February 24 is another great morning in Georgia. This park has been so enjoyable. Lexie and I took a walk around the Big Ferry Trail and this walk included a side trip to an observation tower. I was excited about the tower, Lexie was indifferent. But she did make it up the stairs.
morning walk: observation tower on Big Ferry traila view from observation toweranother view from observation toweryet another view from observation towerLexie doesn’t care about the view from observation tower
We left the park with only a minor black water incident. And the trip to Sesquicentennial State Park near Columbia South Carolina was uneventful. We stopped at a rest area/welcome center in South Carolina and at a Love’s closer to Columbia.
Our original camp site was occupied but the park rangers got us another site that we liked even more: very much into the woods! One advantage of coming in on a Monday is that all the weekend people have left, and the park has many vacant sites. The park is very nice, not as nice as Skidaway but we made do. We had another campfire and Vicki played her guitar in the evening. We sang songs both with the guitar and acapello.
Sesquicentennial SP camping site head on viewSesquicentennial SP camping site driver side viewSesquicentennial SP evening camping
February 25 was cool, the morning temperature was 37F. But Lexie and I went out for a 4.4 mile walk around the big outside loop of the park. I thought a walk of that length would tire Lexie for the rest of the day, and it was close. She still wanted a few more walks, but she was satisfied with shorter walks.
Sesquicentennial SP morning walk with Lexie around outside loopSesquicenteninial SP morning walk with Lexie
In the afternoon Vicki and I biked around the park. We biked to the park entrance, but the final hill was a little much for Vicki. We also biked around the lake on an old asphalt trail. The trail was challenging. There were tree roots, broken asphalt, sand, and narrow bridges with people on them. But we made it around the lake without incident. The map from Map-my-ride is incorrect, we did not bike across the lake. I turned off the app at one point and realized about one mile later that I had not turned it on yet.
Sesquicentinial SP bike ride (Vicki is ready)Sesquicentennial SP bike ride (missing a segment)Sesquicentennial SP bike ride overlooking the lakeentrance to Sesquicentennial SP from bike ride
We made another, small campfire in the evening. Sorry, no pictures….
Another morning, another dog walk in the wild at Skidaway State Park. The trails here are great, you see a variety of different ecosystems. Marshes, tidal marshes, forested areas. Today Lexie and I walked about 2.7 miles, covering some of the area that I biked on yesterday and some of the trail we walked along yesterday.
Skidaway SP morning walk onto Big Ferry trail Skidaway SP morning walk: Connector trail from Big FerrySkidaway SP morning walk: Lexie thinks she has a choice
The remainder of the day was spent in Savannah! An Uber picked us up at the park’s visitor center.
Skidaway SP Vicki at the visitor center
The Uber driver was very nice and gave us a brief overview of Savannah. We bought tickets for Savannah’s Old Town Trolley and rode around the town for 90 minutes. While there were hop-off/hop-on privileges, we stayed on to get the entire tour.
After the tour we were hungry. The visitor center at the trolley stop recommended Crystal Beer Parlor for food, and we walked on over. On the way over we stopped at the earthworks of the Battle of Savannah historical site (no National Park stamp for this site.)
1779 Battle of Savannah
Crystal Beer is a popular place, especially on a Sunday at 1pm. Rather than wait 30 to 40 minutes, we ordered our food to go, and ate the food at the waiting area/picnic benches outside the restaurant. The person taking our ‘to-go’ order even brought the food out to us! So the service was exceptional. And the food was great: crab soup, shrimp and grits, and peach cobbler.
Savannah: outside of Crystal BeerSavannah: outside waiting and dining area at Crystal Beercrab soup at Crystal Beershrimp and grits at Crystal Beer
After lunch we walked through the historic part of the city, enjoying the different squares that make up the old part of Savannah.
one of Savannah’s squaresrelaxing at one of Savannah’s squares
An Uber took us back to Skidaway State Park. We enjoyed another, smaller campfire that evening.
The campsite was easy to set up. Lots of space around the campsite and good hook-ups for electricity, water and sewer. The weather was cool so we didn’t set the awning out. But we did get some outside time.
