TALLADEGA SCENIC HIGHWAY ON MT. CHEAHA ~ ALABAMA ~ photo taken by Dianna Stover
All material posted here is the original property of Lady R, author of this blog, unless linked from another source or otherwise noted. All material and photos not to be reprinted without permission.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

GLIDER RIDER WELCOMES YOU TO... SOUTHERN COMFORT

Just how does a mid western Iowa girl end up living in the south? Well, she did exactly what her momma did (she grew up in Wyoming)... falls in love with a sailor and moves far away from home!

Actually, the moving away part came first, when I enlisted into the Navy and went to Orlando, Florida for boot camp.  That's where I first met Harley.  While in boot camp, they pair up two female units with two male units and they are considered your "brother and sister" units as we all go through our training together.  That just means every time we eat at the chow hall, perform calisthenics on the field, march, worship on Sundays or just whatever... you'll usually do these types of activities with your brother and sister units.

During meals, Harley and one of his buddies would come over and sit with me and my bunk mate, Darlene every time he got the chance.  Seems he was smitten on her, but she had her eyes set on some other dude with short hair.  Pfffttt... Ain't that just the shit?  Anyway, being raised in Iowa (where they do a great job of talking normally), I was fascinated with this stranger spewing a foreign language from his tongue.

"Hey y'all." 

What the hell did he say??  My pal, Darlene, who was from Tennessee says to me... "he said hi."

"Oooohh." I responded in my Iowan long "o" fashion, to which she looked at me like I was the strange one. Good grief, I thought he was talking about that stuff horses eat!

And so it goes.  Before long I realized that if you were fix'in to do something, you didn't really need tools, you just needed to be ready.  I don't have to worry about ever walking anywhere, cause someone can carry you anywhere you want to go. (don't worry... there is a vehicle involved!)  And soda is not just for baking.  Speaking of sodas... they don't sell pop in the south.  Just sayin'...

Well, to cut to the chase, we all (or most of us anyway) made it through boot camp hell and were soon disbursed into several different directions to our perspective "A" schools or duty stations.  I had chosen the dental field so after a short leave back home to Iowa so my parents could see that I survived my first leg of my Naval journey, I was off to San Diego, California.  Guess who I should run into on my first day there?  Yep... that foreign speaking southern boy (whom I now affectionately refer to as Harley)!

I walked up to him when I spotted him and said, "Hi! Remember me?"  He just looked at me and grinned from ear to ear and said, "Some others are goin' over yonder to the Enlisted Club. We could go meet 'em... yon't to??"  I looked at him a moment and reminded him that he was after my bunk mate, the last I heard.  He gave me a cockeyed grin and looked at me with the sweetest blue eyes and said... "I thought you were a foreigner."

And the rest is history!  A year or so later, I married that southern boy and after we played sailor for awhile, we settled down right here in the sunny south... a thousand miles away from home. Just like my momma!  Oh, well... she got 50 happy years out of her sailor before he left this world.  I've got a long way to go yet, but after 31 years... I 'm not doing too bad!

Adjusting to life in the south has not been terrible.  There is a great reference to help you along in this process in the form of a book titled, "How To Speak Southern" by Steve Mitchell. It's a really great read and totally reliable. The heat took a little getting used to, and I miss the snow at Christmas!  However, as far as riding motorcycles and playing on the lakes, living here has been awsome!!  For the last 8 years of our riding days, we've been able to ring in the new year... on the Glides! How cool is that?

Glider Rider is sad to bow out, but Southern Comfort is more than willing to step up and take it from here.  This is the same blog with all my archived posts still intact, I'm just giving my blog the freshening up it desperately needed. Stay tuned for more tales from Southern Comfort.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?
Lady R

17 comments:

Ronman said...

I look forward to seeing this side of you Lady R. Just because the look of the page changed doesn't mean the author is anyone other than Lady R.

Kathleen Jennette said...

I like reading this side of you. Never quite knew this sweet story of your love. I like it! Me too, I am looking forward to more :)

my word verif: berpe... you have now burped your way into the next realm of life :)

Allen Madding said...

Awesome story. I would a never guessed you were in the Navy. Looking forward to more of your stories.

