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| Knapping |
I got an extremely early start for me, and left Roosevelt State Park by 8:00. The plan was to get to the Moundville Archaeological Park as early as possible, hoping for a site. I arrived just before noon, and was told they did have a few open sites. I paid for the site for two days & a ticket for the museum & Knapping exhibit. Total - $16.00. Hard to believe. I got a senior discount on the museum & knapping ticket of $6.00, and the campsite was $5.00 per night. A water & electric site for $5.00! The receipt showed a normal price of $20.00 per night, so I'm not sure where the discount came in, but I'm not complaining.
The better sites were taken by the knappers, but I found one that I could fit the trailer, although a pretty weird orientation. All the sites in the "second" loop are really designed for small motorized RVs, ie the utilities are on the right side of the site, and towards the front. There is gravel on part of the site, the rest grass. I sorta twisted the trailer into a position where I was close to level & within the length of my power cord to the electrical hookup. No problem with the water since I have 40' of hose. Not an ideal site, but it is hard to argue with the price. The "prime" sites the knappers are in are mostly pull through with utilities in the right place for trailers, and form a loop round the bathrooms.
There is a good 4G LTE AT&T signal that is fast. I didn't check the Verizon speed, but my Jetpack shows 3 bars of 4G LTE service. 4 NPR stations, at least one of which is classical music oriented. One caveat - if you don't like the sound of train horns, head somewhere else! There is a crossing at the entrance to the park, as well as many additional crossings within audible distance - lots of tooting!
After setting up I headed over to the knapping demonstrations. Some stuff for sale, and a group of about 5-6 knappers making spear & arrow heads. Along with the demonstrations, some offered to teach anyone interested in learning how to form points from stone. I took a bunch of photos, but didn't try my hand at it.
The park is named for the large number of mounds it contains. Built 1000 years ago, they were used to elevate important buildings. At one time, this was the site of the largest village north of Mexico, with around 10,000 inhabitants. I'll probably have more information about them after visiting the museum tomorrow.
After a visit to the knapping exhibits, I sat in the sun reading. Eventually, it was time for dinner, which was a Bubba Burger & A Knorr's Rice & Broccoli side spiked with fresh broccoli.
Until tomorrow -
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