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!

Time to Get On the Road Again!

Okay, it has been a few months since I updated this blog. It is time to get on the road again! We enjoyed our stay at Collier Seminole State Park. While there, we hiked, kayaked, and visited Marco Island. Of course, no trip to Marco is complete without a trip to Walter's lot and Jack's Lookout.

Bob and I did both before moving on to Highlands Hammock State Park near Sebring. The bike trail is still great. We not only biked, but hiked the trails in the park. We saw evidence of lots of animals, but only got pictures of a water moccasin---ewwww!
There was much to do when we returned home-work on the rv and yard. In December, we changed the color of our house from dark brown to a lighter leather color. We also added railings to our front stoop.The next big job was ripping out the carpet in the rv and adding Allure flooring from Home Depot.A friend of ours is an excellent carpenter so he made a new table for our dining area.
We also attended the festivities for Wounded Warriors at Skydive Deland. There were 192 skydivers in the air at one time. The finale was a skydiver with the American flag.Last but not least, we had our yard sodded. The area of bark near our sidewalk is gone and now has bahia grass. We also planted two holly trees since our diseased pine trees have been removed.

Once we got the grass rooted, it was time to head out for Arkansas!

Our first stop was Econfina River Resort in the big bend area. The horse flies were enormous!The first night,we drove to Hickory Mound of Big Bend Wildlife Preserve. Our first sight was a small gator in the road.We kayaked one day. It was a two mile trip to Gulf of Mexico from the state park next to our campground.Another day we visited St. Marks--the town and the light house.

There is a bike trail from St. Marks to Tallahassee.The light house is not in the town of St. Marks. I have to say it was so hot, that we didn't stay out for long. Temperatures of 95 to 100 degrees aren't what we like.

From Econfina we moved about 70 miles to Torreya State Park. We stayed there 3 nights.
Gregory House is located at the state park. It was moved there by the CCC in 1935.
One day we geocached our way to Blountstown.

Another day we really extended ourselves and hiked over 7 miles on Torreya Trail. It took us along the bluffs and ridges overlooking Appalachicola River.
From the state park we moved north west into Alabama. We decided to stop at Ft. Rucker near Enterprise, Alabama.