“Sweet Home Alabama”

Friday, March 15, 2013

We had a slow start yesterday morning. Took showers, had breakfast, posted the blog, and Greg experimented with finding a way to get water from our five gallon jug directly into our onboard water tank. A lot of RVs allow you to just pour it in. Ours doesn't. It has to come from a hose hookup. After some research on the web he found a way use the winterizing valve suction to get a third of the jug of water in. After that it slowed down, so he needs to experiment with the Water Bandit that we use to attach the hose to the campground faucet if there are no threads on the water faucet to screw the hose on. The experiment continues. If we can find ways to get jugs of water into our tank, it will facilitate longer boondocking in the future. Water and our holding tanks are our biggest limiting factor. Our electrical use is minimal and the solar panels supplement it.

We had to backtrack to the office and pay for the night in order to leave. That process was slowed down by a guy who wanted to know if he could use trap lines in the state park. He was not too happy to be told no, and screeched off in his pickup truck. The park had signs posted to warn you not to walk in the woods because of hunting. Guess he thought he could trap as well. This IS Mississippi after all.

We left the park after discussing how far to go that day. We decided to continue following Route 84 that we had picked up in Texas. It is a mostly rural road and across the state of Mississippi was dual highway. We decided to see how long we wanted to drive and then find a place to stay. We reached the Alabama border after an uneventful day and found an Army Corp of Engineers campground on the Tombigbee Waterway that flows from the Choctaw Wildlife Management Area.

Nice level concrete parking pads and gravel sites. Greg said, of course they were nice. They were built by engineers! The riverside sites were taken. There is a fishing tournament, but we still got a space across the road with a view of the river. Shortly after we got settled a barge being pushed by a tugboat cruised by. Later another and then at 10:30 pm Greg commented that there must be a train nearby. We realized it was another tug and barge pushing hard against the current going upstream this time. We ran out and watched it churning up a big wake fighting against the strong current. It had a bright spotlight on the front to illuminate ahead and a spotlight on each side lighting up the riverbanks and the campers as well! The Tombigbee is part of a series of rivers, dams, locks and canals throughout the south that facilitate transport of coal and other products. After looking at the map, it looks like this particular waterway eventually flows into Mobile Bay, but it is difficult to see where these barges may be originating. Because the Mississippi River has been so low, and closed from time to time to barge shipping, we are guessing that these other waterways may be used more. The flow seems to be nice and high from what we can observe.

Saturday morning- We decided to stay tonight as well. Spring is coming here. The temperatures have been in the 70's, the sky is clear and the sun is shining. There is grass coming up and the birds are busy! Our campsite has juncos, blue jays, robins, a red headed woodpecker and bluebirds! One sat on a branch a few feet from the window while I was eating breakfast, and stared at me. I haven't seen bluebirds since Kaylin was in high school and we used to go to Lynda Bell's for Log Cabin Science. There were always several in the big tree at the end of the farm lane. Kaylin and I would stop to watch in the big old red pickup “Big Al”, named so, because it was an Alyeska Pipeline Oil Company truck from our days in Alaska. Lynda bought it from us and renamed it “Big Red”. Bluebirds have become scarce because their favorite nesting spots are old fence posts, which are disappearing with urbanization, hence the drive to put up bluebird boxes.

A few more barges have gone by. I slept in and missed the bass boats roaring out at dawn for the fishing tournament. Greg was up, (of course!), and saw them. We'll take a hike this afternoon and get a little exercise. Too much sitting in the RV driving down the road. I can go from day to day never stepping outside if I wish. My home and my vehicle are one. Roll out of the bunk, get dressed, eat breakfast, climb in the passenger seat. Stop and eat lunch at the dinette, climb back in the seat. Stop for the night, make dinner, climb back in the bunk, with a few bathroom breaks in our own bathroom, “rinse and repeat”! So, today I am “forcing” myself to sit outside! Greg put out the awning and in between phone calls I am typing away. Tomorrow we will head out on Route 84 again and see where we stop for the night!