Back on the Road

Dec. 16, 2018 –  We left NC for our next BIG adventure on Dec. 8, just ahead of the snow storm.  But we didn’t avoid it totally.  Went to Easley, SC to visit a woman on the Women’s RTR (will explain that later) group who graciously invited us to stay.  Thank you Diana, for wonderful dinner, nice visit with friends, and warmth.

The temps fell and the rain turned to sleet/snow/freezing rain.  In the morning several inches of the frozen mix was on the ground and temps were going to stay below freezing well past time I needed to leave.  So we left and made our way back onto I-85, a little hairy at times on the unplowed streets and roads before getting to a well plowed I-85.  So far the whole trip (all of a week!) has been dominated by weather.

We made it safely to our destination at FDR State Park, Pine Mountain, GA.  This is a great camping spot, I was here last year on my way to FL in Jan and posted some pictures then.  Here are a couple this time of my rig (without snow/sleet) and my view of the sunrise through the forest taken the day I left, the only day the sun made an appearance and one of 2 days it didn’t rain.

This is near Columbus, GA, where I was born, and still have family here so I had great visits and sharing food with my brother and sister-in-law, my niece and a nephew and his wife.

The third photo is the sunset that same day from the pier at Fairhope AL.  It’s always fun to get the sunrise in one spot and the sunset in another.  Fairhope is on the east side of the Mobile Bay, which opens into the Gulf of Mexico.

It really rained, and rained, and rained some more while in Fairhope.  And it was cold!  So much for coming south for the winter.  We were camped at a Boondockers Welcome site at Big Daddy’s Grill, a local seafood joint on the Fish River.  Very nice spot in spite of the rain, but very wet, I mean it’s barely above sea level here.   The pictures below show right outside our door and the sign & reflection in the water on the lawn.  Plus another at sunset (of course) of our view looking over the river.

And some more shots walking and cruising along the river, including a picture of GPS showing the river as we drove along it.  I just loved being able to see the curves and shapes of it.  Unfortunately most of it is private property, I didn’t find a single public access, tho someone told me there was one, just not well posted so you can find it.  A lot of the homes are pretty rich riverfront property, but a lot is still fisherfolk down to earth homes.  A great place for fresh seafood.

A few shots of the Bay at Fairhope, kind of quaint touristy seaport town but not too busy on a rainy wintry day.

Much of the land around Fairhope is such stereo-typical Rural South just couldn’t pass up some pictures.  Cotton fields & modern bales of cotton, pecan groves, the long gated drive to the massa’s house.

From Fairhope, going South, there’s an estuary and this little surprise showed up.  A Pitcher Plant Bog.  What a nice surprise along the way – this is why I don’t take the Interstates whenever possible.

We kept driving south on the east side of Mobile Bay to Gulf Shores, then took the road across the bottom of Mobile Bay.  A fascinating narrow spit of land, of wide sand bars, like the outer banks, with a road that goes all the way across with the exception of a  ferry ride across to Dauphin Island on the west side, and then some big bridges across the Intracoastal Waterway.  I loved this drive, white sand beaches, undeveloped for the most part, Bay on one side, Gulf on the other.  There are ruins of old forts on both sides of the mouth at the ferry landings at Fort Morgan on the east and Fort Gaines at Dauphin Island on the west, for protection of the Bay and it’s port.  There is much history I didn’t have the time to explore so I’ll have to do some research.  There are also lots of oil rigs.  Now it looks like the cannons are protecting the oil rigs.

The end of the day’s drive brought us to Pascagoula, MS, to the home of friends Mary and Alda for a few days.  A wonderful landing place before heading into the “real” west.

See you on the other side of the Mississippi.

Til then,

Lynn & Xena