Mobile and Vicksburg

The two sets of three 16” guns comprising the forward batteries of the WWII battleship , USS Alabama, fired 6-foot shells, the height of a man. These shells could go 20 miles for coming up from deep below would be 9 bags of gunpowder to explode each shell out its barrel.

These big gun foundations go down through the ship to its keel in 20 foot diameter cylindrical tubes surrounded by 4 foot thick concrete and steel . Outside these encasements, as you walk the perimeter of these very big trees on three levels you are joined by sentinels lining the wall: the huge bullets ready to rein death and destruction.

Actually, these shells were of limited use and best suited for shoreside bombardment. Once the German U-boat menace in the North Atlantic had been erased by SONAR – see you under, and  then RADAR – see you over,  there was no more night surfacing for subs to recharge batteries. The Battle of the Atlantic had turned in the Allies favor.

WWII quickly became a war of the skies, and battleships accompanied carrier groups to soften up shore emplacements where necessary but also with their smaller guns to fight off aerial attacks.

The first significant aerial assault was the 1940 Battle of Britain with the German Luftwaffe doing great damage to British cities. It ended after overwhelming destructive power was unleased from the skies with the firebombing of German and Japanese cities then the A-bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

And so the city of Mobile, Alabama lives proud of its seafaring history. But 100 years prior up the Mississippi, “The Gibralter of the South,” Vicksburg, was fighting its brothers from the North in Ironclads. As with the strategic location of the Hudson River during the Revolutionary War,    the holder of this river would win the Civil War. Yet, strong as these warships were for their time and regardless of the fact that they could sink any vessel that had preceeded them, its unlikely they would have held up against the USS Alabama.

 

 New Orleans

The moment we conceived of this trip and purchased the camper van I had New Orleans on my mind…  having never been there. The moment we felt unencumbered by financial constraints, having sold the boat, the first thing we did was to treat ourselves to buying a piece of art from Kim Shepard who resides in New Orleans.

As we got closer I was so looking forward to seeing my artist friend… and my every expectation was way exceeded. Big BBQ party at Kim’s, meeting neighbors and friends and being given a tour of the French Quarter by Jeff Smoyer, a former King of the Parade (for his parish)! The Mardi Gras stories are beyond fun and give the city it’s high powered frenetic energy. Together Jeff and wife Karen, a former docent for the History Museum of New Orleans, gave us a fantastic day. We listened to street music, looked at sights, heard the history, all the while eating and drinking our way through town!! You can smell and taste the merriment.

 

 

Voodoo too. We saw the house that replaced the burned residence of Delphine La Laurie. A cultured high society woman in 1896, married to a well regarded doctor in town, hosting lavish parties, Delphine proved to be a very bad person whom no one suspected until the night of the fire in her home. It was then that authorities discovered the slaves chained and tortured in her attic and the cook who started the fire tied to the stove desperate to die rather than be beaten more!  Such cruelty… haunts the streets.

Current revelers cannot help but feel the pain inflicted by Hurricane Katrina… yet still the spirit thrives in this historic unique city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearby we visited the Battle of New Orleans Park where Andy Jackson beat a superior British force at the end of the War of 1812. Had the Brits won, it would certainly have compromised “Manifest Destiny” and the young nation’s plans for moving up the Mississippi River to settle the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase.

Deep South

Welcome to Louisiana. To know the South is to know the history of Slavery. Sue and I kept our catamaran ‘Surprise’ for the first years after selling our business on the Waccamaw river in South Carolina, 40 miles up the coast from Charleston. During the late eighteenth through the nineteenth centuries, this had been the location of large rice plantations that encircled the southeast US coastal plain and through the efforts of slave labor created great wealth accompanied by great hardship.

1800-1850 also saw the golden age of cotton. Cotton plantations divided up the rich alluvial soil dropped for millennia by the Mississippi River and extended for thousands of acres in pie-shaped strips from both shores of the river and beyond.

These two agricultural crops, as had Virginia tobacco earlier, created the need for massive numbers of field laborers: men, women and children who would work a lifetime without hope for betterment.
The first slaves had arrived in Virginia in 1619.

We pulled off the road yesterday for a strip-mall lunch at the local “China Buffet.” As we approached the door, a tall 25-year-old black man in goatee and dreads pushed it open from the inside, saw us approaching and for an extended minute smiled directly at us and held open the door for us to pass.

I often judge the humanity of others by their consideration behind the wheel and by their interaction at doorways. This brief doorway interlude, our first stop in deep south Louisiana, the site of so much cruelty and heartbreak for this man’s forbears, proved an outstanding State’s welcome and affirmation of what it is to be human.

As the Great Emancipator himself said in his first Inaugural Address in 1861, let us all strive to exhibit “the better angels of our nature.”

