Post Office, Walmart and Goodwill

The day started out as any other day, watch the morning news and a couple cups of coffee. Because we are moving down to the coast tomorrow we decided today we would head back to Mobile and explore more of the area.

We needed to find a Post Office, a Walmart and we wanted to find a Goodwill store. The Post Office was to mail a birthday card, the Walmart was for some groceries and we wanted to find a Goodwill Store to donate our old coffee maker. The coffee maker works fine it’s just slower then we prefer. We found the P.O. and Walmart right away and then drove halfway across town, following directions from the GPS, only to find that the Goodwill had closed or moved.  So we are hauling the coffee maker around in the back of the jeep.

We drove through the old section of Mobile which is a wonder preserved area with unique stores and shops. Right along the bay on the south side of town is Battleship Memorial Park.  The park opened in 1965 and is dedicated to honoring all Alabama Veterans who have participated in all conflicts of the United States Armed Forces.

Your ticket admits you to tour the Battleship Alabama, the Submarine USS Drum and the Aircraft Pavilion. The tours were very interesting and we really enjoyed the time spent. While my boots were on the ground during my service time I have a new appreciation for those that served on ships and submarines.

USS Alabama

Here are a few facts and random pictures we took while aboard the Battleship Alabama.

Her assigned crew was 127 officers, and 2,205 enlisted.

She is registered at 35,000 tons (70 million pounds)

She earned 9 Battle Stars, and shot down 22 enemy airplanes during World War II

Her large guns are nine 16"/45cal on three main turrets that are accurate to 21 miles. 

Cozy conditions 

Food preparation 

On board Dentist office

 Marines assigned had their own area aboard the ship. This was their supply room

Entrance to the Marine area

Some of the armament

Random facts and photos from the Submarine USS Drum

Commissioned in 1941. The ship is 311 feet long with a width of 27feet.

Crew consisted of 7 officers and 65 enlisted men.

She earned 12 Battle Stars during World War II

From the deck before going down below

 What is all this?

This is where the Captain hangs out

Things are very tight on a Submarine I couldn't imagine spending months at a time in such a confined space

This is where you steer this thing

 Getting through these narrow hatches was not an easy task

 This is all the space you have to move throughout the Sub 

 Finally up and out

We finished the tour in the Aircraft Pavilion viewing some of Americas finest fighting aircraft

On our way home we stopped in the town of Fairhope and visited the pier and fountain in the town center.

Gulf Shores Alabama

Gulf Shores Alabama

Monday morning we left Memphis and traveled to Meridian Mississippi. We didn’t find many camping choices and I’m sure we chose the worst. We were glad it was for the night only. One thing we sure like about Mississippi is the roads, at least the ones we used. They maybe the best roads we have traveled. We left Meridian at 09:00 and checked into Coastal Haven RV Resort in Fairhope Alabama at noon.

We immediately jumped in the jeep and headed to the gulf shore to check things out. We stopped at the fishing pier and watched as fish were being caught with some regularity. It was interesting seeing the equipment that was used to fish from the pier. We saw a lot of homemade carts that seem to hold everything necessary for a day of fishing.

 Beautiful white sandy beaches

Gulf Shores fishing pier

Hotels in the distance 

This guy has everything he needs

 This guy can't read

Just park your cart and belly up to the rail

More hotels along the shore

We drove through Gulf Shores State Park and reserved a campsite for a week beginning this Thursday. It’s a State Park but it’s more of a RV Resort. Snow birds from the north come and stay for the winter here. They have activities, a large pool and rentals that include Segway’s.  

 Nice pool and children's splash area

We stopped on our way back to the RV in Fairhope and ate at Big Daddies a highly recommended spot for the best sea food in the area.

View from the deck of  Big Daddies

The park we are at has lightning fast WIFI so it's nice getting the blog done so easily.

Memphis, Elvis and BBQ

September 27

We left Dubuque and made it to Perryville Mo. We stayed at a nice campground that had an awesome Halloween display. I can’t imagine the amount of work they did to set this up.

  This is just s small sample of the decorations that were scattered throughout this campground

We continued south through Missouri and arrived in West Memphis which is actually in Alabama just across the river from Memphis Tennessee.  We paid for two nights and got settled in. We are again right on the banks Mississippi. It was early enough in the day that we drove into Memphis to find, who else but Elvis, well at least his home, Graceland.

The whole Graceland tour is quite an adventure. Everything is geared toward getting at your money. We did enjoy it however. I was most impressed with the hall of gold in which all of his gold records and awards are mounted along this long hallway. Equally impressive was his collection of cars

Elvis has left the building

Some of Elvis' toys 

After Graceland we decided we would go find Beale Street and get some Memphis BBQ. We found out that every Friday and Saturday nights the street is closed to traffic and people take over. Blues and rock music is everywhere, in the Bars and on the street. Drinks are sold everywhere. It was one massive party.   

Sunday we drove back to town and looked around and explored a little. We returned to our river campsite fixed dinner and enjoyed a beautiful evening.

Fall 2014 Trip

Fall Trip to the Gulf Shore

September 23

Our trip to the southern states of Alabama and Mississippi started with all the usual excitement and anticipation of any other trip except this one started with a 55 mile one way trip in the wrong direction. Our first two days will be spent in Rogers MN at Camping World. We are parked in the rear of the building where they maintain six spots for people having service performed or those just needing a place to park for the evening. We knew that before we could travel again we had to make a change as to the vehicle we would tow behind the RV. Our little Saturn just didn’t have it anymore and we didn’t feel it could take another trip. We have known for some time now that our next tow vehicle would be a jeep and a couple of weeks ago we found the one we wanted. We are at Camping World now because they are installing the necessary equipment required to enable the jeep to obediently follow us around while attached quietly to back of the RV.  

September 24

We woke this morning after a cool rainy night. We had to have the jeep ready for Camping World at 8:30. So we drove around front and gave them the jeep and we walked over to MacDonald’s for coffee. We are now back at the RV where we are grounded until sometime tomorrow. Fortunately we have an electrical hookup which means we have TV.  Update: we got a call at 3:00 saying they were finished with the jeep and ready for the RV. I asked how long they needed and was told that without any problems they would finish with everything by 5:00. They were finished at 5:00.

We decided that it was too late to head out so we decided to spend the night again. We drove over to Applebee’s for super and then back to the RV for some TV and an early bedtime.

September 25

We were very anxious this morning to first see if we could properly hook up the jeep to the RV and secondly to get on the road and get out of town. Everything worked as planned and we hit the road at 7:00. Traffic was very heavy all the way to the Mall of America where it thinned out enough to drive the speed limit. It was a beautiful drive as we made our way down to Red Wing and picked up the   river road. The sun finally came out in southern Minnesota and the temperature climbed to 75, perfect. Many of the trees have begun to change and the colors were beautiful.

We are staying this evening at Miller Riverview Park in Dubuque, IA. We are right on the river with great views. 

City of the Rocks State Park New Mexico

This is one of our favorite stops in New Mexico. The approaching storm in the background never did materialize.