Georgia

     We drove into Georgia listening to news stories about Atlanta covered with ice and snow and at a virtual standstill.  We found that the coast was warmer, somewhat.  We camped outside of Savannah and were very relieved to find that the temperature didn't fall below freezing and we had free flowing water in the mornings!  Coffee in the morning and showers in the trailer.  It is amazing how much we appreciate normal things when we go without them for awhile!

     We explored Savannah.  The town is full of beautiful old buildings and shifting history.  We signed on with a tour bus entrepreneur that had many stops where you could get off and similar buses came by every fifteen minutes.  I was uncomfortable being quite so touristy, but what the heck, we are tourists.  Each driver seemed to have a little different story about historical events, and a local exercising his dog, Mike, had even different stories.  I couldn't help but laugh as he would say "sit Mike" or "stay Mike".  Mike didn't think it was quite as funny.

     I loved the narrow streets lined with live oaks, palm trees and narrated by many tour bus companies' drivers on microphones. At first, I couldn't believe that "live oaks" were really a type of oak because they are not deciduous.  They have small green leaves that don't look anything at all like the oak leaves I am familiar with.  But then, I found small acorns under the trees.  I guess they are oaks.

      We saw houses of generals, poets, authors and musicians.  We saw houses of just common filthy rich people.  We say old houses that no one knows anything about. Some are museums, some are hotels or bed and breakfasts, some are office buildings and some are just plain old residences.   But they were routinely beautiful.

        This is the oldest, biggest or maybe just a big live oak on the tour route.  We walked through the Colonial Park Cemetery.  According to the tour guides, this old cemetery was virtually destroyed by confederate soldiers who camped inside the grounds.  According to dog Mike's owner, it has been vandalized by many people, including soldiers before the city restored it for tourists.  Whatever the history, many graves were destroyed and tomb stones moved, knocked over and broken.  The City took many stones for which they couldn't not locate a grave and placed them along the outside wall.

Life wasn't as predictable in the past.  People couldn't rely on medical science

to save them from diseases or count on reaching old age.  And old age came earlier!

                                                             Childbirth was risky!

                                                           These are not tables!

This marker is for Sophia, wife of Charles Gildon, Esq.  I am not sure whether she or her husband were from Connecticut.  However, I can't help but notice the wife is only age 11 years and 9 months.

               Carts hauling cotton used to stop under these walkways for grading.

                                                  I love the Spanish Moss!

                                           Just your average yard art pieces.

                                                                  Perhaps an Easter bonnet?

     This statute commemorates a woman who waved at passing ships from 1868 through 1943.  The tour guide said that "it is rumored" that she was waiting for a lover to come back from the Civil War.  Though I question the veracity of some of the tour guide statements, we thoroughly enjoyed our tour!

     We next went to Jekyll Island, Georgia.  Jekyll Island is owned by the State of Georgia.  Only 35% of it is allowed to be developed. There are a few hotels on the east side and shops on the west side.  There are a few houses for which the owners lease land from the State.  It has dunes and white sand beaches on the east side and swamps and small rivers on the west.  The woods are primarily live oak trees, pine trees and palm bushes are the predominant underbrush and all of the flora has Spanish moss hanging from it.  The entire island is circled by a bike/walking trail.  We stayed in the only campground which was home to many northerners staying for one to five months.  We met up with Aunt Joyce and Uncle Dick from New Hampshire who spend two months every winter enjoying the Georgia air.  Uncle Dick is an avid golfer and there are large courses on the island.  He regaled us with stories of alligators on the golf course and burrs in the grass. 

                                                  Swamp views from Jekyll Island

                                               The bike path felt like a mystical trail from a magical
                                                tale.  The trees hung over the path and the Spanish
                                                Moss reached for any travelers.  I loved it!

           I do hope that I get to experience Jekyll Island again in my lifetime.  It is a magical place!

South Carolina

         We entered South Carolina along the coast and headed to Charleston.  I was amazed by how flat South Carolina is along the coast, and in fact locals refer to it as "low country" and some restaurants serve low country cooking, which as near as I can tell, combines local seafood (lots of oysters) with okra and other commonly "southern foods".  I found that my photography is not only challenged by my camera breaking and having to use Mike's point and shoot, but I really don't know how to take flat pictures.  There are miles and miles of swamp land that make accessing much of the coast hard.  We did stop to play on the beach and found that it was beautifully white and crystalline.  Louie was quite confused to stand on sand and for a while didn't want to move at all.  He did eventually follow Bernie's lead and walk on the sand.

