Our Travel Blog

It was already 20C when we woke up!

Today was hot and humid, there was a reasonable breeze which helped, but definitely a day for doing even less than usual. We went to the usual Saturday morning breakfast, but there were only about 10 people there, a sure sign that the winter season is winding down here. The park is probably about a third empty now, with more moving out every day.

Spent a lot of the afternoon trying to arrange campsites for next year. Most of the ones that looked reasonable wont take monthly bookings until much later in the year, by which time it may be too late to find anything else if they have no room. Ah the trials and tribulations of a trailer dweller!

Somebody turned the heating off overnight, we awoke to a cool 54F (12C) this morning……. what a shock, it climbed back up to the high 70’s though. Today we went back towards Fairhope, about 20 miles NW of here. There is an area could Weeks Bay, which is maintained by the Weeks Bay Reserve Foundation. The first place we stopped at was Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog. This was a wetlands area with about a mile if boardwalk running through it, one of the more prolific plants there was the carnivorous Pitcher Plant, so called because of the “pitcher” that grows up beside the flower that fills with water and drowns insects for the plant to eat!

After our walk around the area, we headed off to find a smocking shop that Lyn had read about, and that we had been to a couple of weeks ago but it was closed. We found the shop, and I settled in to the truck for a long wait. I hadn’t even got comfortable when Lyn returned, looking none to happy. Turns out the shop was nothing like what she was expecting / hoping for and the visit was declared a “complete waste of time”.

After lunch we headed back to another part of Weeks Bay, and another board walk experience. We checked into the reception area and were given a brief overview of the place, then armed with a small book they lent us we hit the boardwalk. At various points along the way trees or plants were identified, and a description of them could be found in the book. It was a great way to learn about the local trees and plants.

The State of Alabama seems to have it’s act together with these refuge areas, they are all well laid out and informative; what’s more entrance and parking are free!

Woke up to 70F temperatures adn clear skies, the humidity of the last few days has gone.

Another lazy day, spent mostly playing with electronic gizmos, although we did do the weekly shopping. Also took the truck in for an oil change, and as usual there are always a couple of extra things that the service manager feels you should get done. One of these was a leaking front differential cover, it could be fixed for just under $600, but wasn’t urgent. Declined his offer and drove home. After parking the truck, I decided to look underneath and lo and behold there was oil on the concrete under the area of the front diff! This is the first time in a year that there has ever been any oil dripping from the truck —- Coincidence??

Got out some paper towel and ran it along an area just under the diff, there was a lot of oil there… and it was nowhere near where they would have been changing the engine oil. Cleaned it all up, and so far there has been no sign of further leaking. Don’t think I’ll be going back to that dealer.

Tonight we went out for a meal (no comment Hazel) to a local “must visit” restaurant. The place was full, but we managed to get in pretty quickly even though there were about 25 people ahead, out of those 25 there was a party of 19 so we jumped ahead them. The restaurant seating was wooden benches and tables, reasonably close together which made it fairly noisy. Once we were seated and drink orders were taken, a couple of guys came round with hot bread rolls. Seem that if you want one you put your hand up and a roll is thrown across the room at you! That was a first, even though I have been to many restaurants on many continents.

While we were waiting for the food to come, people were circling the rooms with various southern “delicacies”; Fried Okra ( deep fried zucchini), boiled cabbage, black eyed peas, apple butter with molasses (for the rolls) and macaroni with tomatoes.

All in all a different, but good experience.

Warm, Sunny but Windy

Today the wind was stronger than it had been for a while, and it also seemed to be blowing from just the right direction to play havoc with the gas water heater. It would either blow it out when running, or prevent it from lighting. Throughout the day there would be a click click click sound coming from the igniter followed either by the sound of gas ignition and the heater running, or a loud whoooooff sound as the unburnt gas ignited!

Just a little way down the road from us (less than 1/2 mile) is a large outlet store complex that Lyn had had here eye on since arrival here. Today we finally visited it, much to my shame the only store we stopped in was at my request, a tool store. Lyn claimed to be overwhelmed by the choice, but I suspect she may sneak back on her own one day.

