22 Dec 2018 - Gulf Shores Drive, Flora-Bama Beach Bar

22 Dec 2018
As published last night in yesterday's blog, our intent today was to drive out to the Gulf Islands National Seashore, Navarre Beach and Fort Pickins, BUT due to our ineffective legislators and their inability to work together for solutions, our plans have been changed! Luckily I read this morning the Government shutdown has not only closed the Gulf Island National Seashore, but also Perdido Key, Fort Pickens, Fort Barrancas, Naval Live Oaks and Okaloosa areas, as well as the Opal Beach complex.  Luckily we are camping where we are, and luckily we visited Fort barrancas yesterday!  Another camping choice we had was the Fort Pickens Campgrounds and it will also be closed.  The campers were directed to leave by 4 p.m. Saturday (today). All campground reservations will be canceled, and those with reservations will be refunded.  Wow, that would be terrible.  No worries with our campground since it is operated with no-appropriated funds (NAF).

So, Doreen reorganized our day and instead of heading east we decided to head west to tour the Gulf Shores State Park, Orange Beach, the town of Gulf Shores, the State Park Pier and have lunch at Flora-Bama Beach Bar.  

We bugged out of the RV Park about 1100 hrs and made our way quickly to the Perdido Key and on to the Perdido Key State Park.  Just past the State Park was the Florida Alabama state line and the home of the Flora-Bama Bar.

It may be noon somewhere but neither of us was hungry or thirsty yet so we decided to drive all the way down road and then make our stops on the way back. 

On our drive west we passed the condo our friends Patty and Greg from Minnesota rent every year.  Unfortunately we will be in Texas on this trip by the time they get down here. 

We continued to drive west with the hope of being able to visit the Fort Morgan Historical Site. To do so we needed to drive north a bit and then west on a different road. We turned left onto that road and were greeted with a sign and a flashing yellow light that said something about exceeding 21 ft in length turn around. Drat! Not sure what is going on or what the LIMFAC is but our RAM 3500 Laramie Longhorn is longer than 21 ft so we better abort this mission. We ran into the same thing at Glacier National Park in 2017 on 'Going-To-The-Sun' road. There, between Avalanche Campground and the Rising Sun picnic area parking your vehicle cannot exceed 21 ft length or 8 ft width.  (more on this later)

OK, so we turned around and headed back towards the Gulf State Park Pier.  We made a short divert to the Post Office and mailed a letter cancelling our RV storage in Ankeny because of our travel plans for the foreseeable future.

While we headed for the pier we drove through the Gulf State Park, a beautiful area. 

 They have a campground which we did not travel through and many bird sanctuary areas.  Not much further we were at the Gulf State Park Pier.

Doreen sitting on a turtle bench

The pier is a huge wooden structure that extends over 2000 ft into the Gulf.  It was originally built in 1968 and was destroyed in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan, reopened in 2009.  Today the Gulf State Park Pier is a prime fishing location and also has indoor seating for concession area, indoor retail area for tackle and souvenirs, comfort stations at the midpoint of the pier and wheelchair accessible rail fishing. The new pier has 2,448 feet of fishing space available along the rails.

There is a nominal charge to walk out onto the pier, but that is waived for Veterans.  Fishermen are charged a fee to fish from the pier.  

The pier was lined with those fishing, both individuals and families.  They all use four-wheeled carts with coolers, tackle boxes, multiple poles and containers of bait (shrimp).  The fish of today was whiting.

The beaches are empty!  A little too cold?

Nice sunny day for a nap on the railing!

Not afraid of anything!

This guy had just been fishing and was all wet.  He was shivering and sunning himself.

So we had a nice walk to the end of the pier and back.  Beautiful sunny day but a little chilly.  The water temps were warmer than the air temps.

Everything here is a bit strange!  It is all geared up for huge crowds, and you can tell at the peak of the tourist season the crowds are mega, but right not there is NO ONE here, except us crazy Iowegians!  The locals have their winter coats and stocking hats on, and we are walking around with shorts on LOL!

After the pier we headed back east and stopped at the Flora-Bama Beach Bar.  

According to the documentation, the Flora-Bama Beach Bar has been voted in 2017 as the best beach bar in the USA!  It was originally built in 1964 and bought in 1978 when daily live music on multiple stages was added.  It was sold again in 2009 and has continued to grow.  Huge condominiums border the bar on each side but the owners continue the tradition of the small beach bar.

One of the many bars here

Supporters of the military with flags flying  Also, hundreds of bra's hang from the rafters!  Wonder where they came from?!

Live music playing while we were there.

We made our way to the oyster bar and ordered some chow and drinks.  I was hungry for oysters on the half shell and some boiled shrimp.  Doreen ordered a burger.  We got our food and I've got to show you this.  The oysters were monsters!  One oyster would not even fit on a double cracker!!  Huge!

The oyster shell, as big as my hand!!

The oyster that came from that shell!  Hung over two crackers!  So delicious!

Good sized shrimp also!

We headed back to the RV and passed over the Perdido Pass Bridge.  Was a great view from there.

We got back and relaxed last evening.  Doreen captured this great sunset with a palm tree in the background:

So, to finish my story about the 21 ft length limit.  Got back to the RV Park, did some laundry, tweaked the air pressure on the tires, etc.  I was really curious on what was driving the length limit, so decided to get on the Internet and figure it out.  I really want to check out the fort.  So thanks to Google Maps we were able to hop on the street view and look at the sign! 

The length limit is for the FERRY!  Ah, that explains it!  So thankfully we can drive down to the fort with no issues.  That will be the plan for tomorrow!