee. There is a post office, and I put a photo of that on Boligee’s Wikipedia page.

A highlight of the town is the Boligee Cafe. This is run by Annie Lou. She is an elderly lady. The cafe burned to the ground a few years ago. Men in the community – catfish farmers, other farmers, railroad workers – came together and erected a new building for the cafe. They almost had to as there would be no place else for them to eat lunch. And they do eat lunch at this little place. The pickup trucks are parked on both sides of Route 11 at lunch time. Today’s special was Pork Chops, Creamed Potatoes, Black Eyed Peas, and Cornbread.

The pavement on Route 11 changed at Boligee. It went from great to terrible. North of town the road was paved smooth with shoulders. South of town, well, it was just bad. It hasn’t been paved in 30 or 40 years.

Look closely at this next photo. I was walking along talking and singing to the cows in this pasture. They were all looking at me. I uploaded this photo in full resolution, so you may have to click on it to see the faces of the cows. So if you ever want to be the center of attention, walk in the country, pass a pasture full of cows, and start talking to them. They will all pay attention to you. This could be used as a type of therapy for some of us.

The Cows are All Looking at Me

There isn’t much of Epes – a gas station and a few churches. At least it doesn’t have empty concrete slabs like Boligee. Epes sits on the south bank of the Tenn-Tom Waterway. Here is a photo of the waterway and a railroad bridge crossing the water at Epes. Note the bluffs on the bank. These are about 30 feet high.

The Railroad Bridge Over the Tenn-Tom Waterway at Epes

Swamp Between Boligee and Epes

And one more photo. Between Boligee and Epes is a swamp. Here America is a photo of a swamp. It has miles of vegetation growing in mud punctuated by water that is three to six-feet deep with no bottom.