I Tried To Visit Every City In Alabama. Here's What Happened.

okay so what are you what are you gonna do here no we're just planting peas and beans and just been waiting to harvest them for you know to eat just just something for vegetables yeah so that's all we're doing what's a this is the coolest thing I've seen today you don't see that every day now do you that's Robert I was just driving around on Alabama back roads one day and I saw him out there doing some old school farming I've been in Alabama for about a week up to that point and I saw a lot of farming stuff going on but nothing like what Robert was up to you actually don't really see that at all anymore people using farm animals to dig in the dirt like that mm-hmm I'm glad I stopped to talk to old Rob he was one of many interesting people I saw on my Alabama Journey so in March of 2023 I took a major road trip throughout the Deep South and a big part of the trip was crisscrossing throughout the great state of Alabama the goal was to get an up and close look at how Alabama folks live their lives and the rule was no highways because you don't get to know the real Alabama going 85 right I'm going to take you on a little journey together we're going to explore all kinds of Alabama I think you're going to learn a lot about this state I know I did [Music] thank you [Music] Alabama everyone I made it this is what it looked like when I first arrived there and it was a super nice evening too now you might be thinking that doesn't look like Alabama well it is Rolling Hills And Wide Open Country and all from here I'd take 24 over to 157 down to 31 and then bypass Birmingham and head over to Route 5 to the 219 and take that over to 263 and then down the 10 you get the point I was all over the place I probably saw more Alabama than most alabamans do and I swear I wasn't in this state for 30 minutes before I got a big old dose of Bama we were driving down this country road and I spotted a sign for a dog cemetery really Alabama so we flipped a and I tried to find it I looked all over the hillsides for it and never could find a place believe me I was really disappointed but I was looking at my phone and I saw nearby there was a place called The Rattlesnake Saloon in the Hills back here somewhere I was like I couldn't find the cemetery but that totally sounds like my kind of place I was thrilled to see that when I got there I was like wait what is this place it turns out it's more than just a Rattlesnake Saloon this is actually a horse ranch where cowboys and cowgirls can saddle up and head for the Hills cool place I talked to the owner about it and everything all right well the Seven Springs Lodge is a 3500 acre uh horse Lodge and then down below we got the Rattlesnake Saloon been in since 2009 and pretty fun out here we have a lot of good times over here but I came here to see the Rattlesnake Saloon everything's always closed I didn't care that it was closed I had to see where all the kickers get their buzz on no horses no mules no fireworks no weapons no food no wagons no no no no no no okay and then I came around the corner and I was like oh my God this is the most my kind of place of all my kind of places it was like something out of the damn movie this is probably the coolest restaurant I've ever seen the things built into a quarry with a waterfall and everything well if this ain't some Ding Dang darn country Jim Bob tobacco spitting Whiskey Drinking big truck driving Bush beer drinking kind of place man oh man and I was still buzzing about the Rattlesnake Saloon and then five minutes down the road I came to this a real live drag strip out in the middle of the dam Woods God dang Alabama I just got here I'd only been in Alabama for an hour now and I was like uh I really like Alabama does not mess around made me wish I was here in the summer all this stuff would have been howling right you might know Alabama is being home to a bunch of rednecks but don't call them that to their face I learned that lesson in Tennessee one time it's true though alabamans like to drive boats and big trucks and fish and shoot stuff and it's the men and the women I mean the state's motto is we dare defend our rights it's a complicated place though Alabama is in some circles racism guides the politics and the politics influences the religion which has an effect on racial attitudes it's all very connected the KKK was a big deal here back in the day and some of that stuff's still around if you move here you're gonna find that there's people who are still anti-black and anti-gay that's just how it is just 10 minutes down the road and I came across the first church I'd see and I saw a lot of those churches are a big deal here this is the most religious state of all they say more than 80 percent of alabamans consider themselves highly religious here's a church there's a church that's a church and this is all on one stretch of road Church this one actually has people inside most of them are closed this church had been hit by a tornado the day or two prior that's the thing down here in the spring in some other videos I showed a lot more tornado damage that I just happened to stumble upon it seemed like every other day I passed an area that had sustained some damage pretty scary stuff you never know when one will strike your little town but there were two churches that really stood out to me first I'm going to show you the most impressive church I saw this is the Gardendale First Baptist Church I don't know how much money this cross cost but just wow everyone so impressive I read that thing is 125 feet high that's a way to drum up some business I'd say damn I mean look at the parking lot for this church it's big enough to be a concert venue I'm sure Sunday's here something to behold I bet they're still counting the money on Tuesday s this church even has it sounds super nice baseball fields dang but the coolest church I saw I saw by accident we were just driving along and I saw a sign for Cowboy Church I was like what's a Cowboy Church well the guy hauling cattle in front of me gave me a clue so I get out of the car and I see these little buckaroos and their little boots and hats shuffling Along on their way down to the arena behind the church turns out they hold their church and this big arena ain't that a trip the kids that were here they weren't here for church though this was on a Wednesday they were there for a school trip I wish I got to pet horses on my school field trips all we got to do was go to museums and stuff yeah and look at that a little future cow poke left his Mountain Dew behind what else does a kid need just down the road I came across the little unincorporated community of white oak this place is