Tag: Alabama

And Then There Were Three

Our daughter-in-law shares photos of her family through an online album titled “And Then There Were Five”.  She used to have individual collections for her two girls but once daughter three came along she combined everything into one album.  Add her and my son to the equation… “and then there were five”.  It’s a phrase I thought about as I passed through the state of Alabama earlier this week. I’ve never been to Alabama but now I can claim that I have.  To which I say… “and then there were three“.

In my (almost) sixty-five years of existence I’ve managed to visit 46 out of the 50 U.S. states.  None of these visits were intentional, as in “I just want to say that I’ve been there”.  Rather, they happened for the usual reasons we find ourselves in states other than the one we call home.  Sightseeing.  Visits to colleges and universities.  Reunions with family and friends.  Or simply traveling through one state to get to another.  If you identify with any of these reasons, the number of U.S. states you’ve visited may be higher than you think.

Growing up out west in California, my parents recognized the value of a trip to the East Coast to see the sights of Colonial America.  They designed a single month-long drive for me and my brothers that accounted for at least fifteen states in and around New England.  Since then I’ve managed to visit most of the western states through short driving trips here and there.  My wife and I honeymooned in Hawaii.  One of my nephews got married in Alaska.  And so on.  All these years later the only states I haven’t visited are Arkansas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.

But never mind the leftovers.  Today we put the spotlight on Alabama, my most recent “acquisition”.  Off the top of my head, here’s everything I know about Alabama:

  • Montgomery is the state capital (memorizing in elementary school is a beautiful thing).
  • Auburn University and the University of Alabama are consistently ranked among the best football programs in the country.
  • Alabama was a legendary country music band.
  • An Alabama Slammer is a fruity shot made with Southern Comfort.
  • “Sweet Home Alabama” ranks among the greatest rock songs of all time.

Now then, having just driven from South Carolina west into Georgia, then southwest down “The Yellowhammer State” and on into Florida, here’s everything new I’ve discovered about Alabama:

  • A good chunk of the state is covered by national forest.
  • They have a Buc-ee’s travel center.

Let’s be honest; I’m feeling a little rain on my parade of states right now.  I mean, virtually every U.S. state has a national forest, right?  As for Buc-ee’s, if you’re not familiar with their mega gas stations you will be soon.  Buc-ee’s has added larger-than-life dimensions to the term “rest stop”.  The convenience store in their Luling, TX location is a world-record 75,000 square feet of retail.  The car wash in their Katy, TX location also breaks a world record – 250 feet from one end to the other.  In Alabama you have four opportunities to stop at a Buc-ee’s.

To all of its residents, I say Alabama deserves more respect than a walk in the woods or a stop at a glorified gas station.  A little online legwork tells me I can opt for the following instead:

  • Visit the world’s largest space museum, up north in Huntsville.
  • Raft on North America’s longest mountaintop river, just outside of Ft. Payne in the Little River Canyon National Preserve.
  • Spelunk in Cathedral Caverns outside of Woodville, including a look-see of a 45-foot stalagmite column nicknamed “Goliath”.
  • Reacquaint myself with America’s Civil Rights Movement in a multimedia museum in the heart of Birmingham (which is pretty much in the heart of the entire state).
  • Board the USS Alabama, a World War II battleship turned into a floating museum, docked in a memorial park down south in Mobile.
“Roll Tide!”

Okay, Alabama just moved up a few rungs on the ladder of respect, even if my upcoming drive back home only includes more views of the forest and a stop at Buc-ee’s.  At least I know somewhere beyond all those trees and gas pumps lies worthwhile attractions.  That’s more than I can say about Arkansas, North Dakota, or Oklahoma.

Some content sourced from Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia”.

Recycled Airbags

As I build the beginnings of this week’s blog post (three “b”s already for those keeping count) my screen distracts me with alerts for Cyber Monday deals. Laptops at 30% off retail. E-readers at 25% off. DNA tests at 70% off (which begs the question: do we really care about our ancestry anymore?) Cyber Monday is a sort of second chance for those who shunned the big box stores the Friday after Thanksgiving (good decision). But here’s what I wonder today. Why endure Black Friday or get distracted by Cyber Monday when you can shop through lost luggage any day of the year instead?

