Alabama - Day 31 - Mobile

Payne's RV Park, Theodore
Tuesday, 31 December 2019

My last day in Alabama, and the last day of the year, and the last day of the decade (I don't know about you, but I'll be glad to see the last of the 'teen years and hope for better with a new decade).

today's route

The usual route into Mobile from the east is through one of the pair of tunnels under Mobile Bay.  But I've driven them before when Momma and I made our frequent trips to Florida to see her brother, and my memories were such that I wasn't sure I wanted to drive them in the RV.

I looked them up online and became even more sure.  The older of the two has only a 12' clearance, which I can make, but only by a foot, which seems to me cutting it a little too close.  And both of them are about 2/3 of a mile long, which I knew was further than I'd be comfortable with.  The newer of them has a sharp turn on the western end that has caused traffic problems with big trucks in the past, and didn't sound pleasant to me.  All together, I figured I'd just go back across that bridge near Africatown USA, like it or not.

And I didn't like it, but you have to choose your priorities sometimes.  Even the highway people designated my bridge route as a "scenic route."

This time across, I did the same as last time - driving in the inside lane and going my own speed.  But oddly, this time there were 2 vehicles that stayed in the inside lane behind me all the way across, never bothering to move into the outside lane and pass me as any self-respecting Alabama (or Texas) driver would do.  Very odd, but their choice, I told myself when I realized they were there.  At least they didn't honk at me to get me to move over, which I wouldn't have done anyway.

I was aiming for a Publix on the other side of Mobile and wanted to drive through some of the historic areas of town on the way (Google didn't like it because not direct enough).

I ended up in what they called the Old Dauphin Historic District, which runs along Dauphin Street.  Very attractive.  Obviously old.  Lots of magnolias and live oaks and Spanish moss.  Lots of old houses - some just normal houses but many with 2 stories and many many with large covered porches, some with pillars, some with porches on the 2nd floor as well as the 1st.

In that area I found Hank Aaron Loop road and, in looking him up, learned that he'd grown up in Mobile.  I've heard of him all my life but had never paid attention to just how great he was at his chosen profession.  I also didn't realize he's still alive, but he's only in his 80s (which is seeming younger to me as I get closer myself).  His remarkable career and the racism he had to endure to pursue it are detailed at this link.   https://en.wikipedia.org/Hank-Aaron

I saw the Alabama School of Math and Science.  Very large and attractive, it bills itself as "Alabama's only fully public and residential high school."

In a residential area I saw a sign warning me of "speed lumps" - specifically Lumps, not Humps as I've always heard them called.

I suddenly realized I was going to leave Alabama tomorrow without having tried boiled peanuts.  I should have tried them weeks ago but didn't.  They don't sound at all appetizing to me, but thousands of people think they are, and it's a local specialty, so I'll need to come back for that.  Or it may be that in a couple of years when I'm in Georgia, which is also known for growing peanuts, I'll have another chance.

Tonight's campground is just south of Mobile in the small town of Theodore, just north of Bellingrath Gardens, a famous horticultural attraction.  The owner was very distracted when I came to check in, and even started to hand me her half-eaten banana when she was trying to find her receipt book.  She told me her husband is about to have his 3rd back operation and was miserable with pain in the next room, and it was all difficult for her, she said.  And I believe it.

This campground has unpaved roads filled with deep ruts from the recent rains, and a pond filled with ducks.  Actually, until I spent some quality time with the bird book, I'd figured those ducks for being geese, what with their size and their long necks.  It seems they stretch their necks so much they seem to be geese, but technically they're Muscovy Ducks, which I remember seeing once before at that glass-blowing place in West Virginia.

an internet Muscovy Duck

They come in all varieties of plumage, but that red business on their faces seems to be the constant by which they can be identified.

In this campground, these ducks had free rein, fascinating both Dexter and Lily from the windows and complicating my attempts to walk the dogs.  But at least we didn't see many dogs in this campground, which was actually pretty empty, so we were in much better shape than the last 2 nights.