As most of you can tell by now I am a creature of habit. Even though I can use my lap top while Jack does the driving, I rarely blog on the day we travel. Too busy looking around, sleeping, or helping Jack get lost. This time, however, I didn't blog the day before or the day of travel. The rain has drained me. I couldn't take living in states where darkness and or rain is the norm. I want the sun! Well, it's Thursday morning and Jack is still in bed. I decided to get a jump start on my blogging entries but to be honest I've just set here, mesmerized by the tall pine trees swaying in the wind. And wondering where the heck the sun is....We are right on the edge of Alabama and Florida on the Gulf of Mexico in the town of Gulf Shores Alabama. It is a huge park and our campsite is approximately 1 mile from the registration office. There are a ton of things to do around us but call me crazy, I'd prefer to enjoy the outside activities when the sun is at least peeking through the clouds. Gulf Shores has tons of restaurants, shopping etc. unlike some of the other towns where we have stayed. The weather, according to the weather channel, is supposed to turn for the better this afternoon. The sun should make it's appearance and stay out the rest of the week.
Around 2:00, after doing some cleaning, brunch and talking to Dish Network (or rather being on hold) for almost two hours we decided to take a little walk. Our spot is the very last spot at the park. The ranger told me today (more about him later) that our spot was one of the "sweet spots" of the park. Pull thru, with no one in back or to the left of us and quiet. It is a beautiful spot. At night the sky line is lit with the lights of hotels, restaurants and condos along the beach front. It is a beautiful sight. But below the lighted backdrop what you don't see is the huge pipe line still pumping oil from the Gulf. I commented to Jack when we were traveling yesterday that we don't hear much of anything about the clean up any more. I had ASSUMED that the clean up was over and life was all good again. Unless the bad news affects you personally humans have a tendency to conveniently forget the troubles of others. I admit I had forgotten all about the oil spill tragedy until yesterday when I noticed the huge pipeline along the beaches. My suspicions were confirmed by a local that the clean was still well under way. Back to our walk.
Have you ever entered a walk, a race, a cave or a house of mirrors when you've gone too far to turn back? Well, that's kind of what happened to us today. We started our walk and the day was still overcast. However, the further we got in to the paved trail the more beautiful became the day. Here are just a few of those pics we snapped along the way:
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| This is some kind of ground cover growing along the trail. It looks almost like cotton or fungus. Weird but interesting. |
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We get well in to the walk and find several paved trails leading off of the original trail. Thinking that the trail chosen would take us back to the campground, with perhaps a few miles of trails, nothing more, we chose Rosewood Trail. Mistake. A HUGE MISTAKE FOR TANNER AND ME.
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| Yep...you can be sure I will feed the alligators. |
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| The trails were very nicely paved. Again all new since Katrina. |
The lighted buildings we viewed last night from our campsite came in to sight much closer than we had anticipated. Much to my aching bones I realized that we were quite far away from the campground. We were walking AWAY from the campground. Have you ever just wanted to sit down and cry over some decision you've made....where your mind spoke before your body agreed? I'm sure all of you men out there are going, "No, never. Not me." Well, please let me share something about most women that you may not know. We are big, fat liars when it comes to doing physical crap you guys want to do. "Let's shoot some hoops," you say to your lady friend. She's like, "Oh, cool, okay." When really what she wants to say is, "Are you freaking kidding me, you moron? I'd rather go to the dentist for root canals." The beauty about being married for 40 years is that you can cry, whine, and complain about pretty much anything and for both of your sakes you know that he isn't listening to a word you are saying and you really don't care. You feel as if you've earned the right to whine and complain and quite frankly the act of just doing it makes you feel better. When I realized, after several miles into our hike, that we were WALKING AWAY from the campground I started in....."Jack," I whine, " I caaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn't go one step more. Plllllllleeeeeaase let's stop." And then I see the alligator habitat sign and I force myself to go on. When we are out of range of that stupid habitat and the thought of getting eaten by an alligator wanes, every bone in my body starts complaining again. By this time I have Sydney because Tanner has gotten into the sand burrs (little rounds sticker type things that have sharp points) about 7 times and Jack is trying to keep him safe. Each time Jack had to remove a sand burr from Tanner's paws, he cried out in pain. Ms. Pris doesn't like to get her paws dirty so she stayed on the road, while Tanner, even after the 1st 3 times of getting clobbered with sand burrs, continues to stray off of the trail. Walking with Jack, Tanner is better behaved and walks directly at Jack's side. So we trade dogs. We begin to walk closer to the building below which is again walking AWAY from the campground. To be honest with you, when we hit the highway (thank goodness they have a walking path) I am seriously thinking about sticking my thumb out to bum a ride back to the campground. Between my hip and knees I couldn't tell which hurt more. (By the way I should mention that Jack asked me miles back if I wanted to turn around and go back the way we came but I said, "Oh heck no. We can do this.") What was I thinking? But then I look down at poor little Sydney and it appears to me that she is laboring a little so I pick her up and carry her for awhile. So there we are, Jack and Tanner, me and Sydney walking along the highway, the sun quickly setting, my bones screaming out, my arms stinging from carrying Sydney and it appears the more we walk, the farther away the campground water tower seems to be. I start my whining again trying to make Jack feel as bad as I feel. He's ignoring me so I don't think my victim role is working too well. And then it happens. I watch in horror as Tanner's back left foot falls between two concrete blocks on a bridge we are crossing. Jack, unaware of what just happened, continues walking. I yell out to him to stop when I see Tanner immediately start limping. Jack continues walking thinking that Tanner might walk it off but within minutes realizes Tanner is still limping and in pain. Keep in mind we are still several miles out, Jack picks up Tanner and carries him. So now not only am I complaining and whining and moaning while carrying Sydney, Jack must carry Tanner. Now all we needed was for some old person to be driving up the highway, fall asleep, and wipe us all out.
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| New codos being built. Jack talked to a man on the trail who said the developer got money from the BP oil spill and he then auctioned off the condos. Sold enough to go ahead and finish the building. He said now is the time to buy a gulf condo if your wondering. |
Finally, finally we see the park's entrance. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I do neither and plug along. Jack and I decide that I will sit with the dogs at the campground registration office so that Tanner doesn't have to walk on his pained leg and Jack will continue to our campsite, another mile plus, pick up the truck and return for us. And then I see Ranger Roger. Before Jack can tell me no, I head straight for Ranger Roger's truck and ask him if he can give us a lift back to our campsite. "Sure," he says, "No problem." Jack declines and tells me he'll stay with the dogs while I go get the truck. Good thing cause Ranger Roger's truck was not conducive to passengers. As tired as I was I would gladly gotten in to the bed of the truck had Ranger Roger requested me to do so.
We ended up back at the RV around 5:30. Have absolutely no idea how far we walked. To me it was too far but in reality it was probably more like 5 miles. To many of you who run twice the much in a day I say, good for you. Don't know how your knees take it but darn it, I'm happy for you. Given a choice of walking it again or making my way across a river full of alligators by walking on stilts, well, okay, I'd do it again but I'd start complaining from the get go. We are going to ride the route tomorrow on our bikes so I'll let you know how far we walked...really.
Tanner and Sydney below....Ms. Sydney hasn't moved since we returned.
Good night and God bless. Ben Gay and I have a date tonight.
P.S. It is now almost 5 1/2 hours since we returned from our nightmare walk of pain. Sydney still has not moved an inch. Tanner does seem to be feeling better. I'm very happy about that one.
