With Fronds Like This

Here's a palm frond I shot on Cockspur Island, near Fort Pulaski, in Georgia.

We had a really good time with Ken (Jack's brother) and Judy for the past few days. Yesterday was just a lazy day, which we both needed. We ended it with a trip to The Shack, a fun restaurant at the foot of their mountain. I had the catfish, and Jack had ribs. We'll have our leftovers for supper tonight!

And tonight finds us at Byram, Mississippi, just south of Jackson. The drive was easy and we stopped just twice -- once for fuel, and another time for a short rest. We had crackers and salami for lunch as we rolled!

Trees on Cockspur Island

Here are some Cockspur Island trees! The first one I shot through one of Fort Pulaski's windows.

Today we drove to Decatur, Alabama, about 3:20, and are tonight at Point Mallard Campground. We drove up the "mountain" to Ken and Judy's, enjoyed a good dinner with them, and then visited their church. It was good to see them, and we'll see them again tomorrow.

Pics from Fort Pulaski

Here are a few photos from our visit to Fort Pulaski yesterday (Monday).  This is the Cockspur Island Lighthouse. We took a 1.5 mile trail out to get this shot:

Here are some photos of the fort itself. Those holes in the brickwork on the outside of the fort are from cannonballs from the North, which ultimately breached the wall, bringing forth the surrender of the fort.

And here's Jack:

Today we got going at the crack of 9:40, unhooked the utilities and hooked up the car, and set out for parts west. After about 6 hours of driving, we made it as far as Waco, Georgia, where we are camped at a Yogi Bear's RV Park.

We went to the WalMart* and got a few supplies, then returned to the RV where we cooked dinner. Tonight we shared a most delicious artichoke and chicken tortellini with artichoke and spinach pesto with plenty of shredded Parmesan.

It's getting a little bit chilly here, with a brisk breeze blowing. But we're cozy inside and getting ready for sleep. Good day!

Fort Pulaski

Today we did some laundry. Then we headed up the road a bit to Fort Pulaski. It's a beautiful fort and was important in the Civil War. Until the Battle of Fort Pulaski, the US defense was limited to brick forts like this one, but, after the beating that this fort took, thanks to the rifling cannons of the North, no more brick forts were built after this.

It was a perfectly lovely day! We really enjoyed the Ranger talk, our walking tour of the fort, the short movie, and the hike we took out to the lighthouse overlook. Photos will come!

This is a clump of sea oats that is growing near the Savannah River, very near our campsite:

Another Day on Tybee Island

These are my sunset photos from the river right behind our campground here on Tybee Island, near Savannah, GA. Do you like these? Which do you like best? Why? Give me your ideas in a comment to this blog. Click "Comment" at the bottom. I moderate my comments (to keep spam out), so you won't see your comment right away.

We had another good day today in Savannah. We began the day with a church service at the Wilmington Island Presbyterian Church. They were nice people, and we particularly enjoyed the children's service.

Next we went home and changed clothes. Then we drove into town and parked at a public garage. It was easy to get in and out of, and, for the 4 hours we were there, it was 8 bucks.

We went to the Telfair Academy Museum, and the Jepson Center. Both had good galleries of art and they were close to each other. At the Telfair Academy, there were several rooms which were set up like the rooms of the house that the building used to be. The rest of the house, including the magnificent Ballroom, were filled with statuary and other artwork.

By this time, of course, we were starved. Tapas by Anna was where we landed and we enjoyed a most delicious Cajun-spiced chicken pizza. We hit a candy store, which featured all sorts of things, including caramel corn and pralines. We got Jack some popcorn and me some caramel corn (with pecans!) and we muched on these as we made our way down Savannah's sidewalks to our parking garage.

We returned to our RV Park, where we sat and talked a bit with Beth and Ken, a couple we had met at church. They suggested the North Beach Grill right up the road, here on Tybee Island. We found the food to be delicious! Jack had a flounder with sauteed vegetables on top, and he loved it. I had a great piece of salmon, perfectly cooked, with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus. We understand that this restaurant is under new ownership and we agree that these folks have a good thing going.

Now we're back here in our RV, goming out and watching some tube. Ahhh :)

Savannah, Georgia

Today, we bought a tour on the Old Town Trolley Tour in Savannah, Georgia. And what a nice tour it was! Our tour director for the first part was a man named Jack, and he told us much about the town. We had a get-on-get-off tour, which was a good thing. We got off at stop 13 -- the City Market. We had pizza slices at VinnieVanGoGo's, pictured just above. This was a delicious slice, with a nice crispy crust and plenty of tasty toppings.

After a bit of shop prowling, we stopped for ice cream at Leopold's, also pictured above. I randomly chose the Tutti Frutti ice cream, and, as luck would have it, this is THE store for which the song "Tutti Frutti" was written by Johnny Mercer, a Savannah favorite son. And it was great! Jack enjoyed his Rum Raisin, too.

We shot a few more photos, and then found the Owen Thomas house, which we toured. It was a neat tour, and gave us some insight into how the people lived in the early 1800's. We caught our bus back to our car and then went off in search of.. dinner!

