Gloomy Gulf Shores

Our adventures in the Florida Keys left us about as far south as you can go in Florida. Our next destination, Gulf Shores, Alabama, was just beyond the furthest northwest point in Florida. So we had to drive through the entire state. 

We broke up the driving into three segments. The first and longest day would be out to Palmetto, just south of Tampa. From there we drove up to Tallahassee, and then to Gulf Shores on the third day.

We made use of a great program known as Harvest Hosts along the way. You pay an annual fee of $99 — we found a discount code to pay half that much — and you can stay at any of the Harvest Host locations for free. The catch is these sites are businesses. So you don’t get any hookups, and you’re expected to spend some money at those businesses. A lot of the original sites were farms or wineries, but the program has since expanded to include things like museums, restaurants and breweries. Those fit better into our plans. We don’t drink wine and Mrs. 123’s allergies generally preclude any farm stops.

In Palmetto, we stayed at the Waypoint Bar & Grill, and had dinner there for $50. The site had a large grass field where we could park, although our neighbors ran their generator all night. 

In Tallahassee, we stayed on the grounds of the Tallahassee Automobile Museum. We paid $35 to tour the museum, which had an interesting collection of cars, including a couple of Batmobiles. 

Both sites served their purpose well, and not having to set up camp each night offered a welcome respite during our long drive.

The set-up at Gulf State Park on the “redneck riviera” in Gulf Shores, Alabama was quite the opposite. The park has a massive campground with about 500 campsites, most of which have full hookups — electric, water and sewer. This is luxury living for us RVers.

The campground, within walking distance of the Gulf Shore beaches, is tremendously popular but we had booked our stay a year in advance. The weather, however, was not cooperative.

We arrived in the rain, and didn’t have a single beach-worthy day.

Our first morning there it rained, but by afternoon, things had cleared up enough to go on a bike ride. The park has miles and miles of paved paths that are more conducive to biking than hiking. 

While eating dinner we heard the clamor from the Mardi Gras parade in Orange Beach, so we hopped into our truck and drove in to see the festivities. But alas, we arrived too late. The parade was over.

The next day was cloudy and overcast, but we decided to take a trip to Dauphin Island, knowing much of it would be spent in the car anyway. However, when we arrived in Fort Morgan, the ferry to the island wasn’t running due to the foggy weather. We ran some errands in Gulf Shores on our way back.

That evening we had some coupons for free hamburgers which we ate while watching the Super Bowl in our trailer. 

Our last day in Gulf Shores, the weather was overcast and we were able to do some hiking on the unpaved trails in the park. We did some laundry and prepared to end our disappointing stay on the Alabama coast.

Days: 37

Miles traveled: 5,042 

Next stop: Tuscaloosa, Alabama