SLOWING OUR ROLL SOUTH



THURSDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #3 - STOP #58



With today's 180 mile move south I think we have finally left behind the freezing overnight temperatures. It also helps that we have dropped down to an elevation of just 130 feet from the over 1800 feet we experienced in Georgia a few short weeks ago.

Tricia has taken on some extra duties at work this month and we are going to sit still here for two weeks just outside of Mongomery, AL. With the Maxwell Air Force Base less than 10 miles from here we occasionally here a few jets roaring by over head, but never after dark.

We don't have any sightseeing planned for this stop but you never know what we will stumble across and find interesting.

Campsite #10 at Gunter Hill Campground



MONDAY - Like I mentioned we don't have any sightseeing planned for this stop, but we do have a few chores to take care of today.

Just our ordinary stuff like gassing up the truck, going to the laundomat and grocery shopping.

When it comes to gasoline prices we usually find the least expensive gas to be at the Murphy Station just outside of Walmart. Such was the case today, but today we didn't grocery shop at Walmart like we usually do because we are back inside of Publix Territory, Tricia's favorite place to grocery shop.

After we finished doing our laundry (for the first time in nearly a month) we located a nearby Publix and stocked up. We bought enough groceries to hopefully last us the rest of the year, $289 worth of groceries!

It wasn't easy fitting a months worth of laundry and all those groceries into our already tightly packed truck, but we did!



TUESDAY - One of the things I did on our first morning here (Friday) was to put together an Amazon order. There is a drug store in town that is an Amazon Counter Location where we can pick up our order.

I also cleared it with the Check-In Office at the campground to have our post office mail sent here. We should be able to pick that up later this week.


Before I get too far into this story I want to mention that I got a surprise when I zoomed in on Google Maps to find the location of the drug store today.

It seems this drug store is located at the exact corner where a middle aged black woman was arrested on December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat to a white person. There is a now a lifesized bronze statue of her on this corner and the original bus has been restored and is placed in a museum around the corner.

I'm sure most of you know who I'm referring to:

Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

I've included this LINK to a very short and interesting article about her and the historical significance of this definant act. It's definitely worth a read.


Now back to my story, today our Amazon order has arrived in town. Nothing to exciting, Tricia wanted a shoe scrubber to place just outside THE POD's door to try and help keep some of the dirt outside. She also asked for a couple different kitchen sink strainers to help keep food particles from finding there way into our grey water tank and some soda can covers, so I don't always feel I have to finish my morning V8 beverage or my afternoon soda.

For me it was a short 1.5" car radio replacemnet antenna for ROVER. I've been working on catching video clips with my cheap action camera (GoPro knockoff) while mounted on the mirrors. The drivers side is fine, but the passenger side had this big ugly antenna in the middle of every shot. You should start seeing some of those video clips on the blog early next year.

A couple of our cabinets have been popping open during travel. So we've been taping them shut with blue painters tape to secure them before travel. I'm working on a more permanent solution and easier way to keep them closed, so I ordered some velcro straps and anchor brackets to see if that will solve the problem.

The big ticket item is a new and improved LevelMatePRO+ Wireless Vehicle Leveling System for THE POD. In short it's a bluetooth device and phone app that let's you know when your trailer is level from the cab of the truck. A real time saver when setting up at a new campsite.

The improvements over our old LevelMate Pro is this one has a longer bluetooth range and can be powered externally by USB. Sometimes I had to hold my phone out the window of the truck to receive the signal and once month I had to take the device all apart to replace the round watch-style battery inside, those batteries are expensive!

This new model should solve both of our issues. Now I have a 2-year old functioning older model to gift away to someone who would like to have it!



FRIDAY - This morning we had just finished eating breakfast when we had a knock on our door. When you live in a house this is not completely unexpected, but living in a travel trailer in a campground where you don't know a single soul, it usually means the ranger needs to speak to you. That usually doesn't involve good news.

My thoughts immediately went to the fact that for the last few weeks our fine elected officials in Washington have been postponing and dodging the possibility of another shutdown of the goverment. Past shutdowns have involved the near immediate closure of federally funded campgrounds in our National Parks and National Forests all over the country.

Also federally funded are the Army Corps of Engineers Parks which is where we are camping today just outside of Montgomery, AL. So it was with great trepidation I prepared to open the door.

