Betty

Gulf Giggles

White Ford Expedition with trash bag on its hood.

This is how we roll here at Gulf State Park in Alabama. Can you believe this campground, with its 496 sites, has only one dumpster? And even odder is that many folks here put one or even two bags of trash on the hood of their car and drive it to the dumpster. Since our site is on the main drag, we see this all day long. At first, we were laughing every time we saw one of these trash-mobiles go by. But before too long, we started putting our trash on our car and heading down the road. Now we think it looks pretty cool.

Something else that perplexed us was the camp store. Please don’t get me wrong. We love it here. But some things make us laugh. Like the camp store. Dan went in there looking for milk. Do you have milk? No, the lady said with a smile. Eggs? No. Bread? No. All said with a smile. Later, we needed some pens and some tape. We doubted the store had pens or tape. But Dan wanted to go there anyway, just so he could ask the lady, and she could smile and say no. But you should know. If the camp store should happen to have something you want, you best get it by 3:45 in the afternoon. Because that is when the store closes, and the smiling lady goes home. Now, she did tell Dan, the camp store will stock milk beginning on May 1st. Apparently, that’s when the state park gets busy. Like there are any empty spots now.

Picture taken from passenger car window of 26 Speed Limit sign.
This picture wasn’t easy to get!

So, if you’re like us and eat bread, you’ll probably need to go to a grocery store in Gulf Shores. But you’ll need to watch your speed when driving in the park. Of course, the speed in the campground is 15 mph, but the speed on the other roads in the park is 26. Yep. Not 25. Not 30. 26. How did they come up with that? My guess. It was decided by a committee.

Segway Tours sign.

Now, if you’re on a Segway, you’ll be fine with the speed limit. Because according to Google, the maximum speed of a Segway is 12.5 miles per hour. Segway tours of the park are available here for a mere $85 per person. Not including any emergency room visits, of course. If you’re interested, the first thing they do is show you how to “ride” that thing. Then they take you around the park where you’ll learn all about nature. Well, this all happens right after you sign the required waiver. At this point in my life, I am past the point where I’ll sign waivers and wear a helmet to protect my brain. I’ll keep my $85 and visit the Nature Center where I can learn all about nature for free without signing any waivers. Dan will keep his $85, too.

Now Dan and I did spend $25.79 on what could be considered a risky adventure. See, one day, we saw a FedEx truck in the campground, and for some reason, I said, oh yea, you can get packages here. Well, we were both feeling pretty excited about that. All we had to do was decide what we NEEDED. A few minutes later, we each happened to look at the underside of our awning, our eyes met, and we knew. Shortly thereafter Dan was searching Amazon to find the perfect solution which we could use to clean up the underside of our awning. Just as soon as we could get it delivered to our campsite. Now that’s excitement.

So, we did order “Wet and Forget No Scrub Outdoor Cleaner” product. We put in the campground’s address, along with our name and site number. Turns out, you can get packages here as long as the United States Postal Service isn’t involved. Last we saw, our “Wet and Forget” order was in Mobile, Alabama. Why it was sent there is anyone’s guess. And when we try to use the U.S.P.S. website to change the package’s address, it “forgets” all about us once we’ve put in the required info. Who would have thought a gallon of liquid would be sent through the mail? I guess you could say that our idea was all wet.

I’d like to tell you more about our stay here, but our trash can is full, and well, we kind of need to take a drive.

Ocean view.

33 comments

  1. Oh yea camp stores can be interesting. Talking about speed limits we’ve been in many that list the speed as 5.5 mph. I think if you’re pushing your car you can keep it at that limit. As for cleaning your awning, if you have a vinyl awning go buy a Mr. Clean Magic Easer Mop. That’s what I used all the time on mine. Good luck with your mail, we’ve chased ours all over the globe at times. Enjoy your weekend.

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    • 5.5? That’s another silly number. We’ve tried the magic erasers, but it just gets dirty very quickly again. So, we thought we’d try something different. Maybe there isn’t a miracle solution, but we’re lazy enough to try to find one! Enjoy your weekend, too!

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    • 16.5? Lol. How would you even know if you’re at speed? We don’t have a golf cart, so maybe there is a .5 indicator? That’s funny. It does sound like a very nice place though! Enjoy your weekend!

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  4. Since you need to go to the grocery store, you might check out the Gulf Shores Library as it is beautiful and you can also check out a bookstore in town, if it is still in business. Bon Secour is an interesting place to visit as not many people get that way. A piece of the old South.

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    • Thanks for the tips! I love libraries and have visited them on other travels. We leave on Monday, so we probably won’t make it to Bon Secour; however, we have already made reservations for next year. I will put that on the agenda! Enjoy your day!

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      • You are welcome! For your information, the librarian at Gulf Shores was always smiling also and was beautiful. My parents used to joke about it and say the Gulf air was great to breathe in! Everyone was always smiling!

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    • Yes, one dumpster! But it seems to work just fine. Some people though are a mile and a half from it. We are having a great time. Hope you’re having a nice weekend, too!

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  9. Nearly everyone in our condo community takes their garbage to the community bins that way — with it on the hood of the car. I’m used to it now, but I have to admit we laughed like too in the beginning. There is something to not having the inside of your car smell, I guess! – Marty

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  10. Eons ago, when I was at business school, I learned that choosing an odd number for something makes people pay attention and helps them get it right. For example, instead of starting a meeting at 1:30 pm, try announcing the meeting time as 1:37 pm. People come on time! Perhaps that’s why the choice for the speed limit was 26 mph. People notice and adhere to the limit.

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  12. Putting garbage bags on the car hood/trunk is often seen at the parks I’ve been at. The sad thing is the people that forget it’s on top of the car, then drive out onto the road where the bag ends up on the side of the road and the forgetful driver just keeps on going.

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  13. Our trash usually rides on the tonneau cover of the truck. One time I forgot it was there. When I remembered, it was gone. Luckily, it was still intact inside the bag when we found it. Maybe I’ll start putting it on the hood so that won’t happen again.
    Enjoy the rest of your stay.

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    • Good for you for going back to find it! The problem with putting it on your hood is, it does block vision a bit. We also walked it to the dumpster or rode our bike there which is how I actually preferred to take the trash there. Safe travels!

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