Sunday, October 12, 2008

Off we go, soon after breakfast, heading for Warm Springs, Georgia, which seemed like a good area to spend our first night on the road. The town was named for the nearby warm springs that were used by Native Americans long before the first colonists arrived. In the late 1700’s, the springs were discovered by yellow fever victims, and by 1832 the area was a popular summertime health resort. Warm Springs reached its greatest fame after Franklin Delano Roosevelt began visiting the springs hoping to improve his health after being stricken with polio. It seemed like a nice spot to hang out for a couple of days.

So - after a while on I-20, we wandered through country roads and small towns, finally reaching Warm Springs about 2 pm…. Just in time to catch lunch at the Bulloch House. The Bulloch House is known for its fine country cooking – with chicken, fried green tomatoes, and buttered yeast rolls at the top of the list. We tried it all – even a slice of 6-layer chocolate cake for dessert. There will be no need for supper tonight!

We had planned to visit the Little White House after lunch, but the weatherman had other plans – the rains came and settled in for the evening. So ... to plan B.... we headed over to Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park, picked out a nice campsite near the Lake Delanor, and settled ourselves in for the evening.

FDR State Park is Georgia’s largest state park – over 9,000 acres in size. In addition to the campground and rental cottages, it is home to the Pine Mountain Trail, which covers 23 miles. Many facilities in the park were built by FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression – these include a Liberty-Bell shaped swimming pool, stone cottages, and some arched bridges.


Monday, October 13, 2008

Big plans for hiking were delayed this morning by rain – we thought we’d seen enough of that yesterday, but here it came again. It was a cool and gray morning – just perfect for curling up with a good book, and that’s just what we did. Nice to relax for a change!

After lunch, the sun came out (for a while) and we headed off on the Mountain Creek Trail, a .3.5 loop trail through the mixed oak-pine forest found along the headwaters of Mountain Creek.

Although the trail climbs and descends along the creek and ridges, it wasn’t a difficult walk.

We saw lots of beautiful trees, but not much wildlife – just a chipmunk and dozens of squirrels. We heard a woodpecker up in the trees, but never could spot him – but closer to earth, we saw several dead trees with evidence of woodpecker visitations.

Here is a large flat area, a floodplain formed when the creek overflows its banks and drops its sediment. It is covered by ferns.

Part of the trail goes along the top an earthen dam of an old fish pond built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. We could see the stonework of the old spillways of three different ponds.

The CCC used this area because of the steady flow of high quality water to raise fish such as bass and bream. Today, they are reverting back to forest, but they still create a surprising sight on a walk in the woods.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Today, the sun was back on the job and we set out early for Dowdell’s Knob, a high spot along the Pine Mountain Trail, overlooking Pine Mountain Valley. This was one of FDR’s favorite picnic spots, a place where he found solace and solitude. There is a life-size bronze statue of Roosevelt here, just relaxing and taking in the view.

While at Dowdell’s Knob, we tried out our newest toy, a hand-held GPS unit for geo-caching. We had the exact coordinates (N 32° 50.386 W 084° 44.702) to find FDR’s favorite spot on the hill – a grill he had built for fancy cookouts (now filled in with cement).

Roosevelt, seeking a place for treatment after he was stricken with polio in 1921, traveled to Warm Springs to swim in the springs’ naturally heated warm water. He was so enchanted with the area that he built a simple vacation cottage on the side of Pine Mountain. This home became known as the Little White House.

He spent many hours visiting neighbors and learning of the difficulties, which provided him with inspiration for his New Deal policies and programs. While posing for a portrait in his den, FDR suffered a stroke and died in April 1945, near the end of World War II. This “Unfinished Portrait” is on display exactly as the artist left it.

Also on the wooded estate there is a museum that tells the story of this great world leader. Exhibits include his 1938 Ford convertible equipped with hand controls, his “Fireside Chats” playing on a radio, the Great Depression, and rural electrification.

Leaving the Little White House, we headed on to Mobile, Alabama – to the University of South Alabama’s Brookley Conference Center for an Elderhostel Program, “Fall Migration: Great Birding on the Alabama Coast.” This area is known as a critical stopover point during the fall migration from North to Central and South America.

