Blog#18 From Alabama to Florida
Midish March
My motel in Spanish Fort was right next door to a Bass Pro Shop, so I had to go check it out. I am going through a bag of ice each day, and each day I have to take all the food out and drain the water out of this cheap P.O.S. cooler that has no drain. I found a Yeti ice chest at Bass Pro Shop that I can lift easily and I want to buy it. Brian and I went halves on a big Yeti, but it is too big. My sister refers to it as “a refrigerator that takes up the whole back of the car”, in a very nasty tone of voice. She said not to mention her name again in my blog. I have two sisters. One sweet, and her.
Very similar to the the Yeti ice chests were models made by Cabela’s for about 2/3rd the price, but not the medium size I was after. One bigger-a refrigerator-and one smaller-room for a six pack. I asked if Cabela makes the medium size chest and was told yes, but this store hasn’t started selling them, as they are a new item that just came in.
Alabama’s sales tax is ~9%.(State and local combined) Florida’s is 6%. I am planning to buy my dream cooler in Destin, Florida ASAP. That’s the closest Bass Pro Shop on my route east, only slightly out of the way. Once again draining my cooler and reicing it before departure today, I was getting excited about that new Cabela’s model. Especially because I have been unable to locate any retailer in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama or Florida who sells BLOCK ice. They only sell cubes, thereby insuring the continuous purchasing of more. My ten pound bag that I put in a plastic tub melted down to about a quart of water. What a racket.
I left Spanish Fort and went to Gulf Shores and ate lunch at Lulu’s. This is a restaurant well known for it’s gumbo. But I had gumbo in Nawlins (and it did not have near the flavor of the gumbo that my friend Sharon made. And she’s a German from Ohio)—so I had the open faced crab melt, made with Blue Crab, or maybe Lump Crab. The menu read, “sweet claw meat”, so it could have been hermit crab for all I know. It was Lulu’s own recipe (the menu said so), and it was done right. Savory, not sweet. Green onion, no stinking green bell pepper. Well done, Lulu. I didn’t get to meet Lulu—or her brother.
Drove past the Flora Bama bar—best beach bar, according to Kenny Chesney. I didn’t stop in—it’s spring break and there were hordes of people. Jimmy Buffett based his song, “Bama Breeze” on this bar. He and Kenny may have been there as I passed, but I am tired of putting out all the effort.
I’ve driven over 5,000 miles. He could at least have met me at Lulu’s.
I continued on and am now at my campsite at Big Lagoon State Park in Perdido Key, Florida. It has rained all day, and the sky is dark. It isn’t cold, but it is a bit dreary. My campsite is the only one I have seen that has no flat place to park. Because I’m sleeping in my car, of course. The flat spot for a tent is up and over a tree stump. If I have a bad night, rolling against the side of my car, I will ask tomorrow to move to one of the empty sites that is level.
The good news is that the library up the road has Wifi, according to Erika, one of the rangers. I will investigate tomorrow.
Sora under the boardwalk
I had a chance before dark to walk one of the trails that go across the estuary to the bay. Great view from there, but didn’t see much wildlife. The no-see-ums are hanging out with the mosquitos tonight, so I am sprayed down and feel clammy and dirty. The little bastards love to bite my scalp through my thinning white hair, even though I DEET the heck out of it. Why can’t we just get along?
A view of Gulf Shores (I think) from Big Lagoon
Gecko by flashlight
Green Tree Frog, (I think), by flashlight also
The other good news is that this campground has armadillos AND they have had alleged spottings of Jaguarundi.(A black animal that looks like a cross between a cat and a weasel) I have been out once tonight in the dark with my flashlight, but no luck yet. I did see a couple geckos and a frog up on the outside wall of the bath house. I know there’s critters about, because when I returned from brushing my teeth, I found the plastic container-one I just bought to keep my bread from getting smashed- under the picnic table and an entire loaf of wheat bread gone, bag and all, without a trace. Raccoon thieves. I’ve left some lunchmeat out to bait them in. And then I will shake an angry fist at them.
Straight on Great Blue Heron. He looked soooooo weird
Bald Eagle I saw from my camp
My neighbor across the road… and that man was tall.