On The Road Again! (May 4 - May 7)

We’ve begun our second extended road trip in the RV!  On Monday, May 4th we left home and traveled south to Occoneechee State Park near the North Carolina border.  I must say, Jenny continued her streak of finding great places to camp.  Our site has lots of trees, an obstructed water view, and a nice extra spot with a picnic table and fire ring.

We prepared for this trip by sanitizing and flushing the water systems, and getting a couple things repaired - most notably the hitch for towing the car.  The hitch shifted position a bit after towing the Equinox 2,600 miles on the last trip.  Without going in to too much detail, we had the hitch fastened better to the RV’s frame.  Of course we — which is to say Jenny — prepared and froze several meals in advance.

New things for the RV include better mattresses (the old ones were thinner and hard, and toppers did not help), and bug screens for the driver and passenger windows.  Now we can open more windows for a better breeze through the rig.  We also upgraded our e-bikes to ones that are a bit smaller and much lighter.  

Hooking up on Monday afternoon to the site’s water and electricity went smoothly.  We drove to nearby Clarksville (no, not that Clarksville) to pick up a few groceries.  We cooked burgers on our old Coleman stove and made salads for dinner with them.

Tuesday morning we rode bikes about 10 miles to check out the park.  It’s really nice.  After lunch we checked out Staunton River State Park and Staunton River Battlefield State Park.  The latter features a bridge, rebuilt in 1906, that was the last to be burnt down by the South’s retreating army before General Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House.

Wednesday the 6th has been rainy so far, with lots more rain expected over night in to Thursday when we leave for our next stop.  We might just have a lazy afternoon, but we’ll want to cover or pack things up this evening before it gets wet again. 

Congaree National Park (Feb 25 & 26)

 On Wednesday the 25th we drove to our next stop at Poinsett State Park in Wedgefield, SC.  This is near Congaree National Park, the purpose of our stop in this location.  

Congaree is the oldest (and only) preserve of old growth bottom land forest left in the country.  It sits on the flood plain of the Congaree River and relies on the periodic flooding of the river.  We walked the Boardwalk Trail above the wetland - which wasn’t that wet at the time.  The forest was a little eerie.  There were lots of playful squirrels.  New bird we heard or saw were the Northern Flicker and Pileated Woodpecker (below).  Still no Grey Goose or Wild Turkey!

Thursday, February 26:  The forecast calls for rain today and tomorrow.  There really nothing else we need to do in the area, so we packed up and decided to head home a day early.  As I write this, we are about 40 miles from the South/North Carolina Border.  Homeward bound!

 

Tuskegee and Ocmulgee (Feb 23 & 24)

 As we continue our way northward, we stopped in Tuskegee near Auburn, AL on Monday the 23rd, and near Macon, GA on the 24th.  In Tuskegee, of course, we went to the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.  This is where the airmen trained.  There was a good documentary and museum displays that described not only the accomplishments of the airmen but the racism barriers they faced — and, to a large extent, overcame due to their bravery and excellence in battle.

This double V insignia was actually developed by a cafeteria worker in Pittsburg and it caught on for the Tuskegee Airmen.  One V for victory in battle against fascisim, and the other for victory against racism at home. The plane is a P-51, which the airmen eventually flew.

In Macon we stopped at the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park.  Ocmulgee is pronounced with a long O, a hard C and G, and with the accent on the second syllable.  The Ocmulgee people built large mounds for meetings, prayer, funerals, etc.  This Large Temple Mound in the picture is their largest, measuring 270’ x 300’ x 55’ high.  The mounds were built between 900 and 1200 CE.

Tonight we stay at a park in Mitchell, GA and tomorrow on the 25th move on to South Carolina.

Powerful and Sobering (Feb 20 - 22)

 I can’t believe this is our last week on the road.  It really has been a great trip that lived up to hopes and expectations of RV life.

Yesterday we drove up from Gulf Shores to our site in Hope Hull, AL which is near Montgomery, but also not too far from Selma.  Today we drove up to, and then followed, the route of the civil rights march in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery. We stopped at an interpretive center in Lowndes County where we saw a movie and exhibits about the civil rights struggles of the time, but with a particular focus on events in Alabama.  Powerful. Sobering. Moving. 

From there we continued on to Selma, crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge where Bloody Sunday took place.  After lunch, we gave ourselves a driving tour of Selma, passing by some historic sites. The downtown area seems depressed with a lot of apparently-shuttered businesses.