so small they have a volunteer fire department and look at their little volunteer fire truck thing looks like a damn toy I don't know what kind of Fighters they plan to put out with that thing but look it even has little sirens on top just too much Alabama too much [Music] [Music] so here's another example of just how much Alabama's into farm and stuff one day we came across a real live cattle auction I mean it wasn't auctioning the day we came by but you can see how it works they bring all these animals in and then people walk around on these platforms and look at what condition they're in they're checking for weight and disposition and how much milk might be in their udders and then they take notes and then go into the auction Arena and bid on them and man do I wish they were doing it when I was there you don't even know I can only imagine how this goes down told the guy on the white shirt I was really surprised at some of the nice new developments going on in Alabama we were just outside of Muscle Shoals and we came to a new community springing up they're replacing a lot of the Farmland here with all these nice new homes that are worth about 400 000 each I didn't think I'd see this in Alabama and you probably thought it was all trailer parks didn't you oh I mean there's trailer parks everywhere here Alabama ranks fifth in the country for mobile homes nothing wrong with that just cheap living I suppose Alabama has quite the variety of small towns some are in pretty bad shape like this one it's called Fort Deposit this town seen better days right but many teeny Alabama towns are just humming along this is molten it's way out in the middle of nowhere there's about 3 300 people here these days looks good to me no shitty sidewalks and bums wandering around look at these neighborhoods in Moulton homes on this street have sold for as little as 130k recently I know right and people complain there aren't any affordable places to live a lot of people are into smaller towns these days because they can work from home you could raise a family right here and do just fine I'd be bored here but I'm sure a lot of people like it just fine and I did not expect this so we were just on some country roads and I took a detour because we saw some new construction ahead this is a little Prattville population 38 000 and check out this neighborhood this is just about the nicest cleanest most Charming little Hood I think I saw in the entire state just way out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farmland you wouldn't even know it was there unless you saw it these houses are about two hundred thousand a piece I've been doing this for a long time this might be the nicest two hundred thousand dollar neighborhood I've ever seen no people Alabama's bringing it huh I mean are you serious that is Middle America as you can get and there's more homes going on all over this area we're about 20 minutes from Montgomery which is the biggest city in Alabama Montgomery has some really bad parts of town but downtown's pretty nice I'm sure there's a lot of people out there like I'm moving to Alabama right now damn it [Music] one day I passed through Coleman a little city with 15 000 people neat little place I saw this little liquor store and I thought I'd go in and strike up a conversation okay what's it like in Small Town Alabama can I can I ask you yeah well we're Hometown folks everybody well there for a while everybody knew everybody but now it's getting it's growing we've gotten his subdivisions and all like we've got one subdivision that's got 800 houses in it why are people moving here um uh the plants and stuff in Huntsville lots of jobs a job and it's cheap don't want to live up there because the price is high what's up there Huntsville oh so it's cheap it's just housing is high yeah yeah what things do people believe in out in smaller Alabama towns like we believe in helping each other help us neighbors help Neighbors you know so it's like when we had the tornadoes that came through I mean people come out of the woodwork you know helping each other so good just hometown people neat lady huh now Alabama's love to eat this is the third fattest state overall 40 percent of alabamans are considered obese and that's a lot I mean in Colorado only 25 percent of people are obese I know it's still kind of a lot but I saw a lot of interesting places to eat when we were down here the brand and Iron Steakhouse looks like a lot of fun huh The Farmhouse Cafe looked mighty good dude standing around in camo and all probably just got off a big hunt I was in a town called Clanton for a bit and had to pull over I could smell the BBQ from the other end of town I found the source a place called Smoky teas just a little unassuming place that I'm sure has really good food because they have a smoker out back [Music] I went in and tried to order but the line was too long I think that's because they need more people to work no one wants to work anymore and that makes me mad I was pretty hungry so I ducked inside this little cafe in some random town I can't even remember the name of the town but I do remember looking at the menu thinking some country fried steak and meatloaf and mashed potatoes sounded good and some turnip greens and some peach cobbler but they allow smoking inside so I had to bail it's hard to eat or suffer with Sig smoke wafting about right strike two but I finally found my meal I think my favorite place to eat when I was in Alabama was at a little cafe called pops it's right on the highway in a little town called Hanceville population 3215. pops knows how to treat you right I got some chili and cornbread and some meatloaf and mac and cheese with more cornbread this is why alabamans are thick wasted they even threw in their specialty a deep fried apple pie and that everyone is southern cooking this is how America Used to Be this is how America should be [Music] I sat there and ate and thought you know what small town Deep South people or some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet I'm serious of all the regions in the country you'll find more genuine people down the South than anywhere else they're so nice down here because their reputation is important they're just bred to be polite I know Mappy it's like they're not concerned about money or status or what anybody thinks they're just normal people living a normal life it's all about family and football and hunting and church and hush puppies what'd you say I said I've never been to Heaven although I'm planning on going but this is nearby close that just about says it right there I met that guy at a tractor supply place way out in the country one day he just about summed it up people just like