Carrabelle

We didn’t really do anything during the three weeks we stayed at Ho-Hum RV Park over the holidays. That seems to be fairly typical for us, just taking some downtime to relax. Especially with some very busy times coming up after this (stay tuned!).

Ho-Hum is in a kinda out-of-the-way area, but near a town called Carrabelle (population 2,778). We did go to one restaurant, the post office, and the local grocery store; that was pretty much the limit of our exploring here. There are definitely a few more things to do and see, e.g. we considered going to check out a couple of nearby lighthouses, but we’ll save that for our next visit.

Here’s an interactive map:

Carrabelle

We had lunch at Marine Street Grill:

Marine Street Grill

Pizza

Next to the post office is the world’s smallest police station:

World's smallest police station

The Gulfside IGA Plus grocery store is a little small, but had almost everything we wanted:

Grocery store

(There is a Walmart 45 minutes away, for people who use that as a marker of civilization.)

Clock and memorial:

Clock and memorial

We do enjoy cute little towns, and this is definitely one. We’ll have to make a point of exploring it more when we’re here again.

Ho-Hum RV Park

We stayed at Ho-Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice casual RV park, with the gulf literally feet from our front door.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-12-17
Check out: 2024-01-07
21 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny, some cloud and rain
High temps ranging between 52-67°F, lows around 33-60°F
A little wind, gusts to 42 MPH

Noise:

Highway noise
No train noise
Some neighbor noise, dogs, but few kids

Site:

#48A, pull in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Rather unlevel, high on left and front; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel site about 50 feet long by about 30 feet wide
Picnic table on gravel
No fire pit
Clean site
Waterfront, facing the water

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
32 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (less than 1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 50 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 48 ms ping
AT&T: 57 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
Verizon: 26-42 Mbps down, 26 Mbps up, 160 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
Waterfront (gulf)
Package delivery to office

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nothing ho-hum here

We spent three weeks here over the holidays and loved the laid-back vibe and beachfront views. Watching the birds along the shore right from the window of our motorhome was wonderfully relaxing. There is some road noise from the highway, but it is pretty nonexistent at night. Some of the waterfront sites are a bit sloped and could be problematic for larger rigs, but ours was fine enough that our leveling system could cope. The staff were all friendly and helpful and the amenities were well-kept. We loved our stay so much that we booked our stay for the end of 2024 before we left. We camped at Ho-Hum RV Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our waterfront site:

Our site

It’s been ages since I flew my drone, but this seemed a perfect place to get some aerial photos:

Aerial

Now that we’d made it to Florida, it was time to add its sticker to our coach:

Florida sticker

We stayed here over the holidays, so of course we did our 20th annual The Lord of the Rings movie marathon, watching the extended editions of all three movies (though like last year, we split it over two days; not quite as much a marathon, but more relaxed):

The Lord of the Rings

One of the other guests dropped off a little Christmas gift:

Christmas gift

We really enjoyed having the beach right in front of our site:

Beach

A fishing pier:

Beach

Fishing pier

Beach

Water

Waves

Fishing pier

Birds

Bird

Birds

Waves

As you can see, there was quite a difference between low and high tides; I liked to watch the tide charts; fascinating how the two tides (from the moon and sun) merge and split to create single bigger tides or two smaller tides:

Tide charts

Our neighbor moved from a oceanfront site to one further back:

Neighboring site

Other site

Most of the RVs on the oceanfront were motorhomes, fronted in, but there were a few trailers, backed in:

Other sites

I’m glad we didn’t have a trailer next to us, with their door facing ours:

Trailers

Other sites:

Other sites

We’re planning to stay here again for the next holidays; this is the site we’ve already reserved for next time:

Other sites

Beach area:

Beach area

Dog park:

Dog park

Rec room:

Rec room

Entrance and office:

Office

We enjoyed our stay here, and are looking forwarding to returning at the end of the year!