Lexie was mostly quiet for the rest of the day. But she did appear to have some separation anxiety when Vicki and I left to go to a park event.
Vicki in Skidaway SP
The park and the girl scouts had arranged to sell girl scout cookies at the park while the park had a firepit going to roast marshmallows. So Vicki and I bought a couple of boxes and put roasted marshmallows on a few. Then we went back to our campsite to have dinner.
I did get a bike ride in today. There was a 3 mile trail inside the park that consisted mostly of tree roots. I then biked a couple of miles outside the park on some multi-purpose trails intended to be shared with pedestrians, bicycles and golf-carts.
Skidaway SP bike ride
We also had a campfire tonight, our first campfire during this trip.
Thursday Feb 20 was a relaxing day as we prepared to leave Port Orange and start our trip back north. I took Lexie on another hike to Spruce Creek Preserve, where I had to take another landscape picture:
Spruce Creek Preserve pines and palms
We took advantage of having a car for eating out one more time at La Catina. We split the malcajate which was so huge we have leftovers for lunch as we return back to Cleveland:
Malcajate from La Cantina
On Friday Feb 21 we said good-bye to Rose Bay resort. Vicki returned the rental car and I picked her up in the RV. I was worried about the winds on the RV as we drove along the Florida coast. Wind gusts were forecast up to 30mph. But the RV handled fine, just keeping me alert and making many steering adjustments. We did stop at a Buc-ees south of Jacksonville. It was my first stop at a Buc-ees, and we dashed in to buy a brisket sandwich and then dashed out. I didn’t like where I was parked, I think there may have been truck and RV parking somewhere that was not marked. But the store itself was amazing: a huge variety of freshly prepared foods, and a feeling more of a tourist/department store than a usual truck stop.
Buc-ee south of JacksonvilleLexie wants to drive
The trip north of Jacksonville included crossing a huge bridge where I focussed on the road and let Vicki look at the view. We stopped for gas about 90 minutes away from our final destination. We skirted south of Savannah to get to Skidaway state park. The final drive to the park was smooth, traffic moved quickly in the direction we were heading. The park is great, the campsites are very large. There will be more about the park and campsite in the next blog.
Sunday morning we were informed that we had used 50Gbytes of data on our cell plan, and that our data rate would be slowed down. We have been able to be on zoom calls, but other internet sites (banks and credit cards) are running slow.
Steve and Lexie started the morning with a two mile hike at the Spruce Creek Reserve. The hike started along the water but then went into a pine forest with a pine needle forest bed.
Spruce Creek Preserve trail mapSpruce Creek Preserve dog walk board walkSpruce Creek Preserve dog walk more board walkSpruce Creek Preserve dog walk entrance sign that is not near the entrance
I attended Mass at “Catholic Church of the Epiphany”. This church was full of people! Sad to say that my current church, St. Agnes/Our Lady of Fatitma, can’t say the same thing.
Catholic Church of the Epiphany entranceCatholic Church of the EpiphanyCatholic Church of the Epiphany inside entrance
In the afternoon a cold front came through with high winds and rain. I did a quick study to find out at what point should I worry about high winds in an RV. That point appears to be 50mph when stationary. But winds greater than 10mph while traveling can cause problems.
Monday Vicki and I left early to go visit St. Augustine. The weather on Monday was cool (high in the 50s) and windy.
Our first stop on the way to St. Augustine was our first National Park this trip: Fort Matanzas. Fort Matanzas guarded a waterway back door to St. Augustine. The ferry to the fort was shut down because the dock had been damaged by Hurricane Milton last fall. But we still listened to the history of the fort on the park grounds and afterwards walked around the nature trail. On the nature trail we learned about live oaks, hammocks, gopher tortoises and other native fauna and flora of the area.
Inaccessible Fort MatanzasResurrection fern on live oakMore nature trail by Fort Matanzas visitor centerNature trail by Fort Matanzas visitor centeroverlooking the Atlantic Ocean by Fort Matanzas
There were some interesting sights in St. Augustine but what I will remember is the horrific traffic. The last two miles into downtown St. Augustine took an hour. Because it was President’s Day, the town was overrun with tourists! Yes, I know I am one of the tourists. But I didn’t anticipate the crowd and now know better than to be a tourist on a holiday. We took the trolley tour of St. Augustine, which was informative but the hop-on, hop-off aspect was sketchy. Very few people hopped off, our trolley was always full, and the trolleys were timed longer than the advertised 15 minutes apart.
