Living Our Dream

Mobile, AL Part II: Day Trip to Pensacola, FL

Pensacola, FL is only about 35 miles from where we were staying in Summerdale, AL, near Mobile. We decided to take a day trip over to the Florida Panhandle to do a little sightseeing.

Margery's online research turned up a lot of things to see in the Pensacola area, but since we were only going there for the day, we decided to concentrate on the Gulf Islands National Seashore because we thought it would provide a good combination of history and nature. Gulf Islands National Seashore runs along the barrier islands off the coasts of western Florida and Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico. For some reason, the islands off the Alabama coast were not included.

Gulf Islands National Seashore has several visitor centers, and we started at the visitor center at the Naval Live Oaks Reservation located on the spit of land along the outer edge of Pensacola Bay. Prior to the start of the use of steel for ships in the 1860s, wood from live oak trees was very desirable for shipbuilding (especially for warships) because of its great strength. The area gets its name from the fact that the live oaks that grew in this area were once set aside for shipbuilding. More about that later.

Much of the strength of live oak comes from the high density of the wood, which is up to 75 pounds per cubic foot - over 30% more than white oak and 70% more than yellow pine. The visitor center has a display with one cubic foot samples of live oak, white oak, and yellow pine that you can lift with pulleys to feel the difference in weight.

The Pensacola area was first explored in 1513 by Ponce de Leon, and a settlement was established there in 1559 making it the first European settlement in the continental United States. However, the settlement was never able to fully recover from a devastating hurricane that hit later in 1559, and the settlement was abandoned in 1561. Therefore, St. Augustine, FL, which was established in 1565, retains the title as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States. Pensacola lay abandoned for 135 years before it was finally reestablished by the Spanish in 1696.

Pensacola is on the dividing line between what is considered to be French Louisiana and Spanish Florida. Pensacola was occupied by the French in 1719, but the Spanish returned in 1722 after the French left Pensacola following another devastating hurricane. After the French and Indian War, Pensacola became part of the British Colonies in 1763. During the Revolutionary War, Spain reoccupied Pensacola and other parts of Florida, but eventually turned the occupied areas over to the United States in 1818.

The United States established a permanent naval yard in Pensacola in 1824. In 1828, the government established the Naval Live Oak Reservation near the naval yard. It was established not only to protect the live oaks growing there, but also to experiment with the cultivation of live oaks. Today, it is part of the national seashore.

There are several hiking trails in the vicinity of the visitor center, and we decided to take the nature trail. The nature trail winds through a forest made up primarily of magnolias, slash pines, and live oaks. The next photo shows a live oak along the trail.

Many of the large live oaks along the nature trail have plaques in front of them with a photo of that particular tree. The photo has an overlay showing how various shapes would have been cut from the tree to be used for shipbuilding. For example, a rib for the side of a ship's hull might have been cut from a gently curving branch, and an angled support bracket might have been cut from the crotch where a branch met the trunk. The natural direction of the grain helped make the pieces very strong.

One of the most noticeable plants along the trail were the beautyberry shrubs. The magenta berries almost seemed to glow in the bright sun.

We stopped for a photo at the deck at the far end of the nature trail.

We took the trail back to the visitor center that ran closer to Pensacola Bay where we watched a great blue heron hunt for food in the shallows. He would stretch his neck up seemingly to get a better look down into the water ahead of him.

When he would apparently see something, he would crouch down and stalk forward. We watched for several minutes while he repeated those actions, but we never saw him catch anything.

 

From the Naval Live Oak Reserve, we took the bridge over Santa Rosa Sound to Santa Rosa Island. There is another area of the national seashore at the western tip of the island. On the way we drove through Pensacola Beach with its high-rise hotels and condos and its colorful beach houses.

Once we got to the national seashore, we got to enjoy views of Santa Rosa Sound on one side and the beach along the Gulf of Mexico (shown below) on the other. This area has some of the whitest sand in the world.

 

There was considerable damage to the road and the infrastructure in this area of the national seashore due to the severity of the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. The road to the western tip of the island had been closed, and it only reopened on March 22, 2009.

