Month: April 2019

DAY #167

Woke up to light rain and got the trailer ready to hit the road. The plan today was to first go up to Augusta and stop at Camping World (Gander RV) to have the leaks checked, and then proceeding on to the next stop in the journey, Dreher Island State Park outside Chaplin, SC.

On the road by 8:30 and the trip up to Augusta took a little over an hour drive time. I noticed as I got closer to Augusta the terrain began to become more hilly, along with the foliage bursting with life (so green) it made for some nice vistas along the drive.

Pulled into the Gander RV lot by 9:30 am and they opened at 10:00 am. I was able to get the service advisor on it right away. That was a positive start and I thought this might be just like the experience with the water heater, in and out in just a couple of hours.

At around 1:30 pm having not heard from the advisor, I began to suspect that this wasn’t going to be a simple fix. Went in to the building and found the advisor, it seems that they were short technicians (out sick) and they had to get new deliveries ready before they could check my unit out, hence the delay…ARGH!!! A couple hours later, the advisor emailed informing me that they had looked at the unit and determined that the entire roof had to be resealed, that is what was causing the leak. What, no way I thought, the damn things not even a year old. And it just got better, not only did it need to be resealed, the warranty would not cover the cost.

After arguing the warrantability of the work required, and after the service advisor tried to contact Keystone (the manufacturer) and getting no response since the offices had already closed, and given it was Friday and Keystone could not be contacted until Monday at the earliest, I opted to have the work done and I would have to pay for it and see if I could get Keystone to cover the costs after the fact (good luck with that I thought).

The next concern was how long would it take, I didn’t really want to hang around Augusta for days waiting for the work to be completed. Fortunately, they could start the work today and it would be finished tomorrow. This meant only spending one night in Augusta, I could handle that.

The cost of doing this? $550.00 (major ouch), plus the cost of a motel room for the night. Not having much choice, I gave the go ahead and they reassured me it could be completed by tomorrow. I was being tested, big time.

I found a Motel 6 not far from RV Gander and proceeded to book it online. Getting there it looked pretty good on the outside, and the lobby and person working there impressed so I thought, this might not be too bad. I got up to the room and oh oh, things changed quickly. The room lacked a table/desk/chair to sit and the floors were of a cheap looking faux hardwood. The room looked out over the pool (which actually looked pretty good) but the window had a permanent haze to it. The walls and doors looked to have taken a few beatings in their lifetime, and while the bathroom was OK, I forgot my flip-flops and I wasn’t going to stand in the tub barefoot to take a shower, I didn’t want to take any souvenirs from my stay here (like fungal infection). The bed looked alright and the TV was the highlight of the room. Of course, soon after I laid down on the bed, I began itching, was it bed bugs or just my imagination? luckily for me, it turned out just to be my imagination.

I must have been pretty bummed out because all I did was sleep, hell, I even slept through the whole night.

It was not one of my better days.

DAY #166

Today I drove into Savannah to see the historic part of the city. The drive took about two hours and gave me the opportunity to see a little more of the Georgia countryside. The roads were good and the traffic surprisingly light and while not looking much different than that around Millen, it still was a pleasant and satisfying drive. One thing that’s becoming apparent is the growing dislike of being in urban areas, it seems the more time I spend away from it, the less tolerance I have when in it.

I arrived at the start point for the 90 minute mini bus tour with plenty of time to spare which was a good thing because it was a little confusing finding just exactly where to board the bus, and where I could park. As I started to feel a growing anxiety, I reminded myself to just relax and it will work out and you know what, that’s exactly what happened,

After getting on the bus (along with three other couples) we began our tour. It only took me a few minutes to realize that there is just so much to see, and the tour at best would give only a glimpse of the historic part of the city.

Sit back and enjoy the ride as we see some of the sights of historic Savannah, Georgia.

To properly see old Savannah, you need to give yourself one and better yet, two full days of walking around, that’s the ideal way to do it.

The last part of the tour brings you down by the river where cotton was loaded onto ships. It was an interesting area not done justice by the few photos that follows. I really regret not getting more photos of this area.

