There Goes Connie: Local woman finds success in fourth career as travel writer

Photos by Jeronimo Nisa

Author Connie Pearson and her husband really went out of the way to research her latest book — more than 2,500 miles, in fact.

Actually, the travel writer has two new books — one about sights to visit up and down Interstate 65, and an updated version of what to do in north Alabama.

The 76-year-old Decatur resident calls travel writing her fourth career.

Pearson is also a wife, mother, grandmother of 16, great-grandmother, former music teacher, missionary and singer.

She shares her travel stories, food writing and inspirational musings in books, hundreds of articles and frequent blogs on her website, ThereGoesConnie.com.

Pearson’s newest book — her fourth — is “Take the Drive on I-65: Where Every Exit Has a Story.” The other is the second edition of “100 Things to Do in Huntsville and North Alabama Before You Die.”

The Decatur-based Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association commissioned Pearson to write a book highlighting sights along I-65. Mountain Lakes President and CEO Tami Reist said the idea was inspired by America’s 250th anniversary.

“We wanted to create something that could have a life well beyond the celebration,” Reist said. “Route 66 celebrated its 100th anniversary, and it reminded us of how much Americans — and especially our international visitors — love the great American road trip.”

As Reist said, “I-65 is our road.”

Alabama’s 366-mile portion of the interstate is the longest in the four-state route. Indiana has 262 miles, Kentucky 137 and Tennessee 122.

Instead of promoting only the north Alabama section of the interstate, the tourism organization wanted the book to focus on the entire 887-mile journey.

“This book is really our inaugural start — a roadmap that gives travelers vetted destinations and reasons to take the exits, explore the communities and experience America along the way,” Reist said.

Reist said Pearson understands that the best travel stories are about people and experiences.

“She has such a warm, authentic style of writing that makes you feel like you’re traveling right alongside her,” she said.

Pearson’s curiosity about people, places and history enriches her writing. Her personal motto is “Interested in Everything; Bored by Almost Nothing.”

Pearson has a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and another in piano performance from Auburn. She taught at Burleson Elementary in Hartselle and Hartselle Junior High, then at Danville-Neel Elementary and Priceville Elementary in Morgan County. She currently sings in the choir at Decatur Baptist Church.

Pearson and her veterinarian husband, Steve, spent four years in the Andes mountains of Ecuador teaching English and Bible studies as Southern Baptist missionaries.

She retired from teaching in 2010.

“I was enjoying retirement just fine until my son sent me an article about travel writing,” she said.

He suggested that his mom try it because she loves to ask questions — and travel.

“I got very, very intrigued with travel writing,” Pearson said. “I got trained. I read everything I could, then I started writing articles for online and print publications” — at age 65.

Tourism organizations began inviting her for visits.

Around the time of COVID, Pearson realized that “when people did start traveling again, they would probably want to just do day trips and sleep in their own beds for a while.”

When Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association asked her to travel the entire length of the highway to research the book, “I decided to take on the challenge,” she said. “My husband and I traveled all of that distance, both up and down.”

The entire 2,839-mile trip from Gary, Indiana, to Mobile and the related side trips in their hybrid SUV took months.

“I was looking for what would be interesting if you just take the exit and where those exits are,” she said. “We found just wonderful, wonderful things along the way.”

Pearson considered the interests of business travelers, families, foodies, history buffs, shoppers, RV enthusiasts and motorcycle riders when researching the book.

Most of the 275 places featured are within 30 miles of the interstate.

“I love food and history, so I tell everybody you can eat your way up I-65, from Gulf shrimp to Hoosier Pie with all kinds of great things in the middle,” she said.

She was familiar with Alabama and Tennessee “but once we hit Louisville and started up to Indiana, it was all new to me.”

The route includes places linked to five U.S. presidents, three state capitals and businesses that have operated for generations.

One business she found in Bardstown, Kentucky, Old Talbott Tavern, has been operating since 1779.

“It was really a lot of fun to research and to find these places and to meet the people. I had never traveled in Indiana before, but I discovered that it was a great state.”

One Indiana business called Titus Bakery “had probably the best doughnut I’ve ever had in my life,” she recalled. Her husband was teaching the Bible book of Titus in Sunday school, so he bought the T-shirt to show his students.

Well-known spots like the Indy 500 location and Kentucky’s Churchill Downs are included, she said, “but hopefully a lot of unexpected things also.”

A grandmother’s grave in the middle of the road near Franklin, Indiana, marks the spot where her defiant grandson threatened construction crews with a shotgun. Indiana’s Amish country gets a mention. So does Michael Jackson’s boyhood home in Gary and the Hank Williams museum in Montgomery.

Pearson said she enjoys travel writing because she likes talking to the people who run local restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, museums and stores.

“I guess because of my years as a teacher, I love learning things that then I can teach other people,” she said.

Reist said travelers should consider I-65 as part of the vacation, not just a way to hurry between destinations. Every exit is an opportunity to experience a meal, attraction, overnight stay or connection with a local community.

Pearson’s other new book is the second edition of “100 Things to Do in Huntsville and North Alabama Before You Die,” a revision of the one published in 2022 by Reedy Press.

“It’s the updated latest and greatest,” she said. “I was able to add even more things about Decatur in it. There’s a page dedicated to just restaurants near the Princess Theatre, and there’s another one with places to shop on Bank Street and Second Avenue.”

The book includes the area’s top destinations like the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, FAME Studios in Florence, Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro, Point Mallard and Cook’s Museum of Natural Science, but also boutique stores and outdoor attractions. Foodies can find where to indulge in an upside-down banana split, tomato pie or orange rolls.

“North Alabama is just filled with interesting people like Helen Keller and Gen. Joe Wheeler and Jesse Owens,” she said.

Pearson has written guides to Auburn and Tuscaloosa as well. Her more than 300 travel articles include 20 for Trip101.com, 18 for MilesGeek.com, 18 on TravelAwaits.com, 11 for Alabama Baptist, and many more on her blog. Her work has appeared in USA Today, DeSoto Magazine and Senior Scene.

Her books include “Turning Cousins into Best Friends: What We Learned from 15 Years of Cousins Camps,” by Pearson and her husband; and “Telling It on the Mountain: 52 Days in the Life of an Improbable Missionary” about her Ecuador experiences in 2002-2006.

“Connie Pearson is one of the most productive journalists I have had the opportunity of hosting in Birmingham,” said Vickie S. Ashford, director of travel media for Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau. “She is very professional, does her homework before visiting and makes the most of her time in the city.”

The books are available for $19.95 plus shipping at ThereGoesConnie.com, and at Sherry’s Sparkle gifts in Hartselle, Harrison Brothers in Huntsville and Blue Apple Books in Madison. Seacoast/Soncoast of Hartselle is the publisher.

This article was previously published in Living 50 Plus.