A brief video of birds and a sunset at Meaher State Park in Alabama.
Author: David
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:
An interactive map:
Our site, backing onto the water:
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:
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):
Behind our site:
“Do not feed or harass the alligators” — we didn’t see any, but they’re probably all brumating by this time:
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:
Other sites:
Cabins:
Tents:
The entrance station:
Baby turtle crossing:
Fungus:
Bathrooms:
Other bathrooms:
Picnic shelter:
Boat ramp area:
Kayaks etc:
Boat ramps and dock:
Kayak dock:
There were lots of birds in the area:
Some bees:
A small beach, popular for fishing:
A nice delta boardwalk:
A fishing pier:
One evening I went for a walk to the fishing pier shortly before the sun set, and enjoyed watching the sunset and hundreds of birds:
Back to our coach:
Another day, another sunset behind our site:
A very nice state park. We’d definitely stay here again.
Video: New Orleans, Louisiana to Spanish Fort, Alabama motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 146 miles from New Orleans, Louisiana to Spanish Fort, Alabama, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.
Travel from New Orleans, Louisiana to Spanish Fort, Alabama
We drove our coach 146 miles, about 2 hours of driving, from New Orleans, Louisiana to Spanish Fort, Alabama.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading northeast:
An interactive map with potential stops; we actually only stopped at the Flying J:
Preparing to leave our site:
Hooking up our truck, with the City of New Orleans paddleboat in the background:
Rail crossing and onramp:
Drawbridge:
Bridge:
Another drawbridge:
I-10:
“Welcome to Mississippi”:
We stopped at a Flying J truck stop for lunch:
The truck parking was rather full. With our toad attached we can’t back up, and this parking area has back-to-back spots, so we could only park where there was two adjacent ones empty so we could pull through. It was a difficult turn and tight squeeze, but Jenn’s driving skills got it done:
This Flying J has a Denny’s restaurant, so we had lunch there:
I tried a rather decadent “choconana pancake slam”, just to be different:
Jenn’s was a bit more conventional:
Back to our coach:
“I love the way you look at me” Buc-ee’s billboard… a little creepy, perhaps:
I had fun spotting our coach passing by on traffic cameras:
Bridge:
An amusing info sign: “Cats have 9 lives. You are not a cat. Buckle up”:
Another traffic camera:
Alabama state line:
“Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama”:
I think these are electrical transformers:
Another couple of glimpses of our coach on Alabama traffic cameras:
Mobile, Alabama:
A tunnel under the Mobile River:
You can see it curving downward as it goes under the river:
USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park:
Our destination for the next two weeks, Meaher State Park:
Check out the video from this drive, which includes a picture-in-picture of the view from the truck behind our coach.
Cockpit carpet
Another little project while at Davidson RV was to add some custom-fit carpeting in the cockpit area:
Much better. That helps catch dirt coming into the coach, and is more comfortable, instead of walking on cold tile on cold mornings; the heated tile doesn’t extend into the cockpit area.
New Orleans Steamboat Natchez Sunday Brunch Jazz Cruise
We did a brunch cruise on the Natchez, the last authentic steamboat on the Mississippi River.
Live steam calliope playing:
A video:
Lunch boarding info:
Dining room:
Our table:
Gumbo and salad:
Buffet:
Brunch:
Dessert:
Bow:
Gift shop:
Paddle wheel:
A video:
Life vests in the ceiling:
Boiler room:
Engine room:
Three short video clips:
Bar:
Near the waterline:
New Orleans:
Sister ship City of New Orleans:
Ferry:
Creole Queen:
Cruise ship:
Throwing a leader line:
Pulling the line:
On the winch:
Disembarking:
Posed photo (I really need to learn how to smile in a way that’s visible behind my mustache in such photos):
Natchez info:
A fun brunch cruise.
New Orleans St Louis Cemetery Number 1
We did a guided tour of the historic tombs in St Louis Cemetery Number 1 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
An interactive map:
We checked in for the tour at the visitor info building across the road:
It has train exhibits:
A map with the area of the city that was flooded highlighted in red:
Then on to our guided tour of St Louis Cemetery Number 1:
Fascinating stuff.
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve
White in New Orleans, we visited a couple of units of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve.
The first unit was the French Quarter visitor center in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana.
Another unit was Chalmette Battlefield, site of the Battle of New Orleans in 1815:
The National WWII Museum
Replacing window valances
Our coach came with fabric valances above the windows, which we didn’t like… and Paladin liked scratching. So while in Red Bay, another project we got Davidson RV to do was to replace the fabric portions with wood.
Here’s an example of the old valance, in the bedroom:
They removed the whole window surround:
Then they replaced the fabric portion with wood, stained to a similar color:
The improved version re-installed:
Another example, the window above the TV lift:
Much nicer.