It was such a super nice late morning outside (the tour started at 10:00) and from what I was able to see, this is one very cool place to spend time. I’ll be back and next time do the town right.

From Savannah, I crossed the bridge and headed for the Hilton Head, South Carolina area. Since this would be the last time on the journey to spend some time near/on the ocean, I booked a dolphin cruise that would take me out into the Atlantic for a ninety minute trip.

Specifically, I needed to go to Sea Pines Resort on the island to get to the dolphin cruise which was out of a place called Harbor Town. The ride from Savannah was along two lane rural highway and took a little over an hour to get to the destination. It was a nice drive even with heavy traffic. Crossing over from the mainland to Hilton Head Island required paying a toll ($1.25) and as I crossed, the makeup of the area went from rural/moderate to poor, to developing/affluent in a snap. I will say that the development was done in a tasteful manner. most retail and commercial was tucked back away from the road and screened by trees.

Entering Sea Pines Resort cost $8.00 to enter and really surprised me, I wasn’t expecting to have to pay and especially that much (ouch). But pay I did, and proceed I did to Harbor Town. Once there, I found the place packed with no place to park. I wasn’t too happy about the situation but I was able to take it stride and remain calm (score one for me) as I continued to and finally found a spot to park. After paying $8.00 to get in and then being so close to the cruise, I wasn’t going to just give up and head back (although I briefly thought about it). I had to take a bit of a hike to get to the pier but in the end it turned out to be worth it, besides I certainly couldn’t complain about getting some exercise.

At 2:45 pm people began to board the boat and get ready to head out to open water. The ship was relatively large and carried at least 100 people. The weather that had started out so beautifully in the morning, was carrying over into the afternoon.

We left exactly at 3:00 pm and as we pulled away from the dock you could see the rental jet skiers and parasailers in the distance, this was an aquatic playground that’s for sure.

The Island and the resort while being a really nice place, was for the most part out of my league. As I was waiting for the cruise to board I asked a women working one of the kiosks how working class people could afford to live in the area. She told me that was one of the biggest problems businesses had, they couldn’t hire enough people because of the lack of affordable housing. People were now coming from the mainland but even there, housing was becoming more and more expensive as the area continues to develop. This was definitely the place to be if you can afford it.

It didn’t take long before dolphins were sighted. Nothing gets you excited like a sighting of dolphins, they are so cool.

We continued out towards the Atlantic where I was able to take one long last look at the water, I’m really going to miss not being able to go to the oceans edge.

As we made our way back it was pointed out that this island named Daufuskie is where the movie Conrack took place. There are only about 300 permanent residents, and the only way to get on of off is by boat or plane. What a dichotomy, either your very rich (and white) or very poor (and black).

DAY #165

The sky’s had somewhat cleared up and more importantly, the temperature had warmed up so I decided to do some meandering around the area.

What better place to start than the park. Magnolia Springs State Park was the site of Camp Lawton, a confederate POW camp. There isn’t anything left from the original fort other than some earthen berms.

Let’s start with the spring that the park derives its name from. Compared to the springs in Florida, this one’s pretty small but it’s home to fish, turtles and even an alligator which I only saw one time, the rest of the time I’m not sure where it was hanging out.

The park was on the small side but offered a couple of nice looking trails (that I didn’t check out), there were lots of trees separating the camping area from the day use area. One thing that was so cool to see were the trees budding, oh yeah, springtime is alive and well in Southeast Georgia.

What I’m about to show has never before been seen. You may want to take the kids out of the room before viewing.

See what the inside of a Georgia State Park bathroom/shower looks like.

After leaving the park, just wandered around in no specific direction.

I think that photos of buildings/homes give a glimpse of the history & the evolving culture of the area.

Traveling through the countryside, came across a grove (?) of pecan trees.

Behind the park ran a dirt road that was interesting to drive down. It was so cool, while driving down this road, I came across five (yes five) cardinals. They are such pretty birds and having seen all of them, wow, I’ve got a lot of folks looking out for me.

