Sweet Home Alabama (for a night)

 

We awoke around 6 am, but did not really start coffee and get stirring until 6:45.  By 7:30 we were on the road.  It is a 70 mile drive north and then west to get to I-75 just north of Ocala Florida.  It took us 90 minutes.  Got gas at a Pilot Travel Plaza and that cost around $115 for 27 gallons of regular gas.  This is going to take some getting use to, that's for sure.

By the time we pulled out of the gas station and headed north on I-75, we can see lightening, hear thunder, and it looked real bleak...but that was to the south.  Yes, we hit some rain, but it was not much at all...our timing could not have been more perfect.

You can see along the highway the amount of standing water...this area has received a lot of water over the past few days.  Again, we had no issues to face, and skies soon cleared up.

Indy had no problems with the weather or the travel.  She stayed in one of the chairs for most of the trip...until we stopped of course, when she then wanted to go out and sniff, smell and "P".  

There were plenty of motorhomes and RVs (Snowbirds) headed to I-75 too.  Say license plates from Canada, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, and this one directly above with the bikes from California.  There was two times that four different cars passed us in a row and all had non-Florida plates...and out of the eight cars, seven states were represented by them.

As we got closer to I-10, Marcia caught a few winks of sleep...not sure if she even knew we turned onto I-10.  I saw this low flying helicopter and quickly grabbed the camera and clicked this image of the the helicopter flying supplies to a lineman putting up a new utility line.  I think it was a large pulley wheel since I saw many of the poles with pulley wheels, but this one does not.  This type of work was going on for at least 100 miles along I-10, but it was the only helicopter I saw.  Some of the new poles had lines running through them, others did not.  I remember them working on this last year too...sometimes it takes time to get things done here in Florida.

Much of I-10 in Florida looks a lot like this shot above.  Lots of green trees and shrubs and grass.  But then...

...a large storm such as Hurricane Michael (the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the contiguous United States since Andrew in 1992) hits in October 2018, and trees go missing, brush goes brown, and it is a real mess.  But four years later it is nearly all cleaned up, and mother nature is restoring the landscape (with some help from man, of course).

After another couple hundred miles we say goodbye to Florida...

...and hello to Alabama.  We only drove 14 miles into Alabama and stopped at the Wilderness RV Park near Robertsdale...we have stayed her before.  

It is a Passport America Park and we are in the same campsite as we were in December 2021 on our way back to the Condo.  For $20, you just can't beat it.

Indy and I sat outside for about 45 minutes, and she even met a little friend (no pic of friend, sorry).  It was a cool 75 degrees, slight breeze, and lots of blue skies.  

Now we will see just how far we get tomorrow...

14 Miles Shy of Florida

We had a very restful night at the Atchafalaya Welcome Center in Louisiana, as we have every time we have stayed there since they finished the work on the Welcome Center.  The first time the cars, RVs and Trucks all gathered on the 'other side' of the freeway where the trucks now have their own resting area.

We did not want too early of a start since Baton Rouge is only a half hour away.  So we were off around 8:15, and driving into Baton Rouge by 8:45.  Yes, there was traffic, but it did not last very long.

Above is a picture of the Mississippi River.  The 'red' arrow is pointing out LSU's "Kitty-Cat" stadium.  (My long time blog readers know that I have two children who graduated from the University of Arkansas, and for many of those years the LSU Tigers were our rival (now it is Missouri according to the SEC...but there is still a non-SEC rivalry between the two schools), and my Rotary Club in Pine Bluff at the time had a few die-hard LSU grads who always got my attention...better known as 'ribbing', despite the fact LSU typically beat the UofA.

It is always to see patriotic billboards...this one is by DOW.

Gotta give Louisiana credit, they were working on a lot of the roadway, but nothing slowed us up for the most part.

The gas prices slowly go up ever since we left Texas...Here is Louisiana it is $2.79.

In Mississippi the same type of Love's Truck Stop was up to $3.07!

And at Buc-ee's here in Alabama near the Wilderness RV Park we are at it was only $2.97.

(NOW that I have PO'd all my friends and family in California who are paying well over $4!  SAM'S in Citrus Heights is currently $4.19, and with a LONG LINE!!!  Marcia says "YOU ARE BAD Dave"...I have to agree)

We have had pretty good weather for our entire trip...until we got close to Mobile, Alabama.

As we got closer and closer to the tunnel, it was really raining.