Video

Video: Spanish Fort, Alabama to Carrabelle, Florida motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 257 miles from Spanish Fort, Alabama to Carrabelle, Florida, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.

Travel from Spanish Fort, Alabama to Carrabelle, Florida

We drove our coach 257 miles, about 5 hours of driving, from Spanish Fort, Alabama to Carrabelle, Florida. Our last travel day of 2023. (Yes, the blog posts are a bit delayed; we do things faster than I can post about them!)

Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops marked:

Leaving the state park:

Leaving state park

I-10:

I-10

Entering Florida:

Florida state line

“No stopping; photo opp in welcome center”:

Photo opp in welcome center

We did stop at the Welcome Center rest stop for a quick break, though didn’t go into the Welcome Center:

Welcome center rest stop

Home of the Blue Angels:

Welcome center rest stop

Our coach at the rest stop on a traffic cam:

Welcome center rest stop

I had fun spotting our coach via other traffic cams too:

Our coach via traffic cam

Bridge over Escambia Bay:

Bridge over Escambia Bay

Bridge

More traffic cams:

Our coach via traffic cam

Another rest area stop, this time for lunch:

Rest area

Sleepy Paladin enjoying the stacked dining chairs:

Paladin

Rest area

An interesting feature of the rest areas was a truck windshield washer:

Truck windshield washer

We also appreciated signs that displayed the rest area truck parking availability (which was also available via the traffic website):

Rest area truck parking count

Speaking of, a couple more:

Our coach via traffic cam

Then we exited I-10, for some highway travel:

Exit

Starting with a fuel stop:

Fuel stop

While Jenn fueled up, I went in and got some Cokes (to help us stay alert) and snacks:

Snacks

$284.62 for 77.787 gallons of diesel; we saved $22.17 off that with our discount card:

$284.62 for 77.787 gallons of diesel

Paladin watching us from the dash:

Paladin

Cotton field:

Cotton field

Blountstown mural:

Bloutstown mural

Blountstown

The bridge where we entered Eastern Time Zone:

Bridge

An uncomfortably narrow road:

Narrow road

A portion was also a little under water; not ideal:

Road under water

Roadworks to alleviate the flooding; a tight squeeze:

Roadworks

Our destination for the end of the year:

Our destination

A long drive, but then we were stationary for three weeks.

Tweaks at Davidson RV

We got Davidson RV to help us with a few other issues.

One was to replace our water pump, as the old one wasn’t performing well:

Water pump

Another issue with fortunate timing was the entry step didn’t fully retract; they lubricated it, and it’s been fine since (I have been lubricating it with silicone lube, but have since purchased some better lube):

Entry step

Finally, the USB ports on my side of the bed had stopped working, so they replaced them:

USB ports

I could have done all three of those things myself, but easier to get them to do so while we were there.

USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park

We explored the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama.

It includes exhibits of various military planes, plus a submarine and the eponymous battleship.

Entrance

Aircraft exhibits:

Aircraft exhibits

The USS Drum is a WWII-era submarine, the oldest American sub on public display:

USS Drum

The WWII-era USS Alabama battleship:

USS Alabama

Fascinating.

Fort Morgan State Historic Site

We explored the Fort Morgan State Historic Site in Alabama, at the end of a peninsula between Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

Here’s an interactive map:

Brochure

Museum:

Museum

This fort had quite an interesting history:

Historic flags

Battery Schenck:

Battery Schenck

Battery Thomas:

Battery Thomas

Roof

The famous phrase “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” was (perhaps) uttered near here, something we previously encountered in Idaho at the Farragut Museum at the Brig:

Damn the torpedoes

Battery

The fort:

Fort

Tunnel into the fort:

Tunnel into fort

Fort Morgan

Fort

Another battery:

Battery

A fascinating historic site.

Lambert’s Cafe

I usually don’t do a blog post about a restaurant, unless it is particularly remarkable. Lambert’s Cafe fits that criterion.

