Alabama ... and a chance meeting!

Friday 11 January.

I finally repot my cactus into bigger pots. It was fun to get down and dirty with the potting mix.  I really do miss gardening!

Before setting off today we did some more planning for  Kim, Mace and Finlay's trip to visit us in California, in April. It's just under 3 months - we can't wait.
There was a time when we thought we would all stay in the RV. That's not going to work! We can all travel in the RV as there are sufficient seats with seat belts, but as for sleeping ...?
Finlay is now as tall, if not taller than Kim - her mum. Kim is over 6 ft. Mace is 6ft 8in. We are rethinking accommodation!

A foggy view from the bedroom window.

We cross into Alabama at 11.30am,  heading for Meaher State Park just off I-10 in Spanish Fort.

We are going to catch up with a couple we met at Red Bay, Alabama when we visited the Tiffin factory - Jim and Sue. They were interested in keeping in touch as were we. We have exchanged emails. They have invited us to their home town of Spanish Fort which is across the bay from Mobile.  When we are set up we give them a ring.

They visit us at the park. How nice it is to see them again. We have a common interest in Tiffin motor homes. They have a 36ft Tiffin. It is great to exchange tales of our travels and the peculiarities of RVing.  Yes - we have all watched the Robyn Williams movie  "RV"!

We go out for dinner to the Oyster House, a seafood restaurant on the Battleship Parkway. My meal of flounder fillets comes with Hush Puppies, Cheese Grits and 2 sides - Turnip Greens and coleslaw.  It is all delicious! I haven't had grits before; they are different!  We each have a winerita - a margarita with a drizzle of merlot!! Sounds bizarre but it was delicious and I know it will become a favorite!!

Jim and Sue and the wineritas! 

Meaher State Park is a 1,327 acre park located in the wetlands of Mobile Bay at the delta of 5 rivers - the Mobile, Spanish, Tensaw, Apalachee and Blakeley rivers - which flow into Mobile Bay.
It includes a day use picnic area, modern camping hook-ups for overnighters, a boat ramp and fishing pier. The facilities for motor homes are great.
Almost immediately we arrived we heard gunshots which we discovered were duck shooters out on the Bay. We just hoped that they weren't aiming at the shore!


The next day Jim and Sue took us on a tour of Mobile and the coast.  We went past the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, the massive Austal facility (yes the same Austal that is based in Fremantle), down oak lined streets in Downtown Mobile where the trees reach out and touch in the middle of the street, past restored antebellum homes and then, via Hwy 193 and the Dauphin Island Bridge to Dauphin Island.








The Dauphin Island bridge is a 3 mile 2 lane bridge which crosses the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway from the mainland to Dauphin Island - a barrier island. It is an amazing bridge and as high as it looks!!

It is also known for its tragic history - on 7 January 2008 a man threw 4 children, including 3 of his own, off the bridge to their deaths.  He was sentenced to death.

There was to be one of the first Mardi Gras parades on Dauphin Island . People lined the route. They looked as if they had been setting up since early morning and there was still an hour to go.
We took the vehicle ferry  from Fort Gaines to Fort Morgan, 2 forts located on either side of the Mobile Channel at the entrance to Mobile Bay.
The forts were built to protect the coastline and are
both  preserved as historical sites.

Interesting looking houses!

It was a good day for a ferry ride! A bit hazy but not too windy.
It was also a first for Jim and Sue - they hadn't taken the ferry ride before.

Mobile Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is the 4th largest estuary in the US. It is 413 sq miles in area; 31 miles long and has a maximum width of 24 miles. We felt as if we were on an ocean; we certainly could not see the top of the bay!

There were a number of oil rigs at the head of the Bay; we could also see the outline of more rigs on the horizon looking out into the Gulf. They looked ghostlike in the haze.

The Bay has an interesting history - too extensive to summarise here. It has been affected by numerous hurricanes, the most recent being Hurricane Katrina in August, 2005 which pushed a massive storm surge into the Bay. Thousands of boats, piers and beach houses were damaged by waves exceeding 22 feet high!
Downtown Mobile was also badly damaged.

Once over the Bay, we drove through the area of Gulf Shores; miles and miles of holiday homes and estates. The houses are mostly built on stilts and many are painted in mardigras colours.
This area has also been badly affected by hurricanes.
In September 1979 the town of Gulf Shores was levelled by a hurricane.
In September 2004 Hurricane Ivan caused extensive wind and flooding damage. In August 2005 while still cleaning up after Hurricane Ivan, Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage and flooding.
Then in 2010 the BP oil spill caused further extensive damage!!!

I was there!! and stood in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico!

We then crossed the intracoastal waterway - now on the east side of Mobile Bay - for a late, late lunch at Lulu's (Jimmy Buffet's sister's restaurant). We all had a Cheesy Burger in Paradise!

Jim told us of a natural, somewhat mysterious phenomenon called a 'Jubilee' which occurs on warm summer nights, when fish and crabs swarm in large numbers towards the shore to be easily harvested by people wading in the shadows.
I think you have to be quick ...!

And what about the alligators???

We looked and looked for alligators but didn't see one! We went out each night along the waters edge, with a torch - nothing! But the sign suggests that they are certainly around.