Originally we had Nashville and Memphis on our planned itinerary, but as you would know if you have read some of our other blogs we tend to change our plans as we go. After speaking to people we have met on our travels we decided to ditch Tennessee and head for Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. Apparently both are worthy of a visit.

On the way to Savannah, the ever eagle-eyed Kerrie spied a spot we thought was worth a visit, Battleship Memorial Park at Mobile, Alabama. An F4 Phantom marked the entrance gate to the park. Tied up alongside a wharf was a huge battleship, a submarine and a large building. We pulled in to the parking lot and went exploring.

The battleship was the USS Alabama, World War Two vintage built in 1942. It had a compliment of 1800 crew and was 35000 tons. It was retired in 1962 and towed to its present location in Mobile in 1964 as a museum ship. It saw service during the war in both The Atlantic and Pacific theatres of war.

Tied up along side the Alabama was the submarine USS Drum. It is also from World War Two and was commissioned in 1941 and decommissioned in 1946. It had a crew of 83 and was 95 metres long. It was towed to its present location in 1969 and also opened for the public to tour through. USS Drum was damaged by both Hurricane Georges in 1998 and again during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. After touring through both vessels we decided that if we were to join the Navy, it most certainly would NOT be as a submariner.


Inside the large building we found even more gems. We saw a Lockheed 71 Blackbird spy plane. 32 of these were built and introduced to service in 1966 and retired in 1999. 12 were lost in accidents but none were actually lost in action. We also spied a F14 Tomcat but we couldn't see Maverick or Goose ("Top Gun") written on the fuselage and could not find them anywhere else in the building either! Outside a huge B52 Strato Fortress bomber was parked, it was introduced in to service in 1955 and is still used today; 744 were built.


After a 90 minute tour we got back on the road, destination Savannah, Georgia.

We had booked into a lovely hotel right on the riverside in Savannah. We checked in and then went for a drive around the city. There are more garden squares in this city than we have ever seen any where in our travels - 24 to be more precise just in the city centre. Surrounding these squares is a maze of one way streets with a mixture if very beautiful homes of various architectural styles. Crowded trolley cars transported tourists around the city sites. We drove passed the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist and City Hall with its golden dome.


After returning to the hotel we set out for a walk along the riverside. There were several paddle wheelers transporting tourists along the river and a never ending stream of cargo ships going passed in both directions. We checked out the riverside markets before finding a bar for a cool drink, lucky for us it was Tuesday and we shouted ourselves a couple of 75 cent Bud Lights. Dinner was in a little restaurant right by the river where we could see the passing ships and admire the pretty sunset. After buying caramel popcorn in one of the many sweets shops we returned to the hotel to rest up for the next part of the trip.