Our next stop was back in Montgomery.  At the Civil Rights Memorial Center we saw another documentary that was made during the worst of COVID, and so more up to date than the first one we saw today.  There was a special quilt exhibit honoring Senator John Lewis.

On a lighter note, Sunday we went to a Jewish Food Festival at Temple Beth Or in Montgomery.  There was not a spot to be had on the parking lot, so we left the car at an Aldi down the street.  The place was crazy!  We managed to escape with matza ball soup, kugel, stuffed cabbage, latkes, quajado and praline & chocolate covered matza.  Oy vay, if we eat it all we’ll plotz!

We then continued our return north, stopping at Chewacla State Park near Auburn, AL.  The temperature is forecast to dip in to the 20s overnight, so I’ll wait until it warms up in the morning before connecting the water.

Roll Tide With a Banjo On My Knee (Feb 16-19)

We went back to the state park on St. Joseph Peninsula for a bike ride on Feb 16, our last full day in Port St. Joe.  We really like this area and hope we can return soon.  The next day we drove to Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  My first time in this state.  There was a road closure close to the park for a Mardi Gras parade.  We could just see a bit of the crowd driving by the end of the parade route, and there were thousands of people. According to the park ranger, public schools get the week of Mardi Gras off down here, and then a couple weeks later they get another week off for spring break.

Gulf State Park is really nice.  And really big.  This morning, we started the day with a bike ride on a couple of the 28 miles-worth of trails in the park.  We ate breakfast al fresco in what would become a 77 degree day. In the afternoon we a dolphin/sunset cruise on Portage Creek and Wolf Bay. We did see several dolphins but they were up and down so fast that we couldn’t get any good pics.

Thursday started with another bike ride around the park, followed by a talk on pirates in the Gulf.

St. George Island, Apalachicola, and Turtles! (Feb 14 & 15)

On Valentine’s Day we had a nice big breakfast and drove to St. George Island, which is another long, narrow island east of our campsite.  As we’ve come to expect, St. George is beautiful and well-kept.  Expensive houses line the waterfront on the bay and especially the Gulf side of the island.  The houses are built on tall stilts.  

We entered St. George Island State Park which, like St. Andrew’s State Park near Panama City, was free for the Presidents Day long weekend.  Another beautiful park and beach, but it was 64 degrees and very windy on the Gulf side, so we didn’t linger.  Rather, we walked part of the nature trail on the bay side, which was very pleasant.  We heard, but did not see, Grey Catbirds and Yellow Warblers.

On our way back we had an early dinner in Apalachicola. Here’s a sunset shot from our RV park.

On Sunday the 15th we went to the Forgotten Coast Sea Turtle Center in Port St. Joe.  The Center is run by the Florida Coastal Conservancy, a non-profit.  They monitor and advocate for sea turtles, do some turtle rehabilitation, and take some turtle “donations” since as pets, they can outlive their owners.  They have several turtles in pens, and we enjoyed an educational turtle talk by one of the volunteers.  We were impressed enough to “adopt” a nest.  This basically means we donate money, they send us a certificate, and let us know how productive the nest is.  Yet one more reason, from our perspective, to really like this area.

Port St. Joe and Panama City (Feb 12 & 13)

February 11 was a travel day.  We drove to our next stop: Port St. Joe, which is about half-way across the Florida panhandle.

Port St. Joe’s population is estimated to be about 4,100, similar to Colonial Beach.  But it’s downtown area must serve a broader area, because there are many more restaurants and shops than CB.  On Thursday we drove to the beach on T. H. Stone St. Joseph Peninsula.  Look at a map: the peninsula is a narrow strip of land connected to the mainland, which soon takes a 90-degree bend northwestward.  We went to a state park on the peninsula.  

This beach is one of nicest I’ve ever been to.  And it helped that hardly anyone else was there.  The only thing less than great was the 58-degree water temperature.  The sand was nice and soft, and not rocky even as you enter the water.  We’ll be back.

The next day, Friday the 13th, we had no bad luck at all.  We drove to Panama Beach City, a little west of Panama City, to see the Man in the Sea Museum.  The museum is mostly about Sealabs 1, 2 and 3, but also has displays about the history of deep sea diving.  It was interesting enough, but left us wanting because their documentary and exhibits essentially ended in the early ‘70s, after the investigation following Sealab 3’s mission failure and the death of an aquanaut.  

