Day 14

I write this knowing that I'm half way through this part of the trip. Thinking back,

at all the places that I've been. Could it only be 2 weeks?  A few regrets (not buying

certain watches) and missing a couple of things I wanted to see. But overall it's 

been a great trip so far. The weather has been great for the most part, just a little cold

spell here and there, plus not really that much rain. Anyway, back to our normal

programming:

I wake up at 5 am, with just a little regret on not going down to the French 

Quarter at night. But it is what it is. Since I checked this time, Starbucks doesn't

open till 6 am, so I give the room machine coffee a try. BAD, and you'd think I'd

learned my lesson by now, though, trowing a Starbucks instant coffee into the mixed

worked. 

The Chelsea game was on, so I watched the first part of that. Did the 3 S's and 

packed up my crap. I headed down to the valet to pick up my bike. No, they don't 

park it, but because it's a city hotel, parking is $39 a night. It is what it is. everywhere

in town it the same. The only bonus is, that I signed up for their rewards program, they

didn't charge me the $11 per day internet fee, and the bike is caged underground. Safe.

Good by New Orleans, now I have a better understanding of what you offer. Plus

it's better than what you see on the "First 48". It's supposed to be in the low 40's

 for this mornings ride, thankfully they got it wrong, and it's in the very low

50's. 

Here was the first disappointment of the day. The Infinity Science center runs tour/trams

to the John C Stennis Space Center. It's were NASA tests there rocket engines. As I pulled

up, I remembered from Houston, that tours were not given on weekends. I show up here

on a Saturday. But not to worry, because as of June 19th, 2019, the tours have been 

cancelled due to budget cuts. Thanks Trump. Since the only reason I came here is for the

tour, I get back on the bike and head to the USS Alabama. Which is just outside of 

Mobile, AB. 

First impressions, this is a big place with lots of stuff. That, and it's warmed up enough

to be enjoyable.

Nice to see some extra exhibits that I didn't know where here.

But I came to see the big guy, so I start at the airplanes.

This gives you the idea of the type of crowd visits the ship.

I gotta say, it looks slightly bigger than the ones on the Lady Lex.

To Ship, so I head the other way, to the planes, and the Sub.

It's not that much older than what we are still flying in Canada.

Funny, they lost the competition , but in the end they won.

One of the books that I've read over the years. The search and recovery of the Hunley.

The poor sailors were still inside when they found her. One day, maybe I'll stop by and

see her.

Just a nice view of the bay and the sub.

Panorama view of the park and museum.

Everything you wanted to know.

You start at the front.

And head to the back.

The easiest way to go through these are sideways, for me anyway.

This is what you get if your a officer.

The control room, and the biggest place on the ship.

The up/down wheels.

Upper deck, where the periscopes are.

This is where I'd work.

Enlisted men's mess.

Enlisted men's bunks.

That's it, the hull. Just imagine the condensation dripping from here.

I think there are 3 for the whole ship.

The big diesel engines. I counted 4 of them.

Have piston, will travel.

The rear torpedo room.

Bunking with the torpedoes.

Then you pop out the other end. They kept this sub in service for 20 years, mostly

as a training sub. I've be on the HMCS Ojibwa in Port Burwell, and I hate to say it,

but the American sub just has more room. Those Brit's really pack it in. A nice view

of Mobile, AB.

Lot's of oil rigs all up and down the coast. Is it just me, or does it seem to be leaning

a bit.

You buy you kid a toy and where does it end up? Sorry, kid, but your not getting

it back.

Back walking through the planes, though, you couldn't go out and see the SR-71.

Tomorrow I'll be going to the National Naval Aviation Museum, or so I thought at

the time.

Ok, finally I make it over to the ship I came to see.

The first thing I learn is that this is a South Dakota class Battleship and not a Iowa class

Battleship. Having visited the USS New Jersey, I'm not to disappointed.

The poor teak planking. The problem is it will cost somewhere under $10 millon

to replace.

The 16' shell is bigger than me, and I'm pretty sure it weighs more.

The cases they used to keep the power in.

Walking the halls with Steven Seagal. Well, now I know where they filmed all of

this.

Down, down I go.

I know it looks roomie, but you have to remember this is a berthing area. I think?

Those magazines don't load themselves.

Time to go turret crawling.

It's always fun trying to get into one of these.

Unlike the New Jersey's 16' turrets. These are unpainted and left the way they where.

