Lake Martin, AL

 We left Maxwell/Gunter AFB for their recreation area sixty miles away. Unfortunately the campground suffered due to years of neglect, however, the new regime in charge of the recreation area is making improvements.

Our site was fun to get to. 

Can you see our site on the left? For us to get to our site we had to continue to the end of the road, and stop at the cul-de-sac.

It was a piece of cake getting into the site, make a U-turn, back down the hill to a concrete slab. Unfortunately the slab was not long enough for our rig, and I had to raise the back of the trailer up to its maximum height, and lower the front as far as I could.

Now, the nice side of the site was a lake view, patio, and private dock to the lake. The section we were in was only one of several, ours was water and electric only, one the the other sections was full hook up (water/electric/sewer). The lake was full of fish for the catching. One of our neighbors in the loop was catching bass and crappie. This gentleman was a neat guy, he and his wife are folks living at the recreation area as long term residents. In the summer they operate an ice cream boat on the lake. He was a good friend, but bad for the waistline. Just about every time we got together, he fed us ice cream.

We didn't do much but enjoy the campground. The next two photos are looking from our campsite.

This photo is looking from the other side of the cove over to our site. The dock you see to the left, center of the photo was our private dock. Most of the sites near us had private docks for fishing or tying up boats. You would have thought that we would have climbed into the lake for a swim... only one issue stopped us... the Water Moccasins swimming around. 

We were able to have campfires at this campground, which isn't necessarily anything special, but I was able to forage for all the kindling and wood we needed to enjoy several fires during our stay. Kindling consisted of pines cones and pine needles, and the wood was branches collected off the ground.

The other side of the recreation area has cabins, and a marina. The recreation area is small enough that I took a walk over to the marina side to check it out. I found another area where they used to have RV sites, but  wasn't sure if they still allowed them there. 

Here is a little history on the recreation area. The area is leased from the Alabama Electric Company (AEC). Some years back the campground was considered top notch, but the old management let it run down, he was only interested in keeping the cabins up. Besides the neglect, a major storm/hurricane came through and devastated the area, dropping power lines in some areas of the recreation area. After the devastation, AEC only wanted to renew the lease for a year at a time, the Air Force folks said no thank you. To day there is a 50 year lease in place, and that is why the Air Force is again making an effort to improve the recreation area.

Carol and I sat with the new regime and threw around some ideas on how to improve the campground. While the ladies were looking around the area, a couple of the them walked down to our dock to see the cove, and received the shock of their lives... one of the snakes tried coming out of the water to attack them... they ran off the dock screaming.

We didn't do much running around because there was not a lot to see in the area, and the town was a ways down the road. With that said, we prepared ourselves for our next stop in Huntsville, AL.