At the tip of Santa Rosa Island is Fort Pickens. Following the War of 1812, the United States decided it needed to fortify its major ports. Fort Pickens was completed in 1834 and was one of three forts guarding the entrance to Pensacola Bay. Fort McRee was located on the barrier island opposite Fort Pickens (Perdido Key), and Fort Barrancas was located on the mainland right inside the entrance to the bay.

About 21.5 million bricks were used to construct the walls of 5-sided Fort Pickens. Strength to support the weight of the walls and heavy cannons was achieved by the use of arches. The photo below shows some of the cannon ports along the outer wall. You can see how the walls are a series of arches within arches.

 

Even though Fort Pickens was deep in the South, it was occupied by Union forces throughout the Civil War. The 15-inch Rodman cannon in the photo below was installed atop the northwestern wall of the fort shortly after the Civil War. The 15-inch Rodman cannon was one of the largest smooth-bore cannons ever used by the U. S. Army (there also was a 20-inch version), and it required a team of 10 men to fire.

The Rodman cannon was developed by a career Army officer by the name of Thomas Rodman. Rodman experimented with new casting methods to overcome previous size limitations of cast iron cannons. Rodman worked with the Fort Pitt Foundry located in our old home town of Pittsburgh to develop the new, larger cannons. Fort Pitt Foundry produced many Rodman cannons during and after the Civil War.

Some cannons during the Civil War were rifled, but most were smooth bore. In the 1870s, rifled cannons became more commonplace making brick forts like Fort Pickens obsolete. The rifled cannons were much more accurate and they could repeatedly hit the same spot on the wall of a fort. Brick construction was not strong enough to withstand repeated hits, so a reinforced concrete battery was built diagonally across the parade ground of Fort Pickins facing the Gulf of Mexico in 1898 as a response to possible threats from the Spanish during the Spanish-American War.

Several other gun batteries were constructed at the end of Santa Rosa Island in the early 1900s. Instead of concentrating them within the walls of the fort, the new batteries were spread out over a wide area. Since naval gunfire had become much more accurate and more powerful, the new system relied on disbursement and concealment for protection.

An interesting feature of Fort Pickens is the gap in the walls at the northwestern corner. This gap was caused when a fire in 1899 reached a powder magazine containing 8,000 pounds of black powder. The explosion showered debris 1½ miles, some of it reaching Fort Barrancas on the mainland across the entrance to the bay.

The famous Apache Indian chief Geronimo, along with several of his warriors, were held prisoner at Fort Pickens from 1886 to 1887. Their families were held at Castillo de San Marcos (renamed Fort Marion by the Americans in 1821) that we visited in St. Augustine, FL in 2007. To read about our 2007 visit to Castillo de San Marcos, click here.

Fort Pickens remained in use through WWII until 1947.

When we left the fort and Santa Rosa Island, we took the long way back to the motor home and followed a route along the Gulf. We wanted to stop for an early dinner at Mikee's Seafood restaurant in Gulf Shores, AL. Mikee's is part of the local chain of Shrimp Basket restaurants that we stopped at in Foley earlier in our stay. Unlike the other Shrimp Basket restaurants, Mikee's has a unique name and maintains a slightly different menu.

Margery had all-you-can-eat fried clams (not available at the other Shrimp Basket restaurants) and Paul had all-you can-eat fried mullet. We both had red potatoes and marinated cabbage (similar to German-style sweet/sour cole slaw). Paul's meal also included corn fritters served in their own cast iron skillet. Dinners at Mikee's run $1 to $2 more than at its sister Shrimp Basket restaurants, but the menu is a little more extensive, and the food is the same high quality.

After dinner, we headed back to the motor home. We enjoyed our time relaxing at Rainbow Plantation so much we extended our stay by a few days. We went back to the Shrimp Basket in Foley for all-you-can-eat shrimp with new friends from the park. It was so good the first time we just had to have more.

In our next post we'll tell where we headed after we left Mobile.

