No wifi today.
Fort Dauphin Island.
Well, it was almost Paradise Lost last night.
The campsite next to ours was occupied by two couples from Louisiana, who had been sitting and drinking for much of the day. Of course, the inevitable happened, and the screaming and swearing went on till the police showed up around 1:00 am. At the same time, another couple were camped close by with two Labrador Retrievers who were bothered by the commotion, and added to it sporadically. On top of that, two young men who had pulled into the site next to mine had a spat, and one decided to sleep in the car, a decision which resulted in the slamming of doors and tearful pleadings until after 2:00.
Needless to say, none of us, in fact no one in the tenting section, got much sleep, especially since we cyclists had to be up at 6:30 for the day's trip.
The only thing that saved it for me was going to the beach and doing my Tai Chi set while watching sea birds diving on a school of fish as the sun rose. That was magical.
Today's trip began with a 35-min ferry ride from the island to Fort Morgan, a trip that took us past one of the many oil rigs that inhabit both Mobile Bay and the off-shore of the Gulf. Then we had a 15-mile ride along the peninsula past scores of beachfront homes raised up on stilts and coloured by every shade on the pastel palette.
The big attraction in Gulf Beach today was the annual mullet toss, which, as far as I could gather, was a contest to see how far one could throw a fish, not an 80's holdover. In reality, it looked more like Spring Break, with the roads and beaches clogged by cooler-toting young men accompanied by skimpily-dressed girls. Testosterone was rampant.
Completely off topic: school buses in this part of the world have white strobe lights on the roof at the rear of the bus. Supposedly that makes them more visible.
Today we're camping along the Intercoastal waterway, and are having dinner at the beach while watching the watercraft, and the occasional dolphin, going past in both directions. And to top it all off, the resident alligator which lives in a small lagoon in the park stuck his head up as we passed by on the boardwalk on the way back to our campsite after dinner. A good way to end the day.
That house! (4th pic from the top)
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