We got settled in our room – the old (very old) officers’ quarters from when this place was an Air Force base – met our program director and fellow “birders”, attended orientation, and had a nice dinner at the Middle Bay Café. After dinner, we had a presentation by Tuck Hayward, a national recognized wildlife artist. He showed us beautiful slides of birds we might be seeing in the next few days.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

This morning, we piled on a bus and headed across Mobile Bay to Bon Secours National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge includes nearly 7000 acres of beach and bay front, sand dunes, scrub forest, fresh and salt water marshes, fresh water swamps and uplands.

Our first stop was at the far western end of the refuge, just inside the Fort Morgan Historical Park. Here we visited a banding station operated by the Hummer/Bird Study Group. This organization was founded by Bob and Martha Sargent, who were on hand to show us around. The banding station was just a table under a tent. Throughout the forest nearby, there were about 2 dozen nets made of very fine nylon – almost invisible when viewed from head-on. The birds can’t see them either – they hit the net and slip into a pouch from which it’s difficult to escape. The bird banders check the nets every 15 minutes and bring the captured birds back to the tent.

Each captured bird is identified, measured, weighed and then banded with a unique number. The data are entered into a national system for tracking bird numbers and movement. It’s a pretty amazing operation, especially since most of the work is done by volunteers such as the group here.

In the short time we were there, we saw quite a few birds banded: gray catbird, yellow-bellied flycatcher, northern mockingbird, Tennessee warbler, yellow warbler, magnolia warbler, wood thrush, cardinal and hooded warbler. Some of these were local residents but all of the warblers were part of the fall migration.

After a bird was banded, one of the workers held it us to get a good look and then let various group members send them on their way.

We had a picnic lunch alongside Mobile Bay, watching birds and boats – including the ferry from Dauphin Island. We were just beside Fort Morgan itself, originally built to control access to the strategic port of Mobile (along with Fort Gaines on the eastern end of Dauphin Island). During the Civil War, the Confederates successfully protected a sizable fleet of ships that ran the Union blockade to bring supplies to the South. In 1864, the fort was fatally besieged by northern warships under the Command of Admiral David Farragut. It was here that Farragut gave his famous command, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”

Butterflies were in abundance – we saw lots of sulfur butterflies, gulf fritillaries, monarchs, and one black swallowtail.

After lunch, we went into the central area of the refuge to walk the Pine Beach Trail with David Dortch, a local birder. Ordinarily, this would have been a lovely walk through a mixed pine-oak forest, lagoons and marshes, but … today it was just plain hot. The birds had better sense than the birders – they stayed in hiding while we worked up a sweat. We saw only a few not-very-extraordinary critters and some beautiful old live oaks.

Back at the ranch, we had another big dinner and settled down for our evening speaker, Vivian Helton on Backyard Habitats. She gave us lots of information (and handouts) about providing birds with food, water, shelter and a place to raise their young. She even gave us a few ideas for discouraging the hungry squirrels.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

This day started before the sun – we were on the bus at 6:30, on our way to Dauphin Island, a 14-mile long barrier island south of Mobile. Before Mobile was founded, or New Orleans even a place on the map, Dauphin Island was the center of French colonization in the southern United States. The French established a permanent colony here in 1699; it prospered until a tremendous hurricane in 1717 destroyed most of the buildings, drowned the livestock and closed the entrance to the main harbor. Shipping activities were forced to move to other locations, such as Mobile and eventually New Orleans.

Our first stop was Shell Mound Park, site of several shell middens estimated to be nearly a thousand years old. The mound builders were early Native Americans who harvested oysters when they spent winters on Dauphin Island. The mounds now support a huge variety of subtropical plants, which in turn provide food and shelter to a huge variety of birds, both residents and migrants.

Our guide was a local birder named Howard Horne. In his real job he’s a botanist, so in between birds, he identified interesting plants. With his help, we spotted Indigo Bunting, Brown Thrasher, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, American Redstart, Tennessee Warbler, White-Eyed Vireo, and the Eurasian Collared Dove.

We next headed over toward the “airport” to check out the salt marsh there. It was low tide, so we were able to walk out into the marsh. One of our group brought along a ‘Bird Pod’ – and I-pod loaded with bird vocals. She played the song of the Clapper Rail and the Seaside Sparrow, and BOTH birds responded by coming close enough for us to get a good look.