As we got through the tunnel and at the start of the causeway across Mobile Bay, Marcia got this shot of the Battleship Alabama, shrouded in mist from the rain.  It rained from Mobile all the way to Buc-ee's Gas Station, when it suddenly turned into a sprinkle.  After getting gas, we continued the three miles to Wilderness RV Park,  another Passport America park which, for two nights, came to under $40 for full hookups, which is why we stayed 14 miles short of Florida!  When we arrived, the sprinkle had turned to a mist...and the rain held off for a few hours so I did not get wet setting up.  Tomorrow I will take some pictures of the park providing the rain (which is pretty hard right now) lets up.

Buc-ee's

At Wilderness RV Park, Robertsdale, AL

We arrived at the Wilderness RV Park around 4 pm on Sunday.  I did not have any veggies since I knew we would be having a number of Cracker Barrel dinners as we started out on our trip.  Looking at a map, I took off to a Piggly Wiggly about 12 miles away…and instead of getting lost, I turned onto a road which said it led to I-10, and when I got to the Interstate I passed Buc-ee’s.  I knew I had seen one or two of these before, but could not remember where.  I just “HAD” to go inside, and did that on my way back from Piggly Wiggly (since I only had a 1/2 tank, I filled up).  WOW!  It is like a WaWa gas station on steroids, along with being like the old Stuckey’s but also on steroids, along with being like a Harry and David, etc. 

I got back and told Marcia about it…it was hard to describe.  “Probably 80 or more pumps!”, I said.  Well, I went back yesterday on my tour back into Florida along the coast and had my camera this time, and inside I took some cell phone pictures…also found that I underestimated the number of pumps.

  

  

Buc-ee’s was started in 1982 in Lake Jackson, Texas, a small, 8 pump gas station convenience store.  In 2001 they opened their first travel center in Luling, Texas, a 48 pump location.  In 2012 they opened the largest convenience store ever, with 120 gas pumps, a 67,000 sq ft building with 83 restroom stalls, 31 checkstands, and 1000 parking spaces.  This Buc-ee’s in Robertsdale, Alabama is the first Buc-ee’s outside of Texas (for now…they have three in construction mode in Florida right now), and it also has 120 pumps.  In the restrooms, there are more facilities than many stadiums have…and there are sanitary hand dispensers next to each and every toilet, along with sinks with soap and paper towels so there are no excuses!  As more and more of these travel centers open up, I am sure you will come across one…step and in and try and keep your eyes off the Fudge Center, the Jerky wall, the massive amounts of clothing and other ‘stuff’…it can’t be done.

Don’t know what got into me, but I decided to go back into Florida along the Interstate, head over to the Gulf and drive along highway 292 and then highway 182 before heading back to Wilderness RV Park.  Marcia was the smart one…she stayed in the motorhome resting.  There were lots of large Hotel/Resorts like this, some large condos, many homes on stilts, and lots and lots of spring breakers.  Very few views of the Gulf, and I just had to wonder WHY anyone would want to come here for a vacation.  Nearly 3 hours later, I arrived back.

Wilderness RV Park has been a good little find for us.  It is a Passport America member, which means it is half price.  (Membership is only $44 per year, so we nearly saved that amount just on this one visit.)  The good thing, you can get the discounted price for a full week.  However, if you want to be here for a month, it is less than $400 as of 2019…that’s not bad at all. 

  

All 64 sites are pull-thru with full Hook-ups.  No cable TV, but there are many over-the-air TV stations.  Sites are close, but not too close.  We really lucked out with an end site…our door opens up to the roadway and the bathrooms are just across the road.  Since there are no tents allowed, there is little use at the bathrooms…which include two washers and two dryers laundry facility. 

The camp surrounds this large fishing pond…good place for a walk with the dogs (as long as you clean up behind them…)  We liked it so much, we decided to stay three days instead of two.  After all…the nights were still a bit cold up in Arkansas, but by the time we get there it should be just fine.

NOTE:  As I was writing the blog, Marcia was taking her near daily nap...she gets up and says, "Um...what is this water in here?"  Well, our shower is backed up nearly an inch with water.  Hmmmm...I KNOW I had the grey tank knob open.  Go outside and look, and yep, it is open.  I get down to look and that is when I realized I have the BLACK TANK open, and the GREY TANK closed.  What a rookie mistake!  That's what I get for not using the motorhome for six months!