After the museum we went to St. Andrews State Park, which is at the end of a peninsula coming out of Panama Beach City.  We took the beach road to get there.  I figured there might be a “strip” but was surprised by the miles of high rises - hotels and condos - and restaurants, amusement businesses like arcades, etc.  There was traffic in mid-February; it must be crazy in the high season.  The park was very nice, although sand had more broken shells in it.  Yesterday’s beach on St. Joseph Peninsula is still our #1.

Homosassa Springs State Park (Feb 10)

 The full name of the park is Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.  A mouthful, I know.  The park is less than 1.5 miles from our RV site, and we liked it a lot.  On one side there’s a paved birding trail that’s 1.4 miles out and back.  I did the walk a couple days prior.  On the other side is a great assembly of wildlife including several species of birds, manatees, and a bear, bobcat and panther.  Many of the animals were rescued and cannot be returned to the wild.  They did such a nice job of providing habitats for the animals.

We watched as park volunteers fed pelicans fish and tossed heads of romaine lettuce to the herbivore manatees.

There’s also a pond that is well-populated with several species of fish.  There’s an underwater fish observatory.  I think the fish were as curious about us as we were about them because many of them stuck close to the glass.  We mostly saw Common Snooks and Gray Snappers.  The Homosassa Spring feeds in to the pond, which becomes the headwater for the Homosassa River.  The spring’s temperature, 74F, is comfortable for the manatees.  68F and below can be deadly for them. Fun fact: a group of manatees is an “aggregation”.

In the afternoon we went back to the Withlacoochee Trail for another bike ride.  On the way back we bought more oranges and grapefruits, which we are really enjoying.

Way Down Upon The Suwannee River (Feb 9)

 I always thought the “Swanee River” as it’s spelled in the song lyrics was different than the Suwannee River as it’s spelled in geography.  And I never associated it with Florida, just Georgia.  The river does start in Georgia but flows through Florida in to the Gulf.  I guess that’s why “The Old Folks at Home” is Florida’s state song.  I’m glad I’m still learning.

On Monday, Feb 9, we went to the Suwannee River by visiting Manatee Springs State Park.  And it’s a very nice state park: quiet, clean, really nice forest, and the water is extremely clear.  And they have a nice boardwalk that takes you along a creek to the Suwannee.  But the day was warm so the manatee that otherwise hang out in the creek went out to the warmer river.

And cypress knees - they grow out of the roots of cypress trees.  I don’t recall ever seeing these before.  They lend a certain eeriness to the forest.

In the afternoon we drove to Cedar Key and checked it out.  It’s a small island right on the Gulf with 750 year-round residents. What a nice little town!  Some beaches, nice houses on stilts, several restaurants on the strip along the water.  Jenny and I agreed that we’d like to come back.

Alliterations Abound (Feb 7 & 8)

 Ah, the wonderful Withlacoochee.  The wacky Weeki Wachee.  Those Muscogee and Seminoles knew how to name places.  Weally gwate.  Er, I mean really great.

The other thing that I’m really appreciating about our trip is all the state parks, nature preserves, state and national forests, and other protected areas.

On Saturday the 7th we indeed went to Weeki Wachi State Park.  The main attraction here is the mermaid show.  The show actually started in the 40’s as a roadside attraction and Florida brought it and the surrounding land in to the state park system when the show started, um, going under.  The park is more for families and kids, but we enjoyed it anyway.

On the 8th we went to the World Equestrian Center in Ocala.  There are a couple of large indoor arenas, several equestrian shops, and a couple of very nice hotels.  The main arena, though, is outside in front of the main hotel.  We saw horse jumping.

A New Hometown

 Thursday, the 5th, was our last day in Camp Margaritaville.  I’ll miss it.  My only regret is that the weather wasn’t conducive to taking advantage of all their amenities since virtually all the activities were outside.  But onward and upward: we drove two hours north to Homosassa Springs and the Sun Retreats RV Resort.  After arriving, we set up camp, had lunch out, and picked up a few groceries.

On Friday, we drove to Inverness and rode 15 miles by bike on the Withlacoochee Trail.  It’s flat, wide, and smooth. A nice ride with nice scenery. After the ride we walked around Inverness’s downtown area, which is really just several blocks of (mostly) small independent restaurants and shops.  It’s very nice.

Before heading back to the RV we explored Homosassa with a self-guided driving tour. The below pic is from a boat ramp. 

Tonight we’re watching the Olympics opening ceremony. And a little curling.