We went there for lunch, and it was quite the experience. Their claim to fame is “throwed rolls” — they have a guy roaming around, throwing freshly baked rolls to patrons. Which sounds like a bad idea, but is actually rather fun. (And this from a guy who doesn’t do “fun”.)

They also have people circulating with bowls of “pass arounds”, side dishes that they ladle onto a paper towel as soon as you sit down and your plate throughout the meal, including Southern staples like fried okra, black-eyed peas, fried potatoes and onions (my favorite), and several more.

Lambert's Cafe

There was a line to get a table, which usually makes us bail, but we opted to wait; it wasn’t a long delay:

Line

A sign indicates they don’t do doggie bags, which appears to be out-of-date, as we were offered a box for our leftovers:

Sign

Lambert's Cafe

Pretty much as soon as we sat down, they provided some fried okra; our first time tasting it (not bad, less great once cooled down):

Fried okra

Menu:

We were also tossed some rolls, as advertised. They were super tasty, nice and soft:

Rolls

We ordered sodas, which arrived in huge mugs (hard to tell the scale, but these were substantially larger than normal, even by American standards; the menu says they are 34 oz, which is about three cans of soda):

Huge soda mugs

Jenn ordered chicken and dumplings and a couple of sides (included):

Chicken and dumplings

I ordered meatloaf and sides:

Meatloaf

As mentioned, throughout the meal staff would come by offering additional sides; we tried several of them. It is possible to just order an empty plate and make a meal of the “pass arounds”, which would be plenty of food.

Throwing rolls:

Throwing rolls

When we were done (stuffed!), they provided a doggie bag and box, and even to-go cups for the leftover sodas, which we hadn’t encountered before; nice that they’re not wasting all that:

To-go cup

Quite a unique experience. And taking typical American over-consumption to the next level. Highly recommended, if you’re not on a diet!

Video

Video: Meaher State Park

A brief video of birds and a sunset at Meaher State Park in Alabama.

Meaher State Park

We stayed at Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort, Alabama. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A delightful state park with spacious sites and lots of wildlife. The I-10 freeway across the water isn’t ideal, but not too bad.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-12-03
Check out: 2023-12-17
14 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some rain
High temps ranging between 57-72°F, lows around 39-59°F
A little wind, gusts to 28 MPH

Noise:

Freeway noise across the bay
No train noise
Negligible neighbor noise, other than kids on weekends

Site:

#54, back in, asphalt
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
Fairly level; used hydraulic leveling
Asphalt driveway about 55 feet long by about 12 feet wide
Grass between sites about 52 feet wide
Picnic table on asphalt patio about 18 by 14 feet
No fire pit
Clean site
Waterfront, though with the back of our coach facing the water

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
25 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 20 Mbps down, 4-9 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
AT&T: 180-395 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 22 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 9-12 Mbps up, 120 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
Waterfront (bay)
Walking paths

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Gorgeous sunsets, distant hum of I-10

This is a lovely state park along the Alabama Gulf Coast. Gorgeous views of the water, and various shorebirds. I-10 is visible, but the hum is distant and pretty much just background white noise. There are many nice walking trails in the park, including a boardwalk through the wetlands. Sites were large and nicely spread out. We’d definitely stay here again. We camped at Meaher State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site, backing onto the water:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Shortly before we left, I got out my telescoping ladder to clear off a bunch of large pinecones that had fallen on our coach:

Ladder on our coach

Pinecones

Not too bad, though (a rare look at our roof; I’ve still never been on it, and this was only the second time I’ve used the ladder to clear stuff off it):

Roof

Behind our site:

Behind our site

“Do not feed or harass the alligators” — we didn’t see any, but they’re probably all brumating by this time:

Behind our site

We were warned that there were invasive ants in the area, and advised to sprinkle borax around the coach (which we did). We saw some ants, but none near our coach:

Ants