Still at Gulf State Park

Not much new,  It turned colder here and some wind.   There is no clouds in the sky and it may get to 70 today. Yesterday we did the same as before, rode bikes, hiked on trails, and walked the beach.   We went to the beach downtown,  Gulf Shores, AL.  There is more people and palm trees there.  Had pizza at pizza hut.  Here are the photos.  Tomorrow we leave Gulf state park after having been here 5 nights.

Gulf State Park, Gulf Shores, Alabama

Made it to one of our favorite places.  We are at the same campsite we were at last year.   We have mocking birds, butterflies and a couple of stray cats.   Spent the day riding bikes, walking on the beach and just reading.  We are going to be here at least 3 days,  maybe more.  The weather is beautiful, and we have a white sand beach. Here are a few photos.

North Toledo Bend state park

No this park isn't in Ohio,  it is in Louisiana.  Saturday we drove to North Toledo Bend state park and when we drove around to find a campsite, the truck started making strange noises.   We picked our site and paid for it and after we set up I looked for the noise problem.  Sounded like water pump but turned out to be the serpentine belt tensioner pulley.   GM uses a plastic pulley to keep the belt tight.   After 180000 miles on the truck the pulley gave up and melted.  I really did not want to use my towing service to have the truck towed to the nearest GM dealer, 20 miles away on Monday morning probably paying over $200 to have it fixed.   I called   Autozone on Sunday and they made the 40 mile round trip bringing me the pulley and a new belt.  I did the work and saved some money.   This is a beautiful state park,   but very few campers on Saturday night. Sunday night there are 3 campers.   I guess it is because of the dried up reservoir that you can see in one of the photos of cypress trees showing where the water level was at one time.   Also one of the pictures shows the new part and melted old one.