Day 42-43, Monday/Tuesday, 29/30 April 2024 - R&R, then point north.

We were in the USVI from April 21st to the 28th, (Day 33-40, Sun-Sun) that week can be found here:  https://aljasa24sj.blogspot.com/ 

Monday, we got in around 00:30AM and were pretty tired, so we did not plan much for Monday.  

The Serenity Falcon had sat in Debbie's yard, unconnected to power, for 8 days under a shade tree. I left the refrigerator on propane. I was pleased to see that when we returned the batteries were at 45% and the propane had only dropped 10%.  It probably was good for another week but not much more. We were parked under a tree so the solar gave very little help. We used 154Ah of our 280Ah battery capacity. My old 105Ah of battery system would not have made the week. I did the math, it used about 0.8A per hour in capacity.  My net is that the new  Li battery system is a game changer in how long you can go on batteries. Enough on that. 

It was a down day, we got up late, had left over airport burritos for breakfast and did chores. June did laundry, I sorted out all the wet snorkel gear for repacking and did a grocery run on the scooter. I picked up stuff to BBQ when Deb gets home from work. June and Aunt Mickey took a long walk to the marina; they saw pelicans and cranes. Fred rode his bicycle around the neighborhood and checked on them since they were gone quite a while.

It felt good to do so little for a day. 

When Deb got home we made a big meal on the grill, Pork roast, corn on the cob, baked potatoes and added a salad. It was all delicious.

James topped it off with his bananas foster.  He is a darn good cook.

We were all full but somehow had room for dessert. 

It was a nice evening. 

Tuesday, James and I plan to golf and then we will likely start our way north....reluctantly. 

******

Tuesday, we woke to rain, golf looked iffy. Debbie had to go to work, so I said a quick goodbye since we were planning to leave mid day for home. 

The golf gods did us a favor and we got our round in at Lost Key golf course without any rain. 

Lost Key is a beautiful course.  I think the 'Lost' in the name has something to do with how many balls you should bring. Anything off the fairway is gone, or you will have to fight a snake for it. 

The fairways, greens and sand traps are well kept. I spent quite a bit of time at the beach, their sand is top notch. 

The course was not crowded and we were able to play as a twosome at our own pace, it was a fun round. 

We got back from golf and packed up for home, it was just starting to rain but I got it done without getting too wet. 

We said our goodbyes and left Debbie, James and Aunt Mickey's a bit after 11AM, it was starting to rain. 

We can not express how grateful we are to Debbie, James and Aunt Mickey for letting us stay with them while we were in Florida. We have been parked in their yard for 2 weeks, and they could not have been more welcoming. We hope to return the favor some day. 

As soon as we got on the road, the monsoons started and it rained hard until we were almost out of Florida. The Serenity Falcon got a good power wash. 

We made a bunch of stops. We got propane, we got ice, we got gas and we dumped/filled our tanks.  Despite all this we arrived at out targeted destination, Cracker Barrel in Perry, GA, around 7PM.  We had a good dinner and will continue our trek north on Wednesday. 

It is still 82F at 9PM....we are not north yet!

Day 32-33, Friday/Saturday, 19/20 April 2024 - Chillaxin and Fort Pickens

Friday was a day of leisure.  James and I golfed, the rest went to the beach, it was another beautiful day. 

James and I golfed at Perdido Bay Golf course, it is a nice course. I played about like I expected, my spectacular putting in Texas did not follow me to Florida.  However, it was fun to get out on such a beautiful day. 

There is plenty of water, I found most of it. 

We got back to the house just before the beach people.  After our naps (yes it is such a luxury for us retired folks), James and Debbie cooked ribs with corn on the grill.  We all went to bed a bit full...it was just awesome. 

Saturday, The first thing that June and I did was go to Big Lagoon State Park to dump or tanks. It is only 5 miles away, very convenient. 

We toured the park, it is very nice, we might consider it in the future. 

We even hiked the observation tower which gives great views of the area. 

Nice views in all directions. 

Aunt Mickey, Debbie, June and I set off to tour Fort Pickens, while James took care of his yard. James takes a lot of pride in keeping his yard beautiful. If you want to see a spectacular yard with vibrant flowers, you should visit Debbie and James. 

The drive to Pickens is spectacular, after Pickens we continued the drive with white beaches and ocean on both sides of the road. If I get time I may pull some of the dash cam video and add it to this blog. 

Much to our surprise, Debbie had never been to Fort Pickens.

Fort Pickens was built in the early 1830s to protect Pensacola Bay.  It was a very large fort that could hold over 200 canons. During the civil war, the Union held the fort and used it to bombard and dislodge the Confederates from Fort McRee and Fort Barrancas, which are across the bay.  It was also used as a prison for confederate soldiers. 

