Got up and debated weather, downtown Pensacola historical stuff and getting on down the road. Decided to head for Mobile so found a campsite and broke down. We got about 2” of rain the previous night and everything was still wet. My site and trailer were fine thankfully. Headed to gas station just before hooking up the trailer, got cleaned up and on the road by around 11. Windy drive on I-10 but trailer pulled fine. There’s a long bridge leading into Mobile with fairly strong cross winds that made sure I was paying attention but no real problems.
As we entered town, GPS sent me towards a tunnel. The sign said 12’ clearance but I did not have a good feeling so took the truck route around on the bridge. All was well until I took a turn a street too soon near an expressway bisecting a community. The community of Prichard. Suddenly I thought I was driving a residential street in Detroit, rough, pothole filled, poorly draining roads, run down houses, stray dogs EVERYWHERE. The only real difference is probably 80% of the houses were occupied as opposed to 10 or 20% in Detroit. I would have stood out anyway but pulling the trailer and being lost was like whistling Dixie in this neighborhood. I guess it was pretty much what I expected from rural Mobile. The entire rest of the drive to the park was on similar streets until getting very close.
Got to camp, set up and headed for the Battleship Memorial Park. Took about 20 minutes of driving through the 'real' Mobile again to get to the downtown area. Saw several historic buildings and a cemetery on the way. Passed through the tunnel GPS had sent me towards and it would have been possible to make it through but the lanes were narrow and rough so I’m glad I made the call I did. The USS Alabama is a battleship which you can walk through. There is also a submarine, the USS Drum, dry docked and open for walking tours as well as an impressive aircraft collection, include an A-12 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft that was incredible to see up close.
It was my first time on such large military ships and, although self-guided, was a great tour. As expected, the battleship is much more spacious inside than the submarine although space was most definitely utilized carefully.
Headed out and went downtown to see some historic buildings, which there are many. The architecture seems fairly square with mainly iron accents and details. Many have second floor porches. Downtown seems to be reasonably vibrant with many small business and a bar stretch in a few block area. Found a grocery store and returned to camp. Ate and wrote. I seem to have discovered it’s easier to write when I don’t have an internet connection. That leads to a deep thought for the day: in this case does reduced input = increased output???
Sunny chased us out of the trailer with her gas for the first time tonight. Unfortunately, smart money says it won’t be the last…
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