-Peace

Unknown said...

Lady R:

this is awesome. Real life in the south. I want to learn how to speak Southern . . .

have you any photos of Darlene ?

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

Mr. Motorcycle said...

Great stuff! Glad I took the time to read your refreshing words. I laughed at the How to speak southern, because it reminds me of a play I once saw called how to speak Minnesotan! With the Iowan long Oooooos as well!

mq01 said...

burpees for southern comfort, yay!

bob? really? pics of darlene? smh...lol...

Lady R (Di) said...

Ronman... why thank you kind sir. Look forward to sharing.

KT... Well, for the last 4 years, all I've talked about is motorcycles, riding and a little of life's happenings mixed in. This is like opening a Christmas present that's been under the tree, teasing you with the mystery of it's contents. I glad you like your present! urrp... excuse me!

Allen... I revealed that during those posts of "101 Things You Don't Know About Me". I followed my daddy's footsteps and became a sailor... then like my mom, married one. I'm very glad I served. It taught me much and gave me the confidence and discipline to handle what comes my way in life. I'll have plenty of interesting Navy stories to share... stay tuned.

Bobskoot... You can get "How To Speak Southern" through that link in the post. It takes you right to Amazon. It's really a funny read. And I do have pictures of Darlene, but... well, we'll see.

Mr. Motorcycle... ooooooohh, I seeeee. lol! They laugh at me here when I say oil and wagon for some reason. I'm just glad y'all can't hear my voice. It's an accent with no home! lol again!!

MQ01... I think Bob would be disappointed, unless he likes pictures of women in uniform! That must be it.
Good Luck this weekend! Pedal Power... Woo Hoo!!

FREEBIRDRONNIE said...

Yeah, wellcome! nice place, nice name, i wish you the best my friend!.

Un saludo.

B.B. said...

What a sweet love story! You are an amazing writer, and I look forward to your posts, no matter what the content! :)

Lady R (Di) said...

Freebird... thank you!

B.B... Thanks friend! It was fun reliving our first meeting again. Boy, that seems like a long, long, time ago. ;D

GF said...

Great story, wow, Navy girl ;-)
I love the way the southerners speak, I need to visit the middle/bottom part of the US.

Lady R (Di) said...

George... Thanks! You should come down here some time. You won't have to worry about understanding "southern". As soon as you start cruising on Alabama's beautiful country roads, you'll forget all about these foreigners (pronounced; fur-in-ers).

Rhonda said...

I didn't realize we had so much in common other than riding bikes. I was in the USAF for 22 years as a dental assistant. My first assignment was Virginia...yeah a totally different language for sure! Now I love a good pig pickin and I'll have a nakin and an orange 'coke' with it, thank you very much!

Lady R (Di) said...

Rhonda... well, I guess we do! And how about those peanuts! Moving here taught me two new ways to eat them. Poured into your cokes (but it has to be a bottled coke) and boiled! Took me a while to acquire the desire for boiled peanuts, but now I love 'em!!

IHG said...

Love the new look of your blog!!! What a GREAT story about you and Harley. I loved reading it. Ya'll do talk a little funny down there. LOL :) Miss ya!

fasthair said...

Ms. Lady R: Yah I've been AOL for awhile and just geting back around these parts :)

Being from Iowa too I was floored when I went to your next of the woods. First the dry counties thing the first night after a 600 mile day was totally uncalled for. But when you ask the nice young lady where is the beer cooler and she looks at you and the first thing she says is "y'all aint from around here are ya? Y'all talk funny!" I'd thought we crossed a boarder somewhere because I thought SHE talked funny :)

Loved the story!

fasthair

Lady R (Di) said...

IHG... Just yesterday, while I was at work, some woman (who was originally from Wisconsin) stopped me mid sentence and said... "you're not from here are you?" I just laughed and said how can you tell?

Good grief... I'm just an accent with no home!!

Fasthair... It took a bit of getting used to, but I'm surprised how quick it is to pick up some of the accent. It's infectious!
And dry counties... yes, we have plenty! ugh! We actually plan road trips around that very problem. Nothing's worse than not being able to down an ice cold beer after a long hot summer ride.
Welcome back! We've missed you!