We also got a nice look at a Common Buckeye butterfly.

The final stop for the morning was the public pier. We were hoping to see a reddish egret, but no such luck. We saw some sanderlings, willets, herring gulls, laughing gulls, and a Caspian Tern.

In spite of frequent landscaping re-arrangements by hurricanes, the beach is still beautiful, with nice stands of sea oats.

Our lunch stop was a Cadillac Square Park, which was once the site of the home of M. de Cadillac, when he was appointed Governor of the Louisiana Territory. This is the same Cadillac who founded the city of Detroit in 1701; he and his family moved to Dauphin Island in 1713. The grand old live oaks offered a shady spot for a nice picnic.

After lunch, we headed inland to Five Rivers – Alabama’s Delta Resource Center. Its aim is to educate about the culture, history and ecology of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. The Mobile-Tensaw Delta is formed by the convergence of the five rivers (Mobile, Spanish, Tensaw, Apalachee, and Blakely) that flow into Mobile Bay. It’s over 250,000 acres of water, woods and wetland – second in size to the Mississippi Delta.

We took an hour-long boat ride to get a glimpse of the area. Saw an alligator and a few birds, but most of the wildlife scattered ahead of the noisy boat motor. We also watched a movie about the place and visited the exhibit hall before heading back to the conference center for a break before eating (again).

After dinner, we had a fine time with Anita Salinas, a local high school science teacher who is an expert in birds of prey. She showed us pictures of raptors found in this area, and then introduced us her hobby. She is an apprentice falconer, responsible for the care and feeding of one year-old red-tail hawk. A beautiful bird, a strange hobby.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Today we started off with a couple of classroom presentations. First was Alison Sharpe, Director of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Biloxi, Mississippi. She talked (and showed slides) about her work in rehabilitating wildlife, mostly birds – and especially raptors. She told about the tremendous habitat destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, and more recently, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. She also brought along some live specimens – a very skittish American Kestrel, a very shy little screech owl, and a very vocal great horned owl.

Later in the morning, we had a presentation by Terry Hartley, a local professional wildlife photographer. He showed us some of his very excellent pictures, along with maps to give us an idea who lived in what habitat.

After lunch, we got time off for good behavior. Some folks ventured out in search of more birds, others went sightseeing and some of us just goofed off around the “house.” The rains came in mid-afternoon, so we were glad to be nice and dry.

In late afternoon, we piled back on the bus and headed across the bay to the little town of Fairhope, home base for the 2008 Alabama Coastal Bird Fest. This annual event brings birders from all over the area to celebrate the fall migration of North American birds. There are all sorts of tours and educational programs, but we came for the FOOD! We attended the big dinner of fried and baked seafood, pulled pork, and assorted other items.

Before the dinner, there was live music and a silent auction – all sorts of works by local artists and craftsmen. After dinner, the speaker was Dr. Frank Moore, an ornithologist from the University of Southern Mississippi – he talked about the high cost of migration, including the availability of suitable habitat.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

We had breakfast with the gang and then headed over to Grand Bay to see Margaret’s brother, Archie. We got our junk unloaded, greeted the dogs, and admired the house and yard.

We went downtown and visited the Mobile Botanical Garden. Today was the day for their annual plant sale – lots of temptation, but we refrained from loading up on plants to haul back to SC.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Today we wandered over to Mississippi, with a stop at the Welcome Center to look for another cache – this one named “Welcome to Mississippi.” Jimmy and Fran hiked across the rest area and into the woods beyond – we almost gave up hope of finding this thing, but eagle-eyed Jimmy spotted the camouflaged ammo box at the base of a tree.

We went by Biloxi – the casinos are back in full swing, but it’s sad to see how much hurricane damage still remains along the Mississippi Coast. After a stop at the Gulfport factory outlet center, we stopped for a late lunch at The Shed, near Ocean Springs, MS.

The Shed is a barbeque and blues joint, built by a guy who gathered his building materials from junkyards and dumpsters. His customers are known as “ShedHeds” – crazy people who have brought in more junk to spruce the place up and built additions to accommodate the hungry hordes.

