Monday May 8th and Tuesday May 9th

Well, I am back from my vacation and have a lot to blog about. I’ll probably cover about maybe two days per entry. And I got lots of pictures to post too.

I went into work Saturday night and got sick at work; kept trying to throw-up bile. I had eaten a couple of bites of chicken before I went to work that I had bought the day before and I guess that it had gone bad on me. They put an INT port in me at the station and then gave me some phenergen for the nauiousa. If you never had been given phenergen before then it is something like being drunk w/o the alcohol. I couldn’t drive home that night so I had to sleep at the station, and it was a hard sleep. I was able to get up the next morning around 10 am and make it home but still couldn’t do much more then lay around the house. That set me back a bit on my schedule so I took Sunday night off too; that‘s when I finished the cat‘s condo. Sense the boys, Dennis and Buddy, were already outside in a smaller pen I had made and had under the car-port they saw no difference in being moved to the condo, just the fact that they had more room. When I moved Figaroe out there she got that worried concern look that she will get when ever there is a change and she doesn’t understand what is going on yet. But Missy had a hissey fit and then practice her Zen-yoga lessons. Every time I looked out there that night she looked like she hadn’t moved from the spot I put her and then she would hiss and any of the other’s that came near her.

On Monday I was still able to get rolling but I was an hour late getting started. I drove down to Dauphin Island, which is down south of Mobile on the west side of the bay. The island is maybe about a mile at its widest and 17 miles long. But only about 7 miles of that is where they can build and only 3 miles of that has any plant growth. You can reach the Island by way of a bridge; and when I was driving in the pelicans would drop down beside the truck and cruise with me checking me out on the bridge.

Now the town of Dauphin Island has two convenience stores, a Post office, town hall, police department, water treatment system, three churches, (catholic, episical, and Baptist) a couple of restaurant & bars combo, piers for fishing boats, the camp grounds, a ferry landing that goes to across the bay to Fort Meyers and Fort Gains. Oh, also it has an Estuarium and a Coast Guard station and a couple of other things. The attraction is not for the younger crowd but for the older crowd that likes it a bit quieter.


I got to the campgrounds at around 3pm and set up camp. Each campsite has its own electrical outlet and water spicket. The restrooms w/showers were near and they even have clothes washers; but no dryers, or any that I could find. But there is a Laundromat at one of the convenience stores w/dryers.

On Monday it wanted to be messy on me all the way down. When I got to Dauphin Island and the camp-grounds I set up and then the sun came out and it got muggy. Then a storm cell came in from the gulf and it cooled down. That night I had to put up with some winds but it was still nice.

I had eaten at Dreamland in Mobile, (some of the best ribs - ever) so I just order a personal pizza at one of the local conveniences stores. When I had gotten back to the camp site w/ the pizza I startled a squirrel that was gnawing on my trash can.

Must had been something in there it thought it wanted. I bedded down for the night and slept decent. For some reason I’m not able to sleep comfortably all the way on the ground anymore. So while lying there I devised an outline for a frame that I can break down and carry w/ me.

Tuesday I woke up, fixed some coffee and then I went down to the beach. I took some pictures and walked along the beach then into town. Looked around and got some brunch. Walked back to the camp site, to get another camera and then went to the esuarium then Fort Gaines.





















The pictures of Fort Gaines, Site of the Battle of Mobile Bay in the War of Northern Aggression, (What history likes to misname as the "Civil" war.)























When I was getting my ticket to get into the esuarium the woman behind the counter asked me if I was retired military or had an AARP membership. When I told her “No” she told me what the price was and I quipped, “What? I don’t look like I could pass for 18?” (The child rate was ½ of the regular rate). The woman looked at me and said, “I was trying to get you the senior’s discount.”
















Nope, that didn’t sit well with me.

After touring those facilities I then went back to camp and washed up. It was about Dinner time by then and I went to find a restaurant to eat. Before I knew it I was on the bridge going back to the main-land and it would have been a couple of miles before I could reach a turn around. I remember a few restaurants as I was coming in so I stopped at one of them and had some seafood. It was good, but a little pricey. Got to talking to some of the local, about what all was going on and they were discussing about the building activities going on the Island. They couldn’t see families moving there when everything else was so far away, (Wal-Mart was a good twenty miles from the Island). I pointed out that what the market may be aiming for is the retired set, those that want to see the grandkids but not encourage them to stay. Went back to my camp before the gates closed at night, watched a movie on my portable DVD player, (Really roughing it there) then went to bed.

Points of Interest on Dauphin Island.