Monday, November 30, 2015

We visited the Foley Train Museum today for the second time.  The first time it was not open and today we learned the model trains only operate Tuesday, Thursday, and SaTurday from  Ten until Two (I finally understood what they meant when they said to remember the 5Ts for the model trains).  Knowing we would have to return, we still spent a good hour exploring the museum's collection of memorabilia arranged throughout the old Foley Train Station.

As harried as the station agent appears below, I suspect the customers would not have been quite as happy as they appear in this piece depicting train service of old.

I think the most valuable function of a historical museum is to show us just how lucky we are to be living in our own time!  The typewriter keyboard below bears some resemblance to our present computer keyboards, but the difference in technology is staggering.

I wonder how often I would do laundry if this was my washing machine?

I thought it was about time I included a picture of our site at Rainbow Plantation.  It really was full for this early in the winter season - only a few open sites.

Thursday, November 26, 2015, SKP Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  We took part in the Rainbow Plantation Escapee Park Thanksgiving potluck dinner.  Larry cooked 15 turkeys (and one ham) and prepared gallons of great giblet gravy for the 200 folks in attendance.  Hosts at each table coordinated the side dishes with the guests at each table to complete the meal.  I suspect, like us, each table had twice as much food as they could possibly eat.

David signed up to play host to our table without realizing that is what he was doing.  But, he accepted the responsibility and did a fantastic job coordinating the meal for our table of 10.

Well, I did a pretty poor job of capturing our table below.  From the left, I cut most of Burt out of the picture (at least you can see him in the panorama above).  Next to him was Toby then Bertha and George, Tom and Bobbi, at the far end, then Mary and Andy (Mary was almost completely hidden behind Andy) and finally Joani.  I have no doubt our table had the best sides and, in the finest Thanksgiving tradition, I think we all ate way too much.  The meal was topped off with some yummy apple cake and pumpkin pie.

Left-overs went home only to return the next night in another pot-luck dinner where we got to sample a little of what was at the other tables.

Joani saw this Jeep in the parking lot as we were leaving and really liked the spare tire cover art.

For non-RVers, the car towed behind a motorhome is affectionately called the "toad."

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Fairhope held an open house that made me wonder "how was it any different from any other shopping day?"  The difference was apparent from the first shop we visited.  There were snack tables in every shop. There was cheese and crackers and cakes and cookies.  That added a whole new dimension to shopping for me, although I'm pretty sure it wasn't good for my blood sugar level.  Still, it got me into stores I might have otherwise ignored and that was pretty entertaining.

I overheard this while roaming for snacks, "Does Boudreaux have a camo apron?"  I wish I could have caught the response - it included something about what he wore when frying crawdads.  No doubt we are way down south.

Fairhope, AL has a very interesting history (to be explored later) and a very active Small Business Association.  Events are planned on a regular basis.

 Living in an RV makes buying too many "things" impractical, but I still enjoy shopping, otherwise, I would miss gems like this!

Wow!  What a pleasure!  Carolers gave a spontaneous performance inside the Christmas shop.

Friday, November 20, 2015

The Fairhope Christmas lights were a sight to see.  There was a pretty good crowd milling around and carolers making it quite a festive place to visit.

You know, I can certainly see the wisdom behind the Police department having a golf cart for some quick puttering around town instead of using the Police cruiser for everything. What I can't imagine is this cart chasing down scofflaws with the lights flashing and the siren blaring. Really, I suspect just about anyone's car could outrun the coppers patrolling the town in this thing, so it must for cornering jaywalkers.

The streets of Fairhope really were a wonderland with millions of lights glowing in the trees. Although without snow, can they call it a winter wonderland?

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Fairhope Ave runs straight through the center of Fairhope, AL and ends at the bay.  Today was the perfect day for walking along the waterfront park.  At the duck pond, an outsider was keeping watch over the large group of noisy ducks and geese until I spooked him with my not so stealthy approach.

I talked with this guy about his hobby.  He seemed to think it was pretty lucrative given all of the treasure he has found, but he admitted it was really just about getting out and getting some exercise.

The water on the bay was relatively calm even though there was a pretty good breeze.  The air was warm and the sunshine made it one of those days when it's great to be retired - wait, every day is great when you're retired!

It made us smile to see a branch of one tree hugging the trunk of another tree. What would have made it grow in an arc around the obstacle?

We spent a couple of hours wandering through town looking over the "adorable" homes.  Though we walked many blocks in every direction we never saw any "For Sale" signs.  Apparently, there are a lot of happy residents in Fairhope.  I can see why - this is one of the nicest small towns we have seen in our travels so far.  Of course, summers here might be another matter altogether.  Maybe we can assess the summertime environment in the not too distant future.

Monday, November 16, 2015, Battleship Park

I visited the U.S.S. Alabama with my dad and the kids when Jon was around 8 and Katie was 5, so that would be more than 25 years ago. Joani opted for shopping back then, so today was her first chance to explore the giant battleship.

