Hello Florida!

We left Orange Beach for Tallahassee, Fl on February 22.  When we arrived at our RV park in Tallahassee they only had us staying one night instead of 5.  We called the RV park at our next stop in St. Augustine to see if we could arrive a few days early, but they had no vacancies.  We finally found a KOA park in the Ocala National Forest on Lake Oklawaha.  The website said there were hiking and ATV trails in the forest so we thought we'd have plenty to keep us from being bored.  When we arrived on the 23rd the KOA was pretty quiet with lots of open sites.  Turns out weekend off road ATV riding is a big pastime there.  There are many sandy, muddy trails in the forest for people to ride on.  By Friday evening the KOA was nearly full.  People transported the ATVs on trailers they towed behind their RVs.  Quiet time was from 10 pm to 8 am and at 8 am you could hear people starting and revving up their ATVs and off they went for the day!

Narrow road to KOA

Our neighbor's ATVs

On Friday we decided to check out a hiking trail.  The road to the trail cut through the forest and it started out paved but then turned into a sandy BUMPY road.  We finally turned onto a paved state road and continued to the trail.

Oh-oh! Off-roading!

John said this was a lightly used trail.  Almost to the trail we saw a sign on the highway.  BEARS next 50 miles. 

The trail looked inviting

The thought of running into a bear scared me so much that my heart was pounding and I wanted to cry.  The trailhead was very pretty but I couldn't muster the courage to walk on the trail.  When we were in Orange Beach the local news ran a story about a man in the Florida panhandle who encountered a bear in his yard.  He escaped uninjured but his dog was mauled to death.  If we are ever in bear country again I want to have some bear spray with me so I can at least feel like I have some protection. On Saturday we decided to walk around the campground and started to walk on their hiking path when we happened upon a large animal footprint with claws(?).  It was not a dog print but I was afraid it was a bear print (wouldn't bears want to hang around campgrounds for food?) so we turned around.  John later showed me a picture of a bear print and it did not look like the one we saw. What do you think made this print?

Lots of driftwood in the lake

View of Lake Oklawaha from campground

One thing I learned from our stay at Lake Oklawaha is that I prefer to be near civilization.  I want to be able to run out to the store or out to eat.  The KOA was about 40 minutes from the nearest civilization.

There was a small little populated area called Tobacco Patch but it was just a bump in the road. 

  We left for St. Augustine, Fl on Sunday, February 26 for a 6 day stay in America's oldest continuously occupied city.  We look forward to exploring this historic city.

Goodbye Orange Beach!

We have really enjoyed our first visit to Orange Beach, AL.  The weather has been great for being outdoors; it only rained 2 or 3 days during the month we've been here.  We are going to miss all the biking trails but we hope to be back in December on our way to the northwest US.

On Wednesday we're off to Florida for short visits to Tallahassee and St. Augustine.  Then on to Sarasota for one month for MLB Grapefruit League (spring training).
 

USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park

We spent most of one day in Mobile, AL touring the USS Alabama battleship and the USS Drum submarine.

 

USS Alabama

 

USS Drum

We got a glimpse at how sailors lived when they were at sea.  The battleship was like a mini city with its own post office, doctor's office and surgery, dentist, bakery, general store, gymnasium, soda fountain.

What a huge mixer

They had to make a lot of bread

Despite the size of the ship living quarters were cramped with no privacy except for the officers.

Note the hammock above dining table



10 toilets to the room with a trough underneath and no doors!

We toured 8 decks and climbed many ladders.



We climbed as high as the signal flags

View from the bow

Tried out the anti-aircraft guns

And climbed and climbed ladders

Next we toured the submarine.  It was, of course, much smaller than the battleship but just as interesting.

Torpedo tubes

Full speed ahead!

The park grounds also had a collection of armored vehicles and airplanes and Korean and Vietnam Memorials.

B52!

Of course after walking for hours and hours, we were tired and hungry.  What was on the way home? Lambert's, of course!  This time I had the meatloaf which was delicious, and of course, throwed rolls!

A wonderful ending to a fun day!

Exploring the Area

We spent one afternoon visiting Gulf Shores beach which is about a 5 minute drive from the RV park.  Although it was a beautiful sunny day the wind was blowing so hard that we were glad we wore our windbreakers.  We saw very few people on the beach that day. 

Beautiful clean, WHITE sand beaches!

We walked and walked on the beach.  Before we knew it we had walked 12,000 steps!  Now we were tired and hungry so we decided to try Lambert's, home of the throwed roll.  We were glad we did!  The food is delicious and plentiful.  In addition to your meal which comes with 1 or 2 sides, they offer pass-arounds.  These are additional side dishes that are served at your table, and you can eat all you want.  Servers walk around asking if you'd like black-eyed peas, cabbage, macaroni and tomatoes, fried okra, fried potatoes and onions, and of course molasses or apple butter for your throwed roll.  I wound up eating pass-arounds and bringing my dinner home in a LARGE doggie bag!  Of course when you want a roll, hold your hand up and the server will throw one at you!  It was a fun place to go and the food was delicious!

Another throwed roll

Wait for it...

Look at the size of that roll! Piping hot!

Thank goodness we've been walking and biking almost every day! I can't believe that in the month we've been here we've gone from biking 6 miles per ride to 17 miles per ride! I'm going to miss the bike trails here.

Rattlesnake Ridge Trail--didn't see snakes

Haven't seen any alligators

 

 

Alligator swamp

Didn't see any tortoises either

One of the bike tool stations

We also installed a "tile" backsplash behind our bathroom sink.  I did some research and Smart Tiles were recommended for RV use.  They are sticky sheets of fake tile and because they are not installed with grout, they won't crack on bumpy rides. I think it looks pretty good!

Next up on our sightseeing list is the USS Alabama battleship...