Batteries

The original design of Fort Pickens was completed in 1834.  It was used for coastal defense all the way until 1898.  At that point, Battery Pensacola was added in the center of the fort.  Later several newer batteries were constructed on this island.  One was within walking distance for one of my morning walks.  The various batteries were built to protect the sea coast starting during World War I and closed after World War II.  Guns that can shoot 17 miles were housed in them.  The doors are solid steel and much of the concrete is now covered with moss.

Outside they were covered in sand to disguise them.  Now they have trees surrounding what looks like a large sand dune.

You can’t get inside this one, but I could peak through the steel doors.   If orbs really meant ghosts, this one looks like its haunted.  Actually, I don’t think anyone died in these batteries.

I climbed to the top of it to get a view of the beaches.  After taking a fairly easy climb up, I found two teenage boys at the top.  They said they had climbed up a concrete cliff to get to the top.  Hey, I’ll take the easy way when I can!

Fort Pickens

We revisited Fort Pickens on this island.  The fort is five sided.  The fort could house up to 200 guns (cannons).  Here’s a view through one of windows. 

There are a lot of rooms here so they can’t watch everyone all the time.  Apparently not everyone is respectful of the site. Here’s the batman symbol.  Nearby was a room with “Bat Cave” as graffiti.  I feel sorry for the rangers as they try to keep up with graffiti like this. 

It’s interesting how stalagmites, stalactites, soda straws, and ribbons have formed within the fort.  Click on the picture to see this better.  I guess this is from the lime from the mortar.  The fort was built starting in 1829.  I’m not sure how long it takes to grow these formations.

The arches are gorgeous.

We explored a battery near the fort.  It was fun climbing to the top and hiding in rooms.  At one point John boosted me up to see what was behind a large steel door.   After struggling to see into this area, I had to laugh.  It said “Yanke go home”!

BTW, Debby is passing us by.

Waiting for Debby

It’s always been interesting when you hear about developing hurricanes.  But I’ve never lived on the coast so there was no immediate worry.  Now we’re in Pensacola and watching the weather closely.  Tropical storm Debby is sitting in the gulf and can’t seem to decide which way she wants to go. 
 

Pensacola Beach is closed for swimming.  Water is high and waves are higher.  Plus, there is a strong rip current.  It’s been shown on the Weather Channel frequently.

In the meantime, we sit in a small RV watching clouds fly past.  One moment it’s mostly clear, the next it’s cloudy, and then it may rain a little.  Exciting times!

Great Blue Herons

The park is a nesting area for egrets and great blue herons.  You can see quite a few large nests topping dead trees or in poles set up for the nests.  In some you can see the young birds being fed and hear them talking or chirping away wanting more. The pictures are of a great blue heron nest with at least two baby birds.  Other birds also nest on this island.

Having lived most of my life in Ohio, saw palmettos are still fun to see.  I’m amazed at its uses.  Natives ate the fruit as just regular food, but it was (and still is)  considered a medicine.  It is supposed to have properties like: expectorant, antiseptic, treats infertility in women, treatment of underdeveloped breasts, reduce the prostate, treats gonorrhea, treats hair loss, and as a nutritive tonic. Wow!

Gulf islands shore

We are visiting the Gulf Islands National Seashore for a few days.  We visited in November, but we didn’t have a chance to enjoy the beaches and swim in the gulf.  From the campground we can walk to either sandy beaches with fairly large waves on the gulf side or swim on the calmer inland waters of Pensacola Bay.  On our first day we swam in the gulf.  There was a single red flag flying, meaning the waves were high but it wasn’t too bad.  Love bobbing in the waves!  Unfortunately, we stayed out a bit long and the sunscreen didn’t work well in the water so we were a bit sunburned for the next few days.

I walked on an interpretative trail during my morning walk.  This one was funny.  This is a picture of a dead Live Oak (OK, not so funny, but I was amused and I love the shape of the tree). 

Plus, I love the Latin name and story behind Ilex Vomitoria!

