Mobile Bay and the Gulf

Hi Everybody,

Happy Birthday, Troy!!  He is our son-in-law married to Carrie.  He brought the family to Louisiana to see us.  What a guy!!

The beautiful weather continues.  Today we crossed into Alabama for our one night in this lovely state.  We are down on the Gulf of Mexico on an island separating the Gulf and Mobile Bay.  Dauphin island is the home of Fort Gaines which we have not seen.  To get to the Island we crossed a huge bridge on which we took pictures and videos.  It looked pretty formidable from the RV but the bikers say that it looked downright impossible to them.  You approach it on a slow grade but then the climb to the top is steep.  It feels as if there is no end to it until the pinnacle is reached and then you can see the island stretched out before you.  Dauphin Island has about 1300 inhabitants.  There is one main road which leads from the bridge to the Fort.  Reminds me of the Outer Banks in North Carolina--houses on stilts, sand everywhere, boats of all shapes and sizes and the smell of fish and sea water.

At one of our stops today to wait for the cyclists, we parked in a Baptist Church parking lot (Dees, AL).  By the way, we are very fond of church parking lots because they offer us a great place to turn around if we need to!!!  While we rested, I walked around the cemetery looking at names.  The name Dees was on lots of grave markers.  The most interesting one was a large granite slab on top of a gravesite with a beautiful grand piano etched into it.  I found it fascinating to match up families by following the wife's maiden name,  finding brothers, parents, and seeing how many families were related by blood and/or marriage.

When Paula and I got to our campsite and went to unhook the trailer in order to maneuver the RV into the slot, we found that the crank on the trailer was missing.  We have no idea when it fell off, but we have made some very rough entrances and exits from various spots in the last few days and it could have dropped off anywhere.  We haven't had to hook up the trailer since Monday morning.  Mike thought it was on this morning but couldn't be sure.  Another camper came over to see what we needed and helped us jack it up with a wrench far enough to get it off the RV and then set it on some blocks.  When the guys got here, they worked on it for a while.  It will work but we will just have to use the RV jack whenever we want to take it off.  Meg, we will get it fixed before you have to use it on the farm!!

Paula and I watched fishing boats and the ferry come in before the guys rolled in at about 3:30. The park is very nice and while we did laundry for 3 hours (!!!!) we talked to great folks who have been staying here for a few months from Michigan, both upper and lower, and keep coming back each year.  They said that this has been an unusually cold and wet winter.

Tomorrow we will take the ferry over to Fort Morgan then on to Gulf Shores and Pensacola.  I think that we will go on to Milton to stay, but Friday we will take an extra day off so Dave can go to the Naval Air Museum.

We could be done in 1 (ONE, that's a single, lone, 7 days, ) week.  We will probably take Easter Sunday off as well so maybe that will add a day and we will finish on Thursday, April 8.  Where has the time gone?????

Full moon tonight over the Bay.  Wow!!!

Love & Blessings,

Lana