We woke up this morning, packed up our gear, and prayed about the necessary water crossing to reach Fort Morgan. I was a bit concerned about getting in a boat with just anyone that we met. It's kind of like water hitchhiking, and the act of asking someone for a ride adds an element of danger that's not present when we're walking down the left-hand side of the road minding our own business. We decided to trust God and walk to the Dauphin Island boat launch area to see what happens. If it didn't work out for us today, we could always stay at the campground another night and try again tomorrow.
Upon arriving at the boat launch, we saw only one person in a boat. I asked him if he was coming in or going out, and he said that he was going out to do some fishing. He seemed like a nice guy, and I told him that we were walking across America and needed to get across the bay to Fort Morgan. He explained that he was taking a couple graduate students out for a day of fishing, and that they would be going that way. When he sent one of the students back to find two more lifejackets for us, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and praised God. This, I knew, was our provided way across.
Levon, the man who took us across Mobile Bay
On the ferry dock after waving goodbye to Levon
It was a wild four-mile ride. Neither Brand nor I had ever been out on a body of water this large in a boat that small. Levon had explained before we left that one of the reasons why he had offered to take us across was because he didn't think that anyone else would be going out today. The water on the bay was rough, and although the boat ride was most exciting, it was far from relaxing. We held on tight, and I struggled to enjoy the sights as we rode away from the island and past the offshore gas rigs while I kept a close eye on our packs and at times held on tight to them. We only slowed down once when Levon spotted some dolphins swimming next to the boat.
I didn't realize the extent of the favor we were asking until we approached the ferry dock at Fort Morgan. It was obviously made for docking a large ferry that can hold about thirty cars on its deck, and to drop us off here in this small boat was going to take some skillful maneuvering. I asked him if there was a better place for us to get out, but he seemed determined to drop us off at the end of the peninsula at this dock. I think that he enjoyed being a part of our adventure, and I appreciated that.
I did, however, begin to wonder if we were doing the right thing when we approached the jagged end of this ferry dock, and the surf continued to toss us around way too much for a possible exit from the boat. Then the bottom of the boat hit sand, and the waves began pounding us around to the side of the dock, against the sand on the bottom of the bay, and closer to the rocks that lined the edge of the peninsula. This is when Levon jumped out of the boat, and I began to pray that Levon's act of kindness towards us today would not include a large hole in the bottom of his boat. Standing in the water, Levon was able to guide the boat around to the front of the dock long enough for us to throw our packs out and jump off. We had made it!
Levon hopped back in the boat and wished us a safe journey. As we said, "Thank you," waved goodbye, and watched them pull away, I have never had such a strong desire to bend down and kiss the ground. The dock was kind of rusty and soiled, or I might have done it.
Brandi and I stood out on that dock for quite awhile just getting used to our new surroundings and looking at Mobile Bay, with its offshore gas rigs and pelicans, but mostly we just stood there feeling rather astonished by what had just happened. After about a half an hour of that, we walked over to a nearby fishing pier and visited with some nice fellas who were throwing their nets off the pier to catch mullet. Then, we walked into the woods to find a place to camp.
An offshore gas rig and a pelican on Mobile Bay
On the end of this peninsula is Fort Morgan State Park, which has provided us with a nice patch of woods where have set up our tent tonight. The offshore gas rigs in our new surroundings are making an awful racket tonight, but I can still hear the surf, and I can see a million stars. About every ten seconds the rays from a lighthouse sweep across our campsite. It feels like we're on another planet after walking through woodlands of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for the past month and a half. The change of scenery is good. It has been a fine day.
Saturday, November 10, 2001: Fort Morgan, Alabama
Today, we walked east though the rest of the state park and about two more miles to a marina. We had lunch on the docks of the marina and met a few more nice folks who were fishing. Brandi and I are both very pleased with the sudden change of scenery we have experienced. We have also decided to slow down our pace a bit from about ten miles a day to about four, or five, or maybe some days none --we really like it here.
David's World Famous Hot Dogs
We ended up walking about five miles today until we came upon a hot dog stand and met a nice man named David. David gave us permission to camp on the beach in back of his house, and he even said that we could use his car tomorrow if we would like to go to church. We had just about given up on going to church tomorrow. There doesn't seem to be much on this western end of the peninsula except beach houses, 80% of which appear to be vacant, and we didn't figure that we would see a church anytime soon.
We gratefully accepted both of David's offers and went down to the beach to cook dinner and set up our tent. We enjoyed an extraordinary sunset with our tuna and rice this evening. Tonight, we're camping on white sand beach and enjoying the sound of the surf. It feels like we're on vacation.
