Catching up.

 It will soon be nearly a month since our last post. Sure, we can blame it on the evil geniuses at Apple who released an upgrade which turned the older iPads into paper weights...or...the changes to their operating system which forced our beloved Blogsy app off the market, but the truth is we have just been having too much fun hanging with good friends in wonderful, but familiar, places, eating well and often.

We returned to Savannah with the intention of knocking about in that lovely city for a couple days-- --DID YOU KNOW that Savannah hosts the second largest St Patrick's Day in the country? The hipe on local news outlets is intense, covering every detail of the preparations and generally chasing away most folks over thirty. In the days prior, we took a day to wander about the beautiful squares in our geriatric way, celebrating some good medical news for our friend and videoing a little "Dance of Joy" in each green spot.  Sorry, these have been embargoed, as well they should be. We can report that many fountains were Kelly Green....

 ...many garden spaces were green and inviting...

 ...and celebratory decorations seem to remain in place for some undetermined interval...   


  
A green haze of pine pollen hung over the campground at Skidaway Park and frequent ablutions for trailer and tow vehicle were required until a cleansing shower cleared the air. In the meantime, we extended our stay several times as we found new friends to enjoy late night ice cream and other local delights.  (One great advantage of the Georgia Park reservation system is that the sites are unassigned, meaning when you score a cancellation to extend your stay, you don't have to move. When you see a site you covet, you can move without new paperwork. Less headaches for staff and patrons.  In the Georgia Parks we have visited, all sites seem spacious and adequate for any type of camper.)

FORT PULASKI

 

 

 When the British burned Washington DC in 1814, an embarrassed nation began construction of 42 "Third System" defensive seacoast forts.  We have visited a few of these but none so well preserved as Fort Pulaski, built on pilings and wooden decking in in a coastal marsh -- built so well that two centuries later it shows not a single crack. Today an obscure turn off the causeway to Tybee Island reveals the well preserved fort with visitors center and introduces us to volunteer and NPS interpreters who brought the place to life. 

TEXTURES OF FORT PULASKI:  ALL BRICKS AND STONE WERE IMPORTED BY SHIP FROM NEW ENGLAND

JEKYLL ISLAND BIKING

Another day we biked the many varied trails of Jekyll Island.  Honestly, I do not  know what that community could do to make it more inviting and rewarding for bike riding! We rode hard all over the island until Al flatted.  We patched up and met our friend Carol for lunch in sight of the Millionaires row.

 

 Wheeled Birding.  Is it any surprise that we only identify birds over a foot tall?

 

 

 

 

Eight days in the Ides of March at Skidaway meant lots of March Madness Basketball, a fair quantity of ice cream and new friends. 

 We decided to bypass the many urban delights of Charleston to join Susannne and Keith at what was promised to be a "Thoreau-like experience." 

 

 DREHER ISLAND STATE PARK

 

 

 WHO COULD DENY IT?  Nearly empty on weekday, Loons swimming and calling at sunrise,  Osprey  lifting HUGE fish just at shoreline, sunsets to calm us and good friends to share it with. With chef Keith at the grill, we didn't miss Charleston dining at all.

 

 

DAVIDSON RIVER

The fun continued as we both secured cherished electric sites at Davidson.  Reunited, we drove to Etowah for pizza at our favorite place and up to the Blue Ridge for sunset at Wagon Road Gap.  The full moon lit the descent. (Did I say how wonderful it is to have Susannne along to remind us just how lucky we are?)  

We hiked in search of waterfalls, ate again at Blue Ridge Pizza,  and when the temperature dropped, we just drove to some favorite places prior to our Pizza fix. 

 Basketball was getting exciting and the barkeep promised us front row seats when the games went off the channels we could receive. There are NO pictures of Patty nursing a beer (and eating yet another Pizza) at the bar.  She claims this as a first.

MASS MURDER AND MAYHEM...the ANTS!

There are also no combat photos of the invasion of huge red headed marsh ants we imported from Skidaway.  We had seen a couple earlier and dispatched them, but nightfall brought a massed attack. They proved unstompable and Patty responded by thumbing them to death and depositing the corpses in the commode. As the bodies piled up and her thumb ran red with blood, she called for illumination, then dispatched Al to seek out the source.  Al wanted to go nuclear with atomized weaponry, but since the battle ground was near the bed, she feared collateral damage.  Finally we used the vacuum to "mop up" and deployed a minefield of little borax bomblets to deal with survivors.  

It might be argued that bringing an iPad into this kind of war zone might cause difficulties -- like  turning it into a BRICK. But, NO, that was all on the geniuses at Apple and might have led to some frustration. This played out at The Alumalina Airstream Rally at Palmetto Cove in South Carolina, but 100+ Airstreams, a couple hundred great folks and lots of food has a palliative effect.   We joined with friends we consider family, met and played with new folks from all over and enjoyed every story and every detail of the lovingly restored trailers we toured. 

We felt a little vintage ourselves on 1 April as we celebrated the start of our seventh year as Airstream owners and nearly 1000 days on the road. (Can you imagine trying to tell your family about that purchase on April Fools day?)