A Week On Mobile Bay

February 14-20, 2019

An uneventful 110 mile ride and we arrived at Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort AL, just across the bay from Mobile. While a very nice park, since water is great for carrying sound, you do get some background noise from I10. We had site 11 which backed up to the bay, FHU’s and the ants they are known for never bothered us, we did take precautions though. Nice asphalt pads but no fire pits L. We’ve never spent time in the area so we did a few of the touristy things on the few nice weekdays we had. We opted not to go into Mobile for any of the Mardi Gras parades, didn’t feel like dealing with the crowds and traffic.

We spent a day visiting Dauphin Island. Our first stop was the Audubon Bird Sanctuary, while we found no birds or gators it was a great place to get a nice walk in.

Our next stop was Fort Gaines which was built to protect Mobile Bay and the surrounding area, while it was started in 1819 it wasn’t completed till 1862 by the Confederate States of America. It played a pivotal role in the Battle of Mobile Bay. The expression “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” came from this battle. For more information click here. 

We scored some great metal pieces from Ralph, the blacksmith at Fort Gaines

On a day that was supposed to be nice but turned rainy, we visited the USS Alabama complex. Not only do they have the battleship but also an air museum and a submarine to tour.

USS Alabama

USS Drum

Dad, I hope you enjoyed the pictures. 

Another crawfish stop.

Smoked pork butt.

And a little daydreaming at Bass Pro Shop.

The rest of the time here we’ve done various chores and enjoyed some downtime. We’re about to head into Florida and we know it’s going to get crazy soon so this was a nice respite before all that.

Next up Topsail Hill Preserve State Park where friends are volunteering.

Until next time…

Short Visit to Buccaneer State Park

February 10-13, 2019

After 190 miles of bumpy riding, we landed at Buccaneer State Park in Waveland MS. We had site 81 which is the same site we had when traveling with our friends Curt & Glenda a few years ago. Since this site was an easy back in I decided to give it a go. With a lot of help from Dave, I managed to get us in with no damage to anyone or anything.

This is our 3^rd visit and we didn’t do much. Our days were made up of walking and vegging, though we didn’t spend much time sitting outside. The biting bugs here are notorious, we were fine when walking but if we stopped to talk they attacked, so 4 nights there was just enough. One of those small moments happened while we were walking one morning, a lady said Port Aransas to us. I figured that she must have seen us around Gulf Waters in TX, she then mentioned our Australian friends Ron & Rose, I then knew exactly who she was. Celia along with Ron & Rose had been parked next to us 2 years ago. You just never know who you are going to run into at a campground. 

We did find a place to get some fresh fish and frozen Royal Reds at a Kimball’s Seafood in Pass Christian. Royal Reds $8.5/pd, fresh TX shrimp $5.50/pd.

We also got a quick visit with our friend Deb who arrived on our last day here. She arrived in time to enjoy a few crawfish with Dave. This may be his last fix for a few years so got them while he could.

Our main reason for coming is so Dave could get his oyster fix at 200 North Beach in Bay St Louis about 4 miles down the road from us.

one happy man

Our next stop is a week at Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort AL, just outside of Mobile, we’ll be there for a week and doing some of the touristy things as we’ve never spent any time in this area. 

Until next time...

Louisiana: It's All About The Mudbugs

February 7-9, 2019

Our travel day Thursday got off to a rocky start. While pulling in the bedroom slide it stopped partially in. Perplexed, knowing Dave had disconnected shore power, which shouldn’t make a difference, we knew we had to figure this out before heading on. Our auto level system would not power up either. We (Dave) then started troubleshooting our electrical system which much of it is in the front storage compartment. Meanwhile I searched through some of our Grand Design Facebook groups, we were almost certain it was a blown fuse somewhere, but why would we have blown a fuse? Finding a loose battery connection, answered the question of why and finally finding a replacing the 10amp fuse restored our auto level system and we were good to go.

On a sadder note earlier that morning I had read about the death of a blogger’s husband, Sherry of In the Direction of Our Dreams had posted about David’s passing. He fought a courageous battle with cancer, never stopped smiling and he lived life to the fullest. Sherry’s blog laid the groundwork for some of my choices of FL state parks, I will miss reading her posts and offer up my condolences and prayers in this devastating trying time. David’s passing just reiterates why we started following our dream as early as we could.

While we were an hour later getting off the rest of our traveling that day were uneventful. After a bouncy ride on LA roads, 190 miles and 3.5 hours later we were pulling into Poche’s RV Park and Fish N Camp. We’ve been here before and this visit was all about the crawfish, Dave needed his fix. 

Site 64, only bad thing is the light at night

 

So of course Dave had to have crawfish for his first dinner here, Cajun Claws was recommended but he can’t recommend them. They were way too salty, so much so that he couldn’t enjoy the head fat he usually does.

Too salty :( 

Friday was a cold windy day, but we braved it to get out to walk around the pond before we headed out for some groceries. While at the grocery store we received news that our friend from TX battling stomach cancer had found out it’s Stage 4, inoperable. Needless to say that has put us into a funk and trying to figure out what we could do to help, unfortunately going back isn’t an option so we’ll have to be a sounding board support for them whenever they need it. The day ended on a good note with a great hour long phone call with friends from our days in VT, can't wait to see them in OBX.

Saturday we headed to a local farmers market, do you know there’s not much there you can buy when you are on a low carb diet. Tried baking some cookies and brownies with Stevia, couldn’t stand the taste so I’ll just wait till we go back to a regular diet to enjoy sweets again. Here at Poche’s there are several ponds with walking around them, a couple of different walks around them and we’ve got our steps in for the day. We ended the day with Dave trying a different crawfish boiler, The Seafood Boiler was a great find, he certainly enjoyed his crawfish this time.

To end the day we enjoyed a phone call with our son David whose birthday it was. Happy Birthday David!!!

We are off to Buccaneer State Park in Waveland MS in the morning, another repeat park for us.

Until next time…