We also picked up a new vacuum cleaner for the trailer as the rechargeable upright really wasn’t strong enough for the job.

You may recall I said Lyn was looking at a new craft; basket making using the long pine needles they have down here. We picked up some a couple of days ago on one of our walks, but no where near enough. Plan B was to go into the woods around the campsite and hunt down some more. Well today Plan C was born; the groundsman were tidying up the landscaping and brought in a trailer load of bales, much the same as hay bales but much darker. They were bales of pine needles!! Lyn took a casual wander over, spoke to the guys and came back with her arms full of pine needles!

Back at the campsite it was time to get down to planning the trip home. It will take 4 days, the first day being about 320 miles, so we don’t have to leave at the crack of dawn, then a couple of 450 mile days  and the last day about 300 miles so we can arrive in daylight to park and unload the trailer. I booked all the hotels, experience shows that it is about 15% cheaper if you book them 7 days in advance. Cost wise it is only about $10 more to stay in a hotel than pay for a single night at the camp ground, and there isn’t the hassle of setting up and taking down the trailer.

Someone stole the sun! However it still reached the mid 70’s.

This morning we headed South then East to Bear Marina to join a dolphin watching cruise. This cruise was organised by the campground, and apart from this giving us 10% off the price for the cruise and lunch it had other advantages. As enough of us had signed up, we got a boat to ourselves, that in itself is not important. What is important is that a second boat was running for Joe Q Public! Why is this important you (should) ask? Read on.

We boarded the boat which is advertised as a 50ft Navy boat. It was new and clean which is always a good sign. There is a control position on the main deck, then a flying bridge about 20ft above the deck. Once we were all aboard we headed out to the bay and the skipper transferred up to the flying bridge. After a few minutes he appeared to be having an issue with the engine speed; apparently one of the passengers had hung her purse from the throttle lever on the main deck!!!

Once that issue had been resolved we increased speed and within a few minutes we were joined by a dolphin swimming behind us and jumping in the wake, however after a couple of minute he gave up playing. We continued searching for more dolphin activity, but there was very little, just a couple of fins in the water. We did manage to glimpse a manta ray just under the surface though. By this time I was wondering if we would see any more dolphin activity.

The second boat had joined up with us by this time. he boats ran parallel with each other about 50ft apart building up speed. As the speed increased so did the wake thrown up by the boats, where the wakes collided there was a mound of water about 6-8ft high. This turbulent water was soon to become the dolphins playground! Three dolphins emerged from the wake, and started jumping and skimming the water for a number of minutes. As we were seated in the stern on the same side that the other boat was on we got a great view. Taking pictures on the other hand was a little more difficult, my digital camera has a noticeable delay between hitting the button and the picture being taken, however I did get a few shots where the dolphins were actually in the frame and not back under water.

After this the boats split up again to go in search of more dolphins, again we saw a couple but they stayed below the surface. The boats joined up again and built up speed and very soon we were joined by 6 or 7 dolphins skimming and jumping, great fun to watch!!

After the cruise we had lunch at the marina where it was warm enough to sit outside and look across the channel… life is so tough sometimes!

As usual, Warm, Dry and Sunny

I think the realisation has just hit that all good things must come to an end (at least until next time). With less than 2 weeks until we leave, there are still a few jobs that need to be finished.

I did the final caulking on the bathroom tiles today to finish that project. Last week I ran a cable from one end of the trailer to the other for the back up camera, then got no further! Today I soldered the correct connectors on the cables, mounted the transmitter in the depths of the wardrobe, connected power and lo and behold all the lights that should come on did come on! The real test was whether I could receive a picture in the truck. I went out to the truck and plugged in the receiver…. It worked!!, in fact I drove the truck about 20 yards away and the picture was still on the screen, think I’ve finally got it sorted.

