Road Trip Page 4

Friday the 15^th.  9:45 Central Time.  Entering Alabama along the Gulf.  Sitting in the passenger seat with my  legs tangled in power cords (thanks Selwa).  Having just spent two nites at Big Lagoon State Park, we are on our way west, perhaps to New Orleans.  Currently we are hugging the coast, planning to take the ferry across the mouth of Mobile Bay.  Yesterday we snuck up on  an armadillo, and it wasn’t hard.  We got about 2 feet away, murmuring about how amazing it’s tail and armor were and wondering aloud if it couldn’t hear us with those big rabbit-like ears.  I guess we surprised it cause it suddenly hopped  straight up 6 inches or so and then moved a foot away and went back to sticking it’s nose in the dirt.  We have also had some close encounters of the raccoon kind.  Last nite I swear I heard one getting eaten by an alligator.  Maybe that had something to do with the beer: Blue by Sweetwater Brewing, Atlanta.  Blueberry overtones, very good, but of course it’s not really beer.  We still have some Landshark Island Style Lager but nobody’s gonna drink it till the Blue is gone. 

            The bathhouse at the campground had 4 solar thermal collectors so I took a shower this morning, even though air temp was about 45.  Beth said I needed it, and being solar powered, I couldn’t say no.  I meant the hot water, but i guess the same could be said of me.  Speaking of energy efficiency, I have been very happy with our mileage.  We have driven 1750 miles averaging in the upper  40’s  in mpg.  This tank we are getting 52.1 mpg after 308 miles, doing so well because it has been at 55 and 45 mph.  I am glad we didn’t need the rooftop carrier,  I think our mileage would have been 5 -10 mpg worse.  Attempting to include two ferry pictures and attempting to delete one self portrait