Mobile, AL Part I: USS Alabama

We left the Corinth Recreation Area, drove east a few miles, then headed south on I-65. After about a three-hour drive, we pulled off south of Montgomery in Hope Hull, AL, for a one-night stop at Montgomery South RV Park. Montgomery South is a fairly new campground with full hookups, 50-amp electric, and cable TV. The roads and pads are gravel, there is sparse grass between most of the sites, and the site width isn't bad for a private campground. All the sites are pull-throughs, so we didn't have to unhook the toad.

The campground is conveniently located right off the interstate, but that means there is a fair amount of traffic noise. There is also a railroad track right on the other side of the interstate, so we could hear train whistles as well. Fortunately, it was warm when we were there, so we just ran the air conditioner all night which helped cover up the noise outside.

The next morning, we continued south to Summerdale, AL, to Rainbow Plantation RV Park where we stayed after we left Florida this past spring. Rainbow Plantation is owned by the Escapees RV Club and has a campground, co-op sites, and deeded lots. The campground has full hookups, and about half the sites have 30-amp electric and half have 50-amp. The roads are paved, and the sites are mostly grass with a few bare, sandy spots under the live oak trees and where the RVs park. The sites are fairly widely spaced, and the campground is nice and quiet.

Although the campground is in a quiet area, Summerdale is near Mobile, AL, and the campground is convenient to shopping, restaurants (the area is known for seafood), and lots of things to do and see. It was sunny the day we arrived; but for most of the week afterward, it was hot and humid with clouds and showers almost every day. We didn't do any sightseeing, but we did run some errands, and we ate out a couple of times.

One of the restaurants we tried was the Shrimp Basket. The Shrimp Basket is a local chain of a half dozen or so restaurants with one in nearby Foley, AL.

The Foley location has all-you-can-eat fried shrimp on Sundays and Wednesdays. We went on Wednesday, and we both had the shrimp. The meal, which was excellent (probably the best fried shrimp we've ever had), and included hush puppies, slaw, and a choice of fries, potato salad, or boiled new potatoes. Everything was yummy, and the price was only $9.99. We got there early, so it wasn't very crowded when we took the picture below of Margery about to dig in; but it was filling up fast by the time we left.

 

The hot, humid weather eventually gave way (after a night of thunderstorms) to cooler, clear air. The temperatures dropped from highs in the mid 80s to the mid 60s with lows in the low 40s. Brrrrr! But the lack of the threat of rain was a little more conducive to sightseeing, so we headed across Mobile Bay to Battleship Memorial Park to see the USS Alabama. The USS Alabama is a battleship that served in WWII in both the Pacific and the Atlantic theaters.

The Alabama was built in Norfolk, VA, and was commissioned in 1942. She was decommissioned in 1947 and assigned to reserve duty. In 1962, the Alabama was retired, after which she was taken to Mobile Bay and opened as a museum ship in 1965.

The USS Alabama is 680 feet long, a little over 108 feet wide, and has a draft of about 34 feet. Her fully loaded weight is 42,500 tons (that's 85 million pounds).

 

As we boarded, we saw a few of the twenty 5-inch guns. These guns could fire a 5-inch diameter projectile distances of up to 10 miles.

We were able climb up into the conning tower (the tall structure in the center of the ship) to get a good view of the BIG guns. There are nine 16-inch guns - three facing aft, and six facing forward. These guns are capable of firing a 16-inch diameter projectile weighing 2,700 pounds distances of up to 21 miles!

The lower part of the gun turrets that lie below decks are called barbettes. The Alabama is one of the only ships where visitors can enter the barbettes of the 16-inch gun turrets to see how the shells were loaded and fired. In the next photo, Paul is standing beside a number of disarmed 16-inch shells. You can see part of the circular track where the barbette, which is to the left, rotates.

The USS Alabama carried a crew of 2,500 during war time. We saw how closely together the men lived and worked. The officers had things a little better than the crew sleeping only two or three to a room, but the rooms were still very small. The next photo shows a typical office. Four sailors would have worked in this small space. There is also a bunk (called a rack) in the background, so it looks like at least one of the men would have also slept in this room.