A darker side of history is that for a period after the civil war (1886) it was used to hold Geronimo, 15 of his Apache warriors and eventually their families as prisoners. He became a bit of a tourist attraction/sideshow with people coming just to see the famous Geronimo in prison. He was eventually transferred to a prison in Oklahoma where he died in 1913. 

It was a beautiful day. 

If any one recalls the story of Ft Pulaski, the rifled cannons rendered most fortifications obsolete.  This canon has been upgraded by inserting a rifled cast iron sleeve into the  barrel, which improved its range and accuracy...ingenious. 

During war time the bay was heavily mined. 

After Ft Pickens we stopped along the highway and made sammiches for lunch, one of the luxuries of driving your RV on the tour. We then continued our tour down the coast, returning to Debbie's around 5PM. It was a beautiful drive and relaxing tour. 

The white sand beaches are just gorgeous. 

We completed our tour and returned to Debbie's around 5PM.  James was just putting the finishing touches on his yard and we made plans to go out to dinner. 

We had a nice dinner at Hub Stacey's at the Point.

We had to get up early to catch a 04:45 Lyft ride to the airport, so we retired for the evening. 

This blog will go on hold until we return from St John a week from tomorrow (April 28th).

If you wish to follow along, here is a link to that blog: 

https://aljasa24sj.blogspot.com/

Day 31, Thursday, 18 April 2024 - The Alabama, Pensacola

Thursday, June, Aunt Mickey and I were picked up by Randy and Juanita around 8:30AM and shuttled off to visit The Alabama in Mobile, Al a bit over an hour away. It was nice to have a chauffer. 

We first toured the Submarine USS Drum. The Drum is the oldest WWII sub on public display.  It served in WWII and sank a total of 15 enemy vessels, it was lethal. 

Submarines are not for the claustrophobic, I just can't imagine being in one of these cigar tubes for 75 days at a time. These bunks are 6ft long, ok for me..

They have done a good job turning the sub into a museum that depicts life as it was back during the war. 

June took command. 

This is the business end of the sub.

After the Drum, we moved onto the main attraction, the USS Alabama. 

The Alabama  was only in commission for a bit over 3 years (1942-1945), but it  saw serious action during WWII and lead the American fleet into Tokyo Bay in September of 1945. 

It is hard to get your head around how massive and complicated these war machines really are and then think about it being 80+ years old. It was home to 2500 men, a city in itself. It is 680ft long, 108ft wide and 194ft tall, it is huge. It had over 100 guns on board including nine 16 inch guns that would launch 2600 pound shells over 20 miles with accuracy.  There is a reason it is called a Destroyer. 

The guns are everywhere and impressive.

Since it had a 15,000 nautical mile range, it could go anywhere on the globe and carried with it everything it needed to operate. This is the machine shop, it also had a print shop, hospital, dentistry, barber shop, movie theater, church, etc....it was its own city. 

I found one of the most interesting things is how they moved 2600# shells from the basement of this ship, up to the guns above the deck, it was a mechanical marvel. This is the shell magazine which is a round room that rotated the shells to an elevator that moved them up and into the guns. We had some smart people designing these machines. 

This is the elevator. The mechanism that loaded the shell from the elevator to the guns was equally impressive, but I did not get a decent picture of that. 

The memorial also has many static displays of military equipment, including a good representation of tanks.  This is the M1 Abrams which is in service today with US Military. These tanks went into service in 1980, we are due for a refresh, but if you follow this, there is lots of differing opinions on the future of tanks in combat. 

There is also a B52 Stratofortress on display, when you stand next to one, you realize how big they really are. 

I also found a plane I had been looking for, the Grumman HU-16 Albatross. My friend, Ted Lattrell was a Coast Guard Navigator on one of these planes. I have heard many of the stories, I wanted to see one. It is a flying boat.  

We were all hungry when we left the memorial and stopped at a restaurant that Debbie had recommended, Felix's Fish Camp Grill Restaurant. It was a cool place with good food. Really, it was fancy inside with excellent service.

We returned to Pensacola and after Debbie got home from work, the seven of us went to dinner at the Sunset Grille.  It was a good day. I forgot to get a group picture. 

Friday, will be a day of rest.  James and I have a tee time.... :-). 

Day 29-30, Tuesday/Wednesday, 16/17 April 2024 - The Gulf Coast and Blue Angels

 Tuesday, We took our time leaving Panama /city Beach. We loaded up laundry and did a walk on the beach while it was in the machine. 

At 8 in the morning you can have the whole beach to yourself, it was in the 70s with a breeze, perfect temperature to walk. 

We worked our way up the coast staying as close to the ocean as the roads would allow. It was slow going even in light traffic but we were not in any hurry. 

