Sometimes Things Work Out for the Better

Posted from Gunter Hill COE CG near Montgomery, AL       (Click on Pics to Enlarge)


After leaving Red Bay we decided to drive a couple of hours east to Huntsville, AL for two main reasons.  First, we wanted to take a tour of the Space and Rocket Center located in Huntsville and second Karen wanted to meet up with a prior co-worker she met in an office back in Virginia.  Denise now lives in Huntsville, AL and we’ve been meaning to stop by on several of our trips thru Huntsville, but something always prevented us from stopping in the past.

We made camping reservations at the US Space and Rocket Center Campground which is located within a 1/2 mile from the entrance to the Space Center.  This park has 30-amp only electrical and is getting a bit dated, but there are plenty of trees and it seemed like a nice choice.

The roads are a bit narrow, but easy to navigate if you take it easy.  We really liked the trees throughout and there was room between the sites.

Space Camp is held throughout the year at the US Space and Rocket Center for “budding” scientists and astronauts of the future.  There’s even a Space Camp for adults!  The kids build rockets which are fired off just outside the campground on a daily basis.  It was actually kind of fun to watch their enthusiasm when their rocket was ignited.

On the second day of camping here we began to have electrical problems.  We have a Progressive Industries EMS and it is designed to shut down power coming into the coach when the voltage drops below 104 volts.  This began happening several times per hour even though we had all of the major appliances (AC, water heater, battery charger, etc.) turned off in the coach. I didn’t like the cycling of the rig’s transfer switch while this was occurring, so I started talking to the neighbors about their power. I found that some folks had good incoming power and some were getting low voltages.  I believe we might have been at the end of the run on our row.  Although the choices of campgrounds around the Huntsville area is not great, one neighbor stated that he had stayed at a nice county park just northeast of Huntsville named Sharon Johnston Park.

We took a drive over to this park to check it out.  (About 30 minutes from the Space Center). It looked very nice, so we grabbed the camp host and reserved a site for the next 5 nights because the Memorial Day Holiday was quickly approaching.

It turned out we made a good choice. The FHU sites were $18 per day and the site pads are all asphalt.  The roads around this small campground are newly paved.

There are plenty of pavilions, both large and small, for picnic use. 

For the fisherman out there, there is a small lake as well.









The drive back and forth to visit the Space Center was a breeze and this campground was very quiet and away from the city. We will definitely stay here again when visiting in the area.

The second reason we’re here is to visit with Karen’s friend Denise.  We got together on Wednesday and met at Rosie’s Mexican Cantina in Huntsville for dinner. Another good choice.  The food was good and Karen and Denise got a chance to catch up on old times.  THANK YOU for dinner Denise!


The next blog entry will talk about our exploration of the US Space and Rocket Center and a day trip to Decatur for the Alabama Jubilee.


Thanks for stopping by to take a look!