their small towns here they like the simple life and the peace and quiet there's no traffic there's no protests or people acting like this like God nope folks down here know each other well and they'll help one another out these are actual communities the way things used to be before we all got so busy that we don't have time to care about one another just a few miles down the road I found another tractor place and went inside and met a woman who didn't want to be on camera but she talked to me anyways while she made a sandwich out of Ritz crackers and Ham it's like to live out in rural Alabama and why people love it too quiet if quiet nine turkey quiet peaceful not a lot of crime and not a lot of people [Music] what kind of values do people have out here in this part of the country it's me relieved you oh yes religion and the older values that most people need to go back to and most people out in the country still believe in God which everybody needs to put still put first do you feel like a lot of people have left forgot about God yes I do I think that's bad yes he is everybody should think that God should be first in everybody's lives oh I talk to a lot of people you know me I popped by a thrift store in a little city called Clanton Alabama I needed a hat for church looks pretty spiffy right the owner told me it's a Bear Bryant hat he was an important football coach down here at one time and then I asked her some questions about what it's like down here what kind of values do people have out here they they're family oriented we all stick together if we have if we have a problem everybody pitches in neighbors or Neighbors and your friends your friends I really I appreciate it and I you know I do what I can to help I I don't have to work but I want I want to stay busy I want to help my community and I support these kids everything's just so different down here Piggly Wiggly is a big deal in Alabama that's their go-to for groceries nice Supermarket I have to say an Alabama traffic jam is waiting for a guy hauling hay to get out of the way or a diesel truck with a bunch of Timber on it I found somebody's weave laying on a railroad track one day God I hope they didn't get run over or something train came through and hit her so harder braids flew off too much seems like every little town in Alabama has something in it for hunting gun stores knife stores with a God Bless America sign out front Outfitters taxidermists I saw a bunch of those I finally stopped at a taxidermist in a little town that barely has more than a thousand people I went inside and talked to Mr Bill Jones himself he's the taxidermist in town and what a place inside he's got the whole jungle up on his walls this is really neat I love this place man which one yeah yeah all of them yeah around here yeah damn Bill didn't want to be on camera you know he's not big on social media and all and he wants to keep his privacy well that's his right but he talked to me anyway what do people do out here in rural Alabama for for fun hunt fish and work motion I mean we enjoy prevailing pay and all that kind of stuff mama you know what kind of values do people have out here yeah what values yeah we do I mean really our children and grandchildren great grandchildren it's all about family yeah and then of course there's Robert we met him at the beginning kind of looks like Robert's got it all figured out Simple Life he probably doesn't even know what's trending on Twitter I bet he doesn't even have a real cell phone a happy simple life indeed try to make groceries try to make some groceries to eat no we've I've been doing this every year it was just what day is what's your what's your uh mule's name Eeyore Eeyore New York can I run into New York lived in the South Carolina so far nice to meet you I'm Nick Nick Johnson Johnson yes sir you're not into cancer we got some Johnsons in the neighborhood up here Robert Johnson or anything okay name me but he is you don't know about it huh no sir okay four yeah you've been here since 64. yeah I'll be okay I'm 64. I was raised right here in this house that was Madea that's where the day it was I was born in uh Atlanta in 1940 in uh my dad then moved down back down here they was ridges from Butler County and so they moved back down here when I was a year old so all I know was Butler County so I've been down here ever since what's it like to live out here in the country yeah we just enjoyed it's no other way we live in town for a while but uh I just like the country so we uh we've enjoyed it out here meanwhile we raised three kids out here and I'm not sure what was going on there I don't want to know who the woman was helping him out that's between them there's a saying here in Alabama today will never be as good as the Alabama of yesterday and tomorrow won't be as good as today I just like Alabama yeah there's some rundown Parts but I don't need back roads it's just nice and friendly and just a great place to be you can really get some perspective hanging out in places like this I was actually kind of sad when I finally got to Mississippi I think I'll be back in Alabama again I can't wait to see what's changed just kidding I don't think much will be any different the next time I come and that's a good thing are you looking to move and need advice I do Consulting that's right I'll sit down and talk about where the next perfect place for you and your family should be I do it all the time together let's find you a new home that's safe and checks all your boxes and I can also help you find your new house too email me and I'll work with you on not just helping you figure out where to move but I can help you find your perfect home too that's right I know awesome reliable agents all over the country and I'd love to connect you to somebody who can help you search for that perfect home hey guys if you learned something new about America or what it's like to live in America great you should think about subscribing and turning on your notifications you can also click one of these videos or playlists for more this is stage next manager this has been a Corner House Entertainment production

Channel: Nick Johnson

Views: 180,919

Keywords: alabama, alabama travel, alabama hotels, alabama realtor, alabama homes for sale, what is alabama like, alabama crime, alabama history, plantations, slavery, southern living, deep south, road trip, moving to alabama, alabama tourism, cemetaries, alabama culture, alabama hunting, oil jobs, gambling, texas, houston, alabama jobs, things to do in alabama, gas jobs, casinos, alabama worst cities, worst places in alabama, birmingham

Id: BgFqs6XDcPc

Length: 27min 45sec (1665 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 16 2023