Sweet Home Alabama Parks - Spanish Fort

Morty was determined to make camp in Alabama, even though we were crossing it the short way and very early in the day. So we looked up the Alabama State Parks site on the web and found Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort just East of Mobile. If you were relying on the 2009 AAA Southeastern Campbook, you would probably never pick this park because it is substantially upgraded and tripled in size from their listing. We have a paved pad, full hookups including 50 amp power, a strong cellphone signal from Sprint, a few TV channels over the air, a waterfront on Mobile Bay, automatic senior discount, and lots of wildlife with wetland boardwalks for $26 per night. Just no plastic payments, thank you.

So instead of a 99 mile leg, we only got about 50. Perhaps we should take an overview of what is required mileage-wise to make it to Yosemite on this trip. In round numbers we have 5,000 miles to go there and return home by mid-March. We'll also say that on average we drive every second day so that we can count on 30 driving days. That means that for this trip we need to up our driving chunks to 170 miles. [Also every time we miss that drive on the second day, the remaining chunks increase in size.] Pre -reitrement that would have been a very slow day. Now, it's very doable without getting crazy, it's something we will have to keep in mind when Morty starts whining about camping in every state possible.



Today is Sunday, and we have only a marginal TV signal, perhaps we will get to see some NFL playoff action. We hiked the park and found a couple of boardwalks that we had all to ourselves for wildlife spotting -- no gators but a couple of very photogenic birds. I took the Nikon D90 along with the 70-300  zoom lens and was glad to have the fast frame rate and quick focusing that this combo gives me. Despite the dreary day with only a few sunny rays peaking through, I got some interesting shots.

We're seeing more and more parks removing all convenient trash containers as a cost savings. This has the unintended consequence of having more trash tossed in inappropriate places where it will be very expensive to clean up. I hope our park managers are in line to get some of that free stimulus money and use it to return the trash containers.

Morty Makes the Turn

Morty was excited to pack in all our toys this evening. He knows that in 900 miles he will be back in his turtle nest getting fresh oil and and a checkup. This will probably be a hard driving scenario since further review shows that most of our previous stops require two day minimum stays.  And, the weather is deteriorating in relationship to the distance traveled north.

So we were thinking three 300 miles days but will more likely be looking at two 450 mile days. Some things just don't want to be kept waiting -- like that inevitable mountain of mail. At least the temperatures along the way are warm enough that we won't have to use the anti-freeze in the plumbing during the trip.




The drive was so smooth and easy that we did it all in one shot on Friday -- all 860 miles. Maybe we're not quite as old as the calendar says yet.

The only regret is that the ocean is so far away from the turtle nest...

Cheboygan State Park, Tuesday, September 6, 2009

We stopped at Scarborough’s Whitefish and Chips, as we pulled out of Petoskey. Now we know how they can afford to close for the holiday – frankly my dear, they are quite greasy, undersized and overpriced. You can see a lot just by watching, as the great Yogi says.

All of the sudden, Lynne’s floating knee cartilage is acting up, and slowing her down in a major way. Here’s hoping that this is just a temporary thing. She seems a little better this evening.

A milestone from a couple of days ago, was the epic crossing of the 45^th parallel as Morty negotiated his way North. This of course is noteworthy, because it is exactly halfway between the equator and the North Pole. Consistent with the ceremonies associated with crossing the equator, Lynne donned a crown, trident spear and flowing white beard and forced me to drink the swill and do the limbo walk – at least those were my fears.

We stopped at Wilderness State Park as our original destination, but couldn’t find the campgrounds; in fact we did find a sign proclaiming “NO CAMPING.” Later, Lynne gave me a pen and told me to cross out the bullet in the state brochure that indicated “Modern Campground.” Plan B then was to go on an additional 30 miles to Cheboygan.

In the good omen department, we stopped in the center of town to gas up, and spotted a bald eagle doing low loops right over the town. We looked for a supermarket type place to replenish the frozen dinner department, without avail. On the state park and its bullet for Modern Campground – finally success. This is a lovely little spot on a Lake Huron bay. Only a half dozen campers in the whole place. We can see the bay from our bedroom window. Got a picture of a great blue heron and some frog earlier in the afternoon. The camp billboard devotes an entire side to the local bear population. Not sure whether to take that as a threat or not.