Wal-Mart-It's everywhere! For better or worse, for richer or poorer.  We just stopped in the Wal-Mart in Mt. Julia, TN, and it is almost the exact replica of the Wal-Mart in Mt. Vernon, WA. No matter what region of the country you are in you can locate a Wal-Mart off of an Interstate Highway.Wal-Mart stores and the U.S. Interstate system are two entities that exist in every major city in every state in the U.S. Both entities have other commonalities as wel...

The game of horseshoes is taken very seriously here. People own their own set of horseshoes to play with and there are tournaments at local eateries. Thanks to our new neighbor in the RV Park, Dan, everyone in my family learned how to play horseshoes properly. It is not an easy game to master, but each of us seemed to get the hang of it eventually. Learning how to score the game is not complicated (like bowling). A player can earn points for pitching his/her s...

Fast forward to September 2010, I was invited to attend a State Farm certification class in Birmingham AL. Since my wife is African American, adopted by white civil rights activists in the early 60's, and since we are taking the year to travel with our children, we thought it would be an enriching experience for us. We were right. I am of hispanic/irish decent, 50/50, smack down the middle. I had spent some time in the south while playing minor league baseba...