Fort Fisher, NC

April 17th - Saturday pm Dark, tiny sliver of a moon shining. The high today was 85 degrees

We left Golden Isle this am at 9:45 am and it was 75 degrees, and a beautiful sunny morning to hook everything up and be off. We took route 95 north to Savannah and crossed many bridges, of which I have included several of the pictures. We had seen many ships go past our parked RV at MayPort loaded with "reefers" and we got to see why we saw so many of them, there was a terminal on the St. John River where they unloaded them from the ship and took them to the rail yards so they could complete their journey. Lou explained that many of our imported products come over the seas in this fashion.

We reached South Carolina around 11:00 am and picked up route 17 north to Charleston. Trav, saw the signs for Parris Island and noted many tanks being transported along the highway probably going there.

Route 17 travels along the coast line and the traffic flowed pretty smoothly it ranged from two lanes to four lanes depending on the area we were at. The route was lines with pine trees and a few fan shaped palms mixed in with them. There are many wildflowers along the roadway, some blue and some a very dark burgundy, I tried a picture of the flowers, but we were travelling along at a good speed and it blurred.

I was able to get pictures of the Azelias, which are just beautiful. The ones we saw at St. Simon's Island were beginning to fade a little, but these today were wonderful, so many different colors.

We arrived in Charleston at 1:00 pm and pulled into a lovely shaded parking lot belonging to Walmart and Lou walked across the street to Mickey D's for a chicken salad for each of us, while I walked Estee. The view while we ate our lunch was the tree and the beautiful pine mulch at Walmart. Impressive, don't you think?? Gasoline was $2.62 there.

After lunch Estee crawled up on the sofa on her blanket and slept all afternoon, she is an excellent traveler, for which we are so grateful. Lou talks to everyone that has a Yorkie and brags to them how good she is. Never hear her bark at folks, some peoples dogs aren't controlled very well.

We went through Georgetown, SC and what a smell came from that town, we noted that a huge paper mill is located there on the water and the large sign stated it was International Paper Company. A huge complex, didn't get a picture, was so interested in seeing it myself.

Kris, I saw a cute sign for a Thrift Shop today, Take Two Shop. Thought that was kinda neat.

Unfortunately route 17 goes through Myrtle Beach and what an experience that was, I would have rather driven through Washington, DC It was one red light after another and six lanes of traffic. Michelle, I did get a picture of the Hard Rock Cafe, it is the triangle shaped building. I didn't realize Myrtle Beach is like Branson,MO with shows and entertainment.

We got into North Carolina about 5:15 and Lou decided we would continue on to Fort Fisher, which is close to the ocean and the Atlantic Ocean is what we can see out of our front window. That picture is a bit dark, as it was a little late by the time we got here and found a place to park all on our own, as there is no one on duty at the RV parks on the weekend. We have electricity tonight but nothing else. So it isn't bad.

I fixed baked ham and baked potatoes, peach and C/C salad and poppy seed muffins for dinner and now we are enjoying some fresh coffee.

Tomorrow we are going to explore around here a bit and then head for Camp Lejeune on Monday and stay there a couple of days, to get things sorted out and perhaps some extra cleaning done before heading to see Trav and Noell. We have noted that our plans don't always work out the way we think, however. Sue was kind enough to point out today, that it is cold in PA and a forecast of snow flurries, so we are not in a hurry to get home.

St. Simon's Island, GA

April 17th Saturday - Sunny Beautiful weather - High 85 degrees low humidity

We arrived at St. Simon's Island around 3:00 pm. This is a day that I shall always remember, as it was a dream come true for me.

Let me tell you a little about St. Simon's Island, it is about the size of Manhattan, St Simon's is the largest of the Golden Isles and therefore the most developed. But it's not without its charms - namely a clutch of unconventional churches, some great water sport action and world class golf.

My interest in St. Simon's came about from reading Eugenia Price's many books. She is a world known master storyteller. She has authored over thirty-six books, both fictional and nonfiction. She came to St. Simon's Island to live in 1961 and died there in 1996. She wrote about the early history of the Island with the names and lives of actual citizens. I felt like I knew most of the people that were buried at Christ Church's cemetery.

Lou and I relived the history of James Gould as he came to St. Simon's from Massachusetts to secure Live Oaks for the building of ships. He had a life dream of building a light house and in fact did built the first light house at St. Simon's and was the light house keeper for many years, and later building a wonderful home for his new wife and family. The original lighthouse was destroyed in the Civil War; however, it has been rebuilt, using Mr. Gould's original plans. Lou and I spent several hours touring the museum and reading all there was to read before driving over to Christ Church which the Gould family would have traveled by horse back or by carriage. The trip probably would have taken then an hour by horse, and the way is lined with the beautiful huge Live Oak trees with the beautiful Spanish Moss hanging from them. We remarked if they could talk they certainly would have stories to tell.

