When we started this venture called Scenic98Coastal.com, I talked it out with lots of people I know and respect. The best advice I received was from a friend’s son visiting Fairhope from New York during the pandemic. We were having lunch at Sunset Pointe at Fly Creek when I told him about our idea to launch a newsletter for the area between Mobile and Pensacola. 

For the first half of my life, I was Jim, and then, increasingly, I was Jimmy Lee. It's a nickname I gave myself in 1993, and I encouraged it to stick. It's been confusing at times, but looking back, I wouldn't change a thing.

Something that even some of my friends don't know about me is I'm into birds, and have been for over 30 years. The preferred term is "birding" for people who are seriously into it, but I've never quite put myself in that category, even though I do own a handful of reference books, some nice binoculars and even a high-powered spotting scope. 

Reading the obituaries every day is something I do. In the old days they would print, ‘she died of natural causes’ meaning, she got old and up and died. Not anymore, they say nothing about the cause of death. The best I can do to figure out what happened is to read between the lines of the suggested ‘in lieu of’ donation.

Scenic 98 Coastal was officially launched on April 14, 2022, when our first newsletter was emailed to 142 subscribers made up of family and friends. Over the last two years, we have enjoyed telling stories and sharing experiences with our readers, now over 5,000 strong. Telling stories is what we are all about! With everything going on in the world right now, we hope to be a positive voice that celebrates this community and all it has to offer.

The smallness of my hometown, Evergreen, Alabama, meant a lack of separation. The poor and the wealthy, the educated and the ignorant, the sane and crazy, and the sick and healthy were thrown together in a tiny, rural piece of geography.

With Halloween just around the corner, you can be sure that the ghosting season is upon us. Here are a few scary sites that you can find just off Scenic 98, or not too far from it.

I have mixed feelings about reunions and this year has been my season for reunions. They seem, well, to be a lot of trouble and you are never quite sure what you are going to get for your effort. I hear this same refrain from others. Lots of vacillation takes place, with all the pros and cons. It’s a commitment we are not sure we want to make.