Troy, Alabama – Great Charm and Awesome People!

Four months – for real, fourth months already in Troy, Alabama. The time has flown by, yet again, with friends and memories made, cool places visited, and enriching experiences cherished. My hope for this post is to give thanks to those who have welcomed us, allowing us to call Troy our home for four months, as well as give some insight to a few special gems for anyone traveling to Troy.

Alabama has treated us well over the last year, truly demonstrating what “southern hospitality” means. You might take a quick look back to our time in Dothan and Phil Campbell exactly one year ago in this blog. Our original plan did not include the winter of 2021 to be spent in Alabama again, however we are so glad God brought us back this year to spend four months from the end of August until January 2, 2022. Through all we have experienced, I suppose I’ll start with where we stayed…

Where to Stay if You RV

We spent our four months in Troy parked at Deer Run RV Park – a large, yet quiet, campground with plenty of space and extremely reasonable rates for extended stays. We were able to catch nearly a month of pool use and take advantage of the wide open spaces around two fishing ponds as long as the southern humidity was under control. The staff was incredibly friendly and accommodating, helping us to feel welcomed and right at home from the first days of our stay. Plus, it is only a quick twelve minute drive into downtown Troy. If in the area, we highly recommend Deer Run for your stay!

What to do when in Troy

Troy, Alabama is home to Troy University, “the most beautiful campus in Alabama”. Although I have not visited the campuses in Birmingham or Auburn in order to compare, Troy’s campus is impressive and worth a visit to walk around campus or catch a Division I game. We were able to take the kids to their first “big” football game on military appreciation day – tons of fun for them to experience the school and American spirit.
We really enjoyed walking around the quaint square of Downtown Troy for local shopping and eating. We were able to visit Santa, do crafts and take a train ride around town as a part of the Christmas festivities. While downtown, stop in for a killer cup of coffee at our friends’ new coffee shop, Fuse Coffee. Having a chance encounter with the owner on my first visit, they warmly offered to support us and allowed us to set up a “pop-up” booth to sell Flip Fit on two separate occasions! I’m not sure what I liked better… the owners or the coffee – both are great!
Taking a stroll back in time at the Pioneer Museum of Alabama – located just minutes north of Troy (and minutes south of Deer Run RV Park)-transported us back in time. The Pioneer Museum of Alabama is a Troy tradition and does a fabulous job representing what life was like in this region in the mid-late 1800’s complete with replica structures, dress and ton of hands on opportunities for young and old alike!
Be sure to treat yourself to some good eats not to be missed! A staple in Troy for several years was Sips on the Square. However, don’t look for them by that name as they have moved (a block south and three east) and are now Sips Beer Garden and Food Court. They offer a fun outdoor and kid friendly dining experience, an impressive number of local beers on taps, and great food. If you like BBQ sauce, you’ve got to try their “Austin” sauce!
Another must in the food category is Red’s Little School House. Really… be sure to take a short drive to Grady, AL and enjoy their no-frills style buffet of southern goodness featuring a fried chicken recipe that will rival your grandma’s. Dude, it’s that good.

How we enjoyed Montgomery, AL – only 45 minutes north

Montgomery was the closest big city to us, at around a 45 minute drive from Deer Run. I wouldn’t say we got to know it well, however we did have a few fun outings there. As you may know, Montgomery was the epicenter for much of the Civil Rights movement. If you find yourself there, be sure to tour the Rosa Parks Museum! Purchase the extra ticket to take the “bus ride”, especially if visiting with young ones. You can find more detail on our visit here.

Two other family friendly stops we highly recommend include Sweet Creek Market and Newtopia. Sweet Creek is a very lively market with a full cafe (great BBQ), coffee shop, and full open-air market with beautiful fresh produce and meat products. Should you be visiting in October, be sure to take your kids there to pick out their pumpkins and enjoy the festivities! And Newtopia is an extremely well done and affordable indoor play place for kids. Our kids had a blast there every time we visited.