The Alabama would have been out to sea for months at a time, so there were facilities on board to tend to the crew's needs. We saw the mess halls, galleys, sick bay, doctor's offices, and dentist offices. They also had a soda fountain where the crew could enjoy special treats like ice cream, a store where the sailors could buy necessities like razor blades, and a barber shop.

The ship is powered by two oil-fired boilers driving two steam turbines that produced a total of 130,000 hp. The turbines, one of which is shown in the next photo, drive the ship's four propellers to move the ship at speeds of up to 28 knots (32 mph). We could only imagine the noise the sailors endured while serving on these battleships...and we won't go into the smell of 2500 bodies in close quarters, but a locker room comes to mind. :-)

 

Battleship Memorial Park also has a number of other military exhibits including the submarine the USS Drum. The Drum was commissioned in 1941 and saw action in the Pacific during WWII. She was donated to Battleship Memorial Park and opened as a museum ship in 1969. The USS Drum is almost 312 feet long.

Inside the hull of the Drum, the space was even tighter than in the Alabama. The next photo shows the forward torpedo room.

 

There are also a number of planes on display at the park. Some of the larger ones are outside; and some, like the F-16 in the photo below, are housed in a 36,000 square foot indoor pavilion.

 

In addition to ships and planes, the park also has a collection of other military equipment such as tanks, armored vehicles, and guns. The large gun in the foreground is a 155mm artillery piece, and that's an M60 tank right behind it toward the left. Many U. S. allies around the world are still using newer versions of the M60 tank, which was first introduced in late 1960.

 

There is a lot to see at Battleship Memorial Park. We spent several hours there, and we could have easily stayed longer to view the displays in more detail. But, although the sun was out the day we were there, it was quite cool and breezy...no, it was windy...there by beside Mobile Bay, and we were getting tired from all the stairs we climbed. We were also getting hungry, so we headed back to the motor home to put our feet up and to have a snack.

Although we are definitely in relaxation mode, there is still a little sightseeing we want to do in the Mobile area, so look for our next post.

Corinth Recreation Area, AL

We have been following the same route we took last year from Memphis. Although we will soon be heading in a different direction, we continued last year's route after we left Red Bay with another stop at Corinth Recreation Area near Double Springs, AL. Corinth Recreation Area is in the Bankhead National Forest.

Corinth has paved roads and pads, gravel patios, and widely-spaced, grassy sites. The campground isn't heavily used, and it's the only thing at the end of County Road 57 so there are few people, no traffic noise, and no trains. The only things we heard were the birds, cicadas, and the occasional acorn dropping on the roof.

Corinth has two loops of RV sites, one of which has full hookups. All but 5 or 6 of the full-hookup sites are non-reserveable, but most of the 5 or 6 full hookup sites are open enough for us to get satellite reception. We reserved the same site we had last year.

Being a national recreation area, there is a 50% discount on the camping fees with the America the Beautiful Senior Pass. Unlike Corps of Engineers campgrounds that discount the entire camping fee, however, Corinth only discounts the basic camping fee, not the extra charges for hookups. But including the $9 reservation fee, the nightly cost worked out to about $16, which isn't bad for a quiet, uncrowded campground with huge sites and full hookups.

We continued to have rain off and on, so that was a good excuse to not do much. We got our bikes out of the car, aired up the tires, and rode a little; but the rain and wet roads in the campground limited our riding. There isn't a Walmart anywhere near the Corinth Recreation Area, so we stopped to stock up on groceries at the Walmart in Russellville on our way to Corinth. Therefore, we didn't even leave the campground the entire week we were there. However, we did get the screens and the windows on the motor home cleaned inside and out in spite of the rain, Margery did some research for our future travels and for a project she's working on for Lora, and we did some more general puttering around the motor home.

That gave us plenty of time to read, to relax, and to reflect on our travels to the Pacific Northwest this past summer. In addition to all the interesting things we saw and wrote about in our posts over the past few months, there were a number of things we observed that were interesting, but that didn't really relate to any of the major things we wrote about.

For example, one of the things we noticed was how many people ride bicycles in northern California, Oregon, and Washington. All the towns and cities have bike lanes, and you have to keep a sharp eye for cyclists when you're driving. We saw cyclists on the hills of San Francisco as well as on the 3,000 or 4,000 foot climb up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park in Washington. All we could say was when we saw the hills was, "Are they crazy?" Well, maybe they are, but they're really in good shape, too.