We decided to explore Tybee Island a little, but were dismayed to discover that we couldn't find anyplace to park free to eat at a restaurant that looked good. (We have a problem with having to pay to park, in order to pay to eat!) So we ended up at a sort of dirty diner, where we dined on burgers, fries, and salads. Not bad. Hey.. we can't have ALL good food, can we? ;)

We returned to our RV, and then ran right back out to capture the sunset over the river. Look for those photos in this space in days to come!

We're in Savannah!

We drove southward today, landing, after about 5 hours, on Tybee Island, south of Savannah. This seems like a beautiful part of the world, though we arrived too late to see much. Along our way, we stopped just three times: the South Carolina Welcome Station, Cracker Barrel, and BP. The drive was pretty easy, though we did come through some quite narrow streets on our way out here to this island.

I was sure that, with all this eating, I had put on a few pounds, and, having bought that new scale yesterday in Raleigh, I was able to confirm my fears this morning. 145.4 is where I am now. I'm still wearing my size 8's, but they are a bit tight. So I'm ready to see if I can bring that number down again. Gadz.. I'd really like to keep it down, too, this time.

This photo, by the way, is from Mystic Seaport. This is another one of the ship called Australia, which is being restored.

Jack's Birthday

We had a good day today today in Raleigh, NC! We began with some shopping. I wanted to get a scale for the RV, so that the weight watching can continue while we travel. Makes sense to me! I found a nice one and ... you'll see the results over to the right. It's not going to be a pretty number for a few weeks!

Then we went to Best Buy so that I could upgrade my Garmin. To just get maps for my very old one would be $70, so I decided to spring for the extra $200 and get a new one. This is the 1450T which includes lifetime maps and free lifetime traffic updates. It also has junction view and lane assist. Sweetness! We started using it right away and I really like it!

We went next to the Statehouse to get some photos. The building is not in use anymore as an actual legislative building, but it's still standing, at least, and they're using it for a museum. The interesting thing was the placards on the walls, depicting and describing some of the important legal doings that have happened here. Most of it concerned the role of slavery and the secession decision for North Carolina.

We both found it interesting that, as a state, it seems that North Carolina is somewhat apologetic about their role in the secession, like they didn't *really* want to do it. At the time of the Civil War's beginning, fully 1/3 of the residents of NC were slaves. Zow.

We got a few groceries, took them back here, and then went off to get some dinner. Tonight we did Texas Steakhouse. We got the appetizer plate, Jack got a Caesar salad, and I had the chili. It was very good, but we had to beg for more water. Jack was happy with his birthday dinner, and with the free ice cream that they brought afterwards!

Near Raleigh, NC

This photo is from Mystic Seaport, in Mystic, Connecticut. I love taking photos of rage and ruin!

Last evening, Jack made us a wonderful dessert! It's Betty Crocker's Reeses Dessert Bars from an easily-done no-bake (microwave) mix. And how delicious they are! You do have to cut far smaller pieces than you want, though, in order to get just the 150 calories per serving. ;)

This afternoon finds us relaxing in the RV after a relatively easy driving day. We got a late start and drove just 3 hours, punctuated by lunch at a very accessible Cracker Barrel and a fuel stop at the ideal place: a Pilot which had clearly labeled an island just for diesel RV's. Easy!

The weather has warmed considerably getting up to 89° today. So we went from jackets and heaters to shorts and A/C in just a couple of days!

This is a pleasant KOA campground located south of Raleigh about 40 minutes in a community called Smithfield. It has everything we need, and soon we'll head off in search of some food.

Near Norfolk

This is a photo from the Wadsworth Athenean.


Today was another splendid day. We got started at the crack of 10:30 and drove down through Delaware, Maryland, and a little bit of Virginia before reaching the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. What a cool feat of engineering this was! We enjoyed the pretty drive, and went to the little island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay for lunch. I had delicious chicken salad in a hollowed out tomato with clam chowder. Jack had the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich.


Then we found the Chesapeake Campground at Chesapeake, VA. While it's a nice enough campground, it has gotten sort of run-down, and is now largely used by working folks who live in their RV's full-time. But it  is the least expensive campground we've visited this trip, at $25/night.


Jack and I decided to take a little drive this evening around the Norfolk, VA area, so we unhooked the car, and off we went! We set the GPS before we left, so we'd find the campground again. Around and around we went, exploring all the nooks and crannies and finding some .. uh... interesting areas! Then, as the sun was setting, and we were set to go back, we asked the GPS to return us to the campground.


We followed its directions with no problems, till it said, "Drive 147 miles."
"What?" we both asked it in unison. What had happened is that the GPS didn't quite know yet where we WERE when we told it that this was the campground. So it still thought that we were at our LAST campground and it was directing us THERE!
Jack remembered that we'd stopped at an auto supply store just up the street from the campground to get a new headlight for the RV (finally!), I found the receipt with the address, and we put that in. Whew! So now we're tucked back into our cozy little home away from home!