The dirt road brought me to Perkins, Ga where I saw this building, kind of unexpected.

As I was heading back to the park I came across this church hidden away along a heavily forested road. It’s history goes back to the 1850’s and included a graveyard across the road that looked to be long forgotten.

A couple of things I’ve noticed since coming up to this part of the state. There are lots and lots of trailer houses in various states of condition, and I know I’m back in the south, what with all the churches everywhere and anywhere.

It was an enjoyable day seeing glimpses and flashes of history of the area. I do love the south.

DAY #164

Today was a washout. It was rainy and cold (relatively speaking). It was a good day to just sit around and watch TV as it faded in and out, and to go online with my poor Verizon service. Damn verizon, I noticed even in town that the strength of Verizon’s signal was weak, geez we’re not that far out in the sticks.

One concerning thing that I noticed from the rain, was water coming in around the vent in the bathroom. This time it was leaking from the other side of the vent edge. I wiped it up and and the leak stopped. I also noticed water leaking in from one side of the slideout (just great). I did some checking and came to the conclusion the water was getting around the seal because the trailer was at a bit of a slant to the right (at least that’s what I was hoping). They didn’t seem like major issues but the leak around the vent was reoccuring. I did some checking and found a Camping World in Augusta, GA, that hopefully would check the situation out and put an end to the water leaking. I Gave them a call and after a bit of phone tag, was able to set up an appointment on the way to the next destination. Going to Augusta would not take me out of my way and I was hoping this could be a quick fix.

Tomorrow was promising to be a nicer day.

DAY #163

I tend to be a very impulsive person. Today I brought the truck and trailer to Billy Bobs consignment and BBQ in Downtown Millen, to see how much they’d give me. After some back and forth negotiations, they offered $25,000 + a full rack of ribs and three sides. I decided to take their offer after they threw in three bags of pork rinds (big bags), and now I’m heading to Costa Rica to start a new life, including changing my name (how does Don Hope sound). This means that first I’ll have to max out all my credit cards and perhaps take out a couple of get as much as I can loans. If your going to burn bridges and start a new life, need to burn them all.

Once set up, I plan on starting a new blog, of course it will be in Spanish. Adios USA, hola Costa Rica.

APRIL FOOLS !

Ended up doing very little today, Other than going into town and picking up some chicken from popeyes (I like their rice and beans), just hung out around the campsite in a catatonic state.

Oh yeah I forgot, did go into town and happened upon this building, who knew.

DAY #162

It’s spring in Georgia and that means the azaleas are in bloom. They seem to be everywhere and are such beautiful flowers.

Today’s blog has been dedicated to these gorgeous flowers, let’s take a look at some of them.

Sadly, they only flower for about a week but when they’re in bloom, just beautiful. So fortunate that I got to see them.

DAY #161

Nice Day, nice park, nice place to be.

Didn’t do much today. I did take a drive up to Waynesboro, GA which is only 15 minutes away, and checked out the local Walmart. I must be getting spoiled, I’ve become so used to Walmart Supercenters that going to a just a plain old run of the mill Walmart is somewhat disappointing. It doesn’t have the bakery and deli selections which I’ve come to rather enjoy.

On the ride back, I got off the main road which was a four lane highway and took the back roads to get a feel of the area.

Noticed the topography of the land changing from flat to slightly rolling hills and while the harvesting of trees remained widespread, more and more fields (farming) began to enter the picture. I did notice that the type of pines were a different variety from what I’d seen throughout Florida and around the Okefenokee.

It was a nice day to spend in the country.

DAY #160

Time to leave Fargo, Stephen C. Foster State Park, and the Okefenokee Swamp. As I had mentioned, the Okefenokee was someplace I had always wanted to visit and after my time here, I wasn’t disappointed. What’s stayed with me the most from my time at the park, was the few hours spent meandering through the swamp (see I told you it would be fun once safely back on dry land).

Time spent on the road getting to the next destination was about 3 1/2 hours, and a nice mellow drive on state highways it was. This part of Georgia remains flat and mainly covered by trees (pines). Timber looks to be the main source of income for the area. It also was very rural which I really liked. It made for a quiet and laid back setting (at least for me).

