"Water, Water Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink!" (From the Ancient Mariner - Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

In all our years of living on the Gulf Coast or in an area in close proximity to a body of water, we have never encounter the wrath of Mother Nature that we have in the last two days!  We are approximately 12-15 miles from Mobile, Alabama, and therefore, we were in the direct path of the massive storms that passed through the area Monday-this A.M..  In a period of one hour, 6" of rain fell in the Mobile-Pensacola area - a record held since 1820!  There were tornados and hail as well as flash flooding throughout the area, and it appeared there would be no end.....I cannot imagine what Noah felt when there were these same conditions when he was on the sea for forty days and forty nights! 

We were fortunate to be able to weather the storm, and today the weather was sunny and pleasant!  What a difference a day makes........

We attempted to once again go to Bellingrath Gardens, but due to the flooding were unable to get to the gardens.  The Fowl River had overflowed its' banks and covered the highway and there was no way to get around it to get to the gardens.  So we spent the day simply enjoying the warmth of the sun and watching the birds and water fowl in the park.  Good quality time......

Tomorrow we will head to Carrabelle, Florida, which means we will pass through Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach, which also received the wrath of the same storms we experienced.  I-10 was closed from Exit 1-Exit 10 today, due to water over the road, so hopefully the water will recede by the time we go through the area.  We are hoping to visit with some people in Fort Walton Beach that are known as the Lighthouse People and share some lighthouse stories!  Fort Walton Beach brings back fond memories as that is where I met Jim and also where both of my boys (Jason and Jeremy) were born.  It is also where I was stationed while serving in the Air Force!

That's about it for now, a short blog today, but we are just happy to say we were able to get through the storms and be able to tell you that we did! God is good!

 

Area flooding was widespread!

 

No this is not a pond/lake, it was a pasture on Monday morning!

 

Fowl River over the roadway!

 

 

St. Phillip Church - no water here.....

 

The ducks and geese enjoyed the sunshine today!

 

 

"Speedy" was glad to get out today as well!

"Singing in the rain, I'm singing in the rain".......

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down.  Without the rain, there would be no rainbow"... G. Chesterton

We haven't seen the rainbow, but we have certainly seen (and heard) the rain!  It began early this morning at 2:30 AM and ended somewhere around 4:30 A.M.  There was no wind, for which we are  grateful.  When we got up, the rain had passed for the time being so after breakfast we proceeded to Bellingrath Gardens, which was our planned activity for the day.  We planned on taking Lacy to the Pet Motel they have there, but the lock we had did not work in their run gate.  So we decided to go to Dauphin Island to view Fort Gaines and to drive the beach road and view the Sand Island lighthouse which is located in Mobile Bay and can be seen from the shore.  We would then pick up a different lock for the kennel and return to Bellingrath Gardens this afternoon.  As it turned out, this was a wise decision as shortly after leaving the Fort, the torrential rains began again.  And it rained all afternoon.  We made it back to the RV park safely, but not without some testing of Jim's driving skills in high water and pounding rain!

So the afternoon was spent reading, going through pictures, correspondences and keeping Lacy calm as she is petrified of thunder.  As I write this, the rain has stopped although we can still hear rumblings of thunder in the distance. 

The same storms that have been in the area for the last two days are moving towards the Florida panhandle which is our next stop, so we may just stay here for one more day before moving on so we don't have to deal with the extreme weather again.  This will allow us the opportunity to visit Bellingrath Gardens tomorrow. 

Today's visit to Fort Gaines was interesting. In 1853, Congress named the fortification for General Edmund Pendleton Gaines who had died in 1849.  While still a young officer, Gaines received national recognition when he led the detachment which captured former Vice-President Aaron Burr who had been accused of participating in a conspiracy to commit treason.  Gaines' men pursued Burr to the vicinity of Fort Stoddert in what is now Washington County, Alabama, just north of Mobile. 

Most of the work on the fort was completed by 1861.  The outbreak of the Civil War then left the remainder of work to the Confederate States of America. which added the last touches by 1862.  The role of Fort Gaines in the Battle of Mobile Bay, one of the war's most notable naval conflicts, was significant.

The United States sold Fort Gaines to the City of Mobile in 1926.  The city in turn gave the property to the Alabama Department of Conservation, which deeded it to the Dauphin Island Park and Beach Board.  Thus the Fort that took 40 years to construct and was provisioned to withstand any attack from land or sea. at great strategic advantage, became an overnight victim of obsolescence. The technology of armament and the facile display of opposing forces doomed the Renaissance Fort Design.

For more information on  Fort Gaines, go to: www.dauphinisland.org/fortgaines

For more information on Dauphin Island, go to www.daupinisland.org and choose your desired prompt.

Todays photos:

 

Little White Church - Near the RV Park

 

 

Scenes from Fort Gaines

 

Scenes from Dauphin Island

 

 

 A mean surf due to the mean weather!