I’ve finally found a reason to visit Alabama.  A six-hour drive due west of my keyboard puts me in the little town of Scottsboro, of which an entire block is consumed by a business known as Unclaimed Baggage.  UB is exactly what you think it is: deep-discounted personal belongings made available to you by the traveling misfortunes of others.  Think of UB as one person’s trash becoming another person’s treasure only, of course, the original owner had no intention of throwing it away.

“Where’s my owner?”

Unclaimed Baggage is the kind of entrepreneurial enterprise I wish I’d thought up myself.  Consider the end-to-end process.  You and your luggage start at Point A, but sadly one of you doesn’t make it to Point B.  The airline (or the bus or the train) spends several months trying to reunite the two of you.  Failing that, they compensate for the loss (sometimes).  But what of your bag if it turns up later?  Dump it into a “Dead Luggage” office?  Actually, yes, and then Unclaimed Baggage comes a-calling.

Here’s an encouraging stat: 99.5% of lost luggage is reunited with its owner.  You wouldn’t think Unclaimed Baggage could make a business of the leftovers.  But those leftover are, on average, 7,000 items every day.  No wonder Unclaimed Baggage needs a city block to house all that it sells.  And the best part of the business?  UB never knows what it’s going to get because the airlines don’t (or aren’t allowed to) open the bags.  It reminds me of the show where bidders vie for contents of storage lockers without being able to raise the roll-up doors beforehand.

The most expensive item UB ever sold was a Rolex watch for $32,000 (50% of retail).  Visit the store today and you can purchase a diamond ring for $20,000 that surely appraises for more.  Some items are so strange they’re relegated to an area known as the “Museum Gallery”.  Wigs. Shark teeth.  A funeral casket key (?)  Items considered “unsaleable”, and items where you have to wonder why they were on an airplane in the first place. 

Treasures from chests suitcases

When I first learned about Unclaimed Baggage I thought, they have something of mine and I want it back!  No, I’ve never lost luggage.  Rather, I’m the passenger who keeps forgetting the little things in the seat back pocket right in front of him.  Reading glasses.  E-readers.  A rather expensive pair of noise-cancelling headphones.  Somehow my stuff gets left behind despite the pointed announcement from the flight attendant: “Please check in and around your seat for personal belongings, as you will not be allowed back on the aircraft after you deplane.”  Sigh…

Unclaimed Baggage has at least one example of an item unintentionally returned to its original owner.  At UB’s annual ski sale (which earned an LOL from me; I mean, just how many skis are left at baggage claim?), a shopper purchased ski boots for his girlfriend.  When he brought them home, she discovered initials on the inside of the boots – hers.  The airline had already compensated her for the lost boots so effectively, she re-owns her boots at a deep discount.

Time is cheap at Unclaimed Baggage

As you might expect, a good percentage of shoppers at Unclaimed Baggage are the same ones who troll garage sales and eBay for items they have no intention of owning.  They simply relist their wares online for purchase (and profit) from others.  It’s another enterprising way to make a buck but it’s not my cup of tea.  I’m the shopper who shows up at sales well after the best items have been picked over.

Unclaimed Baggage has cornered a lucrative market.  I don’t think they have any competition for the business of repurposing lost luggage.  I will say this: I’m less likely to leave my stuff on airplanes now that I know about UB.  I mean, do I really want some stranger buying my stuff for way less than I paid for it myself?

Final thought for the day.  Why don’t they call it Unclaimed Luggage?  Baggage?  Luggage?  Bag?  Lug?  Who the heck added two words into the English language when we only needed one?  The Oxford English Dictionary estimates we use 170,000 words these days.  I’m here to say that’s one too many.

Some content sourced from the CNN Travel article, “US travelers lose millions of suitcases every year…”, and Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia”.