 

 

 

Gulf Shores

Despite three calls today for sailboat deliveries, we opted to roll out of town! Time to fish or cut bait. Off to cold clear water Manatee Springs, which feeds the Suwanee River for a swim in the 90 degree midday heat. Lots of swimmers splashing about and lots of brown water snakes hanging out on branches and warm rocks.

Surprisingly parents and kids did not mess with them, such peaceful coexistence. Later passing through the north central town of Chiefland FL, the watermelon growing capitol of the nation, we almost lingered to watch the seed spitting contest, but the urge to cross a state border propelled us on.

 

 

As we wandered through the Gulf Shores with the soft, pure white quartzite sand we were flipped out to learn that it all washed down from the eroding Appalachian mountains. The sand actually squeaks underfoot because the elliptical shape of each mineral grain slides on the next, so different from the shell and coral shore that encircles the Florida peninsula. So happy this stunning coast is in our back yard.

Everywhere we park people admire our classic old van. They want to know where they can get one…or we get thumbs up as we drive along.

 

To our delight the sleeping arrangements are cool and comfortable, once we are up onto the platform. The exhaust fan sucks fresh cool air over us. its just the athletic, awkward move required to get up there that make us giggle and feel young and silly. Who in their right minds would sleep with only a foot of air space over their head. Must be cavers!

So it’s hard not to have RV envy when we spy the expensive slick Mercedes Sprinter… who couldn’t use a little extra space for a proper desk area to help with my wireless world?

No truly, we are loving our camper and think she’s perfect for us and her name is ‘Rover.’

 

So We Think…

The clam shells are shuttered, doors locked and even the van throne is painted magenta. Hidden in the shaggin’ wagon from neighbors, Larry and Maureen, is this sign. These two are responsible for finding us Hidden Harbour, our new home.
“Sailed in, never sailed out.”

We are off to Honeymoon Island State Park on  Florida’s west coast to visit our gurus, Bob and Jo Mellis. Bob, being a newspaper editor, worked his magic helping us for years to put out the annual Mountain Workshop brochure. This couple’s resilience and love of life are inspiring. They have been RV’ing for the last 10 years and lived aboard sailboats for the previous 10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then off to Ocala National Forest. Parked in deep dark live oak tranquility, we were so happy.

BUT BUT we have to turn around again and go home…

So Cork can lay the golden egg ($) into our account. He’s off to deliver a 53′ Jeanneau sailboat from St. Maarten to Florida. Fair winds, sweet Captain. I get to work on this blog… the ads say you can set this all up in 20 minutes. How about 20 days and counting! AND of course more fine tuning for the van as we set up our very small new home.

BUT…BUT

It’s hard to leave  paradise in the backyard! Two days after the duck’s birth, dry down in the creek brought in so many species. Our tiny yard is 500 feet from AIA and 600 yards from an active train track (complete with horns blowing) yet it is more like a nature preserve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

then… Flying the Coop

Okay! Teeth done. We will be gone in April… but first we need to test our rig with bikes on back and the canoe smartly mounted on top. An ingenious design of Cork’s to get the 80-pound vessel up and down by ourselves, 9 feet above our heads and NOT using a ladder!
We think we can…

 

 

 

So off to Fish Eating Creek, an hour and half drive and a world away to springtime in the cypress bottom lands of Lake Okeechobee.  At this riverside camp we unknowingly parked our rig under a moss-draped red shouldered hawks nest with 2 large hungry chicks. The female adult was delivering meals all day long to her voracious feathered monsters. We finally figured out she was feeding them yummy wood duck ducklings!

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile back at home OUR wood duck family had 14 eggs incubating in the nesting box with the female sitting on them for 29 days straight. Time to get back home. We never miss the fledglings’ flop down to earth!

With a camera inside the nesting box giving us “Duck TV”, and live viewing on the back patio, 20 friends and neighbors gathered for the event. On April 28 eleven babies jumped down to their cooing Mom, instantly disappeared into the brush and won’t be seen for a month, but by then a few will be missing. We too have hawks, crows, snakes, snapping turtles, otters and coyotes all salivating for duckling dinner!

 

 

 

Necessity Calls

At the ripe age of 69 the realization dawns that attention deficit disorder is creeping in. It is impossible to make a plan and stick to it…  so easily distracted, hard to say no to the fun events, invitations, good friends to play with. Our New Year’s resolution had us mark the calendar to GET OUT OF TOWN (Stuart, FL) in our new 1988 camper van by March, 2016.

Not so! Necessity dictated that we go to Bogota, Colombia for extensive, affordable dental work first. We saved thousands of bucks and the work was all done in three weeks. Thankfully, our lovingly masterful dentist,

Dr Luis, performed miracles… (Corky called him a madman with a drill) but he gave us young teeth again! Hugs and smiles to him forever.

As luck would have it, a few weeks before we went to Colombia SA, Cork took 12 customers out for a sail. Colombians visiting Florida. Now vise versa, they showed us the best time in Bogota and we will definitely go back. Next time with hiking boots. A beautiful country with beautiful family and friends.