The family of John Couper were also very well know in this area, and he perfected the raising of sea cotton along with rotation of crops. Was the owner of a large plantation with slaves that were very well cared for in all ways. All members of the family were forced to leave during the Civil War and when they returned most of their beloved home had been destroyed and Christ Church had been used as a slaughter house; however, the Goulds, Coupers, Wylly, Hamiltons, Kings and several other families worked together and cleaned it up and rebuilt parts of it and reopened the church and it is still used today. In fact, Ms. Price is buried in its cemetery. A pastor was secured and he married one of the granddaughters and that is another story, and in time they were also buried directly behind Christ Church.

As I said a wonderful day and enjoyed by both of us. We returned to the RV park and had dinner here which was a seafood dinner.

Tomorrow we are off to a little further north, but not in a hurry, it is going to get cold up there again. Kris sent us many pictures of the spring flowers in our yard that are in bloom and it almost made us homesick

I might mention, that we had a phone call from Preston this afternoon and he told us that Susie had been admitted to the hospital. She has been having pain and loosing weight for over a month and a diagnosis has not been reached. Hopefully, with the hospitalization the physicians can find the problem and get it taken care of. We ask for prayers for wisdom for the physicians and relief of her pain.

Leaving Mayport, FL

April 16th - Friday Sunny 65 degrees low

What a wonderful sight to wake up to this morning. The Atlantic Ocean with sailors running by our door and the absence of garage mechanics. We were up early and I quickly got our laundry together and stripped our bed and walked across the street to the clubhouse and laundry. What a wonderful surprise to find that the laundry was free.

The clubhouse has a library, copy machine, fax machine, fresh coffee at all times, a large kitchen and craft room with planned activities. Wish we could spend more time here. Hopefully, we can come back here sometime.

We must be out of here by noon, so we are off to Georgia and St. Simonds Island, the spot where Eugenia Price wrote many of her books. Many of her characters are buried there, a place I have always wanted to visit, and DH told me we certainly will go. So we are off.

All of the pictures are from our front door and the rear of our RV. Rather impressive isn't it?

Mayport Naval Station - FL

April 15th - Thursday PM Cool and windy, but still sunny

We awoke once again to the glorious view of the dumpsters and the sound of a back hoes and comealongs. We had a leisurely breakfast awaiting the delivery of our parts. We were told they would be in at 10:00 am.

Kris called and used her computer to find sights where I could get WIFI and also motels that would accept a small dog. We had not had a shower since Sunday and we were in a great need. So we made a plan and Lou and I decided we would leave Estee and go shopping if the parts didn't come. We want to do some redecorating and made a list of what we wanted to purchase.

Lou got interested in his book and I started scrubbing the upholstery on the chairs, ran the sweeper and cleaned out another couple of drawers. I also took off all of the knobs to the cupboards, scrubbed them and polished them and put them back on. Things were looking pretty good and it felt so good to finally accomplish something.

About 1:30 pm the repairman came and said he was going to start on the drive shaft, as the parts had come, so they started and found that one part was wrong, so they called other Chevrolet places in Florida and found the right part, so it had to be driven over, (Steve we thought of you at this point and I must tell you that Lou appreciated your thoughts on the difficult job he had getting the RV off the road). When they started to install the drive shaft, they found the problem, and it was neglect on the last garage, so Lou and I asked for the part to keep in case it is needed later. Finally, after securing the right part and getting it all installed they were able to drive it into the garage and get it up on the rack to check underneath for any additional damage. Everything looked passable, Lou and the mechanic took the RV out for a long road test. Everything was working with the exception of a fuse that was blown from the overuse of the four-way flashers. Once that was replaced, Estee and I took our assigned seating and we were off.

We drove up to Mayport, which is still in Florida, but very close to the Georgia line. We have friends that were here most of the winter and Lou had never been here, and what a time we had getting in here. We asked three different people for the directions to the campground and good three different set of directions, one person sent us down a dead end street, soooo guys, we had to unhook the car, and I backed that out, then I helped Lou turn the RV around and I followed him in the car, we both pulled into a gas station of the base, where a policeman was and asked him, well he gave us the correct address. We got here and it is beautiful. One campsite available for tonight only. Full hook up and TV and internet service. We are right across from the wash house and community center.

As were getting set up Travis called and as I was talking to him, Lou came in the door with a newspaper and two cups of coffee, wonderful!!! It is cool here and we are right on the water. The picture above is from the front of our RV as we backed in. Get sight, wish we could stay longer.

So anyhow folks, we are here and we are heading for the showers after having a dinner of shrimp and something!!

I might add that Coggins Chevy has faxed the final statement to the garage in Clearwater and they will be in contact with us. We hope that they will make this bill right, as it was not our fault, and I have talked with the folks in Clearwater and they have been very gracious to this point. Will keep you all posted.