Mother Nature is a B*#ch

Two years after Mother Nature came "to visit". This used to be a hotel!!


Surrender or else!














Gulf Shores, Alabama (Bama to the locals) took a direct hit from Hurricane Ivan 2 years ago. The RV Park, in which we are located, one block from the beach, was hit with a 19 foot storm surge. The devastation along the beach is unbelievable and, most of it has been cleaned up!! We are told that as we head west into Mississippi and Louisiana the devastation will be even more complete. In this area, the surge lifted a 300 foot Casino Boat and deposited it10 miles away on highway 98. It blocked the only rescue route in so the Army Corps of Engineers had to blow it up to create pieces small enough to remove with machinery. They then repaired the road and the rescue began. Last year, Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall over 200 miles away, hit the park with a 14 foot storm surge. It begs the question “How much will it take to make these people move out?” They are NOT quitters!

We bought some tuna steaks and crab bisque up a river off the gulf; at a fishing “port” that looked like Forrest Gump and Lieutenant Dan could be pulling their shrimp trawler in at any moment. We were served by a wonderful old lady who was the spitting image of Granny Klampett from the Beverley Hillbillies. She knew her fish!!! The boats were being unloaded as we put our “catch” in the car. Fresh! I now know what “backwater” means. We found our way there with no problem but, getting back was another issue.

Mobile is reasonably forgettable although one must always remember that, with two major hurricanes in two years, there is little emphasis on “decorating”. Many houses, hotels and other buildings in the region are still boarded up awaiting repairs. We visited the USS Alabama, which at 40,000 tons (80 million pounds), was even moved (a bit) in the storms. Made a mental note not to join the navy. Historic aircraft at the USS Alabama Memorial were tossed around in the hurricane like so much flotsam and jetsam INSIDE A HANGAR. They and the hangar are just so much scrap metal now.

We are packing up for Baton Rouge tomorrow (Friday) where we hope to find some more blues clubs. We’ll give New Orleans a pass. I think we’ll have had our fill of devastation without going to the epicenter.