I Love America Tour: Day Two

Day two is more like day two and a half. After locating the beginning of the Underground Railroad Trail, I met up with my college friend. I met Chris as a freshman at Northwood University in West Palm Beach. I think at the time we initially met; I was grousing out loud in ridicule at my fellow freshman, who were waiting in line to call home and crying over being away from home. I still do not get that to this day.

Chris is now a married man and father to a daughter that just graduated from high school. I had not seen or spoke to him in so long I cannot count the years. Whatever the number, it is too long. Unfortunately, his wife was not feeling well, so I could not visit with her. And after being up all night, I was crashing. I needed to get food, a hotel, and sleep.

My delirium was acute enough to cause me to spend two hours with Chris and never remember to take a picture. SMH. Such a boomer move.

Looking to redeem myself in my brother's eyes, I used my phone and Yelp to find a decent local restaurant called Maple Street Biscuit Company. I was looking for breakfast and this looked interesting. All the dishes are a mixture of chicken, syrup and waffles or biscuits. I did not know what to expect, considering I have never understood the appeal of chicken and waffles. David gave the food the thumbs up and basically decimated his plate.

The next morning, we headed out to traverse the trail. The original plan was to drive the road parts and bike the trails. Unfortunately, the route map provided by the Adventure Cycling App did not provide the information on trails I needed. As you see can see from the photo below, the map is colorful with way points for gas, water, camping grounds, and points of interest. What it does not tell you is what is a road and what is a bike trail. This would be an ongoing frustration over the next three days.

Driving through Alabama brought home just how much I am a flatlander. What I mean by that is I like flat roads and highways. I dislike traveling bridges over water. Alabama has plenty of both.

So, besides driving down state roads that cyclists would have to be fools to bike on, I had to contend with bridges all damn day. It may sound silly, but I know very that our new-fangled, tech laden cars will trap you if you crash into a body of water. All electronics, including your power windows, will not work. I found this out the hard way in college after a school mate crashed into a retention pond and was trapped.

Our route started in Mobile and stopped at Whitten Park/Fulton Recreation Campground. Whitten Park offers camping sites with electric and water. There are also bathroom and shower facilities. The night devolved into a bit of a failure.

Our campsite was right on the water, which would have been great in the middle of the day. However, it was evening and all I could think about was getting camp set up before the mosquitoes swarmed. Setting up the primary tent did not take long. However, the screen in gazebo took forever, and required the help of David. It was late, but I still had light to get the gear out and cook.

I felt rushed, but steady. Then David headed to the bathroom and straight into another campers unleashed dog. David is deftly afraid of dogs. He took off running, screaming the entire time; which made the dog chase him. I managed to shoo the dog off, but David stayed in the car from that moment until camp was ready.

I figured food would make him feel better and went to gather water. Unfortunately, the water is available only if you have an RV and the ability to pump it into the RV. It would not pump by hand and there was no potable water near the camp. I am sure there was water located somewhere in the park, but now it was dark, I was annoyed, and could be bothered to find it. I went to the front instead to use a water fountain to put in our water bottles, but basically gave up on the idea of cooking for the night.

Neither of us got much sleep. Rain threatened the entire night, so I had to keep the rain fly on the tent, making the interior of the tent warmer than outside. The tent has vents, of course, but there was little breeze, and the air was misty all night. The tent was hot, our sleeping bags were hot.

All and all, not a great start. I could tell David was unhappy, which, in turn, affected my demeanor. I could easily see things not getting too much better because the sleeping bags would not change, and it would take some time to get used to not sleeping on a mattress.

Morning did not come soon enough. It took an hour to strike camp and head some place for breakfast that would put David into a better mood and get me some much needed coffee.