Louisiana and Alabama - Jan 12-13

Weather remained cold but no rain so I was happy.  Didn’t do marathon drives these two days, only about 200 miles each day. We try not to stop at truck stops for our breaks unless nothing else is around, but we just had to stop at a Buc Eees.  We have never stopped at one – it isn’t actually a truck stop because there weren’t any trucks there, but it has much of the same feel.  About 100 gas pumps were lined up in 25 rows outside a huge store.  Inside the store, you had your standard snacks and drink dispensers, except instead of one Slurpee dispenser, there were 10! And you could order almost any kind of hot dog/hamburger/sandwich you wanted. Plus, the souvenirs included deer feeders, humungous BBQs and every kind of Lodge cast iron pot/pan you could imagine.  Seemed kind of weird – I mean how many travelers are going to pick up a 5 foot long BBQ and put it in with their luggage in the back of the mini-van? Fun to look thru though. We ended up with a couple of BBQ chopped beef sandwiches which were delicious.

Spent the first night of this leg at a campground on the banks of Dog River, Louisiana near Baton Rouge. Too muddy and cold to go exploring so we went over to a Bass Shop which was nearby and enjoyed looking at the fish tanks and shooting opossums, gaters and raccoons at the shooting range.  The store had a bayou theme which was fun. Dinner was pizza from the local pizza takeout so we could watch the national college football game. Surprised Ohio State won but that’s the thing about college football, you often can’t predict the outcome.

The next day, we headed towards Mobile, Alabama.  The campground here was quite nice despite the muddy interior roads.  The sites themselves were concrete pads which meant level sites and a lot less dirt tracked into the trailer.

On our way down to Pensacola, we spent a few hours at the USS Alabama Memorial Park.  We passed the ship last year on our way to Ft. Lauderdale and Russ said he wanted to stop and tour it sometime.  And, so here we are!

The ship restoration was very impressive.  Painting was in good shape and much of the ship was open for tour. I found it interesting that even though the ship was in nine major battles, including Okinawa (500 U.S. ships were engaged and 7800 Japanese planes were destroyed), it suffered little battle damage and the only fatalities were the result of an accident.  Conditions on the ship were spartan to say the least.  Would not have been a pleasant tour of duty even in times of no conflict.

Next door to the ship was an aircraft display pavilion. Every F-series aircraft was represented, well...not the F-35, but all the others.

Now we head to Pensacola and, guess what?  We get to spend some more time looking at planes – at the National Naval Aviation Museum.  Goodie! Oh well, I am racking up the points for my quilt shop visits. I think I am good for 10 or 15.

The USS Alabama. Weather was cold and dreary.  Hard to believe but this was shot in color.

 

The guns were huge.  Hard to understand how the ship was able to store all the ammunition and still carry 2500 men!

Accuracy was not great in those days.  I think current day toy guns have more accurate sights.

This is a replica of one of the shells that the big guns fired.  16 inch in diameter and 2700 pounds.

A view from the bow.

There were several plane/helicopters/tanks on display in the park but we didn't tour that area - too dang cold and windy! You can see our rig in the parking lot - it is the one on the left,

Russ welcoming us aboard.

A pretty imaginative Christmas tree - made out of regulation socks.

Pretty close quarters for the crew.

This is downright disturbing.  Reminded me of a drawing I saw of Andersonville prison during the Civil War where troughs were also used. Pretty minimal privacy and, in my opinion, not very sanitary.

Russ also took a short tour of the USS Drum. This submarine is the oldest in existence in her class and was the first of her class to enter World War II.

Very cramped quarters.

These two wheels steered the submarine up and down.  Another wheel served as the rudder. An awful lot of gauges and things to keep track of.

As we were trying to find the entrance to the Memorial Park, we took a side trip on the island and found this Naval catamaran (High Speed Vehicle) being built. This is ship #5 of 10 planned for joint Navy/Army use.