We purchased our 2018 Aspen Trail, Dutch, in Louisiana in the fall of 2018 and as of April 2019, we hadn’t taken a first RV trip.  Our adventure of becoming a full-time travel family would be starting in less than two months and we needed to get that first RV trip out of the way. We didn’t have a lot of time so we decided that our first RV trip should be a short one to a nearby town. It also needed to be about more than just getting used to the trailer too. It needed to be about relaxing and having a good time as well. With that in mind, we decided to head to Foley, Alabama.

Foley, Alabama

Foley, Alabama is only about 2 hours from Biloxi, Mississippi, and would be hosting the 2019 Gulf Coast Balloon Festival. Neither of us had been to a balloon event before and thought it would be fun for Corbin. It would help us relax after all the downsizing, moving, and planning for our first hop as Hinton the Trail. This would be a great place to go on our first RV trip and first real experience with setting up and tearing down at an RV park.  We needed to find out if we could hack it in the real RV world.  Spoiler alert, we can!!

In the late afternoon, we arrived at our RV park in Foley, Alabama. Anchors Aweigh RV Park is a quiet, well-priced park located near all the actions. It had back-in sites and Chris was concerned about it.  He had little experience driving with the 28-foot trailer and as this was our first RV trip he’d only backed it in a few times at the storage center.  The gentleman that took us to our site gave Chris directions and he backed Dutch in without any problems.  Yay!  Next, was setting up for the first time.  Power, water, sewer, and slideout…no problems.  So far, so good.  Maybe we can do this!  Once everything was set up, we headed out to the Balloon Festival. 

Gulf Coast Balloon Festival

This was the 15^th year of the Gulf Coast Balloon Festival and it featured over 30 balloons from around the country.  It also had live bands, food, and vendors selling a variety of items.  Unfortunately, the weather predicted for the weekend was thunderstorms so we had to see everything in just a few hours…after spending an hour waiting for parking.  We arrived just in time to see the Balloon Glow and Twinkle where all the balloons fire up and light up the sky at the same time.  It was beautiful and a highlight of Corbin’s time.  The other highlight was the balloon ride.  

We purchased tickets ahead of time online and for $20 each, we went up in a balloon for a few minutes.  When you see a hot air balloon in the air from a distance, it looks so peaceful.  In reality, it is very loud when you are standing in it.  What a view though.  We will definitely be doing that again, maybe in Albuquerque in October!

Visiting Alligator Alley

The next day we braved the weather and headed to Alligator Alley in Summerdale, Alabama.  Alligator Alley offers self-guided tours and has over 200 alligators of all ages and sizes.  With reasonable prices of $13 for adults and $11 for children, this was a great way to spend a few hours.  There are more than just alligators at the park, they have reptiles, spiders, snakes, and a variety of farm animals.  At the wild animal encounters, Suzannah learned close up about a snake and Corbin got to hold a juvenile alligator with green painted toenails!

We learned about the habits of alligators and why many of the alligators were in the park during one of the three daily feedings.  Unfortunately, many of the alligators in the park were rehomed due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  After the alligator show, we took a stroll along the boardwalk with our $5 bucket of alligator food.  The boardwalk goes through a swamp that is reminiscent of Yoda’s home planet, all green and mossy, but with an extra bonus of really large, deadly alligators!  The hungry alligators pounce the second a piece of food hits the water.  It makes you wonder what the ones that didn’t pounce had recently eaten since the food was not very substantial.  Overall, Alligator Alley was a really cool place to go.

Roadside Oddities

One of the things Suzannah mentioned while we planned our Hop 1 was that she wanted to see the off-the-beaten-path roadside oddities.  The giant ball of twine, the largest Indian Statue, those kinds of things.  Our first RV trip unexpectedly gave us the opportunity to see some of these oddities. Well, just down the road from Alligator Alley we found something quite odd.  Bamahenge!

Bamahenge is located in Elberta, Alabama in a field just off US-98 and it’s completely free to view.  It was created by a Virginia man named Mark Cline.  The replica is life-sized and in exactly the same positioning to the sun and summer solstice as the original.  It’s made out of fiberglass and is truly quite amazing.  It definitely makes you want to see the real thing or maybe to just go down the street to Virginia to see the other one Cline made of Styrofoam, Foamhenge!  The same artist also designed the random dinosaurs we found nearby.

A little way down the road from Bamahenge you can find four life-sized dinosaurs; stegosaurus, triceratops, brontosaurus, and tyrannosaurus rex.  The dinosaurs are not together and are found just inside the woods off the side of the road.  They were very large and quite cool to see, once we spied them.  The brontosaurus was quite elusive as we drove back and forth a couple of times to find it.  We spotted a giant, metal spider, and a large sundial as well.  Strange to find so many odd things in one town.  After a quick stop at the marina for a pair of sunglasses for Suzannah, we headed back to the RV park.

Success!

The next day was the day we were most concerned about.  After seeing and hearing all the stories about how traumatic and messy emptying the black tank could be, we were definitely nervous.  The Robin Williams movie “RV” didn’t help matters.  Would our first RV trip end in a fecal fiasco? After hooking up all the hoses Chris nervously pulled the handle.  He instantly had a look of relief on his face as everything came flowing out smoothly AND without a mess. The whole process, while nerve-wracking, was clean and smooth and built our RV confidence.

Overall our first RV trip went better than expected and the trip to Foley, Alabama was great.  It’s a neat area with a lot to see and do.  And while we enjoyed relaxing, we were also happy to know we could do this RV traveling thing. With our first RV trip under our belt, we felt we were ready to start our 2-year Hop 1 adventure. We were ready to start Hinton the Trail.

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