The trolley tour started at a museum that talked about the Spanish treasure fleets, pirates and privateers. It also talked about the hotel and railroad magnate Flagler, and other parts of Florida’s history. Including the first RV tourists:
description of original RVers in Floridarecreation of original RVers in Florida
We jumped off the trolley near Fort Castillo and grabbed a (late) lunch at The Grilled Cheese Gallery. We both got Mac and Cheese grilled cheese sandwiches which were delicious and filling. And much needed.
Stevens mac and cheese and pulled pork cheese sandwichVickis mac and cheese and lobster grilled cheese sandwich
Fort Castillo and its history was fascinating. This area was controlled by the Spanish and British during its first few centuries. And the French had an interest in it as well. The Fort was built to protect the Spanish treasure fleet from pirates and privateers. My first thought was that the walls weren’t angled properly to be protected from inside the fort. But our walk-around on the walls of the fort showed that the outside of the walls were exposed to defenders inside the fort.
Steve at the welcome sign to Castillo de San MarcosCastillo de San Marcos Vicki on the seawallCastillo de San Marcos engineered living seawallCastillo de San Marcos birds eye viewCastillo de San Marcos outside gateCastillo de San Marcos moat around inside gateCastillo de San Marcos outside defenses to inside gateCastillo de San Marcos top of the wall into the courtyardCastillo de San Marcos defenders view of outer wallCastillo de San Marcos inlet facing garretCastillo de San Marcos facing the inletCastillo de San Marcos cannon facing the riverCastillo de San Marcos Vicki trigger finger
On the way back to the starting point we passed by the Mission of Nombre de Dios, the oldest Catholic Church in North America.
Plaque recognizing the founding of Mission of Nombre de Diosthe cross celebrating 450 years from the founding of Mission of Nombre de Dios
V- the fort was pretty cool. St. Augustine historic district had a lot of information, buildings, historic sites, restaurants, bars crammed into a tight area. Flagler College was everywhere in this historic district so besides all of the tourists, there was a large student population out and about on President’s day. Glad we went and especially loved the fort. The first Catholic church in North America, Mission of Nombre de Dios – Mission of the Name of God, was founded back in 1565. The drive back was only about an hour so that was a blessing. We were tired by then. The drive from Fort Matanzas along the FL 1 route was very scenic and picturesque – also very distant with a two-lane road making it a very long trip. I started imagining the colonists and soldiers making those treks along sand dunes, the hammock areas (spits of heavily forested land between the Atlantic and the intercoastal rivers and waterways) and probably through a lot of creeks and high tide waters.
Steve went to Our Lady of the Angels for Mass. Our neighbors from across the street (Tim and Andrea) go there regularly and took Steve with them. The church was packed! There was a line of cars coming in and going out both before the 9am Mass and afterwards. And there were three levels of greeters! My neighbors described this as a vibrant church, at it certainly was filled with people that wanted to be there. (The people prominently in the picture are innocent passer-bys and were erased from the picture..}
Our Lady of the Angels Church
Vicki watched her Rockside church service remotely. We took turns staying at the RV so we could be with Lexie, who is recovering from the sutures nicely.
In the evening I visited Greg, Barb and Nick to watch the Superbowl. Sorry, no pictures. 🙁 Vicki stayed with Lexie because of the sutures. I told that to Greg, sort of. But the text read that Vicki had been bitten, and I was letting Lexie take care of her while I went to the superbowl party.
Monday Steve took Lexie for a 2.5 mile walk at Lake Manatee State Park. Lexie was tired near the end and really wanted to rest. But she got the message to continue. It was a great walk along sandy trails. There were signs explaining that controlled burns were performed every few years, and there was evidence along the way of controlled burns. Lake Manatee was visible on the return leg of the walk.