Friendly Neighbors

I really have to mention how wonderful our neighbors are at this park.  John’s computer has been glitchy for a while.  I’ve tried various methods to fix it, but nothing seemed to work.  It reached the point where he couldn’t get any internet at all.  I was all for buying a new computer.  Instead a neighbor took a look at it.  He works full time on computers.  He found all kinds of viruses (we had Norton but it was corrupted).  Since we only use that computer for internet, he was able to wipe it and put on Linux.  Instead of being the oldest and slowest of our computers, it’s now the fastest.  Our neighbor spent several hours on this and did this for free.  THANKS!

Another friendly option I recently found.  Maybe you've heard of couchsurfing.  It's where you can find free places to stay around the world and also host people in your home.  Now there is a website for RV'ers.  You can stay in someone's driveway for free or host someone at your home.  You can go to http://www.boondockerswelcome.com/  to get more info.  Sounds pretty cool!

Music of Florida

We are staying at an RV park in Pensacola right now.  The park has a pond right near our RV.  Many of the other campers mention they have frogs (or peepers) that live near their RV.  One is living under a light while another lives in the pole support for the awning.  At night we hear music.  I wouldn’t call it a symphony, but it’s more a rock band with the muscians playing at different tempos. There’s nothing but darkness to see but play the attachment with your computer speakers on to hear the music of Florida.

To top it off, we heard what we thought was a duck somewhere near our refrigerator.  We kept running outside to see where the duck was located.  I couldn’t see it beside, under, or above the RV.  Finally, we realized it was a frog.  John found it inside the back of the refrigerator.  Not inside the refrigerator but inside the guts in an outer panel.  Having a quacking frog in your refrigerator is pretty unique!

Our frog then jumped under the RV.  We hoped it was to move back to his pond, instead he found a home somewhere under our RV.  He even traveled with us to our next stop where we hear him sounding off from under the shower.

Misty Morning

The night was exciting.  A storm blew in sending branches and pine cones dropping on our RV.  No damage, but it sure scared me to hear the branch hit.  After that we had a night of rain.  Again, no major problem but storms are more immediate in an RV versus a house.
 

My morning walk was nice with a cooler morning and mist on the lake.  I did get a bit lost and at one point saw the campground across the lake, but it’s a small park so I eventually found my way back.

I laughed at this tree.  This is Mississippi’s largest Sand Post Oak. Who makes these things up?    It’s not a very large tree. Does someone really go all over the state, identify, and measure the larger trees to come up with the largest of each category?  Why?  Does it matter?  I’m sure I’m missing the bigger picture on this.  Anyhow, now you’ve seen it too!

The Mississippi

We crossed the Mississippi again.  Always good to see this and think about traveling along its length on a steamboat.  (I love reading Mark Twain!)  We did see a steamboat, but it was just a casino.

Spoiled by desert walks

As I’ve mentioned several times, I like to take morning walks. Over the last few months I’ve taken some wonderful walks in environments I’d rarely walked in before.  Most were desert or mountainous.  These areas might have lizards or snakes, but few bugs.  Now we’re in Missouri. The woods are similar to areas I’ve walked in for years.  But it feels “itchy” now.  For instance, this pathway looks wonderful but in reality it is full of spider webs and ticks. Then I found a neat little pool in the trees surrounded by rocks, but it was full of mosquitoes. 

OK, I’ll get used to it again but it may take a while.  The nice part of the walk was hearing squirrels jumping around in the brush, seeing a deer run into the woods, and finding a turtle along the path.

The Environment and RV'ing

As we’ve traveled, we’ve seen things we wouldn’t have seen at home that affect the environment for good or bad. 

Arkansas isn’t very windy so I had no idea how many wind turbines have been installed in areas across the country.  From small turbines in the back of someone’s yard to hundreds of turbines in wind farms, they are showing up where ever the wind is steady enough to make business sense.  You may not agree, but I think Obama did something good with supporting alternative energy. Payback for wind turbines can be 5 years or less in places with good steady winds.  That’s not bad, but having tax deductions or credits help fund this sort of work.

Water is plentiful in Arkansas.  It sure isn’t in the Southwest.  We’ve reached the point where we are surprised to see water in a riverbed.  I’m also surprised how much of our farms are surviving due to irrigation.  Irrigation is good to have a healthy crop but are we planting in areas where we will be (or already are) fighting over water?

Our family has always tried to recycle.  It’s simple in a home.  We separated out what was recyclable then took it in to a center every few weeks.  Not a hassle at all.  Recycling in an RV is different.  Most RV parks don’t have recycle bins.  We certainly have little room to keep aluminum cans until we find a place, especially if the cans draw flies.  Hopefully RV parks and campgrounds improve on this over time.

Cave?

We stopped at Graham Cave State Park.  I was expecting to see a little cave but one with some dark corners to investigate.  Instead we found an open cave that was mostly fenced off so we couldn't enter and was partially filled with gravel.  In the past an archeological team investigated the cave and found various Native American traces.  If they have already done a full archeological dig, I don’t know why the fencing and gravel was done.  Basically, it's pretty boring and I wouldn't recommend visiting.

On the bright side, I found an interesting tree nearby.

Big Stuff

We’ve been seeing large statues along the road in North Dakota.  We saw a crane at one of our stops.  This one isn't the world's largest though.

Below is the “The World’s Largest Holstein Cow”.  My life now feels complete since I've seen the world's largest holstein cow.  We also saw a bison but I wasn't quick enough getting the picture.  After going online,I found out the bison (or buffalo) was a world's largest too.  Turns out that North Dakota is pretty proud of their large animals.  This link shows some of the creatures they have throughout the state (http://www.realnd.com/giantsofnd.htm).  The Giant Zombie Golfer sounds fun! 

World's Largest Holstein Cow Fun Facts...Fact #1: Salem Sue is constructed entirely out of fiberglass and is, therefore, hollow.

Fact #2: Salem Sue is so large that it can be seen from over five miles away.

Fact #3: The same artist that created Salem Sue also constructed the World's Largest Catfish in Wahpeton, North Dakota

This one is a teapot water tower in Missouri.  Seems like a lot of people feel the need for artistic expression.  It does make traveling more interesting.

Dances with Bison

Instead on communing with wolves, we are living up close and personal with bison.  At the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, they have lots of bison that wander wherever they want.  In the morning I was sitting outside working on my laptop.  I looked up to see a bison just a short distance from my table.  Later I was talking on the phone and another bison came through our campsite.  Pretty surreal!

In the evening we had a group come across the river and get near the campgrounds across from our site.  We had a chance to talk to other campers who were taking pictures too.  First, I realized that while Europeans dominate in most national parks, that isn’t true for North Dakota.  Apparently this isn’t considered a hot spot. One of the campers saw the bison cross a steep spot on the river.  To get down to the river, the bison kept his front legs straight and rode down the dirt bank on his butt.  I wondered why there were cuts into the river bank! Finally, one of the campers had a great close-up picture of a rattle snake.  It’s not too warm here, so I’m surprised rattlesnakes were out.  Glad I didn’t see any on my hikes.

Oh, and another ‘danger’ while hiking…. this is a bison pie (well, they are called cow pies)!

North Dakota

While at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota we’ve seen animals and some gorgeous views. Prairie dog towns are always fun.  They were chattering away at me for trying to come close.  This one looks to be a younger prairie dog.

A yellow canary.

Part of the park is considered painted desert.  Gorgeous views. 

There were sections of the park that have coal in the hills that have burnt for 25 years.  The fires bake the rocks around it.  Other sections of the park had a petrified forest.  This one is supposed to be the 3^rd largest in the US.  We didn’t get to it (either a 16-mile round trip hike or a longer drive on a dirt road) but I’d like to come back sometime to see more.  We did see this piece in the visitors’ center.

Boondocking it in the backwoods

We’ve boondocked at casino’s or in national forests before.  This time we’re boondocking in BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land.  The problem with this place is that you have to travel two miles back on a VERY dusty road.  So, while John works hard to keep the RV and car clean, it doesn’t show right now.  I read reviews of this camp spot and there was no comment on the dust.  Oops!

However the place is quiet at night.  We had bikers driving around bedtime last night, but it stopped fairly quickly.  Now it’s just the noise of birds and cows from a nearby farm. It’s near the Yellowstone River and is meant for fishermen, but it worked for us.