Last Call

Only pictures from Lake Fausse Point State Park, and not too many at that.  Winding down to the last weekend of our two week trip; it wasn't that RDB and I were tired of being on the road, or camping - it really had been a wonderful adventure - it was simply that we were within striking distance of home.... and this camp ground, out in the beautiful no-wheres-ville of southern Louisiana, had no cell service.  

Like, none. Zip.  Zilch.  Nada. Which meant no blogging, no TV, no surfing thru social media, no geocaching.  And with wet trails from the prior days' rain, a whole lotta not much going on.

Even Diesel was looking at me like: what're we supposed to do here?

So, we called an audible and Saturday morning got up, made a late breakfast, then packed up and hit the road back home to Houston.

This campground has great potential - if you really want to be off the grid and detached from the outside world (and after this week's political chaos, that's not a bad thought!)  RDB and I even saw a bald eagle flying across the marsh as we were driving out - so I'd anticipate there's an opportunity to see really incredible wildlife.  

The big downside of this site though, was the way they had the sewer hook-ups set up.  I kid you not, we'd have had to have a 50' stinky slinky to make that connection work!  RDB said that other sites weren't set up as poorly, so maybe just be on the lookout if you're in this one.

We were at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park in St Martinsville, LA Site #9.  Pretty active park - it wasn't completely full, but there were obviously a few camping groups there Friday night as we pulled in.  In the welcome packet from the front desk there was a flyer for the local Dutch Oven Cooking group - looks like they meet on a pretty regular basis and cook up some fun.

Cause if there's no cell service, you might as well spend the day tending a fire, right?

For more camping photos (mostly of Diesel's big snoop) go here. 

America the Beautiful

 

We were back on the road Wednesday and heading to our next stop - Meaher State Park outside of Mobile, Alabama. RDB and I were both shocked at the news of the insurrection and storming of the Capitol taking place in DC that morning.  One of the reasons we love camping is that it gets us away from crowds and political conversations; we're in our own safe bubble - even when news from the world intrudes.  I posted on Facebook that evening that I was watching the sky, drink in hand, not even trying to make sense of it all; the world was on fire. 

We were settled into a lovely on the water spot at Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort, AL. The park has recently been renovated and it shows - the spacing between the sites was sufficient, the roads were paved and level; we didn't go over to the bath house, but I'd expect it was in good shape to.

Thursday morning we took the short trip over to the USS ALABAMA Battleship Memorial Park (and by short trip, I mean, less than two miles - we practically could have walked it!)  It was a really neat experience - on a weekday, and in the middle of pandemic, there wasn't much of a crowd at all and we were left to explore the ship on our own (with a written tour booklet and numbers posted in various parts of the ship to guide our way).

And explore we did!

The armament up top was impressively large.  You know these guns are huge, but to be so close to them really drives the fact home.  This ship had one mission - protect and destroy. 

On the bridge high above the decks below, I discovered something about these guns ships I would never have considered before: that armament, those giant weapons of destruction? Well, the enemy ships in battle likely would have had the same cannons pointing back at ours, and as such, it was critical to protect the captain and other officers directing the fight. So, the bridge was actually massively protected.  So much so, that there's a room directly behind the navigational bridge called the Conning Station or Battle Bridge - encased behind 16 inches of hardened steel with only tiny slits to see out by.

The experience wasn't all about war, though, there were moments of levity even in the hard times these crews lived thru.  One of my favorites displays was the ship's ceremonial sterling.

I once asked my Big Bro M, who was in the navy for 20 years, what his favorite color was. "Gray," he replied.  After spending a few hours above, below, and on deck of the USS Alabama, I think I can understand why. 

The next morning we were back on the road again, heading towards home with one last stop along the way.  We drove back past the memorial park on the way out, and I could help but think, especially with all the turmoil that was going on in our nation's capitol, how grateful I am for those who choose to serve to protect us from threats, both foreign and domestic.

Oh beautiful for heroes proved - in liberating strife -

Who, more than self, their country loved,

and mercy more than life.

America, America, God shed his grace on thee.....

We were in site #21 at  Meaher State Park - right on the water (maybe 50' away) and incredible views of sunset over the bay.  Mobile is just a few minutes west, so lets to play around a do there, along with the USS ALABAMA Memorial Park, and honestly - just hanging out at the campground enjoying the views. 

For more camping pics, go here. 

Pit Spot

Monday found us driving again - I'm grateful that we set the return trip up to be one day on, one day off.  It was really great to get to enjoy the campsite yesterday in Prosperity.  Today, we're heading down thru Atlanta to get to Lake Pines RV park near Columbus, GA. 

We stopped off at a Cracker Barrel along the way for lunch, and, since I had been saying that I needed to get on the roof to check it out (I try to do that at least once a month and anytime we've driven under low hanging trees), RDB encouraged me to go ahead and do so right after lunch.  Glad that we did, as I found a small tear in the roof membrane that needed to be patched.  Even something as tiny as a scratch can lead to water seeping into the ceiling - and trust me, we've had plenty enough experience with that! 

I asked RDB to grab a picture of me up there working, he disappeared for a moment, then reappeared out of the camper with his DJI Mavick drone.  Not what I was expecting! But I'm kinda glad for the view point!

With the roof freshly patched, we we on our way again.  Smooth sailing for the most of it, till the "fuel filter maintenance needed" light flashed on.  Ugh. (Y'all, I swear, pack your patience on long road trips!). Thankfully, we're staying the day in Columbus Tuesday and I found a RAM dealer that could get RDB and the truck in first thing.  Fuel Filter change, tires rotated, a recall (that we thought our home dealer had corrected, but not), and oil change and that 3500 of ours had itself a spa day in the middle of our trip!

