I 💚 Savannah

We thoroughly enjoyed exploring Savannah, GA.  I love a good old cemetery and Savannah has one of the best - Bonaventure Cemetery.  The pictures are a sample of some of the beautiful headstones and sculpture we saw.  They are in no particular order and of no specific historic figure's grave - although there were plenty of those to see if you wish.  Without realizing just how big the cemetery was, we started to just walk around.  Once we got lost, we asked a groundskeeper for directions back to the gate.  Then we saw the office where you could get a map, which we did and took a more intentional walk around some of the older more spectacular headstones.  

While some of the photos attempt to capture it, it is hard to appreciate without seeing it on a larger scale, how the dripping Spanish moss adds to the character and ambience of this cemetery.  It is somber and serene.

 

       

           

Our next stop was Tybee Island.  This beach community is "Georgia's Peach of a Beach."  I have to agree.  While it was not "beach weather" we still enjoyed walking the pier and small strip of beach shops.  There was just something about this place that instantly felt like home.  

Looking towards the beach

On the pier looking north.

From the pier looking south.

At the end of the pier, looking towards town.

Artwork on the Pavillon

I LOVE LIFE

Historic downtown Savannah - We took a narrated tour around Savannah so we could get a good look at the city.  It was amazing.  I've never seen a city like this.  Not only is it gorgeous because of the carefully planted live oak trees which create stunning canopies and a sense of coziness that is rare in a city, but it features 22 squares laid out across the city.  Each square is a mini-park.  And to top if all of is Forsyth Park featuring this spectacular fountain.

 

Another notable feature is the free downtown area transit shuttle.  Every 10 min or so you can get on this free shuttle and various places across the city.  After taking the narrated tour, we used DOT to go back to a few spots we wanted to explore further on our own.  This was a GREAT option!

https://www.connectonthedot.com/

While in Savannah, we stayed at Skidaway Island State Park.  This campground was about 20 min outside downtown Savannah and we loved it.  We had an enormous site, and the campground was lovely.  This is somewhere I would gladly return. 

Entering Skidaway State Park, Savannah, GA

South Carolina State Parks

We have stayed in three different SC State Parks for the last 10 days, so I decided to share them all in one post.

Twin Lakes Campground, Clemson, SC

NOTE:  I listed Twin Lakes Campground as a SC State Park in error.  Twin Lakes is actually an Army Core of Engineers campground.  (Corrected 12/1/18)

We were only at this park for one night.  We were in the area to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins.  This is a beautiful park and we would absolutely return.  We had a sandy beach site.

View looking towards the lake from our site.

View from the shore.

Looking from the beach back up to our site.

Of the 3 SC parks, the bath house at this park was our least favorite.  We shower in the campground showers to save space in our gray tank and because an RV shower has to be quick before the hot water runs out.  In this case the water was not what I'd call hot, so... it was still a pretty quick one :-) . Since we weren't here very long I can't say too much else about the park.  The campground is nestled between two lakes (hence the name) and so almost every site is on the water.

Lake Greenwood State Park, Ninety-six, SC

We were at this park for Thanksgiving.  While there were empty sites when we arrived on Monday, by Wednesday the place was packed, and every site was full for Thanksgiving.  Never having camped at Thanksgiving before, we were unprepared for how busy campgrounds are at this time.  We had tried several other campgrounds for a reservation this week only to find them all already booked.  It makes sense that when you live somewhere warm enough to camp in November that lots of folks would take advantage of the holiday to get in one last hurrah.  

Beautiful moonlit night.

View from our site.  Rocky shore line.

Our evening's entertainment - many nights.

We would give the park an OK rating.  We didn't love it, we didn't hate it, but we wouldn't go back.

Huntington Beach State Park, Murrells Inlet, SC

This is the ideal campground.  We have a spacious site, with plenty of room between other sites and campers.  We are able to walk across the road and over a board walk to the ocean and the most amazing beach.  The water in the showers is so hot you actually have to use cold water also and there is free wireless.  We were on site 12, which is an outstanding location.  The bathhouse was "in our backyard" and the ocean was in our front yard.  The wireless router is housed in the bathhouse so the signal at our site was excellent.  There is also a nice campground gift store with basics and lots of cute touristy stuff.  There is a paved bike path which runs north and south from the campground.  We rode it for a bit, but it runs so close to the highway that all you could hear was traffic noise.  Walking the beach was a better option. 

