A Perfect Day for the St. John's Lawn Party

The official weather forecast for Sunday was mostly cloudy and 70% chance of rain. After the near -tropical storm South Alabama endured on Saturday, no one could be quite sure what the weather was going to do. Weather radar showed light rain bands running north from the Gulf. An eyeball cast toward the skies saw scattered clouds and lots of blue.

I went to the rendezvous site for the trip to Magnolia Springs and was soon joined by Jack & Linda Ross and Richard Cunningham. We stretched our 9:00 AM departure to 9:15 to make sure any late arrivals had a chance to join us. No one else came so off we went.

The ride down scenic 98 was beautiful. It seems like there were more joggers and bicyclists than cars. We pulled into Fairhope and parked our cars at the site where SABCC was born. The former foreign car repair shop is now some high end retail space. We got a few snapshots and continued on down highway 98 past Point Clear and on to Baldwin County highway 1. We rejoined US highway 98 for the ride into Magnolia Springs. I thought the Mini set a pretty quick pace, but one of the Jaguar drivers begged to differ. Oh, well at least no one overheated.

Turning into Magnolia Springs we passed several lovely old houses and the famous Jesse's restaurant which had a large sign out front advertising a "Huge Meat Sale". Being in the Mini I had no room for huge meat so we pressed on to St. Johns.

We found our usual spot under the oaks and parked the cars. We enjoyed the fresh breezes and shade of the trees until it was time to partake of one of the lunches sold to raise funds for the parish. The bar b que was great and the portions were generous. After lunch the constant stream of adimirers kept us from napping off the meal.

We were joined by Sandy & Sam Walter and Chris & Cindy Cronk who came by to help support the club and St. Johns. Donna Cunningham also made a stop with her two grand neices in tow. After lunch with Richard she went on to Gulf Shores to visit relatives there. It was also a pleasure to see St. Johns parishoner Elaine Coll again. She and her late husband Vince were charter members of SABCC.

We all left at various times in the afternoon to make the return trip home, still enjoying the sunshine and cool breezes that we began the day with.