2016-31 Alabama

2016-31

Fort Payne Alabama
Montgomery Alabama

Fall is in the air

Campground:  Little River Rv Park.  $13 PPA discount rate.  Full hookups, 50amp, 25 cable tv channels.  Very nice young owners of the park.  Will extend the Passport America beyond the 3 day limit since it is off season.  Although most of the campground is on a hill, most all sites including my pull-thru site is level.  For folks only staying a couple nights, there are a few sites at the entrance that are level and don’t require actually entering the main hilly part of the campground.

Campground:  Gunter Hill (Army Corp park), near Montgomery Alabama.  Senior discount rate:  $9.00.  Electric 50 amp and water.  Full hookups also available.  Located off of Old Selma Road.


Distance traveled:  188 miles

Shows my route for this past week and into early next week

I-75 even on a Sunday had heavy traffic, though I was able to maintain a constant 65 mph and let the faster drivers go around me.  Dropping down onto I-59 was a gem of a find.  What a great highway.  Little traffic and very smooth as I traveled through the corner of Georgia and into Alabama.  I had another pleasant surprise when I got to Little River Rv park.  The PPA website indicating the half off price was $18, but when I arrived, the owners gave me half of the official posted rates and it ended up being a sweet $13 a night.  The young couple were very kind and even gave me some brochures on things to do in the area as well as best places to eat out.

The major attraction in the area is the Little River Canyon National Preserve.  I would recommend touring the area in the spring time, as the river runs pretty dry this time of year unless they’ve had lots of rain, which wasn’t the case with my visit.  Of the three falls in the area, only one had a trickle of water flowing over the falls.

the only water in the river is at
the base of the waterfall this time of year

just a trickle of water

Mushroom rock in the middle of the road

Little River Canyon

I talked to a couple locals and they tell me it’s been so dry they’ve had to water their flowers and lawns from early spring throughout the entire summer.  Having had little to no rain.  The driest summer they could remember.  Many of the trees along the Little River Canyon drive have turned color or should I say various shades of brown from distress it being so dry all summer.  Obviously this part of the country is not going to have a spectacular fall foliage season.

Fort Payne's Train Station

An old Hosiery Factory

 Distance traveled: 187 miles

along Old Selma Road

While traveling, I use my Verizon smart phone for GPS directions.  Google maps is a great resource and since I have unlimited internet I use it often.  Two fairly new features that I enjoy are:  the first welcomes me when I enter a new state.  How cool is that.  The second feature tells me if there is an accident on the highway and will re-route if I accept.  I used this today while heading towards Birmingham Alabama.  As I was driving along hwy 59, I was told by my GPS that an accident had blocked the highway ahead, would I like to be rerouted?  You bet I would.  The GPS told me how long I could expect to be delayed if I stayed on the highway and how much shorter the route would be.  As I turned off the recommended exit, the traffic had almost reached that exit at a full stop on the main highway.  15 minutes later, I had bypassed the accident which could have had me stuck in traffic for well over an hour.  Thanks Google GPS you saved the day.

I’ve arrived outside of Montgomery Alabama at an Army Corps campsite that’s saving me a ton of money.  At the senior half off rate, I’m only paying $9 a night for 50 amp electric and water.  I could have splurged for the full hookup for one dollar more.  I even have a bit of a water view as well.

I don’t have any plans to go into the city on this trip.  I’ll just be enjoying the campsite and just do a bit of recharging before continuing my southerly travels.

An odd building outside of Montgomery Alabama

a touch of history still in operation

Of course I’m also taking my World History of Architecture Course online.  I’ve completed 5 of the video classes which are each over one hour in length.  This section of the class is covering so much of the history, geology, agriculture, religion and primitive building development of “first society” and developing societies.  In the class we’ve traveled all over the Americas, from south, central to northern America.  Across into Africa, India, China and this week we’ve explored the development of the islands throughout the Pacific ocean region.  Each week consists of 3 to 4 classes each being an hour in length as I mentioned.  As well as the reading material which I haven’t been able to keep up with at present due to spotty internet access but that doesn’t mean I’m really behind, as the online classes are jam packed with material to contemplate and review.  It is nice to be able to stop the video and read back the text display on the right hand side which corresponds to the audio presentation or to review the slides and video presentation in more detail before continuing on.

of course in the south you are bound to see cotton fields

So as you can see, though I’m on-the-road, I still have plenty to keep me busy, even when not extensively “touring” the local area.

Photos:

Little River Canyon, Alabama

Fort Payne and Montgomery Alabama