Day 7 - Mobile & meanderings

Back in port at 6:30 am but still onboard at 8:30 awaiting clearance. I ate breakfast on the Lido Deck inside at the buffet. It was the first time I'd eaten at the breakfast buffet and it was quite good. (I'm always leary about buffet-line food, but I was early enough at 7:00 am that it was still quite fresh.)

Departure clearance came after 9:30, but as I was on the same floor as the gangway, it was an easy walk down the hall and out of the ship.

Exiting was a snap. Because we all had our belongings go through security before initial boarding and at each port as we reentered the ship, there was no security per se when we arrived in port. We did have to go through customs, but the allowance is $800 per person, plus 1 liter of alcohol and one carton of cigarettes (neither of which I purchased), and the allowance far exceeded what I spent and brought back into the US.

All my luggage was on wheels, so the short walk to the car was easy. I'd already decided to drive out of Mobile on I-10 toward Pensacola and within 2 blocks of the terminal was the I-10 on-ramp, making tracks well before 11:00 am.

The Alabama beaches are reported to be quite nice, but I'd not ever seen them so I dropped off I-10 and headed for the coast road. The reports are correct... these are lovely wide beaches. Lots of condos, few hotels. Interesting restaurants, though it was far too early for lunch. I'll be back... I suspect some of those condos will be for rent at a decent price off-season. Since I burn, I prefer beaches in the early morning and late evening anyway.

Turning north at Pensacola (I saw no need to drive another 30 miles to Destin, my original "destin"-ation - if you'll pardon the pun - as it all looked the same) I drove back toward I-65, taking the back roads the whole way. In fact, I stayed on the back roads most of the day, ending in Greenville, Alabama, for the night.

After 5 evenings of lobster, shrimp, chateaubriand, sirloin and veal, a shrimp salad at Captain D's seemed pretty tame. I think, however, that it will be salads for a while to come as I try to clean out my now-clogged arteries.

Late Saturday night Gail (my SIL) called to tell me Mother had a mini-stroke and was taken to the hospital. There she had gone into seizures while in the emergency room. Nothing I could do at midnight, so I waited and called Gail after breakfast the next morning.

The stroke was not severe at all (imperceptible loss of strength on the left side, no facial paralysis of any kind) and the neurologist wouldn't be there until late afternoon. "Enjoy the rest of your vacation," she says. Yeah... Like I can do that with my mother in the hospital.