We saw an astounding number of espresso huts in Oregon and Washington. We knew Starbucks got its start in Seattle, and we were aware the area is known for coffee and coffee shops; but there are coffee shops and little drive-through and drive-up espresso huts like the one below just about EVERYWHERE, including many that were right across the street from each other.

We were also surprised at the dearth of country music stations in Oregon and Washington. We always thought of the area as being somewhat sophisticated and anything but red-neck, and we didn't expect to find many country stations; but in most places we couldn't find ANY.

Seattle reminded us a lot of our old hometown of Pittsburgh. There are hills, the roads have a lot of twists and turns, and there are many of roads that intersect at odd angles. In fact, not only do the streets in Seattle intersect at odd angles, we felt like we could count on the fingers of one hand the number of intersections that involved only 4 streets. There were a lot of 5-way, and even some 6-way intersections. 

Northern California and the Northwest have a lot of old cars. By that we mean classics, not clunkers...and many are not restored to their former glory as a collector's item, but driven daily as the family car. California is known for its car culture, which includes an interest in classic cars; but we were surprised to see a lot of classics in Oregon and Washington, too. There is also a way bigger percentage of cars along the West Coast from foreign-owned car companies than there are in Middle America or in the East. In fact, we saw only a handful of American-made cars in the Silicon Valley. Some of the more popular makes in Silicone Valley include Lexus, Acura, BMW, Mercedes, and Audi.

Speaking of cars, like most people, we usually sneak a little above the speed limit when we're driving in the car. Of course, there are always a few who drive way over the speed limit and a few who doddle along at well under the speed limit, but it usually seems like 90% of people drive at the speed limit or a little above. In the Northwest, it seemed to us there were an unusually high number of drivers (one third to almost half) who drove under the speed limit.

Dump trucks we saw in the Northwest are different from those we are used to seeing in other areas of the country. Most of the dump trucks had dump trailers with long tongues. We're not sure of the reason for the long tongue, except that maybe the long tongue allows the truck itself to be dumped without unhooking the trailer.

As expected, we saw a lot of RVs in Washington. However, most of the license plates were from Washington rather than from other states. Many of the out-of-state tourists we met in Seattle flew in.

Another thing we noticed was the large number of Thai restaurants in the Northwest. They're as plentiful as Italian restaurants are back in our old hometown of Pittsburgh.

We did write about all the flowers in Oregon and Washington, but they were so impressive, we thought they warranted being mentioned again. The roadsides are lined with wildflowers like these in the Hurricane Ridge area of Olympic National Park.

There are also many gardens from large, public gardens to small, home-owner gardens. The garden in the next photo is at a lavender farm in Washington.

After a week of relaxation at Corinth Recreation Area, we hit the road again and continued on our way south. There will be more information about our next destination in our next post.

Red Bay, AL 2009

After we left the Memphis area, we stopped in Red Bay, AL, like we did last fall. Red Bay is the home of Tiffin Motorhomes, and we wanted to take another plant tour to see the new 2010 models. Even though we weren't having work done on our motor home like last year (click HERE to read that post), we stayed at the Allegro Campground again because it's conveniently located right at the edge of town and it's cheap.

The Allegro Campground has full hookups, 50-amp electric, and free Wi-Fi. The campground is built at an old airstrip, so it is all gravel, except for the main campground road which is the old asphalt runway. The repair facility, which has 40+ repair bays, is right next to the campground. The sites are pretty close together, and there is a fair amount of commotion between 7:00 and 8:00 AM when everyone is taking their coaches over to the repair facility. But, like we said, the campground is convenient to town, it's cheap ($10 a night), and it's also fun to see all the Tiffin motor homes all lined up in a row and to talk to some of the other Tiffin owners. The photo below shows our site at the Allegro Campground.

The Allegro Campground does not accept reservations, and it fills up by Sunday night or Monday, especially during the snowbird migration, with people coming in for service. Therefore, we timed our arrival for Saturday to avoid the rush and found the campground only about half full when we pulled in around noon.