The business end of those 16' guns.

Tanks, tanks, tanks. Need a tank, I've got tanks.

I'm starting to think these are the same size links that are on the Lady Lex.

You can't have too many Anti aircraft guns, can you?

A nice shot from the front of the ship.

Anchor chain locks, a couple to each side.

Optical sights on the 16' guns. Stereoscopic, so when the two pictures merge into one,

you have the range of the target.

Harder than it looks. Otherwise know as, how low can you go.

The 40 mm guns.

Officers Mess.

Captians Stateroom.

Spud, spud, spud, spud...

I'm sure some guys got locked in there, on purpose.

Always remember.

The battle bridge.

This is why each tour is different. On the New Jersey you can go into the

battle-bridge. Here, nope.

That's one big radar antenna.

There you go, some deck armor plating. 6' thick.

Mail room.

From here, it's down to the Engine room.

One of the generators for the ship.

Last of the riveted Battleships.

This is the fire control for all the 16' guns.

The true highlight of the tour. I never would have thought I'd actually be able to go into

a 16" magazine. You can only enter one from a small hatch in the bottom level of the ship.

So this is a great surprise. They had to cut through 16-18 inches of armor plating. That

would have taken days to cut through.

This is where they stored all those shells. How many, I couldn't find out.

Sprinklers, just in case you needed to flood the magazine.

The powder charges came through those doors to the right, then loaded up into the

elevator up to the guns.

How do they move the shells? Manpower, it's a combination of rolling the shell and

using the thing on the floor to ropes around and pull it.

I actually fully understand and appreciate the effort made to get into the Gun Barrette.

Thanks to whoever thought it up.

A shell in the elevator, ready to go up to the guns.  The shells are on a different

level to where the powder is loaded.

Sick bay.

Remember, he's just not the surgeon for the battleship, he's also the surgeon for many of

the lesser ships, like destroyers, etc. 

Nice to read the story on "Tokyo Rose". Though she did better than "Lord Haw-Haw,

the British hung his ass after the war.

A divers section, I guess they had to keep everything under the sea ship shape.

Now to my favorite part of the ship. The mess.

Back to the mess for some more breakfast.

Don't want to end up here. Jail.

That's going to be me real soon, I'm running out of clean clothes.

Keeps everything in place for when the ship rolls.

The ice cream fridge. Most bigger ships made their own ice cream.

Easiest to show you on that deck hatch picture a way back.

Otherwise know as the Too much of a good shore leave room.

Enlisted men's mess. There would also be tables around as well.

The 16' rear facing turret.

Time to go, but I was way up there just a little while ago.

What's Snapchat?

Sounds like my workplace.

Otherwise known as, how to deal with our customers.

From here, I'm heading south down to Dauphin island to catch a ferry. With it being

Saturday, traffic through Mobile was easy. I liked the tunnel through the city though.

Not my picture, but a fun tunnel to ride in.

All good food must come to a end, and it was these nachos. Still, they kept me full

enough. Plus there wasn't anything else around to eat.

I've got to wait around a hour for the ferry. Which is fine. It broke down a couple

of days ago, so I had to keep a eye on what was happening. The crew said they had

rudder problems, but it's all fixed now.

That's one way to carry on my drink while riding.

All loaded and ready to go.

All parked.

Off we go.

Nice to know they are around, just in case.

One of the many oil rigs of my travels. On this trip I had to stay with the bike as the ferry

was rolling about, and I didn't want the bike tipping over. There are no straps to tie the

bike down. So better safe than sorry.

The birds having a free ride.

Finally I made it to Florida, and a day earlier than planned. That's the moon just above the

sign.

Still, good food to be found at the supermarket, and yes, I'd buy it in a second. I grab supplies,

and some takeaway from a seafood chain. It was good, but nothing special.  Now for the fun

part. When I was at the Johnson Space Center, I asked one of the attendants when the next 

launch was. He didn't know, so I made a mental note to look into it. So I did tonight. That's 

when I found out it would be Monday morning, which is a day and a half away.  500 miles.

The next launch was Dec 4th. So, it's now or never. Two things I wanted to do. coming to 

Florida, ride the bike to Key West, and watch a rocket launch live. I guess tomorrow I'm 

driving 500 miles. Time for bed, I'm going to need it.

Today mileage  268 miles or 431 km

Total for this part of the trip

2816 miles or 4532 km