There’s a cure for State Highway 59. Take a west turn on County Road 8. That’s right hand going south and left hand going north.

So don’t blame anyone if you choose to creep and crawl and cuss on Highway 59 at times,and at other times dodge swerving and menacing vehicles demonstrating head-on, side-on and rear-on collisions. So make the turn and in about 1.2 miles you’ll find that last century escape from asphalt called Jesse’s Trout Lodge. Not too distant, eh? Just an Andruw Jones and a Willie Mays throw to the plate combined. 

This is a back-in-time resort just minutes away (on sane days) to Gulf Shores. Locals, make arrangement for your visitors to stay at the Lodge — they’ll forever be indebted to you for a real vacation from the trials and tribulations of modern living, although the owners sheepishly admits that Riviera Cable and HBO are available.

Just lift up your nose at this. The great hosts, Ross and Karen Whitworth, could easily sell out their holdings and retire to the Greater Antilles, but alas! their souls would remain on the banks of Bon Secour, that magical river without sound and foam, named by the French (everything west of 59 is French and everything east is Spanish) for its succor (old English word meaning “help” and “salvation”). 

How Bon Secour has captured the imagination and poetry of South Alabama! Hey girls and boys (any age), have your wedding there. Or for those who wedded and have offspring, a family reunion. DUH! 

In addition to the magic of the River, you’ll feel the presence of other greats — The Ace of Anglers, Ronald Martin was here. Yes, he came and demonstrated the fine art of angling,