Alabama - Day 14

University Station RV Park
Saturday, 14 December 2019

I spent the day in the campground, mostly doing chores and walking the dogs and working on the post about the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum.

This is a very odd campground.  Its entire premise is that plenty of people are avid supporters of Auburn University - its football team, especially - and they seem to be right.  They have hundreds of RV sites, which are apparently almost all taken during the football season.  I got lucky and their last game was a couple of weeks ago, so all the seasonals have left and the campground is relatively empty.

The campground provides a free shuttle to the stadium on game days.  All their dozens of roads here have names like Tailgate Trail, Tiger Walk and Wishbone Way.  Almost all of the dozens of RVs and campers still here are decorated with Auburn-related gear, which can be really elaborate.  Picnic tables and chairs painted in Auburn's orange and blue colors.  An outdoor swing with decorated cushions.  Pictures and stand-ups of tigers everywhere - as distinguished from the LSU tiger, I saw, because one yard had both in it.  The creativity of ways of showing team support was endless.

Most campers have built wooden decks beside their RVs, but many have done a great deal more.  They've built breezeways between the RV and one or two large screened-in rooms.  They've built viewing stands positioned to watch the TV on the outside of an RV.  Some structures are so elaborate, they're almost studio apartments - even houses.  They all look like they want to be ready to party on game day.

The dogs and I walked around about half the park - it really is a big place - and my overall impression is that these people spend a LOT of money on this hobby.  But I'm sure it brings them pleasure and is much less destructive for society than a drug hobby.

The campground is immediately across the street from a very active railroad track.  The trains come by almost every hour, and I've heard them as early as 3:30 AM and as late as 9:00 PM.  You can't miss it because the trains blow their horns all along this stretch of track because of all the RR crossings along here.  But I love the sound and doubt if I'd even notice it if they run all night long, which they might.

This morning I heard a bird saying "Jiminy jiminy jiminy jiminy."  Over and over it would say that 4 times in a row.  I don't remember hearing that call before and have no idea what bird it is.

I saw Blue Jays and Bluebirds and Mockingbirds and some little warbler that had so few distinguishing marks that I didn't bother spending time with the bird book to figure it out.

This campground doesn't charge for its laundry facilities.  This is the first time in nearly 2 years I've been able to do laundry without hunting around for quarters.  And the machines worked well and everything was clean.  A real treat.

My plan had been to visit the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site tomorrow on my way southwest to Greenville, and then either north to Montgomery or south to Mobile.  But sometime during the day when I was planning my route, I learned that the Historic Site isn't open on Sundays.  Open 6 other days in the week, but not Sunday.  Unusual, because most tourism sites are closed on Mondays, not Sundays.

I really didn't want to stay here another day because this is an expensive campground.  Well, it's all relative, but they're charging $40/night and the previous 2 campgrounds I've been in charged $25 - a big difference for more than one night - let alone 3.  But I was absolutely not going to miss this Historic Site, so another night here it is.