The Trip through Alabama

On Sunday we left Torreya State Park in Florida and made our way into Alabama. Next stop ,Ft. Rucker. When Bobby was in Warrant Officer School,we visited Ft. Rucker and drove through the campground. We were not impressed, but we heard improvements had been made. Happily, the road into the campground is now paved as are the sites on the outer edge of the campground. Construction is in progress on the new bath house and laundry room. We decided to stay two nights.While at Ft. Rucker, we stopped at the commissary to get a few things. Did I mention it is hot? Well, it is hotter weather than we have camped in for quite some time. Hiking was not on the agenda while we were at Rucker, but we did manage to do some park and grab geocaches.

One was located at a new park and sports complex that was off the beaten track.
There were several caches hidden around the walking trail.

Downtown Enterprise had 3 caches within walking distance so we parked near one and walked to the other 2. The most interesting was near the statue in the middle of the street.The statue is of the boll weevil! I don't know that I have seen many statues dedicated to insects.After two nights at Ft. Rucker, we left and headed west on US 84. Our destination was one of our favorite stops--Service Army Corps of Engineer Campground on the Tombigbee River. We travel without reservations and were hoping we could get in since we have been turned away before. Luck was with us ( I think the heat had something to do with it, too) and we were able to get a waterfront site.After resting a bit, we headed down a county road to Bladon Springs State Park to find the caches hidden there. The person who hid the caches had quite a story about the park. It seems only part of it was true. We looked it up when we returned to the rv. Yes, the park was a destination for international visitors wanting the medicinal values of a mineral springs in the mid 1800s, but it wasn't burned by the Union Army in the Civil War. It was demolished by the state in the1930s. A thunder storm was nearing so we only found 2 of the caches.

Wednesday we backtracked in to Grove Hill, AL, where we picked up a few more caches. If we hadn't been caching, we wouldn't have found the 2 parks, one with walking trails, nor would we have seen the monument to veterans of WWII near the courthouse.

Once back at the rv, we rested, read, and listened to the rain. Yes, for two days it has rained in short spurts. The good thing was that it cooled the temperature down a bit--around 90.

Service is one of our favorite parks because it is on the Black Warrior/Tombigbee Waterway. Barges travel up and down the waterway daily and we can watch them from our site.

On the morning we were leaving, this barge floated past about 6:30 while it was still hazy.If it is too hazy or foggy, the barges pull to the side and anchor for the night. Just south of the campground is a 90 degree turn in the river that can't be navigated in the fog.

After two nights at Service, it was time to move on to our next stop. We found a Mississippi State Park not too far off US 84 that we thought would be nice for the weekend. We'll let you know!