The boardwalk to the beach.

The approach from the boardwalk to the beach.

Huntington Beach.

Site 12

This campground is in a busy oceanfront area, near Myrtle Beach.  Other nearby attractions include Pawley's Island and Georgetown, SC.  We took a drive to Georgetown and walked around the quaint downtown.  It's got cute shops and several restaurants.  We had a nice lunch at Rollin' Local.  We have friends who live in Murrells Inlet, so another bonus of our visit was getting to spend time with them.

Kelly, Carol, John and Gina

Thanksgiving Top 10 List

We've learned so much since we started RVing less than one month ago.  Some of what we've learned is how to do things (attach the towing hitch, level the camper, dump the black water tank 😧) and some of it is about things that make life easier/better/smoother living the full-time dream.  This is a list of 10 things that have come into our life since we started RVing that I'm thankful for on Thanksgiving.

1.  Unlimited Data - We opted to upgrade to Beyond Unlimited with Verizon Wireless for our wireless access.  This has worked out very well so far.  We can get on our iPad, computer, Kindle and Roku using a wireless hotspot.  We use the Waze app daily for directions and so far have had plenty of data and plenty of connectivity.  Unlimited data makings blogging (and so much more) possible.

2.  Amazon Locker - This was a truly marvelous discovery.  While trying to figure out where to have an Amazon package shipped, I noticed a shipping option was Amazon Locker, so I clicked on it and found that you can select a locker to have your package shipped to in thousands of locations across the country.  You put in a zip code and it gives you a list of the nearest lockers.  When you ship to the locker, you are emailed an access code.  When you go to the locker, you enter the access code and the locker containing your package pops open.  Needless to say, being on the road having an address to get stuff shipped to is a challenge, so this was a great relief to discover!  This locker was located at a Quik Trip Convenience Store in Greenville, SC.

That package contains the next two things on my list.

3.  RV Hose Water Filter - We noticed at First Landing Campground another camper had a water filter on the hose bringing water into the RV.  I loved that idea.  We had used the campground water for washing dishes and brushing teeth, but I was reluctant to drink it.  Now that we have the filter, I'm comfortable drinking the water and it tastes much better.  This has cut down on buying 2.5 gallon jugs of water.  Reducing plastic consumption - SCORE!

4.  Refrigerator Shelf Guards - I had seen these before, but until I opened the fridge after traveling to have something inevitably fall out, I didn't realize how necessary they really are.  It's no problem when you are stationary, but once you start driving around with stuff in the fridge, it moves around - go figure :-) so this is a great solution.  Think mini-shower curtain tension rods that snap in place.  

5.  RV/Marine Toilet Paper - In case you didn't know (and I certainly didn't prior to this adventure) you can't use regular toilet paper in your RV toilet.  You need fast degrading toilet paper that will dissolve quickly so as not to clog up your tank and hose when dumping.  We bought a case of this stuff before we hit the road.  I DO NOT want to run out...

6.  Jack-it Bike Rack - This is a specialty bike rack designed to go over the trailer tongue on campers (like ours) with no bumper to attach a rack to.  It is very easy to adjust the cradles to try to get the just right placement for your bikes.  I'm grateful to have been able to bring our bikes on this trip.  It's a great way to explore and get some exercise.

7.  Store bought kindling - If you've ever bought firewood at a campground, you know that it often isn't very dry.  We have an axe and I tried to split some of it to make kindling, but still couldn't start a fire.  At a hardware store, we found a bundle of soft dry strips that make great kindling and make fire starting possible.  This was a very welcome discovery.

8.  Propane Tank Gauge - We use propane for heating, keeping the fridge cold while traveling, and cooking.  The "is there propane left in the tank" roulette was a little nerve-wracking.  So we went looking for and found a gauge to indicate the tank level.  Jury is still out on the accuracy, but I love the idea of being able to check this thing!

