Coalfest at Brilliant Alabama

I have a friend I saw friday and he told me he was going to a 'show' this next Saturday and sell some coins and jewelry he makes. I have bought several pieces from him and they are nice. They are the older silver american coins where he has used his tools and skills to display the eagle or lady or whitehouse. He has attached silver chains and these are unusual pieces of jewelry to wear.

He told me the show at Brilliant, Alabama was about an hour and 1/2 drive from Bessemer and was just north of a town called Winfield. I looked at this on his map and told him if Ms Karen wanted, we might make the show. He said the show was free and his was only $20.00 for a booth or slot to display his jewelry.

Karen and I got up early Saturday morning and I really had forgotten about the show. About 10:30am we had just finished some things around the house and I ask Karen if she felt like getting out for a maybe 200 mile roundtrip to this show. She beat me into the shower! We were into cargo shorts, polo shirts and hats with wide brims in a heartbeat. Karen packed a small box with bottles of water we knew we would need if away any time on this hot day.

You head north on I65 through 'malfunction' junction, then west on I59 for about 2 miles until you get to the Arkadelphia exit. This takes you to 78 West toward Jasper. We drove through Forestdale, Summiton, Dora, Jasper and through Jasper continuing toward Carbon Hill. 20 miles west of Carbon Hill is Winfield and just east of Winfield is highway 129N. Once you make the 129 highway, I was told it was about 5 miles from Winfield. Jimmy's directions were right on the money.

There were signs on the side of the road with arrows indicating to turn right off of 129N. They closed the road about 1 mile in and you had to find a parking place up one of the side streets. We got our hats, our water, and took off to see what we can see. The first thing we saw was antique cars, restored and almost show room conditions. There were 55 Chevy pickups, 65 Ford pickups, Corvette stingray, 1934 Ford coupe, 1978 Chevy hardtop, 1955 Ford Crown Victoria, 1976 Chevy Chevelle 396SS, 1958 Chevy Sedan, 1966 Plymouth Sedan, and I am sure others that don't come to mind right now. The paint on some of these cars was impressive, much better than anything that was on them when new.

Jimmy's stand was almost across the street from the cars and Karen got to meet Jimmy for the first time. I bought Karen another coin on a chain and 3 sterling charms for her bracelet. She and Jimmy had a good time meeting each other but Jimmy was closing up soon as he had been there since 7:00am and it was after 2:00pm and the heat was getting to him. He had an umbrella and a wide brim hat and water but the heat and humidity was tough today.

We walked the entire length going down one side and coming back on the other. We stood under some huge trees and listen to some rock music for a while but soon we too headed back toward our cool air conditioned car and home. Karen wanted a funnel cake! Don't ask me what a funnel cake is except it looks like pancake batter cooked in strings that is fried fast and hot and turned and then drained and covered with XXX sugar and cimnamon. It is tasty but not on anyone's diet regimine.

We decided to take the long way home to go north on 129 past 'natural bridge, intersecting 278e and through Jones Chapel and Double Springs and into Cullman, Alabama. Cullman is on I65 giving us a straight shot back into Birmingham and back to Vestavia Hills. It was a nice outing and the car did nice getting almost 29 mpg on this trip after filling up at my Chevron in Hoover. The A/C home and the big glass of cold tea felt good going down. We bought some homegrown tomatoes in Brilliant but that is another story...Jeff