We headed into town to Tiffin Motorhomes on Monday for the 10:00 AM tour. There is also a 2:00 PM tour; but since the workers go home at 2:30, there isn't as much going on during the afternoon tour. The tour starts at the visitor center outside the main gate.

Red, who is now 83 years young, is still leading the tours. He is very well informed about Tiffin Motorhomes, and he is sharp as a tack. If someone makes a joke, he will pick up on it immediately and join in with some good-natured banter of his own. He knows all the models and all the floorplans; and if someone asks a question to which he doesn't know the answer (which is rare), he will usually find the answer by the end of the tour.

As we walked through the plant gate, we were heartened to see many more motor homes sitting around than there were last year and to see a good many employees' vehicles in the parking lot. Back in 2007, Tiffin built 13 motor homes a day; but when we visited last year when fuel prices were so high, they were only building 6 motor homes a day and they were only working 4 days a week. This year, even with the weak economy, they are working 5 days a week and producing 7 motor homes a day. There are still a lot of lay-offs, but things are on the upswing and they said the number of motor homes will soon be increased to 8 a day. The next photo is the view inside the main gate. Motor homes waiting for final inspection are in the distance, and a portion of the employee parking lot is to the left.

The tour includes only the main assembly building. The chassis shop welds the beams that support the floor and other brackets and components onto the chassis. The chassis then enters the main assembly building under its own power (notice the temporary seat to the left) where workers begin installing wiring, holding tanks, storage bays, and plumbing under the floor.

Workers then install the floor, the carpet, and the tile. Wires and plumbing are fished up through openings in the floor.

Interior walls and appliances go in next. More wiring and plumbing are added.

In another area of the plant, exterior walls are being fabricated. Slabs of polystyrene foam are cut by CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) routers to hollow out slots for the aluminum frame.

In the next photo, pieces of pre-cut, square aluminum tubing are being installed into the slots in the foam at the table on the left. On the right, the pieces of aluminum are being welded into a strong, solid frame.

After the frames are welded, an outside skin of fiberglass and an inside skin of thin, wallpaper-covered plywood are laminated to the foam. Workers then cut openings for windows, doors, and slide-outs in the walls. The completed wall leaning against the ladder in the photo below is waiting to be hoisted into place on the motor home behind it.

A foam ceiling assembly is fastened down on top of the walls in the bay with the overhead walkway to the left in the photo below. A one-piece, molded fiberglass roof (stacked on the floor) is lifted by the overhead, yellow-frame hoist with vacuum-powered suction cups and placed on top of the foam.

Workers then install slide-outs. A few, smaller Tiffin motor homes have two slide-outs. The rest have at least three slide-outs, and most have four.

Next, the workers install storage bay doors, interior cabinets, furniture, trim, front and rear end caps, and miscellaneous items. When the assembly is complete, the motor homes are driven a few miles north to Belmont, MS, to the paint shop. All Tiffin motor homes get full body paint. The units are then returned to Red Bay for final cleaning and inspection.

After our plant tour, we stopped at La Estancia Mexican Restaurant, which is right down the road from the campground. The food was good, although not as good as our favorite Mexican restaurant Cozumel back in Greensburg, PA; and prices were reasonable. We both had Lunch Special #1, which consists of a chili relleno, a taco, salad (guacamole was extra), and refried beans. Margery substituted rice for the beans. In the next photo, Margery is about to take a bite of her taco.

When we got back to the Allegro Campground, we stopped in at the surplus store. Tiffin sells furniture and other components leftover from older models in a warehouse-like building adjacent to the campground and repair facility. We didn't find anything we needed this time, but you never know what they may have.

We stayed in Red Bay a week, but other than taking the plant tour and eating out once we didn't do much. We stopped at the local grocery story to pick up a few necessities; Margery got a haircut, read, and did some budget work and travel research on the computer; and Paul ran over to the local hardware store, washed the car and motor home, and did a little puttering around the motor home. And to help with the puttering, all the men on the Tiffin plant tour got a gift of a 10' tape measure with the Tiffin logo. It was the best promotional gift he could have gotten. You know men and their toys...big and small.

