Millers Ferry Campground, Alabama

We arrived at Millers Ferry Campground on March 28. We had driven a little over 200 miles through southern Alabama. At times the drive was slow due to the traffic around Dothan, Alabama and countless small towns.

We came to one small town that had a truck route around it. We did not see any signs in advance of the turn off and were passed it by the time we noticed it. We decided to keep going through town. My experience is that there may be a low bridge, which may be the reason for the truck route. Sure enough, I spotted a 10 foot high bridge a bit in front of us. I have very good distance eyesight and was able to see it well before we were upon it. Our trailer is over 13 feet tall. I took the first turn I saw and Kim jumped into action on Google maps. We found a fairly simple way to wind through town and it all worked out. Travel is somewhat stressful for us because we do it as a team and we stay very focused while we are moving. That is why 200 miles is a long day for us.

We went through many other small towns with many historic buildings. We saw old courthouses that dated back to the beginning of the 1800's. We also saw a number of very cool antebellum houses. I did some research on the internet and found the history of some of the ones we had seen. It was a pretty interesting drive.

I talked a little about Millers Ferry Campground in my last entry. I started my first morning there with a short bike ride around the campground loops. The campground was almost full, but there were a few spaces left. Many sites had small courtesy docks. The campground sits on the banks of the Alabama River. The Alabama flows down into the Mobile Bay.

It was a beautiful day, so I inflated the Sea Eagle and went for a paddle. The bathhouses in the park have a washer and dryer. $1.00 to wash and $1.00 to dry. Kim wanted to take advantage of that, so I went for a solo paddle. Here is a shot of the 420X set up for a single paddler. It does great.

I paddled through the marshes and saw a large alligator. I did not get a picture of him. I just explored the area around the campground.

Great Egret

I was paddling over by an old marina and saw this very interesting houseboat/RV:

Our Next Rig?

After about 2 hours on the water, I went back to camp to relax. One other thing I wanted to do was shoot some baskets on the court in the campground. I have noticed that many of the larger campgrounds that we visit have basketball courts. I have spent many hours in my life on a basketball court. I played with my brothers or friends. Many times I just played by myself. I finally remembered to put my basketball in the trailer the last time we were at the ranch. I shot around for about an hour and built up a good sweat.

I really need to do more of that. I guess I over did it because we both took 2 hour naps in the late afternoon.

I woke up and fixed dinner. After eating, we decided to take an evening paddle. We both wanted to just keep it easy. That did not last long as Kim assigned us a target. We wanted to paddle to the bridge. It was much further than we thought. We decided to turn around after some long hard paddling. It was getting dark and I did not want to be on the water without lights in the dark.

Beautiful Evening with water like glass.

Nice Reflection

The bridge too far

Awesome Sunset

It was a great day with plenty of exercise. If I did that more often, I might be able to lose some weight.

On Wednesday, March 30, we decided to move along. We have been really enjoying the COE parks, so I chose another one just north of Meridian, Mississippi. It was just over 100 miles, so that looked like a good place to spend a few days. We made the drive and when we arrived the campground was CLOSED! It did not say that on their website. Oh NO, what do we do now??

Well, we rarely make reservations to keep our options open. One thing I always do is make sure I have a plan B. We found a place to stop and do some checking. It turns out that my plan B was a hidden gem. There is a small campground on the other end of the lake. It is only 7 miles away that has nice sites, but no electric. When we arrived at Gin Creek Campground, we were shocked. It looked great. There are only 9 sites, but site 4 was plenty big enough for us. The best part is $6 per night. We have not camped without electricity this entire trip, so we needed to test out our systems. Everything worked perfect and we decided to stay a second night. Another great part is we have the place all to ourselves. We love it!

All settled in back in the corner. All by ourselves. 

I am not sure what we will do from here. We may move back to the campground that was closed if it opens on April 1 as we were told. We want to do some exploring this weekend in Meridian. Come back to see what we do on our way to see the grand kids in Arkansas.