Lake Manatee State Park dog walkLake Manatee State Park controlled burn areaLake Manatee State Park w LexieLake Manatee State Park
Alan and Patty Watson visited us for lunch. We talked awhile in the RV, though I don’t think we convinced the Watson’s to buy an RV and travel. We then went for lunch at a local cafe: Peaches. The lunch was more of a breakfast with three eggs benedicts ordered.
Watsons inside RVPeaches Cafe w Watsons
In the evening we went to Restaurant Edelweiss in Bradenton to have dinner with Dan and Andrea. We shared an order of potato pancakes followed by four schnitzel dinners. Dan and Steve had Hunter’s Schnitzel with a mushroom gravy. Vicki had a schnitzel with a mango and peach topping. Andrea had Schnitzel Cordon Bleu. Somehow we had room for dessert: apple strudel and Black Forest Chocolate cake.
Restaurant Edelweiss entrance in Bradentoncheers with Dan and Andrea at Restaurant Edelweiss
V-great German meal! So glad to have one last chance to visit with Dan before his weekly work trip.
This morning Steve took Lexie for a walk at Tom Bennet Park. The park is less than half a mile from the campground, but we took the car to keep Lexie off the busy road. While the park is close to I-75, Lexie was enjoying the connection with nature. The park has several ponds, and a large disc golf course. We walked about 2 miles this morning. Sorry, Lexie didn’t make the pictures.
Steve w Lexie at Tom Bennet Park Steve w Lexie at Tom Bennet Park, 180 spin
Vicki and Steve made it to a golf course today (after Vicki’s water aerobic class). The course is a flat and fast 1600 yards. But we enjoyed the fresh air and swinging the golf clubs. Vicki scored better than Steve, again. But at least on this course Steve’s score was at six or less for all the holes.
Vicki teeing off at River Isles Golf ClubGolfing at hole 7
In the evening Steve and Vicki made went to Billy’s Loft (at Billy’s Stone Crab) in Tierra Verde to listen to Pete Merrigan. We met Greg and Barb there and spent the evening talking about travels. We did listen a little to Pete. And Vicki was able to join him near the end of the evening for a couple of songs. On Wednesday the Loft empties around 6:30, so there was ample opportunity for Vicki to join Pete (and his bass player Pat)
Greg and Barb looking great for having just returned from New ZealandGreg Barb Steve and Vicki at the LoftPete MerriganVicki singing Me and Bobby McGeeVicki singing Shame and Scandal
V – What a great day! First round of golf in 2025, it was rough but not pitiful. As always the most important part is the FUN, being outdoors, getting some great shots and some not so great shots is just part of the game. Always good to see Pete, wonderful to catch up with Greg and Barb and meet some new folks – Pansy and Pat, the bass player. Amazing grouper piccata for dinner. Back to Bradenton, Lexie was chillin’ on the couch.
Today our Winnie didn’t move. It felt great not having to get onto the road and driving for hours. We took our time and spent a lot of that time talking to our neighbors.
One neighbor (two sites down) has a 1999 Dutch Star Newmar. He was a fount of knowledge, and I felt better about after talking to him. He had some interesting stories and advice, especially regarding tire pressure monitors. Vicki and I are very worried about getting a flat tire, so we bought a tire pressure monitor system. And while I am driving I am getting real time information about the tires. I just didn’t know what it meant, especially after the tire pressures increased by 10 to 15 pounds while driving. Was that good or bad? What was bad? But the advice I got was that I didn’t need to be too concerned unless the air pressure started to drop quickly.
Our neighbor next to us also has a Newmar. 42 feet long (compared to my 30 feet). I thought he had been using it since August. That was partially true, they have had the Newmar since August of 2023. Newmar is a very respected, premium motorhome and we got to see the inside of their motorhome. It is also a very luxurious RV. While I am still happy with mine, I like hearing about different features and modifications that can be done to the RV. Like solar panels.
We made up for not moving the RV by having some local adventures. This morning Lexie and I took a 2.5 mile walk around the Devil’s Den grounds and to the ‘botanical gardens’ next door. We walked around a large pond area in the campgrounds that was surrounded by tropical flora. After that we walked to the ‘botanical gardens’ next door to check it out. At 8am we were very early and the gardens weren’t open.
morning hike around Devils Den
Breakfast was scrambled eggs. It is very nice to be able to cook a breakfast and clean up properly with running water afterwards.
