Fort PIckens and beyond.

We are enjoying another day at the Fort Pickens Campground on the Gulf Islands National Seashore.   Campers keep leaving and arriving.   It seems like there are a lot of people here from Illinois and Wisconsin with a smattering from other states, even Maine and California.   There is a motor home behind us from Oregon.

Evidently this campground was here for a long time until a couple of years ago when it got put out of commission by a hurricane.  It has been recently reopened, for which we are thankful.

Fort Pickens is one of three forts built in the mid-1800's to protect the entrance to Pensacola Bay.

We enjoyed the tour and learning about the fort.  It's an interesting place.   Fort Pickens only war action was during the Civil War, and there were very few engagements.  And would you believe that Fort Pickens remained in Union hands throughout the war.

There are many extra gun emplacements outside the actual fort itself, called "batteries."

We are standing on one of the gun emplacements with the Gulf of Mexico in the background.  Most of the guns are gone, leaving only the supporting structures.

If you google Fort Pickens, you'll find an interesting history and discover "a gentleman's way of fighting" during the civil war.  A better way for you to discover Fort Pickens would be for you to hook up to your RV and make your way here.   You can reserve a site online or there is a telephone number to call.  Make sure you get a long enough site as they don't allow parking your vehicle on the grass at your site - only on the pavement.

  

We were down at the Fort one day looking across the bay and we noticed this futuristic ship sitting at a dock over in the Navy yard.   Looking at it via binoculars only  heightened our curiosity.   When we got back to the trailer, we "googled" navy ships docked at Pensacola and discovered that the ship is the USS Independence, a "littoral" ship (littoral means "coastal").   It's the latest and greatest for the Navy - a "tri- hull" with all kinds of electronic gadgets.   The problem is, the ship has been out of commission with all kinds of problems - from propulsion to software.   Does anyone know of anyone who can fix it?  :) 

We have water and electric at each campsite but you have to go to a dump station to rid yourself of you know what.   This is a pretty classy way of making that trip.

I just tow ours with the Silverado.  That's classy, isn't it?

There was a guy at one of the churches that we pastored at who claimed that every missionary that came to the church and showed slides ended the presentation with a sunset.   This is for him.

Some people just parked across from us with a barking dog..  our stay may be shorten if the barking keeps up.   More to come..  Meantime, we are going for a walk in Florida.