But he's worth it.  This Beast has been the best at towing our camper with no complaints, faithfully, on all these adventures.  It's a great vehicle, that's for sure.  And the Autonation dealer in Columbus? 10/10 recommend!

We arrived at Lake Pines RV park after dark, and driving up the entrance with the lake to one side and the Barn lite up with Christmas lights to the other made it feel so magical.

So with Tuesday morning occupied with our RAM's spa day, RDB set out to make the most of the afternoon. Columbus had a TON of geocaches and parks, so we loaded Diesel into the truck and took off.  

I'd love to say we found the most caches ever, but Diesel was overstimulated with all the other dogs and people in the park we simply took a few quick pictures and then drove thru the rest of the park before heading over to a Love's gas station to adjust the air in our tires. Diesel enjoyed a few moments off leash in their dogpark.

Tuesday night, we fixed dinner and Facetimed with Bestie.  Needless to same a few drinks in, RDB came up with a great idea for the impromptu stand I'd created.

We had a bit of fun to say the least! And we really look forward to being home and having Monday night dinner at El Gallo again!

Even Diesel enjoyed a new toy:

Wednesday morning we packed up and started out for the next leg of our trip hour - 4 hours over to Mobile, Alabama.

We were at Lake Pines Rv Park and Campground, site #10.  Lynn, the office "happy camper" and I had a hilarious chat when I booked the site several months ago (Hi Lynn, if you're still reading along!) The Site was level enough that we didn't need to use leveling legos, and the concrete pad for the picnic table was nice, too.  One thing that was a bit unexpected was the train that come thru around midnight (LOUD) and the artillery practice Wednesday morning over at Fort Benning.  Aside from those two things, we were really happy with our stay. 

For more camping photos, go here.  (Someday, because wifi is slooooow in campsites.)

Camping Cache: Dreher Lake State Park, Prosperity, SC

Found:

Stuck in Between the Rocks

Cabin Fever

Burn Baby Burn

DNF: 

Acrophobia

We did a bit of "clean up" in a few of these caches - someone had left matches (yikes!) and random paper trash in one of them. I always try and make it a point to leave something of higher value, even if we don't take anything with us; though lately, I've enjoyed finding stickers in these treasure chests.  

Since it was our first hike/geocache of the year, I wanted to drop off a FTF treasure for the next geocacher to find, so we dropped a collectible coin trackable and keychain.  We'll see how long it lasts out in the wild and how far the keychain  goes this year!

One cache had a kids board book, and it was too cute to leave behind - I figured I'd hang on to it in the camper and drop it off at the next Little Free Library I came across.  Well, it didn't stay with us long - there was a LFL in this park, so it got re-homed right there!

I think he's enjoying his new home with a view much better!

The Good Life

 Our trip home is taking us thru Prosperity, SC and Dreher Lake State Park.

We're feeling every bit of those words above as we head back home after this cross country trip.  We left out from Raleigh Saturday morning with a give-or-take 4 hour drive ahead of us. I tried to schedule our return trip with less travel each day and a day to enjoy the area and rest in between each travel day. We've really enjoyed our Audible subscription on these long hauls - having just finished our second read-thru of Andy Weirs' Artemis.  (He's our favorite author, and our fave movie, The Martian, is based on his first book of the same name.)

We made it onto Dreher Island late in the evening, after dark, and thankfully right before the sky fell out. Again.

I swear, it's been one rainy day after another here lately.  Thankfully, it cleared up by the early morning and we awoke to a nearly 360* view of the lake.  

We were delighted to find the Steelers vs Browns game was going to be televised, so we set up Brook's Soup in the crockpot (recipe eventually - it's a really great keto-friendly, crockpot camping dinner) and set down to enjoy the game.  

A knock on the camper door (I hadn't checked us in yet) had us meeting our camping host - come to find out, we'd be the only ones in the camping loop this evening and he wanted to see if we were planning to use the bathhouse.  Since we're self contained, we told him no, and he was able to clean up and lock the restrooms for the rest of the week.

What did I take from that? We had the Whole. Island. to Ourselves!

After a disappointing game against the Browns (we were playing our second string after all) we took off to explore "our island" and do a bit of first-of-the-year geocaching.

We found a crab book in one of the caches - it was too cute to leave behind, so I traded one of my tackables for it, thinking I'd drop it off in the next Little Free Library we came across.  Little did I know that next Little Free Library was going to be just a few steps away in the playground of our camping loop!

Our walk back over to the campsite coincided with sunset; and oh, what a sunset it was!

We spent the evening in the camper, watching our favorite movie (if you guessed: The Martian, you're right!)  Diesel, also known as most spoiled dog ever, was right up on our laps, under a blanket, snoring along for most of the movie.

Pretty sure our wall art says it best:

Monday we packed up slowly and hit the road for Columbia, GA for our next stop - but not before RDB took the drone out and grabbed a few pictures of our site.

We were at Dreher Lake State Park, Islanders Camping Circle, Site #61. We would 100% come back to this one again - it was an incredible site with great views of the lake (you could walk right down to the shore if you wanted to.) 30a and water, there is a dump station on site but I noticed Sunday afternoon the line to dump was at least 4 campers long at checkout.   Wooden kids playground on site, several bathhouses through the camping and day use areas - we even noted they have lake front. cabins (small) and villas (large, multifamily) for rent.  Might be worth a drive w/o the camper to come and stay in one of those. Or, we can just come back again - I wouldn't be against that either!

For more camping photos, go here.