Alabama - Day 18 - north to Montgomery

The Woods RV Park, Montgomery
Wednesday, 18 December 2019

Because I had more places I wanted to visit in the Montgomery area than on the Gulf Coast, I decided to go north today and leave the coast for the end of the month.

Ruby crowned Kinglet

I've been seeing tiny little birds in the last several campgrounds and, after much study of the bird book, I've concluded they're probably Ruby crowned Kinglets.

These little guys are only 4¼" long, and they're just about the only bird (other than a hummingbird) that's that small.  This part of Alabama is barely in their winter range.  The males' red crown isn't always visible, especially this time of year.  Those wing bars and eye ring are hard to see when they flit around so much.  And their olive color blends in with dead leaves really well, which also makes them hard to see.  With all those reasons, this is my best guess for what I've been seeing lately.

today's route

You can see it's nearly a straight shot from Opp to Montgomery, and many of the roads were nice and wide for a change.

The drive
Leaving Opp I passed the Lurleen Wallace Community College.  You may remember Lurleen was the wife of George Wallace, Alabama's notorious super-segregationist 4-time governor ("Segregation now.  Segregation tomorrow.  Segregation Forever.").  The interesting thing was that those terms weren't consecutive; the state constitution prohibited it.  George spent his first term trying to convince the legislature to change the rule, which they refused to do.  So he insisted his wife run in his place, and she stated explicitly that she was doing it so he could continue to be governor.

She died of cancer during her term, cancer that she'd had for years but didn't know about.  George did, though.  It was discovered when she had their 4th child by C-section, and (typical for the early '60s) the doctors told George who insisted that Lurleen not be told.  The result was years of her not receiving treatment that might have saved her life.  But George was interested only in his political career and didn't want to deal with an ailing wife and 4 kids at home.

My conclusion: Lurleen got a really raw deal and George was an even bigger jerk than I'd always thought him.

I passed a church with a sign out front that said, "Mary had a little lamb.  His name was Jesus."  Which somehow sounded creepy to me.

I've been seeing more Confederate Battle Flags since I've been in south Alabama than any place else I've traveled so far.

I passed through the town of Loverne - the Friendliest City in the South, they say.  They also claim to be the Home of the World's Largest Peanut Boil.  The local Shriners Club holds this peanut boil as a benefit each Labor Day weekend for the last 49 years.  They claim to boil and bag tons (actual tons) of peanuts each year.  For this year's account in the local paper, here's the link.   https://www.greenvilleadvocate.com

I passed the DongWon plant near the town of Sardis (which sounds like a restaurant).  Curious, I looked it up and learned DongWon generally is known for "high tenacity polyester woven textiles" (their words) but also make pipes for automobiles, which is what they make here.

I passed a field of cattle and noticed there were no Cattle Egrets.  The reason I noticed is that there was a vulture sitting in the field instead, just like the egrets do.  Odd.

I passed a decent-sized pond with a big sign saying, "Like to Fish?  Piddlin' is Perfect in Pirtle's Puddle."  Almost enough to make me wish I liked fishing.

In Montgomery I actually saw a license plate from Hawaii.  First one I've seen on this trip.  I've now seen them from every other state, including the reclusive North Dakotans and the rare Wyomingites (whose state ranks the least populous among the 50).

Campgrounds
There are 2 campgrounds near Montgomery, with a big difference in price.  But one of them is much closer to the city - in fact, it's in the city - so I decided to take one night there for sure while I checked out where the other place, a state park, was located.

So after I'd checked into The Woods RV Park (which is on one of the main roads of town and hasn't got a tree in the campground), I drove north of town looking for the state park.

Fort Toulouse/Fort Jackson National Historic Park includes remains of 3 different types of settlements on this ground.  The oldest is a mound from the Mississippian Culture, dating back to about 1100 AD.  Next is a reconstruction of Fort Toulouse, built by the French in the 1750s.  Last is a reconstruction of Fort Jackson, built by the troops of Gen. Andrew Jackson in 1814.  It was here that same year that the Creek Nation surrendered 20,000,000 acres of land to the US.

What's also here now is a small campground that charges only $18 for seniors, compared to the $32 I'm paying at the other place (the Good Sam price).  They also have an abundance of Spanish moss here, adding to the distinctly Southern atmosphere.

Despite this seeming to be a desirable place to stay, I decided it was just too far out of the main part of town to make for easy sightseeing.  It took me nearly half an hour to get to downtown, as opposed to about 10 minutes from the other place.  I decided to stay in the other campground until the weekend, and then move up here for a couple more nights.