We also made a trip up to Montgomery to take in Jurrasic Quest – a traveling exhibit with life-sized animatronic dinosaurs. The displays were cool, interesting and informative, and certainly impressive in their scale. The kids enjoyed looking and watching the dinos move…but not for long enough to validate the ticket price- just my opinion.

Super fun family outings we enjoyed outside Troy

Choosing to venture a little further outside of Troy, we were able to find some pretty awesome outdoor recreation as well as a big time concert experience! Having originally planned these past four months to be spent in northern Georgia, we became members of Georgia’s State Parks to take advantage of their camping offers. We also found out one of our family’s favorite bands was performing in Atlanta: NEEDTOBREATHE! So we purchased tickets prior to landing this contract.

Taking the kids to their first big concert experience was very special, as well as comical! Faith, taking after her mother, is a social party girl – she didn’t stop dancing. Fisher, the “in his own world” bug lover, was a little over-stimulated. He enjoyed the lights of the opening acts, yet was ready to go to sleep by the time NEEDTOBREATHE came on. He didn’t complain… we simply made a “bed” with the blankets we brought (as it was a cold night). Singing, dancing and and enjoying each other was magical that night. Oh and instead of getting in trouble for having Faith on my shoulders, the security guard moved us to VIP – Ha!

Our outdoor adventures included a tent camping trip…on the coldest nights we’ve had here… to FDR State Park, Georgia’s largest State Park. We made sure to prepare well, and the kids did great despite it reaching 29 degrees our first night there. The campground was very nice and clean – a great outing for your family, for sure. The second outdoor day trip we made was to Providence Canyon State Park. Known as Georgia’s Grand Canyon – this geologic phenomenon was caused by poor farming management in the 1800’s as thousands of acres of vegetation were clear cut resulting in erosion caused by rain run-off. This run-off caused washouts of the soil creating these massive canyons in merely a couple decades. Although beautiful to observe and fun to hike through, this man-made scar in the earth is a reminder of the huge impact we have on her.

Making friends and sharing fellowship in Troy

Ok, so those are the highlights of things we did and places we visited during our stay in Troy, and I hope it serves anyone visiting with a solid base of some fun things to do while visiting. However, what we’ll certainly remember more is the people and friendships we made actually living in this welcoming community of Troy, AL.

When we stay in a town for a three month contract (this one was four), we first find an RV park to live. The very next thing we do is start researching local churches to attend. The kids have really enjoyed participating in Awana, and we saw that Bush Baptist Church of Troy participates in this great program. So we gave it a try – and boy did God lead us to a great place! We have really enjoyed the community there. Not only did the kids make fantastic friends through Wednesday Awana and Sunday school, but Leah and I did too! We were able to participate in several church meals, get togethers, food distribution service, and hayride Christmas caroling!

On top of that, the connections we made led us to some awesome homeschool opportunities too! The kids took part in a local art contest, where they were to make art the size of a dollar bill, and have it on display downtown. And on Fridays, the Troy University Phys-Ed majors held a homeschool PE class we attended. We were also welcomed to family gatherings including trick-or-treating, a fall and Christmas arty (where we learned White Elephant is called “Dirty Santa” in the South), and Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was special as we were invite to be a part of a large family celebration on their ranch. Three smoked turkeys and a brisket were on the menu along with a kitchen full of side dishes. And yes, Faith got to ride a horse as well as in a carriage drawn by a miniature horse!

All of this happened through connections made through Bush Baptist. Really cool, huh? Oh and as a big aside, Faith also took voice lessons from a very talented teacher in exchange for some PT from Leah!

The kids really made some great connections with kids of very strong families, getting to spend time with them up to three times a week! These friendships and closeness will be very difficult to move away from. This is something Leah and I struggle with, yet have accepted as a part of our lifestyle choice and choose to look at it as an invaluable lesson for Faith and Fisher. Instead of going into this further, check out “Saying Goodbye” for a closer look.

So, thank you to all of you who call Troy home, and who welcomed us in, took interest in our journey, and allowed us to be a part of yours. We really appreciate you, and hope to see you again…somewhere down the road!