Well stuffed, we headed back to Alabama, with a stop at the Alabama Welcome Center for yet another cache, “Welcome to Alabama.” All four of us went after this one – and found it pretty easily in the far corner of the rest area. From there, it was back to Grand Bay for good game of Frisbee with Sebastian.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Today we’re off for another adventure in Mississippi. First stop was just across the state line in search of another geo-cache, the Franklin Creek Travel Bug Hotel. Unfortunately, Fran the genius got mixed up about which side of I-10 to search – and we spent a lot of wasted time tromping around in a marshy field. We came back later, only to discover that she had the coordinates wrong, too! We eventually got it right – and found the box easily.

Our main target for the day was the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. This is a 20,000 acre preserve established to protect the Mississippi sandhill cranes. We drove all over Jackson County before finding the refuge, where we had a nice picnic lunch and learned that the place is closed to the public to protect the 100+ endangered cranes that live in the area. Oh well, it was a nice day for a drive.

Next stop was the Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge – this one was easier to find. A big new visitor center is under construction, but there is lots of hurricane damage still evident. We drove over to the boat ramp and docks for a look over the huge marsh area.

We took the scenic route (non-interstate) back towards home, stopping at the Mobile International Speedway for another cache. This was a little film container fasted on the side of a light pole, at the edge of the parking lot. This was out in the open, so not too hard to find.

Next stop was at the chicken – actually two chickens: one in the back of a pickup truck and another one standing nearby. This was supposedly the location of a cache, “Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?” We looked all over the place and found nothing.






Our luck was better at the Mobile Greyhound Track, site of a cache called “Dog Day Afternoon.” Eagle-eye Margaret found it first, hanging in a tree in the woods near the entrance to the dog park.

We wrapped up caching for the day at a site named “A Most Serene Setting.” It turned out to be a plastic tube attached to a light pole on the edge of the local cemetery – something easily overlooked unless you were really looking for something.

After some rest and getting cleaned up a bit, we were off for seafood dinner near Dauphin Island. We stopped again at the chicken cache, but with the same result – found nothing. Dinner was at Pelican Reef, right on the water with a nice view of shrimp boats and other fishing vessels. Good food – it’s hard to beat really fresh shrimp cooked to perfection.








Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Time to move on, so we headed out after breakfast. We took our time checking out the countryside, through small towns in Alabama and northwest Florida. We picked up a few groceries in Fort Walton and finally found our campground – Camping on the Gulf – in Miramar Beach, not quite in Destin as advertised.

Still it is right on the water, with some campers out on the sand.

We had a site some yards inland – no complaints except for the total lack of shade on a very warm afternoon. We checked out the campground – the fanciest we’ve ever tried – lots of amenities: two swimming pools, a hot tub, cable tv, wireless internet, laundry facilities, and more. It’s easy to see why some folks (from up north) come here for the whole winter.

The beach is white, white sand – beautiful to look at, but not so easy for walking. There just isn’t an area of packed sand, so it’s slow-going.

We plodded along until the sun left us and then headed back to camp.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The weatherman promises rain for tomorrow, so we took off this morning (on foot) to explore the neighborhood. First we headed west – found a grocery store, a few restaurants and a huge outlet mall. We walked from one end to the other, but we made it out of there with pocketbooks intact.

After lunch, we walked in the other direction – west to Sandestin Resort. We wandered through some shops there and then sneaked through to the beach for the walk back to the campsite. The sand might be deep, but walking there was much more pleasant than the busy highway.

Upon our return, we had a visitor – Gary, the guy in the camper next door. He and wife were from Minnesota – just came in on Sunday to stay for 6 months. They’ve done this routine for the past five years – escape the cold winters in Minnesota and then escape the hot summers in Florida. Doesn’t sound like a bad system.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The weatherman was right. It rained. And then it rained some more. Before the rain started, we walked to the grocery store and out to the beach again, but most of the day was just plain lazy. Hanging out, reading, trying to stay dry.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Time to move on. We got up early and took off in the rain – in fact, it rained on us all the way to Marianna, where we stopped to see Margaret’s Aunt Sue. We visited for a while and then got back on the road again – we made it as far as Eufala, AL before we ran out of steam.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Not much to say – we drove and drove and drove. Got back to Columbia around 4:30.