Campgrounds

We drove our small motor home on our trip to the South. I took pictures of some of the campgrounds we visited and have included them here. I was pleasantly surprised to see how nice the state parks are in Alabama and Georgia. The weather in the south in March makes for a nice time to travel.

This is a sign that reminds you you are in the South. Makes one less likely to want to go wading.

Picking up our trailer at the factory

We picked up a cargo trailer to use in our move. This made for interesting times in campgrounds on the way home as we had to get campsites that support pull thrus.

Back in Kansas and the wide open plains

Battleship Alabama

We stopped in Mobile Alabama to see the Battleship Alabama. This WWII ship has been on display for decades. We last visited the ship thirty some years ago and decided it was time for another visit.

It was nice to see the ship again after learning so much more about Navy ships in the last 30 years. Many additional areas of the ship were open for display which helped with my understanding of how these ships were used and where the crews lived and worked.

Each portion of the ship was color coded so your self guided tour map made sense.

Nice displays of enemy aircraft helped explain need for significant numbers of anti aircraft guns

They had a nice display showing identification models of various ship types. This was to reduce the chance of "friendly fire"

A very nice model of the ship was found as you first entered. These are helpful to orient yourself as you start your tour.

The battleship gives the visitor a very good chance to become familiar with artillery of all sizes and the ability to explore the guns, gun directors and magazines of the various weapons. 

The various types of guns were open for display and allowed the visitor to enter  the weapons and look around

The guns were aimed by these gun directors. the target was tracked  and computers determined the needed 'lead' to assure the shell and the target arrived at the same point in space

They have made all portions of this gun accessible including the barbette and magazine area. This was fascinating to see and understand

The space underneath the large guns is now open for display. This shows how the powder and shells were brought from the storage magazine and loaded onto elevators to be taken to the gun for loading. This area rotated as the gun moved.

There are many levels to the ship all connected by ships ladders. You get pretty good at climbing ladders to get around

Battleships had ice cream freezers. Smaller ships often got a gallon or two  from them when possible.

I imagine fellow sailors who snored were not well regarded.

Barber shop - just two of many chairs are shown in this image

Ship laundry

Butcher shop

Lots of passage ways and watertight doors

Command Center

Operating room

Nice day for a tour

Inside the housing for one of the forward gun mounts

View from the bow