Around noon, Vicki and I walked over to Devil’s Den proper. Devil’s Den is the name of an underground spring that is set up for snorkeling and scuba. The cavern itself isn’t very large but I wanted to go snorkeling in it. The water was 72 F, and I didn’t mind getting wet. I didn’t stay in very long, but while there I did see some fish.
going into the sinkhole areaDevils Den sinkholeDevils Den sinkhole with Vickidown to the sinkholeGetting ready for the plungeLooking for the fishesinside sinkhole showing the sunlightSteven swimming from the sunlightsouvenir shirt
The grounds are really geared for scuba diving, there is a large ‘fish pond’ next to the underground spring that has lots of picnic tables and a walking trail. The grounds are easy on the eyes. But it appears that the ‘fish pond’ will be used for scuba lessons.
The rest of the afternoon was spent talking to neighbors (see first paragraphs) and finding better homes for our cargo.
Vicki- it’s pretty interesting to have all these nooks and crannies and storage areas, both inside and outside this RV. Still trying to get better organized. We bought a bunch of storage baskets before we left but you don’t know what you don’t know until you’re living it. Staying 2 days felt like a treat. First time I really relaxed. I’m usually a water baby, but 72 degree water held me back. I’m still trying to warm up from when we left home at -7 degrees and OH at 29 degrees, Tennessee at 21 degrees, etc. Still wearing long sleeves. Picture below captured the southern beauty (and Spanish moss) in this park. The pictures of the ‘pond’ just don’t capture the immensity of it.
(Steven) The mattress heating pad on the bed kept us both warm, maybe a little too warm for me. I will adjust its setting to something less. Vicki liked her warm setting. But we were grateful for the heating pad as the RV itself got very chilly. There was frost all around the campsite when I first got up, but the frost was gone by the time we left at 10am.
Lexi took me for another walk. Thanks to the All Trails app, I found that there was a trail on the Little Tennessee River that Lazy Acres overlooked. We did about 2.5 miles of walking, a great way to start the morning.
Little Tennessee River trailSteve along the Little Tennessee River eastern bank
This was going to be a longer driving day than the previous two days. The ride was smooth through Tennessee and through Georgia until we came close to Atlanta. Even though we took the bypass, and even though we were traveling in the early afternoon, there were still congested areas.
Our first stop of the day was as the Georgia Welcome Center, a few miles south of the Tennessee/ Georgia border. This was our first experience of parking in the ‘truck’ area.
Parking with the big boys
Our second stop was south of Atlanta where we needed to walk around, and get some gas. Not much to say there except I bought 52 gallons of gas. Tank holds 80 gallons.
We arrived at the Interstate RV campgrounds in Byron GA around 4:30 and set up the RV. Since we are not expecting any more freezing weather, I de-winterized the RV. An RV pulled into the spot next to us, and as the gentleman was checking out his set-up, I professed inexperience in de-winterizing and RV. He talked me through it, pointing out where the water heater was and where the anode needed to go. I am sure I would have figured it out, eventually. But it was much easier with an experienced person talking me through it. And now the RV is fully functional with working water (hot and cold) and toilet.
campsite at Interstate RV, Byron GA
Dinner tonight was another prepared meal from our Cleveland grocery store. But the dishes were washed properly and easily afterwards.
Vicki-Hooray!!! Now I feel we are truly glamping – in-the-rig running water. Never took it for a luxury but it’s the game-changer. The late night bathroom trips are no problem now, instead of getting fully dressed and winter-coated to go outside to a rest room in below freezing temps in the middle of the night. Even doing the Atlanta bypass, the traffic is torture. On top of the usual heavy mid-day traffic, add to that the aftermath of a very serious car-truck accident and down the road a totally burned out semi cab. We were thankful for the above traffic view and the Jack Reacher audible book as we sat and inched our way along I-285.
Every day is a new learning adventure. We are thankful for this time together and the nice people we’re meeting along the way. Closed our evening with a game of Azul, then I was up til the wee hours reading.
Game night with Azul. Vicki outscored me 85 to 45. But I am still smiling.