                                                   Lots of swamps!

Such white sand!

          We walked through the historic area of Charleston.  The houses are grand and stately and many of them are so large that it is hard to imagine only one family residing inside.  Many of these houses line the edge of the harbor and park.  You have a feeling of seeing shadows of ladies in long elaborate dresses and men in top hats.  Then I also think about the slaves that lived and worked here as well.  For some residents it was a
glorious life and for others, I am sure there was much pain. 

                    What is this horse for?  Is it left from times when you needed to tie up your horse?

                            
            We camped at one of the nicest KOAs we have been found.  It was on a peninsula that poked out into a lake with many beautiful birds.  Egrets, geese and several kinds of ducks all flew away as I walked two dogs near them; I never got a decent picture.  Again, our pipes froze overnight.  I woke up, unable to make coffee because we had no water.  I grabbed my shower gear and walked through the freezing air to the showers.  The first thing I saw in the bathroom was a warning not to walk in the woods because of the poisonous snakes.  I need coffee before I tackle snake information!  I did walk the 1.5 mile nature trail that goes along the lake and doubles back through the woods wondering if the sign meant, don't take their prepared trail also.  When I was near camp, I heard some rattling.  In the west I have often been spooked by grasshoppers that sound like rattle snakes so my first thought was to think, it is probably a grasshopper.  Then I realized any grasshopper would have frozen the last few nights and I hadn't heard any others.  I very, very, very cautiously walked on the far edge of the trail and tiptoed away.  I didn't see it, but I believe that it was a rattlesnake.  I did see some cardinals flying through the trees.  I still am enchanted by red birds fluttering around.  They are so beautiful!

The trail.

There is a cardinal in there.

                                              I love the Spanish Moss which is neither moss nor Spanish.
                                              It is actually an air plant that lives on dirt and water from the air.

                                            This monument to the Confederate soldiers was paid for by the wives
                                            and widows of soldiers.  I do find the statute a somewhat weird tribute though.

We went to a museum that had a World War II submarine and the USS York open to the public.  First we went in the sub, the USS Clamagore.  I had never been in a submarine before.  With just Mike and I inside and after living in an RV for several months, it didn't seem as small as I expected.  Then I thought about what it would be like with 80 men on it, and I could understand the claustrophobia that historians describe.  I think that an official mediator might have been a good position to routinely include in the crew.  One more person wouldn't make that much difference in roominess.

The enlisted men's bunks were anywhere they would fit.  On top of or under torpedoes was frequent.

                                                                 Dining area.

                                                             Engines on both sides.

                                                    Looking up the hatch.

                                        Officer's bunks.  They had a little more privacy and room.

                                                 Mike looked very professional going through the doors!

                            Lots of long narrow hallways with machinery, pipes and cords everywhere.

             When Mike was in the Navy reserves, he was scheduled to spend two weeks on the
              USS Yorktown.  Instead he obtained a leave to marry his first wife.  This was his first time on
               the ship.

                                              Looking at the USS Yorktown.

                                             This radar device looks like a tumor.

The tail hook.

Mike trained and worked on the S-2 Tracker when he was in the Navy.  He was excited to see one on the flight deck in good condition.

                                            Mike is telling other tourists about the S-2 Tracker.

                                                            Flight deck.

                                               Operations rooms.

                                           Planes below decks.

           These shirts we seriously considered buying for our grandsons, who informed us at Christmas time,
"we don't say darn in this house".  I soon learned just how often I say darn.  It was a darn challenge!

     I have always thought of North Carolina as part of the South.  However, when we entered South Carolina, we knew we had arrived.  The accents are very thick, and the pace has slowed considerably.  My cousin, raised in Alabama, used to refer to the "Northern panic" when he moved to Pennsylvania.  My sister, raised in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, referred to the "manana mentality" when she moved to the Carolinas.  We definitely have different paces and attitudes in the different areas of our large country!