Suwannee River, White Springs, FL

Gerry and I couldn't get our act together this morning to head out of Gulf Shores.  We really enjoy the area and didn't want to go, but we have lots of miles ahead of us so we didn't have much choice.  I am sure we will come back here and visit longer the next time.

We drove 345 miles today and arrived at the Suwannee Valley campground after dark.  It is a good thing that we did or we most likely would have kept on driving.  It has sites in between the pine trees and tree roots all over the place.  The site is far from level and we tilt toward the passenger side.  I am afraid to level it more with the condition of the windshield.  It may just pop out.   

They have pull through sites, but tell you to disconnect your tow vehicle before you enter the park.  That sort of defeats the idea of having a pull through so you don't have to unhook the tow vehicles.  Strange!

We will be moving down the road again bright and early Sunday and head for Savannah or Charleston depending on the weather and our mood.  That is the nice thing about a motor home.  Wherever you stop your are at home.

We did pick up one geo cache at a rest area today.  We stopped for lunch and I got to wondering if a cache was nearby.  Yep.  There was one about 90 ft from us.  How convenient.  It was hidden in a pay phone at the building in the rest area.  How often do you see pay phones anymore?   Not very often.

It was a pleasant day with a little wind but not enough to slow us down.  Unleaded gas prices ranged from $3.75 to $4.09 along the way with Florida having the higher prices.  They always are the highest on our trips down south.  Hope I have enough to get to Georgia and see some relief, but I am not optimistic.

Gulf Shores, AL Day 4

Yes, we extended another day down here at Gulf State park.  It is a great place to just chill out and take it easy so we took advantage of an extra travel day.

We went all the way down to the west end of the island today to Ft Morgan to check it out and to see what the Ferry looked like.  The Ft was much larger than we expected and it would have been a lot of walking to check it out, so we decided to take some photos and save the walking for another time.

The Ferry boat runs every 1 1/2 hours and cost $16 for a car and $35 for a MH.  We thought about taking the ferry to Daphne Island and returning but didn't think it was worth the $30 round trip.  

Mobile Bay has a number of gas wells on platforms within sight of shore.  One was quite close to the ferry dock and was huge.  Further out in the bay was another well with a ocean going freighter, a sailing ship and the I-10 bridge in the background.  It was an interesting photo shot to say the least.

We took our time returning to Gulf Shores and picked up a number of geo caches along the way.  It is always interesting to see how people in different areas hide the caches.  It makes geo caching that much more fun and interesting.

We went to the Oyster House for a late lunch and Gerry had a shrimp po boy and I had a flounder po boy sandwich.  They were both very good and we would go back there again.  The restaurant overlooks a small lake and shoreline.  Check it out if you get to Gulf Shores.  It is about 5 blocks up from where Gulf Shores Blvd ends.
 

Gulf Shores, AL Day 3

It is looking better and better that we took the southern route back east.  Our normal route took us through TX, OK, AR, TN and VA and those states have been having terrible weather with tornadoes, flooding, wind and rain.  So far we have been in one area with a tornado around us and experienced the heavy hail storm along with the high winds.  We managed to get through all that, but one tornado up north of us could have wiped us out.

The weather here in Gulf Shores has been fine with a little wind and rain last night.  Nothing even close to serious.  North of us in Alabama they had a terrible night with tornadoes and many deaths.  I feel for those poor people.

We will be leaving here on Friday and heading east toward Jacksonville, FL area and then up I-95 to Savannah area and finally arriving in Concord, NC around May 2nd or 3rd.

Quiet days here on the Gulf Coast. We did manage to have a grouper platter for lunch yesterday and it was great.  It is my favorite fish dinner and I would have it 2-3 times a week if we lived here. 

Gulf Shores, AL

The day started off with a bang today.  The grounds people at the campsite decided to beat the expected rain and cut the grass before 7AM.  That is right, 7AM!  What an idiot.  He had one of those mowers that your control with a joystick and a zero degree turning radius.  He was zooming around the motorhome and sounded like a helicopter for 20 minutes. 

As anyone who knows us we aren't morning people and last night we watched Rambo II until after 1AM.   5-6 hours of sleep isn't enough to make either of us pleasant to be around in the morning.  

Since we were up we decided to get ready to hit the road again.  About the time we went out to hitch up the car we got caught in a torrential downpour which lasted 20 or more minutes.  Then it sputtered for another 30 minutes and we finally got everything ready to go.

It was a short drive today to Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores AL.  We have the site across from where we were last October and have a great view of the lake and looking toward the ocean.  It rained on the way here but has cleared up real nice now and there are lots of kids all over the place.  Nice to see young kids again in a park.  

We will be here until Friday morning and then take a couple days to get to Concord, NC for all the festivities.  Seafood is on the horizon.

Touring Bay St. Louis

We decided to spend another day here in Bay St. Louis and check the area out.  It is amazing how many homes were destroyed and the only thing left are the stilts they used to be placed on.  Whole neighborhoods are now vacant lots with driveways leading into the lots.

We talked to a number of people and they all said many people left after Katrina and never returned.  Some new people have moved here after coming to help rebuild the area and many of them have stayed behind.  It has changed the character of the area very much.  We are very glad we weren't in this part of the country when Katrina went through.

The winds have continued to blow very strong all day and we drove along the beach toward Gulfport and two lanes of the road were covered in sand in many places.  It was blowing so hard that it looked like snow rather than sand.  The houses along the road in this road also were hit hard and many were destroyed.

We stopped at a dock on the way to Gulfport to check the price of shrimp.  Fresh 26ct shrimp with heads on were selling for $4.00/lb at the dock.  I tried to talk Gerry into buying some but since I can't eat shrimp she wouldn't buy some for herself.  Now that is true love.
 

We are watching the Weather Channel and it looks like Texas, Arkansas, Missouri and Tenn are getting pounded with rain, flooding, tornadoes and all around bad weather.  In the past we have taken I-40 back East and that is where a lot of the bad weather is now.  Sure am glad we aren't there and feel sorry for those that are.  Hope they are safe.

I finally downloaded a picture taken the day we left Tucson for the trip east.  There was a train on a siding and I noticed one car had Illinois Central written on it, so I snapped a few quick pictures.  Check out the neat engine and two cars.