Dave and Jessica and Me

In 1989, the late Ron Leavitt's long-term girlfriend and Dave the Cat and I led a pet parade together in Birmingham, Alabama.

Jim Bakker, American televangelist, convicted felon and sinner, and his wife Tammy Faye co-hosted the PTL Club on TV during the 1980s. They made a lot of money and lived lavishly until 1987, when news of his dalliances in 1980 with a 21-year-old secretary named Jessica Hahn and financial accounting improprieties ended his ministry, marriage and freedom.

Jim served 5 years of an original 45-year sentence, in Minnesota and Georgia prisons, and has been out since 1994. He and his current wife Lori have broadcast the Jim Bakker Show from Branson Missouri since 2003. Jessica's notoriety landed her an appearance on "Married... With Children" and a life with the show's co-creator, Ron Leavitt, but she is now remembered for little else besides her involvement with Jim Bakker and the PTL, and a couple publications by Playboy.

Do Dah Day in Birmingham is a free annual music festival and parade to benefit the Greater Birmingham Humane Society and The Emergency Animal Rescue Service (TEARS). They have historically picked odd-ball celebrities to be grand marshals of the parade. In 1989, it was Jessica Hahn, and she was still big news. Dave the Cat and I had entered our prime, having led several parades already, and we were looking for any and all parades. When we heard about this one, we couldn't stay away.

On Saturday, June 10, we left Tallahassee in the morning while it was still dark and drove almost six hours to Birmingham, Dave's longest road trip. We parked near the gathered crowds and mounted up when the parade began.

Besides there being almost all dogs in the parade, I still vividly remember a little girl in the parade pulling a red wagon in which was nestled a glass bowl filled with water and her goldfish.

Dave and I rode our bicycle through the shady winding streets of Birmingham and quickly found ourselves alongside the parade marshal's horse-drawn carriage. We led the parade with Jessica Hahn.

The parade proceeded along Highland Avenue to the stage area at Caldwell and Rhodes parks, and everyone in town seemed to be there. Dave and I were invited up on stage to address the crowd.

We thanked them and told them how far we'd traveled to be there. Birmingham's mayor sent us a warm thank-you letter the next week. We picnicked with everyone in the park for a couple of hours and arrived back home after dark.

Shirt from Brad (I still have it), photos by Dana.