Saturday May 7 , Davis Bayou to Gulf Shores

The campground was quiet and it was peaceful in spite of about 15 children camping nearby!  We had breakfast, sat around drinking coffee and finally broke camp about 9:00. We headed over to the Visitor Center to get a passport stamp. We also found a beautiful red wildflower along the road.

We headed east along the gulf towards the Alabama line.  The ship yards in Pascagoula seemed to be busy.  Jane was surprised when Ben told her this was the last place in US that was outfitted for building large naval vessels.

Ship building at Pascagoula MS

After crossing into Alabama we turned south towards Dauphin Island where we would take a ferry across Mobile Bay to Fort Morgan. The other option was to get on I-10 through Mobile and then take a road south to Gulf Shores.  We avoid interstates when possible on our vacations and a ferry is usually fun so that was our choice.  

We made it to the ferry to find a rather long line of vehicles waiting - we were in space 25 and the next ferry would take 28!  We made it!  The ferry ran about every 1 ½ hours – we waited about 30 minutes and loaded up.  We had taken this ferry once maybe 5 years ago. Ben remembers we had just gotten out new I phones and he sent some emails only to find out when we got back to better connections they had never been sent.  Today the ferry had really caught up with technology.  Instead of going into a building and paying the fees – an employee came by our vehicle on the ferry to swipe the cards!   Good 4G connection all the way across Mobile Bay.

Driving on the ferry to cross Mobile Bay

Worker processes payments electronically at cars

We headed on east along the gulf which is very built up to Gulf Shores.  This place has many new attractions since we were here last – a huge zipline in the state park and many other additions.  We found our campsite and enjoyed a quiet afternoon in the sunshine with a nice breeze from the lake that is about 20 feet from our Sprinter.  We can see the pavilion and other water structures along the shore and will visit them tomorrow.  We had a great cooked dinner here in camp. This is a huge campground and we will explore it tomorrow as we have been very lazy today!