The drive along the beach was scenic but based on the number of hotels etc, it must get very busy in the summer. 

We stopped at Henderson Beach State Park in Destin for lunch.  It was a very nice beach with the finest sand I have ever seen, even more fine that Panama City Beach. We had lunch and then walked it off a bit. 

They also have 60 camp sites, it might be on our list of places to try in the future. 

We arrived at June's cousin Debbie's around 5PM, and met her Uncle Randy, his wife Juanita and June's Aunt Mickey.  Debbie and James are very accommodating, we did not plan to be here when they had other company but they are still welcoming us.  Tomorrow morning we plan to go to the Naval Air Station to watch the Blue Angels practice.  

Wednesday, Randy, Juanita, Aunt Mickey, June and I left Debbie's house for the Pensacola Navy Air Station at around 8AM to watch the Blue Angels practice. James had a car appointment and Debbie had to work :-(. Getting in riding a scooter turned out to be a comedy.  The NAS is only 1/2 mile from the house, we got in line and then were told that we can not enter the base until 8:30AM.  June and I were also told we need to have shoes (I had flip flops on) and gloves, so we zipped back to the house for shoes and gloves. At 8:30 we got in line at the gate again, but this time we had to have pants too.  We zipped back to the house and got pants....we are lucky Deb lives so close.  

As we walked to the flight line, the clouds were coming and going, with the low layer hanging at 800 to 1000 ft.  I spoke with one of the service personnel and they said they need 1200 ft minimum to fly any show. The show on Tuesday was canceled due to low clouds. so we were all hoping they cleared. 

We got there pretty early so had front row seats. 

The clouds were still hanging around, the Blue Angels put on an impressive show/practice, it was awesome. They started with an impressive climb and short field landing of Fat Albert, their C130 support plane and crew. 

Currently, the Blue Angels are flying the F18 Super Hornet, it is a beautiful aircraft.

This is the #4 aircraft, Lieutenant Commander Griffin Stangel who flies lead solo. However flying the number 4 aircraft is Lt. Amanda Lee, the first woman to be a Blue Angel. She flies the slot position, which is the back of the diamond....she did a great job. 

The precision of the flying is impressive. 

This is a practice but they have a full PA system with all volunteers doing the commentating and answering any questions people have. I think in many ways it is much more personal than going to an actual air show, and it is all free. 

After the air demonstration, we toured the museums, yes the museum over flows into what they call Hanger Bay One. Both museum buildings are packed with planes from all aviation eras and include Coast Guard aviation and a section on the the Navy role in the Apollo mission. 

This display had a hologram of one of the Astronauts giving a presentation on the moon landing, it was much cooler than this picture.

We found the Navy plane that is the name sake for June's car, the Corsair.  Those of us that grew up watching WWII movies can easily identify a corsair by its signature bent wing design. 

I somehow managed to find my self on an aircraft carrier and almost got squashed by a landing fighter, it was really close!!

We went outside to the Greek food truck for lunch, I had an awesome Gyro, just like Greece. 

The museum is huge, your legs will get tired before you see everything.  And it has lots of simulators, movies and other attractions, many geared towards children, bring your kids. 

We got back to the house in early afternoon, I washed the van...it was filthy. 

June made a nice spaghetti dinner and we had a quiet evening. 

Thursday we are going with Randy, Juanita and Aunt Mickey to see the Alabama Memorial, a battleship in Mobile, Al. 

Day 27-28, Sunday/Monday, 14/15 April 2024 - Visiting friends, moving to Emerald Coast.

Sunday, we showered, had breakfast and left CB around 09:30 for Sylacauga, Al, which is just south of Birmingham, Al, to visit friends. We met Ann Marie and Marvin last year on our Germany trip. June has kept in touch with Ann Marie on Facebook.  We were in the area, so we decided to contact them and they very graciously invited us to stop by for a visit. 

Marvin and Ann Marie live on Lay Lake. Lay Lake is a 12,000-acre reservoir created by the Alabama Power Company. It is primarily used for hydroelectric generation and recreation. Marvin has his fishing boat and a pontoon boat hanging from their boat house at the ready at all times. 

We went for a very nice ride in the Pontoon boat on a perfect day, 80F, a light breeze and mostly sunny. 

Captain Marvin gave us a nice tour of the lake. 

After our boat ride we returned to the house and were treated to a delicious traditional southern dinner. Striper, potato salad, green salad and hush puppies.

We had a very nice dinner and visit. 

Monday, we knocked on the Pipkin's door around 7:15AM and Marvin greeted us with a big smile and the smell of sausage and bacon....yumm. Marvin and Ann Marie made us a nice breakfast of eggs, bacon, local sausage and cheese grits. All was delicious, even the grits, I got seconds. We had another nice visit but it was time for us to move on. 

