Friends, Reds, Planes & Ships

Gulf Shores, AL
Gulf State Park

The best part of this week was meeting back up with fellow RV Grads, Jo & Craig.  We met them when we were just learning about full-time RVing in Indiana back in April, 2014.  Then when we both "graduated" to fulltiming, we met back up in September in Indiana.  There is a group of 10 or so of us 2014 Graduates.  We keep tabs on each other and meet up whenever we cross paths.

Well, we are heading back west after leaving Florida, and Jo & Craig are heading to Florida after spending the holidays back in Texas.  We've been checking our schedules and we ended up meeting in Alabama.  What a great week we had together!  We hung out in the evenings, shared some great meals, campfires & touring around.
 

As we drove towards Gulf Shores, there were many resorts along the way.

   

A view of the lake right out our back window.

We had some beautiful full moon evenings.

Craig & Jo from This Moment in Time

It's always nice to run into old friends!  We were glad that we were able to cross paths in Alabama.  Craig & Jo came over to our place the first night and we had ourselves a Shrimp Boil.  Complete with corn & baby potatoes.  But, these weren't any 'ol shrimp.  These were the famous Royal Reds that we had been hearing about!  Royal Reds prefer a specific temperature zone in the Gulf of Mexico that is usually found around 2400 feet in the colder deeper water.  They are the largest of the shrimp with a deep red color (before cooking).  They have a sweet, tender flavor, similar to lobster.

These were AMAZING!  Craig made sure we cooked them properly.
  Only about 3 minutes, otherwise, they'd be difficult to peel.

 

Nice bike ride at Gulf State Park

 

We took a bike ride down one of the trails in Gulf State Park.  There were several wonderful trails.  If it weren't for the cold windy weather that followed, we would've had many more bike outings.  Here's a great sunset picture as we headed back.

Time around the fire

Jo has a bread machine.  It's an evil machine.  It (really Jo) makes the most amazing breads

and baked goods!!  I'd gain 20 lbs if we saw them more often!  These cinnamon rolls with homemade

sugar free frosting were simply sinful! 

These horrible stickers grow all around the so-called grass around here.  They are about the size of a small pea.  They are miserable if you are a dog.  Not very fun for people either when you have to pull them out of your dogs feet because they then stab you!  Poor Hurley.

Another beautiful moon!

 

Nice picture of Jo while we had some girl time out shopping for a new jacket.
 

Jo had brought some delicious homemade Tamales over for dinner with some rice, fresh guacamole and cheese dip.  Muy beuno!!

 

Another evening we went out for BarBQue at LA BBQ.  A small family owned place.  They had several sauces we could put on our ribs & chicken.  Good stuff!!

 

 

We decided to take a walk down the pier before dinner on another night. Gulf Shores State Park Pier re-opened July 23, 2009. It is the largest pier on the Gulf of Mexico at 1540 ft. long. The old pier was destroyed in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan.

This poor pelican looked so pitiful trying to stay warm on the front of this old trailer hiding his head.

 

 

It's a nice pier and I'm sure in the summer it's packed.  But tonight it's very cold and just us.

On the way to Mobil, we had lunch at Ed's.  Great food!

 

 

On Saturday, our last full day with Jo & Craig, we drove up to Mobile to see the USS Alabama, a battleship that launched in 1942.  It is 680 feet long, 194 ft. tall, weights 42.5 tons when loaded, held a crew of over 2300 men and earned 9 battle stars.

 

We walked all over the ship.  Top to bottom.  Such a maze inside.  I don't know how they every figured out how to get around.  It is in very good condition.  After our tour Steve & Craig went on a flight simulator.  I didn't get a picture, but I think Jo did.  They had a great time.

The Mobile Skyline

 

5

The length of the wings on the B-52 were as long as the plane itself!  Incredible.

 

We also toured through this submarine. (above) There was a fellow inside that had been on many sub missions.  He had lots of information.  He told us you had 1 year to learn everything about the sub and every job that everyone else did before you could serve on it.  Those subs are so cramped.  I could never have been on one.

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Alabama, Hello Mississippi (just passing through) on our way to New Orleans!