Cabin at Fort Toulouse, Wetampka, AL
Jan 6, 2018, Our stay in Milledgeville was prolonged a few extra days by that dastardly storm named Greyson. But that's okay because we took advantage of the extra needed time to rest and help beat back the virus we both had during the majority of our stay. And, the extra time gave us an extended opportunity to plan and discuss the road ahead including our next stop in Alabama, Fort Toulouse near a town called Wetumpka.
Heck, I would go to Wetumpka just because of the cool name! We give Max a big smooch on his cute Labrador head, threw him a nice bone and warmed up the truck. Yvette armed herself with her Ipad and Road Atlas and we programed the truck's navigation to the address of our next stop. We departed Milledgeville and head south on the back roads.
The trip was uneventful, roads here are smooth with the rare exception of a stretch or two of older highway with older expansion joints that set the rhythm of my bobbing head. Yvette remarks that perhaps we should have bobblehead dolls made in our liking. We smile because the weather is good and traffic is light, very light. (Crowd yells, "How light is it!") Sometimes it's so light I look in my rearview and I can't see a single car. The same when I look forward. We smile even more. And, these are long stretches of very straight road.
Knowing we are a bit low on food, we rethink a portion of our route and set an intermediate waypoint for groceries before our final stop at Fort Toulouse. After spending too much money on groceries (yes, the wine was on special so there is that...) we decided to try and find a "Triple-A" office to see if we can procure some of those vintage articles of navigation called, "Roads Maps." Winner! Not 2 miles away from the grocery store is Triple-A office and after a quick visit, we return to the truck with a bag full of goodies including roadmaps and booklets for a half dozen states. Yippee for us and our Triple-A membership! The truck's navigation system works great...when it works. Reception can sometimes be sketchy and it's always nice to have more than one source of information to cross check and confirm. (As I write this, the trucks navigation system has had enough hiccups to warrant it's own post which I will do in the future).
We arrive at Fort Toulouse campground at about 2 PM and our short-term goal is a leisurely walk to stretch our legs before a light dinner. The campground is a very cool historic site with a very vintage feel. Lots of old oak with giant waves of flowing Spanish moss. If you would like to learn more about this place, click here.
Some very interesting history here and we can see the indicators everywhere as we walk including vintage buildings, moats, and earthen mounds that have survived the elements of time with the help of volunteers and a bit of luck. We notice during our walk that several people are setting up tents and have gear they are unloading. A history period specific demonstration would take place the next day. The period costume would be worn and activities commensurate with the period (1700's?) would take place. Unfortunately, all of it would kick off after we would depart. We finish our walk and prepare dinner. Thankfully our furnace is still in great working order, the thermometer drops to 25 degrees during the night.
Camping area at Fort Toulouse.
We hit the rack early as we face another day of driving. Tomorrow, our goal is to drive to Mobile. A shorter drive but an uncertain stop lay ahead. An alligator farm perhaps? If you woul dlike to see the Vlog relating to this part of our adventure, click here for the YouTube video, "Vlog #7 Part 1 of 3"