North Central Alabama is a great place. I grew up about 45 minutes or so south of there.
Good, hardworking, conservative folks who would do anything in the world for you. Agricultural area all around. Smith Lake (can you say bass fishing???)
I had to spend a Christmas, working, in Monroeville AL, one year. I had to fend off people (people I worked with, who I literally had just met) who kept inviting me into their homes for the holidays.
I wound up making the rounds to several places, and frankly, eating more than if I had been home for Christmas. I couldn't ask for a bunch of kinder or more generous folks than those in Monroeville.