A bit of a jump and a change of pace away from churches and Detroit whilst I work out how to post other stuff in the best way possible.
During this trip I finally got to spend some time in the deep south like I had wanted to for years. When I had originally planned my ill-fated 2020 trip I had worked out staying a week down in Alabama, so when that all got cancelled I was gutted. True to my word though I kept the plans in mind and eventually two years later finally got down there and had a truly unbelievable six days of solid exploring with a local friend and another friend from Texas. I wasn't sure what to expect from Alabama if I'm honest, everyone goes on about it being full of dumb God-fearing rednecks and I suspect that's true in some places, but I absolutely fell in love with the place. Everybody down there is so friendly, things are so chilled, the food is incredible and it feels like an entire world away from the non-stop hustle of the northeastern States where everybody is in a rush and just wants you to get out their way. Add in the fact there is barely an exploring scene worth mentioning in places like Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and you have a perfect recipe for discovering all sorts of different stuff.
The thing that shocked me the most about staying down there though was the fact that many places are totally wide open yet there is barely any tagging or graffiti at all. There's some evidence of scrapping and metal theft of course but as for graffiti, much like exploring it seems like it's just not a thing down there which was a big shock.
Now we move on to this particular location, which is sort of a microcosm of all that makes exploring in the south great.
This dental surgery, located in what was originally a regular house but since extended to at least triple the size, is the definition of a time capsule - as much as I hate that phrase, it's the only words to accurately describe it. The building housed six dental surgery suites, plus associated things like the x-ray facilities and offices. It closed in 2003 when the owner retired, and it looks to all intents and purposes as if the day the surgery closed all the staff simply upped and left leaving the building completely full of everything. All six surgery suites are completely intact (although one has fallen through the floor and one is inaccessible), the x-ray chair is still sat in place, the office is full of thousands and thousands of patient files, there is equipment absolutely everywhere and the only real damage inside has been caused by the elements. The poorly constructed wooden extension is totally rotten and has collapsed in the area adjoining the older building after nearly 20 years of damage caused by rain and water getting in, which makes navigating the laboratory area and to the rear two dental suites an entertaining challenge of climbing on fallen oxygen tanks and some extremely soft floors.
I actually ended up going here twice, as the first time we went my one friend had left his digital camera at home and only had a film camera with the wrong lens, so we went back a couple of days after the first visit so he could shoot it, and I took a few photos on my phone of the laboratory area which had floors so rotten you could barely stand in them and not even think of putting a tripod down anywhere.
Just a pre-warning, if you don't like photos of bad teeth and dentistry you may want to scroll very fast through some of these...
The last suite can just be seen around the corner in the last photo, but the floor was too fragile to even think of trying to walk on.
Thanks for looking
During this trip I finally got to spend some time in the deep south like I had wanted to for years. When I had originally planned my ill-fated 2020 trip I had worked out staying a week down in Alabama, so when that all got cancelled I was gutted. True to my word though I kept the plans in mind and eventually two years later finally got down there and had a truly unbelievable six days of solid exploring with a local friend and another friend from Texas. I wasn't sure what to expect from Alabama if I'm honest, everyone goes on about it being full of dumb God-fearing rednecks and I suspect that's true in some places, but I absolutely fell in love with the place. Everybody down there is so friendly, things are so chilled, the food is incredible and it feels like an entire world away from the non-stop hustle of the northeastern States where everybody is in a rush and just wants you to get out their way. Add in the fact there is barely an exploring scene worth mentioning in places like Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and you have a perfect recipe for discovering all sorts of different stuff.
The thing that shocked me the most about staying down there though was the fact that many places are totally wide open yet there is barely any tagging or graffiti at all. There's some evidence of scrapping and metal theft of course but as for graffiti, much like exploring it seems like it's just not a thing down there which was a big shock.
Now we move on to this particular location, which is sort of a microcosm of all that makes exploring in the south great.
This dental surgery, located in what was originally a regular house but since extended to at least triple the size, is the definition of a time capsule - as much as I hate that phrase, it's the only words to accurately describe it. The building housed six dental surgery suites, plus associated things like the x-ray facilities and offices. It closed in 2003 when the owner retired, and it looks to all intents and purposes as if the day the surgery closed all the staff simply upped and left leaving the building completely full of everything. All six surgery suites are completely intact (although one has fallen through the floor and one is inaccessible), the x-ray chair is still sat in place, the office is full of thousands and thousands of patient files, there is equipment absolutely everywhere and the only real damage inside has been caused by the elements. The poorly constructed wooden extension is totally rotten and has collapsed in the area adjoining the older building after nearly 20 years of damage caused by rain and water getting in, which makes navigating the laboratory area and to the rear two dental suites an entertaining challenge of climbing on fallen oxygen tanks and some extremely soft floors.
I actually ended up going here twice, as the first time we went my one friend had left his digital camera at home and only had a film camera with the wrong lens, so we went back a couple of days after the first visit so he could shoot it, and I took a few photos on my phone of the laboratory area which had floors so rotten you could barely stand in them and not even think of putting a tripod down anywhere.
Just a pre-warning, if you don't like photos of bad teeth and dentistry you may want to scroll very fast through some of these...
The last suite can just be seen around the corner in the last photo, but the floor was too fragile to even think of trying to walk on.
Thanks for looking