By the time I rose from my seat at the dinette I caught a glimpse out our kitchen window of someone in a Christmas colored knit hat walking away from our campsite. Good sign I thought!

What I found when I opened the door was a small sealed tin of store bought cookies on our bottom step. We are still not sure if it was put there by a campground volunteer on behalf on the park management or just one of our fellow campers spreading Christmas cheer one campsite at a time.

Who ever it was, Thank You from Campsite #42!




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MERRY CHRISTMAS (2020)

Our Location:
Gunter Hill Campground
Montgomery, AL




Christmas (which means "Christ's Mass") is a holiday that is celebrated on December 25. It is a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. For two millennia, people around the world have been observing it with traditions and practices that are both religious and secular in nature.

Christians celebrate Christmas Day as the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth, a spiritual leader whose teachings form the basis of their religion. Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, sharing meals with family and friends and, of course, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive.

Excerpted from Wikipedia



MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL



Until next time
TWO PEAS


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RICKWOOD CAVERNS



FRIDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #3 - STOP #57



Nothing much out of the ordinary during our travels today except, while traveling through Huntsville, AL we saw a Saturn 5 Rocket and a Space Shuttle (complete with a booster rocket) on the side of Interstate 565.

Turns out it was the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, an astronaut training center for kids and adults alike. They simulate weightlessness by using SCUBA gear in an underwater facility.

Not something we were particularly interested in, but I'm sure a lot of people are judging by the number of cars in the parking lot.


We arrived at Rickwood Caverns State Park and were dissapointed to find that the campground's 13 sites were very tightly spaced with absolutely zero privacy between sites. We were fortunate enough to have selected Campsite #1, which meant we had no one to the left of us when we walked out our front door.

During the week it wasn't to bad with only three or four of the campsites being used, but on the weekend all sites were taken and things felt really tight.

Campsite #1 with a cool little covered bridge to walk across the creek.

That trailer in the background is on Campsite #9 whiich means there are 7 sites between them and us.


The cave tours here at Rickwood Caverns are self-guided and at this time of year the cave is only open from 2PM-8PM Wednesday through Sunday. We arrived on a Friday afternoon and there were already several people here signing up for the early Friday tours.

The first half of the normal cave tour route is decorated for the season with Christmas light displays and the second half is not open at this time. We decided to pass on taking our tour with the weekend crowds and selected Wednesday at 2PM for our tour.



SUNDAY - It's not just inside the cave where you'll find Christmas Light displays.

The parking lots, the campground, the Ticket Office and everything in between are also well decorated as you can see in the photos below.


The view from the edge of the parking lot.


The view leading up the path to the Ticket Office.


The view of the Ticket Office and on the far left, beyond to the cave entrance.



WEDNESDAY - This is our last day here and our tour time has finally arrived!

It is always exciting just before we enter a new cave because you never know what you are going to see. The cool thing about this cave is that the tour is self-guided, meaning we can stop and take photos anytime we want and can linger in front of anything we find interesting.

Very few cave tours are self-guided. The guides are there to explain what you are seeing and how it was formed. Sadly, they are also there to make sure there is no one vandalizing the formations and trying to break off a piece to take home as a souvenir or scratch their name in the rock walls to prove they were there.

Both of these actions were common occurances and even encouraged activities by some private cave owners up until the 1950s and 1960s. The "Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988" was passed in Washington to outlaw these activities. The law provides for significant fines and even possible jail time for repeat offenders.

Enough of that, let's see some photos!



"Wonderland Under Warrior"






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HOW QUICKLY PLANS CHANGE



THURSDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #3 - STOP #56



On Monday afternoon I called ahead to Cathedral Caverns State Park to confirm our Thursday through Monday camping reservations and schedule our Friday morning cave tour.

I paid the balance due and was told we were all set to go. I didn't give it another thought until we arrived at the campground entrance and saw the barricade and THE SIGN. It read, campground is open, but all cave tours have been suspended.

After we got all set up on the campsite I drove up to the CLOSED Visitor Center, because there was no cell phone service in the campground area, to let them know we had arrived and which campsite we had selected. This is a non-site specific campground, meaning they guarantee you a site, but don't assign you a number in advance, you just show up and pick an empty one.

I asked to speak to Judy, the lady who took my credit card info on Monday and sold me my cave tour tickets, but was told she was out sick. I asked the lady behind the counter about refunding my cave tour tickets and was told she didn't have access to do that. I asked if Judy was expected to return to work the next day and was told she would be out for several weeks and someone else would take care of my refund, just not her.