Last but not least, the painting of the model aircraft kit I was building was completed with the exception of a couple of touch ups that will be needed. Then all it will need will be the application of the decals.

Today was the first day we did not leave the campsite for a long time, too much work to do!!!!

We’ll make up for that tomorrow with a trip out.

No change in the weather!!

Finally got the tiling I was doing in the bathroom finished and grouted, hopefully the movement of the trailer on the way home won’t disturb it too much.

This afternoon we headed out to a new walking trail we had seen a few days ago, it was a loop, about a mile long through the trees and along the coast. Unfortunately not much wildlife to be seen, guess it was siesta time for them. Lyn started collecting pine needles for her basket project, it looks as though quite a few more trips will be needed!!

Back at the campground there has been a constant movement of trailers and motorhomes as Spring Break comes to a close (and the screaming little brats go home) and also many of the people who stayed over the winter start moving north.

The usual weather!

Got up early (0810) for the weekly breakfast. After that Lyn headed off to a craft show and a store called Fabric by the Pound. I figured off I was far safer staying behind. Unfortunately, I had a flash(?) of inspiration and thought it would be an ideal time to clean the roof. The trailers have a thick rubber type membrane over the plywood roof, and it’s a good idea to keep it clean and generally look after it!

By the time I got up there the sun was already beating down but now I was there I may as well get to work. 90+ minutes later it was done, and so was I!  Next time I’ll hit the electronics stores and Lyn can do the roof!

After lunch we just hung around the site and read, there was a nice cooling breeze outside under the awning. We then did our walking tour of the site, by the end of that we were ready to relax again!!

Warm, Sunny….. you know, the usual stuff.

Did some work around the trailer this morning, and after lunch we headed off following a tip Lyn got while she was at the craft group the other morning. There is a place known as alligator alley, and at the end of the road there was meant to be a beach.

We found a road, which had plenty of signs pointing out the pitfalls (and punishment) for feeding ‘gators, so we figured this was indeed alligator alley. We drove to the end of the road where there was a small car park and a wooden bridge over some dunes to the beach.

As we got onto the beach a number of things struck us, how deserted it was (considering the state of the other beaches in Spring Break), how clean it was, how soft and white the sand was and how many tractors there were!!! Evidently this area must have suffered from the BP oil spill as the tractors were accompanied by about 30 workers and some equipment. They had come from some way down the beach, and I guess there was still a clean up operation in progress down there.

Walking along the beach, you would not know there had been any oil, and there was an abundance of jelly fish, so some marine life was OK!

Back at the campsite, it was time for dinner and then off to the Friday night jam session and another good evening of music

Weather same as yesterday but warmer.

Woke up to a dry throat, blocked nose and sore knee! Not a good start.

The knee I blame on getting through all the submarine hatches yesterday, I think I managed to twist it. The rest I put down to a bout of sinus problems that don’t want to go away.

Shopping day today, so off to Piggly Wigglys to get the goodies, for some reason this week we seemed to have very bare cupboards which was reflected in the cost of the groceries.

Once we got back I dropped into the office and there were 3 parcels there, my birthday came early this year! This should be the last of the “essentials” for the trailer. A WiFi printer / scanner / copier / fax with some ink and an external antenna for the 3g modem stick. The ink was a bargain, the printer takes 1 black and 3 colour cartridges each costing about $10 from the manufacturer. I got 4 Black and 2 each of the coloured ones for $9.50. Ridiculous mark up on the original inks

I got the antenna into place and it was worse than useless, it actually degraded the signal! I looked at where the antenna was and I had managed to place it way too close to my ham radio antennas so I moved it about 6 ft further away and raised it a couple of feet higher and it now seems to work.

Once the antenna was taken care of, it was time to tackle the printer. Suffice it to say, the auto install didn’t. Some 6 hours later I now have it working, how the average Joe Q Public could get this working using the software and instructions provided is beyond me! Anyway, we are now able to print out JoAnn fabric coupons for Lyn(!) as well as print out tour routes etc.

Time to hit the sack and wake up to a better day