First, an important note: Jenna has 1,700 miles and 8 nights left on her trip. Her funds are quickly dwindling. If you have a dollar or $5 or $500 to spare, she could use it. All Thrifty States is a very cool project, and Jenna is a great girl. Please click here to donate.

Now on with our show …

We spent Monday night at the home of Jenna’s friend Cecelia and her husband, Ryan. Before we all crashed, we ordered pizza and watched the “Breaking Bad” pilot. I’ve only been on the road with Jenna for a few days, and it was so nice to return to “normal” life. Jenna has been on the road for 30-plus days; I can’t imagine how welcome these little in-home oases are for her!

I woke up Tuesday to the rain gently falling against the window, with a soft light streaming through the trees. I pulled myself out of bed and got ready to face the day, only to snuggle back into our hosts’ couch to finish my book. I’ll take that every morning, please. After finishing “The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet” — which was weird but compelling, although I didn’t really find the end all that satisfying — I ate a few pieces of leftover cheese bread from Papa John’s and begged Jenna for some ibuprofen. Despite the day’s delightful beginnings, I’d woken up with a hoopendoodle of a headache.

The ibuprofen started to work its magic, and we headed out to visit the Goodwill store in Montgomery, Alabama. Goodwill is sponsoring Jenna’s trip, so she’s trying to visit as many of the shops as she can along her route. Like the Buckhead Goodwill, the Montgomery store was spacious, clean and well-organized. Many years ago I overheard a kid at a thrift store complaining to his mom that the shop smelled “like broccoli and old ladies.” Maybe Jenna just has a knack for choosing the best stores, but I’m thinking maybe thrift stores in general have cleaned up their act a bit. That is to say: I’ve been impressed at how tidy the stores we’ve visited have been.

The Montgomery Goodwill gets my vote for both Best T-Shirts and Most Wonderful Book Section so far this trip. They had a vast array of N’Sync t-shirts, as well as a host of goofy slogans such as “I (heart) hot moms” and I (cheeseburger) cows.” Their book section was actually its own room, which could have functioned as a small used book store. The lack of organization in there made me a little twitchy — the “Dune” books should all be together, for one, and I spied four copies of Robert James Waller’s “Puerto Vallarta Squeeze” and a variety of Paul Reiser tomes scatter wily-nily across the bookshelves — but they had an impressive selection. I bought a copy of Tom Wolfe’s “A Man in Full,” a circa-1964 cookbook from Brennan’s restaurant and a set of flip-through explorer cards for the kids.

We started the drive to Mobile, Alabama, after Jenna finished a few interviews with the local media, and we made it about halfway there before HaRVey politely requested an oil change. His little dashboard notification system said, “Pardon me, miss, but I could use a spot of oil. Pip-pip, cheerio!” OK, well maybe it wasn’t that, verbatim, but it was along those lines. So we made a brief pitstop, then carried on our way.

The sky was ominously dark in the distance for the rest of the drive, but we forged ahead anyway, with a song in our hearts and Nutella-graham snacks in our hands. The skies were clear when we arrived at our campsite, and Jenna made us some Butternut Squash Ravioli for dinner. It was delicious, but it made me miss my Poppy something ferocious. The clear skies seemed to be giving way to more rain as I typed this, and there was enough thunder to make me a little nervous. Let’s hope it isn’t a night like the one Jenna experienced in Iowa!

Lessons learned on Day Four

A shipping snafu had us spending an extra day in the Montgomery, Alabama, area to wait for a package, so we had a very leisurely Monday morning. Once we were finally up and (sort of) at ‘em, we opened the curtains to see a man on an ATV taking a pony on a leash for its morning constitutional. I’m learning to love you, Alabama.

After checking out, we drove to Opelika to find a couple of local thrift stores that we’d found online. One of them seemed to have disappeared, the second was actually a day-old bakery outlet and the third had a closed sign in the window. But there was a lady walking toward the door, so we pulled in in the hopes that they’d be opening soon.

It turned out that The Buildmore Store isn’t actually open on Mondays, but Lisa let us have a look around and chatted with Jenna for a bit anyway. The store is run by the Alabama Rural Ministry, which assists locals with home repairs. That’s a cause I can get behind, and even if I couldn’t? I’d shop at Buildmore if I were nearby. They had boxes of unopened, brand-new light fixtures; piles and piles of tile; a ton of doors and windows; and the largest shelving unit I’ve ever seen. It had to be 12 feet tall.

After parting ways with Lisa we drove into Montgomery in search of a Target. We ended up driving through a shopping area that I believe is the exact opposite of the thrift-store mentality (Williams-Sonoma, anyone?) on the way there, but I felt right at home again. We stocked up on supplies (c.h.o.c.o.l.a.t.e. mostly) and then went to meet Jenna’s friend Cecilia, who lives in Montgomery and graciously offered to show us around and let us sleep in her house.

Did you know that Montgomery is home to the Hank Williams Museum? It is, and we went. It was equal parts interesting and creepy. We drove by his grave, too, which was ornate and peaceful and not at all creepy. “Junior” pays for ornate floral arrangements for the site, but the lady at the museum said they’ve had some issues with people stealing the arrangements. They had a picture of a lovely guitar made mostly of roses that was stolen in the most recent pilfering. I can’t imagine a much lower petty crime than stealing flowers off a grave. (I didn’t get any pictures at the museum, because they were only allowed in the lobby. I was chastised for taking a picture in the gift shop. Which is adjacent to the lobby.)

So now we’re hanging out in Cecelia’s dining room, which at this moment looks a lot like a coffee shop, what with all the laptops and typing going on. Assuming that the errant package arrives on time, we should be heading off for Mobile tomorrow. Mobile is Rockford’s birthplace. I’m fairly certain they have neither a statue nor a museum marking the event, but they really ought to. He’s a great guy.

Lessons learned on Day 3

Were you aware that the bathroom in an RV is very, very small? It is! Small like an airplane bathroom! And the shower, it’s right there on the bathroom wall. I know there’s a name for the everything-in-one-room bathroom approach, but I don’t know what it is. And the campground we were at on Sunday charges $10 for internet, so I couldn’t look it up.* (Because I am thrifty, which I believe is what gave me access to the All Thrifty States tour bus.) So I’m going to call it an en suite bathroom and leave it at that.

Anyway, I started Sunday off with a refreshing shower in the en suite bathroom. I’ve never actually watched myself shampoo before, but the close quarters made it possible today. I’m happy to say that I seem to be a thorough shampooer.

Once it was go-time, we detached HaRVey from its various ports and headed to the Goodwill store in Buckhead. I’ve been working under the impression that Buckhead is a fancypants area of Atlanta, so I was expecting Big Things from the stop. It was a very clean and well-organized thrift store, but I saw nary a Picasso. I did, however, see several monkey-themed candleholders, a copy of “Bill Lambeer’s Combat Basketball” for Super Nintendo and a book of Greek myths. I left Bill and the monkeys behind and nabbed the book for $1.50.

After lunch and a short walk around Centennial Park, we started off for Alabama. A few hours later we found a campsite that claimed to offer internet service (important because Jenna is providing regular updates on her blog as part of her project). We parked our little van down by the river and started to hook things up, only to find out that there was in fact no wi-fi. So we called another campground. They said yes, they had internet, and it was free if you were close enough to the office. Once we got there we discovered that none of the sites next to the office had electricity. I am disappointed in your ability to provide free and reliable wi-fi, Alabama. (Yes, I know that this makes me a whiney first-world brat. I’m at peace with that.)

Lessons learned on Day Two: