We arrived late afternoon at Meaher State Park Campground. We set up the trailer and took a tour of the campground on our bikes. Finally, it was time to settle down for the evening ~ dinner, work on blog, relax a little, then on to bed.

The next morning dawn clear, cool and very humid. This morning was chore time which took most of the morning. Sharon made a nice lunch and packed it into our "electric picnic basket" (Yogi Bear proof), which will keep it cool for us.




Finally, we took off to tour Mobile. Our first stop was the Gulf Quest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico. The museum is very impressive. As we walked inside, we came to the welcome center which has a cafe, gift shop and a small theater. As we passed the theater, we walked into a large area with a 5 story stern of a containership.


Each deck of the ship has displays of most of the marine industries ~ from growing and harvesting oysters, underwater searches for shipwrecks and oil exploration, to NOAA model of hurricanes and El Ninos and La Ninas. The whole museum was so well done and interactive to keep the attention of children and adults alike.





One of the displays of the use of flags used to signal international messages. For instance, the yellow flag flying from the ship's signal yard is the "Q" flag or quarantine flag. The ship has not been cleared by port authorities that there is no illness or disease onboard. Or a red "B" flag means that the ship is either conduction fueling operations or dangerous cargo is onboard the ship.



On the sixth floor of the "ship" is the ship's wheelhouse and bridge wings. From the portside bridge wing, we got a great view of the harbor. We had a great view of Astral's shipyard where they are building the Navy's Littoral Combat Ships (right across from the museum). In the distance, we would see the container cranes and bulk cargo cranes. Right next door is Mobile's passenger ship terminal. From the starboard bridge wing, we had a great view of the Mobile skyline.


It was time for us to leave the museum, we decided to drive up into Mobile to see the Dauphin historical area. We saw that Wintzell's Oyster House had great ratings, so we tried some of their specialties. The dozen oysters on the half shell, a half pound of boiled shrimp and one order of onion rings went down very well with an "Arnold-Palmer"! After leaving the restaurant, as we were driving, we came upon a beautiful cathedral.





On the way back to the campground, we stopped at the Battleship Memorial Park. It is a comprehensive memorial park centered around the USS Alabama. First we came to the Alabama Korean War Memorial, displayed are all the flags of the nations that unified to defend South Korea.

There was also a memorial to the unsung heroes, the war dogs and their handlers. A very moving memorial if you are a dog lover.


The Viet Nam War Memorial is a memorial to the 1,213 men and women who were killed or are missing since the war. A "Huey" helicopter is suspended in a flight position near the memorial. The "Huey" was the "work horse" of the war, carrying men into battle, rescuing the wounded and removing the dead.


It was pretty cool. They had a WWII submarine (USS Drum SS-228) completely out of water and can be boarded and toured. Unfortunately, the displays had closed for the day, but the park remained open to visitors to wander around the ground and take pictures.


Also on the ground is a B-52D Stratofortress which flew many mission during the Viet Nam war. It is HUGE! As you can see, this one is named "Calamity Jane".


Finally, there is the battleship USS Alabama, which is the anchor of the Battleship Memorial Park.



After a full day of chores and sightseeing, we headed back to the campground.

Today, we were supposed to drive to New Orleans. However, the forecast was for severe thunderstorms flowing northeastward from the Gulf into eastern Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. From the models the weather service was showing, it looked like if we stayed here in Mobile, we wouldn't be in the most severe weather. We did have torrential downpour for several hours, but then it cleared up. We are preparing to be on the road tomorrow with sunny skies and a dry road to New Orleans.
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