I went back to THE POD and then Tricia and I gathered up our laptops and drove to the nearest town to get cell phone service. Tricia had some work that needed to be done and I made arrangements to arrive at our Monday destination early.

I called back to the campground office and informed them we would be leaving in the morning and asked that they also refund my fees for three nights of camping. While in town we gassed up ROVER, got a couple of things at the grocery store and then ate dinner at Hardee's.

I suspected that there may have been a COVID outbreak among the employees and found a post on the State Park's Facebook Page confirming just that. On Wednesday at 1:22PM they announced the closure of the Visitor Center and suspension of all cave tour operations until further notice. That was the day before we arrived.


Someday soon we'll have to return to this quiet little campground (only 5 RV sites and 6 tent sites) and visit their cave. Preferably in May or June when all the crepe myrtle trees scattered throughout the campground are in full bloom.

Close but not too close to the showers and bathhouse.

A row of crepe myrtle trees surrounds Campsite #1

After spending only one night I'm glad we are out of there and hope that all their employees have a speedy recovery. It just goes to show you how quickly plans change when it comes to RV travel.




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NOW THAT WAS COLD!!!!!



MONDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #3 - STOP #55



While we were breaking down camp this morning to move to our next site we had to deal with on-again-off-again snow flurries. It's not a first for us, but it's definitely not what we strive for.

After driving 1000 feet down the mountain we had no more snow, but we did encounter a little bit of rain drizzle during our short 50 mile move. Just enough to require the use of our windshield wipers on the lowest intermittent setting.

Wouldn't you know it, when we got near our next campsite we once again spent the last couple of miles driving straight up another mountain. Unlike this morning's snow, this time the snow would actually stick to the truck and trailer and not instantly melt, unlike what made it's way to the ground.

We are in for a cold visit here in Northern Alabama during the next three days. Maybe we will even set a new all-time record low for our travels. Our current record is just 23°F, brrrrrrrrr!!

Campsite 73 at DeSoto State Park in Alabama



TUESDAY - We didn't set any new records last night, but it was close.

We awoke this morning to see that our weather station we had recorded an overnight low of just 24°F, one degree shy of our 23°F record set a year ago while visiting Louisiana. We still have two more nights here and the forecast is for even lower temperatures to come.


This is a video looking out THE POD's door just before sunset yesterday.

And this is a photo of what we saw at sunrise this morning.
Only our fourth day of snow since we started RVing.

Not exactly a blizzard, but I do believe this would qualify as a light dusting of snow.



WEDNESDAY - Just as we anticipated, last night we recorded a new overnight "low temperature", just 22°F.

We also tied the record for the "lowest high temperature" yesterday, not once did it get above 40°F, heck it was noon before it got above 32°F.

We can't let a little snow and freezing temperatures keep us from enjoying this park. Let's go see some waterfalls!


Let's start out with an easy one. The Azalea Cascade is not really a waterfall but beautiful none the less. It is located at the end of a short boardwalk that runs behind the Country Store and Nature Center where you check in for the campground.

Azalea Cascade as seen from the boardwalk.

The next two waterfalls are found along a 2.5 mile loop trail you can access just 3 campsites down from our site. First is Laurel Falls (which is on a short spur trail) only .25 mile from our campsite.

Laurel Falls with a recently downed tree blocking most of the view.

Next up is Lost Falls, which is only another 2/3 of a mile down the trail. At this point we turned around and backtracked to the campsite for a late lunch.

Lost Falls, notice the huge icicles in the right foreground?

The final waterfall, DeSoto Falls, is a seven mile drive to the other end of the state park from where the campground is located. Here we found a man-made dam that we read was the first hydro-electric dam in the state of Alabama. Immediately down river from the dam is the first of two falls that make up DeSoto Falls. The first plunge looked to be about 15-20 feet and the second plunge was closer to 80 feet.

The decommissioned man-made hydoelectric dam at DeSoto Falls.

The first of two waterfall plunges.

DeSoto Falls from top to bottom.

There were several homes just on the edge of the cliff overlooking DeSoto Falls. We wondered what it would be like to have breakfast on your back deck every morning with that view?


Well that's enough waterfalls for this year!
I think we will go back underground next!




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