While one of the ships main objectives was to shell entrenchments on enemy-held territory, it was clear they had a huge problem with aircraft harassment. There were anti-aircraft guns positioned everywhere above decks.

This little bird had no idea he was perched on the barrel of a 50 caliber machine gun. I don't think I would have wanted to be here any more than he would have when the guns were in action.

Someone forgot to polish the ships bell!

Time to head below decks. There were as many as 2,500 sailors aboard when this ship was in action during WWII. Even as large as the ship was, it had to be extremely crowded. I'm sure it required a lot of adjustment to the around the clock activity and the near total lack of personal space (unless you were one of the senior officers).

The idea of providing 7,500 meals a day seems almost unimaginable, especially with all of the complications of being at sea. Imagine restocking the pantry or creating a decent variety of meals and feeding people all day long who were expecting breakfast since they just woke up while others want dinner since they are near the end of their watch. That's on a good day! Add the ever-present specter of a klaxon calling everyone to battle stations and it all falls into total disarray.

Somehow all those sailors have to stay neat and trimmed.  The five chairs in the barber station must have stayed pretty busy! (OK, two are out of the picture to the left)

It is difficult to imagine manning the boilers as a battle raged many decks above praying the torpedo planes fail in their mission.  I doubt the "warmth" of the engine room was much of a plus either.

The transformers below power the lights, presumably, in this portion of the ship. I suspect they were original equipment and still in operation (they were warm and humming) more than 70 years after installation.

Imagine the sense of relief looking out on the shoreline as the ship made landfall when the war was finally over.

Battleship Park had a complete collection of all modern fighter jets including one of only two YF-17's (it lost a development competition to the F-18).  They had an SR-71 and a B-52 among many others that might have taken another hour to really appreciate.  After nearly four hours on the battleship, our energy level drove the decision to tour the submarine first.  I actually forgot about the YF-17 as we quickly walked through the hanger to get to the submarine display.

Outside was the tangled wreckage of a plane that had us curious.  I asked one of the employees if a hurricane had damaged the plane.  He told me it was loaned to a studio to make the movie "Men of Honor." There was a little problem (apparently pilot error) that caused the aircraft to be returned in less than pristine condition.  He said the museum had learned their lesson about working with movie production companies.

The U.S.S. Drum was a nearly complete contrast to the Alabama. From the first hatch, it was clear the average sailors aboard were of significantly less girth than myself.

It must take a rare psychological outlook to serve on a submarine. It's more than just coping with the cramped, claustrophobic space. What about every creak and pop reminding you of the crushing pressure of the water wrapped around you 200 feet under the ocean's surface. Worse yet, what about when surface ships, dropping depth charges, have located your position! Of course, you better get along well with others. If you had a problem with one of the other 82 crew members you couldn't avoid seeing them in the tight quarters. I learned I could never be a seafaring sailor and I have a new respect for those who served to protect our nation.

No surprise, a lot of the submarine volume and personnel were dedicated to torpedoes.  There were six fore and four aft tubes and a total complement of 24 torpedoes.  Even more space was used to move the submarine through the water.  Underwater, the propellers were driven with large electric motors running on a massive bank of batteries.  On the surface, diesel engines powered the props and generators to charge the batteries.  There were two 126 cell batteries. Each battery cell weighed 1,647 pounds.  That worked out to a whopping 100 tons per battery!  Batteries comprised almost 15 percent of the total weight of the sub. 

Joani looked up the narrow passage to the periscope deck but let me explore it alone.  I can't imagine there could have been more than three or four people working in there at any given moment.

I wonder if there was ever a gauge that they looked at but just couldn't remember what it was?

After a total of five hours climbing through the battleship and submarine and skipping lunch, we, needless to say, were ready to get home to Sam, have some supper and finish off the evening with a glass of wine!

Friday, November 13, 2015

We saw Lambert's Cafe featured on Travel Channel's "countdown chow down" list years ago, so when we passed one in Foley, AL (there are three across the country) we had to try it out.

The guy to the far right in the picture below was a bit blurred as he was catching his own "throwed" roll.

I caught one too, but to avoid embarrassing myself I gripped all of the fluffiness right out of the roll. It was a hot mess, but covered with melted butter it was great!  I had a second roll handed to me as the server passed our table.  Fun fact:  Lambert's bakes an average of 520 dozen (6240) rolls a day - that's 2,246,400 per year!

The portions were huge and with all of the "pass-arounds," it was good that they provided us some to-go boxes.  Pass-arounds were included with every meal.  Servers wandered the aisles with fried potatoes and onions, fried okra, black-eyed peas, boiled cabbage, macaroni and tomatoes, apple butter and all of the hot rolls and sorghum you could eat.

So, overall, I guess we would say the Lambert's experience was interesting, but probably not something we need to repeat.