Theodore Who?

We awoke to news of bad weather expected in our area so we quickly packed up, hooked up, and headed east.....our destination today was Theodore, Alabama which is located approximately 15 miles southwest of Mobile, Alabama.  We are staying at Payne's RV Park and it too, is a delightful RV park, with a pond full of ducks and weeping willow trees on the banks.  It is very quiet here, and Lacy and I have enjoyed walking around the park and playing ball while Jim tried to adjust the satellite dish......that's another story......

Once we were checked in and set up (we will spend two night here) we headed west again to Pascagoula, Mississippi to see the Round Island Lighthouse.  This is a lighthouse we have not seen in the past as it was located out in the water on Round Island and was only accessible by boat. On September 27, 1998, Hurricane George swept through the area with ten foot wave surges and the lighthouse fell over.  The local Preservation Society received Federal Grant money to restore the tower.  They were able to recover the lantern room and as many bricks as possible to rebuild on Round Island, however, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina came roaring through, and the tower toppled over once again.  In April 2007, plans were announced to rebuild/relocate the lighthouse in Pascagoula.  The work was completed in 2010 and the lighthouse once again stands proudly!

All day we have been watching the bad weather north of us and headed east.  We were fortunate to not encounter any bad weather although the skies were gray and the wind blew steadily in the area.  We may get a few thunderstorms tonight........our prayers are with those who have lost so much after the weather and tornado destruction across our county.

Prior to 1900, Theodore, Alabama was originally called Clements, then was changed to Theodore , after a local sawmill operator and postmaster William Theodore Hieronymous.  (Theodore who?)
Points of interest include Bellingrath Gardens and Home, Mobile International Raceway and Mobile Greyhound Park.  Notable residents include Etric Pruitt (professional football player)........and that's about it. 

Our plan tomorrow is to visit Bellingrath Gardens and Home.  We both last visited here in 1968, but of course we did not know each other then, and we don't think we visited on the same day :0.  They have a pet hotel on site, so Lacy will get to visit as well - and maybe make new friends!

The RV Park Host

 

 The Pond and Weeping Willow Trees

 

 

 

A relaxing afternoon swim

 

Lacy is intently watching the ducks!

 

 

Momma duck and her ducklings

 

These are all over the RV park

 

Round Island Lighthouse

OnThe Road Again

After a late start to this long anticipated leg of our journey, we have finally hit the road once again!  We lost our oldest son on Easter Sunday so this trip will be some what of a healing journey for us as well.

We left Port Lavaca around 9 AM this morning and drove to Breaux Bridge, LA. , arriving around 4:00 PM.  For the most part the weather was nice until we ran into some thunderstorms in Lake Charles, which followed us to Breaux Bridge.  Breaux Bridge is a quaint town located on Bayou Teche.  Jim and I stayed in a B & B in the area for our 25th wedding anniversary 10 years ago!  Great place to visit! 

Breaux Bridge is the Crawfish Capital of the world!  Jim was anxious to get here as he wanted to eat at Poche's Cajun Market Restaurant and Smokehouse which closes at 6P.M..  We were not disappointed.  Jim had crawfish etouffee and I had Cajun catfish with rice dressing (similar to dirty rice)  All the food was generously seasoned with Cajun seasoning and was very good and plentiful!

We are staying at Poche's  RV Park and Fish-N-Camp.  It is a beautiful setting with 5 large fish ponds stocked with Bass, Bream, Sacalait and catfish. 

This weekend the Park held a rally for the Special Military Active-Retired Travel Club. Immediately upon arriving back at the campground after dinner, we were invited to the gathering they were having tonight, and to breakfast in the morning!  Being retired military, we fit right in, however we will pass on tonight's activities and join them in the morning for breakfast.  As I have said before, it's not necessarily about the journey, but the people you meet along the way!

Lacy, our grand-dog is a great traveler, although I know she is missing Penny our Samoyed whom we lost three weeks ago....they were great travel buddies.....we miss her too ......

For more information on Poche's RV Park and Fish-N-Camp, go to www.pochesrvpark.com.  For more information on Poche's Café, go to www.poches.com.  And finally, for more information on Breaux Bridge, go to www.breauxbridgelive.com

Here are some pictures from today's travels/activities.....tomorrow we head to Alabama where we will see a lighthouse we missed the last time we were in the area. 

 

"Speedy" Making sure he doesn't get left behind!

 Jim and Lacy ready to hit the road!

 

 Our Home for the night!

 

  Poche's

 

 Crawfish Etouffee with double serving of coleslaw

 

 Cajun Catfish with coleslaw and potato salad

 

 Trophy heads at Poche's

 

 Poche's Goods

 

 One of the fish ponds at the RV Park

 

 

The "Turtle" resting for the night......