From Red Bay, we had a short drive to a new destination where we planned to relax some more. Look for our next post, and we'll tell you all about it.

Memphis, TN 2009

We stopped in Memphis just about this time last year. We liked Memphis and we heard the BBQ calling us, so we decided to stop again this year on our way south and east. We stayed at the same campground - Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River RV Park located in West Memphis, AR, across the Mississippi River from Memphis, TN. Tom Sawyer's RV is located right on the river and has full hookup sites with 50-amp electric and free Wi-Fi. The roads are gravel, all the sites are pull-throughs, and most of the pads are paved. The photo below shows this year's site at Tom Sawyer's RV Park. Last year, we had the site to the immediate right.

As you can see, there were puddles along the road. The Memphis area, along with much of the South, has had a lot of rain this year. Maybe that's the reason the campground has lost a lot of the grass that used to be between the sites. There were many bare, muddy areas, especially along the edges of the pads and around the utilities. That made it hard to hook up the utilities, to get into the outside storage bays, and to find a place for our dog Molly to go when we took her out.

It rained heavily the night before we arrived, and the rear of our pad was covered with mud that had washed onto the concrete. We got out our hose and washed off as much mud as we could to make it easier to unhook the car. It rained every day we were there but one. We got some standing water on our pad from all the subsequent rain, but no more mud.

One of the reasons we like Memphis is there are a lot of things to see and do. Last year, we spent 9 days in the area, and we were out sightseeing almost every day. We saw botanic gardens, rode the trolley around the city, (Click HERE to read post) saw 5 or 6 museums (Click HERE to read post) and ate out three times.. This year, however, with our ambitious summer travel schedule that took us all the way to the Pacific Northwest and with mostly cloudy weather with a chance of rain every day, we decided to spend much of our time in the Memphis area relaxing.

While we relaxed, we watched the barges go up and down the river. We had again reserved an extra-cost, front-row site at the campground so we could see the barges from our front window.

And what better way is there to help us relax than to eat out and not have to cook? We both like barbecue, and we found several good barbecue joints in Memphis last year. Click here to read the post. Although we stayed in Memphis only four days this time, we ate out two of those days.

Our first stop was for a late lunch at The Bar B Q Shop located at 1782 Madison Ave. in Memphis.

We both had chopped pork sandwich platters with fries and slaw. The pork was nice and moist with a smoky flavor, and it was piled so high on the buns we couldn't pick our sandwiches up. The barbecue sauce is thick, rich, tangy, and not too sweet. We both like slaw on our barbecue sandwiches, and the slaw at the Bar B Q Shop provides a nice crunch and a sweet contrast to the somewhat tart barbecue sauce. In the next photo, Paul is getting ready to dive in to his meal.

The service at the Bar B Q Shop is prompt and friendly. The next photo shows our server Carl, who was the same server we had when we were there last year. You can tell by his smile he is just a real pleasant guy.

The next day, we went to Leonard's Pit Barbecue for lunch. Leonard's has a lunch and dinner buffet every day, but they only have ribs on the lunch buffet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since we both wanted ribs, we went on Thursday. Leonard's Pit Barbecue is shown in the photo below.

In addition to pulled pork and wet and dry-rub ribs, Leonard's had fried catfish, chicken, and roast beef on their buffet. They also have assorted sides like green beans, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, ranch fries, hush puppies, as well as assorted desserts like red velvet cake, chocolate cake, and Key lime pie. In the next photo, Paul is loading up his plate with dry-rub ribs.

Leonard's barbecue sauce is dark, thick, rich, and a little sweeter than the sauce at the Bar B Q Shop. Paul was a little disappointed in the ribs this year. He thought they weren't as flavorful and smoky as he remembered them being last year. The catfish and roast beef, however, were outstanding.

While in the Memphis area, we made time for a Walmart run. Well, we actually had to make three stops at Walmart because we kept forgetting things. We spent the rest of our time in the Memphis area chilling out. From Memphis, we continued our way east and south. We'll let you know where we land in our next post.