The campsite with the leaning tower

This place. Nice place. The campground, the campsite.
The campground seems like a good place. Relatively quiet and peaceful, but with friendly activity and nice people - lots of them from Michigan but also from a wide variety of states - as well as Ontario, Canada - many of whom have been coming here for 20 years or more.

The campsite itself is interesting - small and constricted. It is nearly impossible to park a rig on it - what with the ground being all uneven and filled with huge tree roots - not to mention the cement slab right in the middle of the site. Talk about an obstacle course - without any good place to go. One of those obstacles is the greatly leaning utility pole complete with square canopy-type roof extending on all sides. Our immediate interest in that pole was to keep an appropriate distance between it and the upper corners of the RV and to calculate the space needed to extend the slider. A more subtle concern involved wondering if that leaning pole was in fact safe or if it would keep leaning farther and land somewhere on top of our abode. I was assured that this is not hurricane season and it seems solid so it should be safe. These calculations and wonderings and decisions were all negotiated in the dark, by the way.

We quickly realized the campsite is unique in another way - besides being the teeniest site in the whole place. It also is on the main corner of the campground just inside the entrance and nearest to the office. Basically all roads lead through this corner and past this site - from every possible direction in the campground - probably a mixed blessing.

I like the site okay, but it is fun to wonder if we might want to try a different site on any subsequent return visits. It could be nice to be back in the woods with more space and privacy and closer to the path to the beach. On the other hand, it also could be fun to be out front right along the road with an even better view of the boat traffic across the street. From our little site we can see some of the marine activity, but also have a bit of wind protection from that front row of campers.

For this year, for this month, this teeny little lot serves our purpose quite nicely. I can see enough of the boat traffic to be fascinated by it all. I love being able to see and hear the car ferry, the Marissa Mae Nicole, as she comes and goes across the mouth of Mobile Bay every ninety minutes. Then there are the tenders, Ms. Joy and Gulf Glory, that service the dozens of drilling platforms out there in the Gulf. These powerful boats come and go at all hours of the day and night to the Exxon-Mobil supply depot right there beyond the fence. Crew members load and unload supplies as well as duffel bags to and from their vehicles parked out front.

'Tis a good spot to live and write and to explore walking lanes in all directions - whether to the aquarium or the fort or the beach. It's not hard to be content in such a fascinating place.

...

And then came the scary night. The forecast called for a hard freeze and the wind became ferocious. RVers compared notes and did everything we knew to do to protect our plumbing and our rigs from damage. At our little lot we were grateful for the almost unbroken line of rigs out there along the fence offering a bit of protection from the mighty winds sweeping down the bay and raging ashore. Still our little abode shook violently in the gale - until we chose to retract the slider which seemed to help considerably.

But what about that leaning tower? That utility pole that was already leaning toward our rig? Would this violent wind bring it crashing down on us? Further inspection was done and I was once again assured that it looked stable.

Sure enough, our leaning tower withstood the gale and the electricity kept working. AND the trickle of water kept flowing through the freezing night. All is well at this little campsite and we are grateful.