Pulled into Magnolia Springs State Park and after checking in went to the campsite.

The site was not bad. Not a lot of foliage between sites so you didn’t have that feeling of solitude but they were large enough that you had ‘your space.’ Setting up went without a hitch (I’m grateful for that), and I was at my new home for the next week.

OTA TV was decent in number of channels available, and the selection of stations was fairly diverse in its programming. I did notice that there was a tendency for the stations to fade in and out, which would prove to be frustrating. Verizon strength was week but useable.

One thing I noticed after setting up, the ground wasn’t as level as I thought so I had a bit of a lean to the trailer, not bad enough to undo everything and jockey around but still noticeable

DAY #159

Today, I put on my somewhat adventurous hat and headed to the administration building, I was going to rent a boat and go out into the infamous Okefenokee swamp.

I rented a boat for $60.00 and that was for four hours. The boat was what’s called  a “Jon boat” and included a 10 hp mercury outboard.  I could have rented a canoe or kayak but as I mentioned, I was only somewhat adventurous.

The boat has a flat bottom so it’s not a very good choice for being on water that has any depth, which means waves, but since the swamp has virtually no waves and is relatively shallow (5-8‘), it’s a perfect choice.

Getting in the boat I just about went straight off the other side, luckily, I caught and righted myself and other than being really embarrassed, I was set to go.  Off I  went from the dock and through the man-made canal to the swamp. It’s a no wake zone through the canal so you have to go slow, the canoeists don’t’ like getting into a wake and getting tipped over.

The first part of the swamp explored was wide, it almost seemed like being on a river. I took this approx. 1.5 miles downstream.

Going further along I saw a couple more of Okefenokee’s finest,  I continued down the swamp about as far as allowed in this direction, and then headed back upstream.

Headed back the same way I had just come, and it was just as scenic and enjoyable the second time as it was the first. Continued to head upstream for approx. 3 miles, and then it was turn around and head back.

The last branch that I took was also the longest, you could navigate back 9 miles into the swamp. It was getting on in the day and I knew I wasn’t going to make it all nine miles, I was going to go as far as I felt comfortable. This part of the swamp while being the longest stretch, was also the narrowest and most swamp-like, I gotta tell you, I was getting a little anxious about going into this part of the swamp.

Taking the ‘Jon’ boat back into the swamp was for me, a relearning experience. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a flat bottom boat, and just as long since I’ve run a boat sitting back by the motor. Had to get reacquainted to the throttle and steering. steering the boat reminded me of backing up the travel trailer, if you want to go left you turn right, and vica-versa (?). As time passed, sitting in the back of the boat my left arm always behind me operating the motor, oh baby, my back and especially my arm started getting stiff, to say nothing about my butt that was going to sleep. Why oh why didn’t I bring a pad to sit on?

I made it about 3.5 miles back in and everything was adding up for me to call it a day and head back. Part of me wanted to continue but it was getting late, and my body was saying, enough for today. OK, another factor was that I was a bit intimidated by the swamp, and was somewhat anxious about going further alone.

The further I went the more remote it became. The channel was getting narrower and now I was having to frequently navigate around cypress trees. I did pass one other couple, but other than them, I was all alone in the Okefenokee Swamp. It was a scary yet adventurous feeling, and yes, it was fun. Actually the fun part began when I got back to the dock and safely out of the swamp.

I had noticed when first taking out the boat, the front being banged up, in fact all of the ‘Jon’ boats (approx. 10) had banged up fronts, I wondered how that happened. I found out after running into two cypress trees myself while on the way out. I think being unfamiliar with the boat and motor, and being physically tired, along with the narrowness and current of the water, were factors behind it. I was little embarrassed until I realized, who was there to see me?

it was a good feeling when I came out of the last branch of the swamp and it open water. took it back to the dock, did a pretty good job bringing the boat in and then headed back to the trailer.

I was feeling good, I had gotten to spend time in the infamous Okefenokee Swamp.