9.  Campendium - This is an awesome website (and app) listing campgrounds, public and private, featuring reviews, photos, website links and has been invaluable in finding and making reservations.  I had an unrealistic idea that we would just go and stay as long as we wished where ever we wanted.  In reality, most places have limited availability and reservations are kind of essential.  This has been a huge help in finding great places to camp.  Check it out at Campendium.com

10.  Kindness of Strangers - While this is not new to us since RVing, it is essential to our successful life on the road.  At our first dump station, there was another person dumping, when he heard us talking through the process before starting, he could tell we were newbies.  He came over and walked us through it all.  Much appreciated.  When we were hooking up to the water here, there was a second spout that water came out of when I lifted the handle to start the water flow.  The guy on the next site figured out that you had to pull down on the nozzle to stop the flow in the second spout.  Yesterday we were putting the bikes back up on the bike rack and a guy driving by stopped to offer to help.  There are so many other examples, and I know there will continue to be many more.  We are so very thankful to know we really aren't alone out here.  It's really nice to know that kindness surrounds us. 

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!   

Mama Gertie's Hideaway Campground

We've been in Swananoa, North Carolina since Nov. 12th.  When I saw the name "Mama Gertie's"  I wanted to stay here just for the name, it had such a down-home southern hospitality sound to it.  It had great reviews and is 10 min. from Asheville, which added to the allure.  But I'll be honest, I had a bit of trepidation about the fact that it is built into the side of a mountain.  I was a little nervous about navigating the "hill".  

Looking up "the hill"

Looking down "the hill"

This is the lowest level on "the hill".  There are three levels.  The top level is empty in the off season.  But we took a trip to the top to see the view.

In reality, there was nothing to worry about.  The campground is so well laid out and each site is level despite the incline.  We liked it so much, we decided to stay 3 extra days.  The facilities are the most immaculate I have ever seen.  The showers are each in a private room, the water is hot and has been such a treat in the cold, rainy weather we've been having.  The laundry room is a dream and we actually enjoyed doing our laundry there yesterday.  I give Mama Gertie's 10 stars! ✮✮✮✮✮✮✮✮✮✮

Swananoa has an Ingels grocery store, a CVS and Ace Hardware which were a mile from the campground.  Very convenient.  But our real destination was Asheville.  Everyone told us how much we were going to love Asheville.  Unfortunately the cold rainy weather cut down on our exploration time.  However, "Everyone" was right.  We do love Asheville.  It is one GROOVY town.  It is artsy, fun, funky, hippie, chic, hip, and full of gorgeous architecture.  We have already decided we need to return in the spring when we can see the place in bloom.   I promise an Asheville highlights post then.

First Landing State Park - Virginia Beach

First Landing State Park Campground is located on the Chesapeake Bay Beach.  The beach was a 2 min walk from our campsite.  There are 4 boardwalks located in the campground to provide easy access to the beach.  We walked out to the beach every day, but it's not quite beach weather at the moment.

According to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation website the park is where English colonists first landed in 1607. Legend has it that Blackbeard hid in the Narrows area of the park, and interior waterways were used by Union and Confederate patrols during the Civil War. The park is a National Natural Landmark and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

We arrived on Monday, Nov. 5th and depart tomorrow.  As this is our first time camping in the RV we spent a good bit of time settling in, unpacking, and learning how to use the features of the camper (Q - Why is the Truma display flashing E 212 H? A - we're out of propane.  Q - How do we turn on the AC? A - Push the button on the AC remote mounted to the wall until it displays Cool.) Yesterday we were able to go for a nice long bike ride.  There are several trails here (thanks for the tip Jodi McKinnon) and we were ready to explore.  

We set off on the Cape Henry Trail.  The strobe effect of riding through dappled patches of sun, shade, sun, shade was disconcerting as it gave the impression of riding blind at times.  

This trail goes through the Cypress Swamp.  This is much different topography than we are used to.  I said to Carol, "It smells like a wet basement."  She replied, "That's what you get?"  "What do you get?" "Rotting wood."  "I'll give you that, a wet basement full of rotting wood."  The funny thing was, we got used to it pretty quickly.  The swamp had the creepy other-worldly look I associate with swamps, complete with Spanish moss.

 
We are not athletic adrenaline seeking bike riders.  A bike ride is a way to keep our bodies moving, something we try to do in one way or another everyday.  We did a 7 mile ride, which made us very happy and satisfied for our first ride in a couple months.

The campground is pretty quite at this time of year.  There are a few other campers, we met some fellow full-timers, but it's pretty deserted.  That's just fine with us.  We are looking forward to meeting other camping folk, but it's been nice to have a few days to get settled, learn our way around and prepare for more adventures.  We both agree, our first stop has been a success.