Montgomery AL

Monday (4/18) to Monday (4/25):

Monday we made the 150 mile drive from Pensacola to Montgomery Alabama. We had reservations at Gunter Hill Campground, a COE park located a few miles outside of town. We had spent one night in this park last year as we travelled east and were able to get the same site (39) that we were in previously. It is a long pull through site with full hook-ups.

We were able to set up our canopy.

Lots of trees - no DirecTV.
Sites across from restrooms would have worked for satellite.
Sites 30, 32, 33, 34 & 41.

On Tuesday we put the Sea Eagle inflatable kayak in the water and paddled for about an hour and a half. We paddled from the area of our campground to the place where the water drains into the Alabama River.  On Wednesday we rode our bikes around the campground and over to a 1/2 mile oval race track that is located across the street from the entrance to the park. We had heard a car practicing and wanted to see where the noise was coming from.

On Thursday morning we paddled the kayak the opposite direction to see if there were any houses along the lake (there were none we saw on our trip the other direction a couple of days earlier). We did find one house along with some out buildings but that was the only one we saw on our trip along the lake. Thursday afternoon it started to rain and it continued through the night into Friday morning.

On Wednesday we discovered that the rear driver side window electric motor in the Jeep had gone out (the motor would only make a grinding noise when you pressed the toggle switch). The window would not stay up and upon researching this on the computer I found out this was a common problem with the Jeep Liberty built 2002-2006. We had the passenger side replaced last year while we were in Galveston. We were able to prop the window in the closed position if we were not driving the Jeep, so no water got in during the rains. Since we could not find a mechanic that could work on the window while we were in Montgomery, we decided to see if we could replace the power unit ourselves. We located the motor/regulator at a local Advanced Auto Parts and waited until Saturday morning to attempt the repair. We watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to do the job and were able to make the repairs ourselves. We took our time and got the window repaired in a couple of hours.

On Saturday afternoon we took a trip into Montgomery to visit the downtown area. We visited "Old Alabama Town" which is a collection of original and relocated houses & buildings from the 19th century located in the downtown area.

So I could remember where I was.

Connie in the old General Store.

Mike on the front porch of old log cabin.

Connie standing inside a Cotton Gin.

From there we took a tour of the Alabama State Capitol building. The capitol building has been designated as a National Historic Site. Within a few feet of each other two historic events occurred: Jefferson Davis taking the oath of office as the President of the Confederate States of America in 1861 and Dr. Martin Luther King giving a speech at the end of the Selma to Montgomery March for Civil Rights in 1964. Our tour guide was 70 years old and had been one of the participants in the march. In 1964 he was not allowed to enter the capitol building and now he is giving tours of the building. He gave us a brief "recollection" of the march and urged all of us to see the movie "Selma".

State Capitol Building from Dexter Street. 

Plaque commemorating the march.

Statue honoring the Confederacy.

We then drove to the River Walk along the Alabama River and walked along the water for a short while.

River boat in the background goes out for tours.

Amphitheater where they hold concerts.

We returned home and cooked bison burgers on the Coleman gas grill for dinner. They were delicious and Connie had done a great job on the seasoning of the meat.

Sunday we took it easy during the day before packing everything up on Sunday evening. Connie cleaned the inside of the Duchess while I put away the items we had gotten out during the week: bikes/kayak/canopy/etc. Monday we will head towards the Atlanta area.