Florida at last

Since we hauled out of the Northeast in between snow storms (which in retrospect was our only chance to get out of there) and spent some time in Savannah, GA we have finally landed in Florida where we expected it to be sunny and warm but were welcomed with rain and cool temps. But, I'm not complaining since the rest of the country is experiencing frigid temps and snow. At least I can go without a coat.

Our first Florida stop was the visitor's center where we picked up enough pamphlets to start a small bon fire and are now prepared with things to do all over this state. We made our way to St. Augustine which is renowned for being the oldest city in the colonized US and where Ponce De Leon discovered the Fountain of Youth. I thought to stop here because my camp book had a lot of rv parks listed. I figured that had to mean something good. Telephoning ahead to these parks proved worthwhile since many snow birds have already set up camp and taken most of the available spots. After some sticker shock as to the nightly camping fees we ended up at a park that was half camping and half flea market with an unbelievable nightly rate. It sounds worse than it was. We parked in a field and looked at woods which camouflaged the market from our sight. I was a bit concerned that we would have crowds of people traipsing through our campsite, but the entrance was about a 1/2 mile down the road so they never even approached the campground. Sequoia and I explored the flea market and discovered its enormity. What is it with Florida and their antique collecting? They seem to advertise antiques on every corner. I wonder if it is because elderly people come here to retire, bring their antiques with them, pass away, have estate sales, and the flea market collectors have a gold mine of antiques from which to choose. Is that morbid?

I set out to discover the town of St. Augustine which has the oldest schoolhouse, oldest hotel, a fort, etc, etc, and a very overrated Fountain of Youth so I was told. Feeling the need for culture, my first stop was the Lightner Museum where they like to consider themselves the Smithsonian of the South. It's an amalgamation of Mr. Lightner's obsessive compulsive passion for collecting all things random. I have to give him credit though, at least he collected full sets of things. For example, he had buttons from the civil war and not just a button for a general's rank, but the full sets of buttons for all the ranks! And not just for the Confederate army, but for the Union army as well! He was thorough. Another highlight was his music room where they displayed phonographs, music boxes, an orchestreon, and other oddities from the music world. The coolest part about this room was their hands on demonstration showing how each instrument played. That's a nod to my dad. The building in which the museum was housed was interesting in itself. Built as the state of the art hotel resort of its day they had indoor plumbing, the world's largest indoor swimming pool, and a spa with turkish baths.

Adam and I also toured the Spanish Military Hospital another day which consisted of five rooms, old medical tools and ghost stories with personal accounts of actual run-ins. These old towns are never without their supernatural history though I'm still a skeptic. We also visited Anastasia State Park which was beautiful, native beaches of blowing sand and waves. It was serene compared to the hustle of the tourist town.

After a few days rest we are off to continue our Florida adventure. We're looking forward to making our way south to even warmer temps and friends and family to visit.

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Back on the road again

After a two month hiatus from RV life we hit the road a few days ago despite three inches of snow in the rv park where we were stored and 20 degree temps. Luckily we had the forethought to winterize the rv before storing it which entailed draining all the water from the tanks and filling all the pipelines with antifreeze. Too bad I didn't remove all the cans of soda pop from the fridge which I found exploded all over the place after freezing. A bit more investigation revealed the glass Pelligreno bottles stored underneath also cracked and leaked. At least that was just water. Note to self; next time we put the rig in storage, remove all items that even contain water. All things considered we had minimal damage.

Because of the cold temps we elected not to remove the antifreeze (aka dewinterize) until we reached a warmer climate, so we resigned ourselves to live without running water for the trip south. Broken water lines would be much worse than going without a shower for a few days. We set a course for Florida and hauled out of Maryland as early as we could move (which actually wasn't all that early). Before we even got to the first exit on the highway we came to a dead stop. So like a good trained trucker I turned on my CB to find out about the delay. I got a lot of information about alternate routes and then learned that a propane tanker flipped on its side and shut down the highway in both directions. Great! That did not bode well for the beginning of our trip. As I approached first exit to leave the highway I changed my mind and elected to stay on my planned route and stick to the large roads. One thing about driving in the East, the roads are tiny, narrow and winding. Not my idea of a relaxing drive. The traffic eventually picked up, I stayed on the big roads and after two hours and lots of traffic we finally passed Washington D.C. What a relief! Traffic alone is stressful let alone the crazy drivers and one million exits surrounding D.C.

We cruised through Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina in a couple of days and finally settled near Savannah, GA where we elected to sight see. Along the drive down I saw two dogs and a cat separately wandering along the sides of the highway. I crossed the entire country and had not seen one stray animal along the sides of the highway and in one day I saw three! I'm not sure what to make of this. So sad.

In Savannah we reached our campground in the daylight and had warm enough temperatures to dewinterize. Considering it took me three days to winterize the thing in the first place I was nervous about being able to accomplish this feat on my own in one. But, as it turned out I learned a thing or two about the process and successfully flushed the antifreeze from the system. It's amazing what a strong need for a shower can do to a person. Savannah was a great town to visit with lots of history and good food. Even Sequoia enjoyed the trolley tour we took around the city though he could not quite see out the window. I'd come here again to stay in a bed and breakfast and maybe learn about their famous ghosts. For now, I'm full of heavy Southern cuisine and ready to move on to our next destination.
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