Tuna, rice, and sunset
Sunday, November 11, 2001: Fort Morgan, Alabama
We drove seven miles up the road to Shell Banks Baptist Church this morning. Then David and his wife, Carol, took us out to lunch in Gulf Shores and to Super Wal-mart to stock up on our walking supplies. We also drove up the Gulf Coast to the Florida state line, to have a look what the next week of walking has in store for us. A seemingly endless supply of high-rise condos line the beach from Gulf Shores to Orange Beach to the Florida state line and beyond as far as I could see to the east. We have decided to go ahead and walk that route, but we will have to do it very carefully as camping spots are scarce and the hotels on the beach are far too expensive for us at this point, I'm sure. There is a state park near Gulf Shores, and I saw an R.V. park close to the state line. We'll be able to do it, but the walking days and camping stops will have to be planned.
So, another Sunday has been our day of rest again. We talked with David tonight about possible temporary employment in the area. He said he could put us to work for a day with odd jobs around his house. There is also a house next to where we are camping on the beach, which is badly in need of a paint job. We might try to call the owner of the house tomorrow. This sure would be a nice place to stop and work for a while, and we have been praying about it. More will be revealed.
Alex's beach house
Monday, November 12, 2001: Fort Morgan, Alabama
We're employed!!! Alex and Tom happened to be down here visiting from northern Georgia, and they stopped by David's this morning. Alex owns the house on the beach that needs to be painted --the one that we were praying about for possible employment. He has hired us to paint the house, and we can live there for however long the job takes. We didn't even have to call him today. God answers prayer.
While Alex was getting everything together that we would need to paint the house, Tom hired us for the day. We were hired to shovel sand, which had been moved by a hurricane, back to where it was. The process of shoveling sand must use every single muscle that doesn't get used while walking, because we are so sore and tired tonight.
We moved into Alex's beach house and feel so excessively blessed, not only have some work to supply our walking finances with a much needed contribution, but to have the opportunity to live right on the beach for a week or two. (Not to mention the simple things that come with living in a house, like hot showers, a refrigerator, a washer and dryer, a bed, and electricity.) God is so good. We start painting tomorrow.
Thursday, November 15, 2001: Fort Morgan, Alabama
We have been painting for three days now. Everyday we wake up with the sun around 6:00 am, have some coffee and breakfast, put on our painting clothes (Alex gave us some fancy painting apparel so we wouldn't destroy any of our walking clothes,) and then we paint until the sun goes down. I've never painted a house on stilts before and often find myself working much higher off the ground than I would like to be. We spend a lot of time on ladders, and I've been painting some of the highest parts while lying on the roof and hanging over the edge.
Living in a beach house has been a joy. On the days when the water is calm, dolphins occasionally swim by close to the shore, and sometimes they really jump around. We haven't determined whether they are playing, feeding, or mating, but we sure do love to watch them. Every morning we witness a beautiful sunrise, and every night we see a gorgeous sunset. It doesn't feel like we're on vacation anymore, but it sure is a nice place to work.
Our fancy painting clothes
Thursday, November 22, 2001: Fort Morgan, Alabama
We've been painting for nine days now. Tuesday's rain gave us one much-needed day off. The job has taken much longer than we expected, as most jobs do, I suppose. This house is like a sponge that has soaked up twenty-three gallons of paint so far. Last weekend we rented an airless sprayer, and I was able to go around the entire house on Saturday, and again on Sunday. That saved a tremendous amount of hours and will hopefully keep us from painting this house through Christmas. Today we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and only lack a few spots of touch-up work. The end is near.
Almost finished
We're done.
We were invited to a Thanksgiving feast at David and Carol's this afternoon. They have been so nice to us these past couple of weeks. David feeds us bar-b-que from his world famous hot dog stand about everyday for lunch, and they let us borrow a car whenever we need to go into town for groceries or more paint. We have enjoyed getting to know them, and we've become good friends.
Monday, November 26, 2001: Fort Morgan, Alabama
We finished painting Alex's house this weekend, and now we are gearing up to start walking again. We are thankful for the job and thankful to be finished. (The house looks much better than we do.)
Brandi and I are both looking forward to getting back out on the road, and we're excited about crossing into Florida next week. Our plan is to walk east into Florida and continue along the coast until around the middle of December. Then, we're going to hop on a Greyhound bus and go see our families for Christmas.
We woke up this morning, packed up our gear, and prayed about the necessary water crossing to reach Fort Morgan. I was a bit concerned about getting in a boat with just anyone that we met. It's kind of like water hitchhiking, and the act of asking someone for a ride adds an element of danger that's not present when we're walking down the left-hand side of the road minding our own business. We decided to trust God and walk to the Dauphin Island boat launch area to see what happens. If it didn't work out for us today, we could always stay at the campground another night and try again tomorrow.