Back in the late 1980s my wife’s family was coming back from a funeral in Georgia and spent the night in Birmingham Al. My brother-in-law decided to sleep in the van while the rest of them went into the motel. He was constantly being woke up by people trying to get into the van. They were met with the muzzle of a 12 gauge sawed off shotgun he had at that time.
My wife said she saw her first drug deal in the parking lot while there.
I decided in 2013...I’d take Amtrak from DC to Birmingham, and ride the bus to my dad’s farm about an hour up the interstate (making it easier for him).
I get to the Amtrak station in Birmingham....something out of the 1920s (bad condition). Took a short ride to the Greyhound station (discovering it’s a rough neighborhood). Waited for 2 hours for the next bus.
Sat in the middle of the bus...finding 5 guys around me. All had wrapped up their state prison experience that morning. We got about 10 miles out of town, heading north. Police patrol cars encircle the bus...pulling it over. They were interested in some guy in the very rear of the bus...acting weird (high on something).
All in all, it was an interesting trip (I’ll never make that again).