Wednesday, July 24, 2002
Back to Huntsville
On Sunday we went with my parents to the PX on Redstone Arsenal, an army base in Huntsville. While I was in high school, I remember being able to just breeze right through the base with a decal in order to get to the mall on the other side of town. Even when I was in college, it was easy enough to drive through without a decal, as the guard posts into the base were not manned and no one seemed to give a flying fig.
Going there now was my first real experience with America post 911. Newberry and Gainesville felt the upsurge of patriotism, but you really didn't see any other changes (save if were fool enough to try and fly out of our airport). But to see the armed guardposts and concrete barrier slalom course one has to navigate to enter the base now is a sobering reminder. The guard even gave us a hassle on entering, despite having seen my father's military ID, because we didn't have the insurance papers in the car (a requirement in Alabama, but not if Florida).
Despite this hundred-fold increase in security, I have heard that they are still planning on building a bypass through the arsenal from the south side of town to the mall. And dad pointed out that if anyone was planning anything, you don't have to navigate the concrete blocks if you go through the opposite side of the guard house, where traffic leaves the base. Of course, no one would ever think of driving on the opposite side of the road. That's just unnatural.
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