Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores, and Rainbow Plantation, Alabama

We left Grand Isle and drove on the worst roads that we have been on in four years of travel, Louisiana should have taken the stimulus money and fixed their roads! Driving to Summerdale, Alabama, we arrived and set up the fifth wheel at the Rainbow Plantation, an Escapee Rainbow park, If you travel as we do you need to become a member of Escapees).
The first order of business was to fix the damage from the rough roads. Books had spilled out of the upper cabinet, two glass display cases broke, but luckily not a single one of our rocks were damaged. Next was a to do list and after a trip to Lowes we replaced our kitchen faucet with a Moen, what a difference and it has a lifetime warranty!
Being on a roll we rebuilt the bathroom sink and quickly made short work of little problems that have irked us for some time. You would think we would have done this while in Texas and winter camp but we are both procrastinators....

Anyway we finished the  repair list and so it was time to play! Deciding to go to Dauphin Island we headed south to the beach and then east to Fort Morgan where we discovered the ferry trip was thirty dollars! As it was already noon we decided instead to explore some history and walked the battlements of the fort.
The fort was five sided and made of brick, an old style fort,(crennulated/ this style fort is where the name fortification agate came from as the agate  pattern resembles the aerial design). Perhaps the neatest thing was that we were able to walk along the moat and so we got a really good appreciation of the walls and structure. The museum, I thought actually took a neutral stance on the Civil War and had nice displays,(Unlike the Mississpipi rest stop where a prominentt picture was the sinking of a US Iron Clad and a picture of Jefferson Davis was also displayed, I am curently reading Us Grants autobiography and he didn't have a high opinion of Davis ).

A days outing to the beach was also in order and so packing a lunch we headed south to Gulf Shores. Four years ago we had parked near there and so it was nice to go back and have drink at the same beach pub, after walking the crowded beach, it is spring break here. Renita accused me of taking pictures of ladies in their bikinis but can I help it if they are in the background?
Now the beach here was the first time we had seen white sand beaches and the beach sand had actually squeaked when we stepped on it. It doesn;t squeak anymore, thanks to Bp, and we did find tar balls on the beach at Fort Morgan.

We enjoyed our time at the park vising with other escapees and we even shared our wiring techniques with Linda and Jan and Pat, three ladies we met during the beading group meeting. Linda actually collects rocks and so of course we had to show her and Joel our collection. We even traded some beach glass for some Lake Superior agate!

It was nice to revisit a place where we had started our journey four years before. The damage from Katirna has been mostly repaired and a lot of new construction marks the shoreline.. There is even a new condo high rise being built. The crowded beach and the water front condos reminded me of why we don't like the Florida and Alabama coasts, and why we winter on the Texas Coastal Bend. Clear skies.