We said our goodbyes to Marvin and Ann Marie, it was great to see them after connecting in Germany.  They have an idyllic home on a beautiful lake and they were extremely generous hosts.

We hope they make it north in the near future. 

We left Sylacauga about 09:30 and set out south.  We had put in a request at a Harvest Host for the night but had not heard back, my plan was to drive that way and see if we could get a spot. We stopped for lunch at the Dale County rest area on Rt 281 because it had a dump station.  It was 1PM and the HH had not replied, so we decided to try to book a campground in Panama City Beach, FL for the night.  I put a campnab search in for the St. Andrew State Park. After lunch I started looking for other camp grounds and booked Campers Inn for $75. I was no sooner on the road when the HH accepted our stay and Campnab pinged me for the state park. I guess I just don't have enough patience, we were committed to Campers Inn. 

We arrived at Campers Inn about 16:00, it is just an RV park but only one street off the beach and has full hook ups.   

We walked 2.5 miles round trip up the beach, the sand is very fine and feels great on your feet. The ocean is still pretty cool but people were swimming. 

The breeze made the 85F temperature feel just right...should we winter here next year?

We walked in the water enough to get a little wet, but avoided the dreaded Florida sun burn....

We retired to the RV park for drinks and dinner

June cooked another good meal in the LTV using both the gas stove and the induction cook top.  

The adult beverages went down pretty easy too. :)

Tomorrow we plan to make our way to Pensacola..in time to watch the Blue Angels practice on Wednesday. 

Day 25-26, Friday-Saturday, April 12/13, 2024 - Goodbyes and onto Vicksburg.

Friday we were in no hurry to get going but it was time to move on. Randy arranged some pickle ball for the guys around 9:30.  So Fred got some more lessons, we played with Randy's friends, Glenn and Greg.  We switched up teams and it did not take long to identify the weak link...yeah it was Fred. They were good sports about it and we got a little exercise. 

After packing and showers we said good bye to Randy, Sue, Joe and Reba and set off a bit before 12N in the direction of Vicksburg, Mississippi.  

We drove until around 6PM and stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Shreveport, Louisiana.  Of course we had dinner but they were slammed and it took forever. It was not our best CB experience but it was a free place to park for the night. 

We still had a 3+ hour drive left to get to Vicksburg, so I got in the drivers seat around 6:30 while June was still sleeping. I was hoping I20 would be smooth, but I quickly hit construction and she was out of bed...she will get over it. We arrived at Vicksburg around 9:45AM. 

We have been to Gettysburg a few times but never Vicksburg. Vicksburg was probably a more strategic battle than Gettysburg, but does not get near the publicity. Taking Vicksburg gave the Union complete control of the Mississippi and divided the confederacy in half.

The strategy employed by Grant is fascinating, he was very deceptive and creative with his assault.  Despite his superior numbers, the taking of Vicksburg took Grant over six months, after several unsuccessful assaults he did an old school siege that took 47 days before they surrendered. This was a turning point in the war since the south was now cut in half and they lost the Mississippi as a supply line. 

We spent about 5 hours, but you could easily spend all day, there are over 2000 monuments. 

Today it is difficult to visualize the battlefield. It is not nearly as well preserved as Gettysburg, but the story is told in the placards. 

The Union lines are identified by blue markers and the confederate with red markers. Ohio and Illinois have huge monuments here, this is Illinois. 

Some significant parts of the park are closed, we had to hike to see the statue of Grant.

On the way to Grant's statue, there are plaques that detail the siege of Vicksburg, but this area is clearly being neglected a bit. 

It appears the Union kept better records than the Confederates. 

Unlike Gettysburg, we could not find a Vermont Monument, but we did find the New York Monument. 

It is pretty clear why Vicksburg controlled the Mississippi, 

We stopped at the 'Surrender Interview Site', where Pemberton and Grant negotiated the terms of surrender. 

There were so many monuments we did not stop at them all, but we did make our way to the Cairo, the last remaining iron clad river boat in existence today. 

It was sunk by a mine in 1862 and forgotten. In the 1960's it was found and raised. Today it is a museum. 

It is an impressive ship and makes what you read about the old iron clads real. 

We toured the museum which contains many, many artifacts that were recovered with the Cairo, including the ships bell. 

We are glad we stopped in Vicksburg. Although more strategic than Gettysburg, it clearly is neglected in comparison, probably because Lincoln did not give a speech here, it still deserves a visit.

We departed Vicksburg a little after 3PM and drove to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and stopped at another Cracker Barrel for the night. Tomorrow we are visiting friends we met on our Germany trip, they live near Birmingham, Al.