Road trip continued...
After my informative and uplifting conference in Texas, it was time to head east to Mobile...Forgot that the late historian Steven Ambrose's D-Day museum was in NoLa, or I would have made a stop there....Anyway, I was there to check out the bay and Gulf Shores area, see the sights, and play a little golf.
Little known fact that it's Mobile that is the original home of Mardi Gras...They have parades and celebrations that go on for nearly two weeks...Most of the homeowners in the original city core vie to have a historical marker on their homes...
Welcome to the Mobile Historic Development Commission : Historic Marker Program ...Another little known historical fact is that the State of Alabama declared itself a separate nation unto itself, just a few weeks before joining the Confederacy.
Unbeknownst to me prior to my arrival, the SS United States had been towed from Philly to Mobile, for its final gutting before being eventually sunk off of Destin, FL, as an artificial reef...Once the undisputed Queen of the Atlantic (it's crossing speed record still stands), it's now little more than a rusting hulk...Decades of being parked in the port of Philadelphia, and numerous failed attempts at preservation and turning it into a museum, have taken their toll...A recent documentary l had seen pointed out that the ship had already been gutted to a great degree, so I was left wondering what was left to "preserve"...It was featured prominently on a boat tour of the bay...
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We also got a gander at the latest addition to the U.S. Navy fleet: The Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport (EFT) 15, USNS Point Loma...An all aluminum hull produced by a company named Austal -Australia Aluminum...That's right, our navy ships are being made by an Australian ship builder...Make of that what you will...
Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport - Wikipedia
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Spent the a good chunk of a day roaming around the USS Alabama memorial park/museum...Not only is there the battleship, but also the USS Drum submarine and numerous aircraft and armor displays...The website has tremendously more information about the ship and photos than I could ever post here...A really worthwhile way to spend the afternoon...
Home - USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park
Played some golf, checked out the coast beaches, drove out to Fort Morgan though oddly disinterested in touring the grounds...Think I was history-ed out...Though I had a good time and everyone was very nice, there's still some intangible thing about Alabama that rubs me ever-so-slightly the wrong way.
Then off to Myrtle Beach, SC, with an overnight in Columbia, where my hotel had a stunningly beautiful mosaic of the capitol area of town...
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Managed to locate a nice hotel in Myrtle Beach that didn't play the "resort fee" shell game, that aggravatingly jacks up the published rates of a lot of hotels in touristy areas...There was a nice locally owned bar/grill a short walking distance from the hotel that was a big plus...Played some more golf and met some more very nice folks...The city itself reminded me a lot of Florida coastal areas, without the slew of high rises that are going up seemingly everywhere...About 50 miles long and a mile wide...Drive inland and you're in rural SC as fast as you can blink...Discovered that SC has no taxes whatsoever on collectible coins and bullion, so I took the opportunity to add some hideously costly key dates to my Morgan dollar collection and save a significant amount doing so.
Was considering going to the Cumberland Gap in TN to fly my glider, but since I haven't flown in several years, I thought it better to take a trip to SLC and get my skills refreshed at the much smaller Point-of-the-mountan site, where my outstanding instructor does his thing.
Another road trip in the works....More to come....
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