To New Bern, NC - #61-12

March 19, 2006 (Sun) Stephen C. Foster State Park (3) - We had thought that we'd have a campfire last night but we decided that the mosquitoes had had enough to eat for one day. They aren't bad during the day but we didn't bother to go around and collect wood left by departing campers this morning because we won't have a fire tonight either. Most of the tent campers (and their dogs) left well before noon so the campground was relatively quiet most of the day. Since we're practically across the road from the rest room/laundry room, Joy took the opportunity to hobble over to do some laundry. An indication that concessionaires have not yet taken over the Georgia state parks, this one at least, is that it costs only 75¢ a load.

It's been cloudy most of the day but there has been a little sunshine warming up a small patch here and there. At 65° finding a spot to sit in was a priority and meant that we had to keep moving as the sun did. The park has two nature trails (in addition to many miles of water trails through the swamp). For our intentional exercise today we explored one of them and stopped by the camp store to see what they had to offer.

Stephen C. Foster SP, Okefenokee (Swamp) National Wildlife Refuge#44 (x3)
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March 20, 2006 (Mon) First day of Spring!
Fargo, GA to Savannah, GA (192/3354 miles)

Up at 6:30 (54°) - because we were awake, not because we were in any hurry - and pulled out of our campsite at 7:45. The hardwood trees have begun to leaf out giving them all a pale green glow. And the azaleas are in full bloom making even the poorest of landscaping a touch of class. We told Hildene to avoid "highways" so we were able to stay off I-95 without taking a lot of abuse from her. That gave us the opportunity to do some needed shopping and to eat a high-carb lunch at Taco Bell. We also stopped at several auto supply stores and a Radio Shack looking for a proximity switch for Q's rear step monitor light. No luck!

According to our travel notes we spent one night in Skidaway State Park back in 1998. Neither of us remembers it nor does being here spark any memories. The campground is quite full even for a weekday because, the gatekeeper told us, this is the season and the "Spring Breakers" are here. Oh good!

In the "People Are Interesting" department: The class C Lazy Daze motor home from Nevada that followed us into the park took considerably longer to find an acceptable site than we did. They even unhooked their toad after a while and drove it around the campground. They finally settled on the site behind us. 20 minutes after parking the motor home there they moved it (with the satellite dish deployed) to the site across from us. Then proceeded an interesting "settling in" routine all the world like a dog circling round and round in his bed before lying down. The leveling jacks go down, the satellite dish twists this way and that, the jacks go up, the motor home moves a few feet, and the jacks go down again. This went on for several cycles then the TV antenna went up and began to twist this way and that. (What makes all this even more curious is that there is a cable TV jack in each campsite.) Finally they moved the motor home closer to the utility post - but they didn't hook anything up. A couple of hours later the fellow came out and hooked up the shoreline for electric power and the cable TV cable and disappeared again without hooking up the water.

Q030602 Skidaway Island SP #4 w/e/c $22.50s +$3.00 entrance fee A+

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March 21, 2006 (tue) Skidaway Island State Park, Savannah, GA (2) - This is a beautiful, though expensive (even with a senior discount), park. Walking through the whole campground this morning we saw that the campsites are all pull-through and very large. Some are even big enough for two 40' motor homes with room left over to park their toads and Q. We didn't see any doubling up though. Although open and roomy there is plenty of vegetation and enough trees to keep sunburn from being a concern.

It got very dark about mid morning and thunder rolled off in the distance but there wasn't much rain to go with it. After it cleared in the afternoon, we hiked out into the salt marsh. The gnats are really bad this evening. They seem to be coming in with impunity even though we're well closed up. It's probably just as well that we'll be leaving tomorrow

Skidaway Island State Park #4 (x2)
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March 22, 2006 (Wed)
Savannah, GA to McClellanville, SC (167/3521 miles)

We got up early (47°), showered (great showers), ate breakfast and were ready to go by about 7:30. But we planned to stop at the Costco (because it's there) in Charleston, SC and didn't want to get there before they'd let us in so we hung out until after 8:00. Sanitary duties (dumping and flushing) took up more time and we finally got off at 8:40 (51°). The road off the island took us over Moon River (among others) and into outskirts of Savannah. The traffic wasn't nearly as heavy as we'd expected. The streets through Savannah are among the most beautiful in the world. Along our route, huge live oak trees heavily draped with Spanish moss shaded not only the street but also the large old southern mansions lining both sides. Giant azalea bushes in full multi-color bloom only add the beauty of the route. Once out of the city I-95 took us North to Point South where we turned East onto US-17. After doing our duty at Costco and picking up some groceries at a Lion King - oops, a Food Lion, we proceeded through Charleston and on up into the Francis Marion National Forest.

Bumper sticker: "God told me she doesn't like Bush."

Q030769 Buck Hall Campground, Francis Marion NF #8 e $10.00s A

We've been at this campground twice before - once before 1997 when we started documenting our travels and again in 2003. We don't remember it being quite so buggy. The gnats attack in swarms the minute we step outside and in fewer numbers inside - they are small enough to come right through the screens! Almost too small to see, they pack a wallop when they bit and tend to leave welts that itch for hours (if not days). We used the vacuum cleaner to keep them at bay inside and waited until they decided to move on before venturing out for any length of time.
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March 23, 2006 (Thu) Buck Hall Campground, Francis Marion NF (2) - It got cold last night! 34° The local weather reports say that it went below freezing inland from here. This is South Carolina. It's not supposed to get that cold - especially in late March. It got over 55° during the day making outdoor activities a bit undesirable. The good news is that the gnats don't like it much either.

This campground is open and grassy much like many private parks except that here the sites are well spread out. And there are free trees standing scattered about. The parking pads are plenty long enough for any rig and are paved. Only electricity is provided at the site. We are across the loop from a channel that is part of the Intra Coastal Waterway. Occasionally a boat passes by in one direction or the other. Last night Joy saw the lights of what must have been a rather sizable yacht moving up the channel.

We had looked forward to camping here but the campground has deteriorated in the last few years. The rest rooms, although clean, are badly in need of physical maintenance. So much so that we felt uncomfortable using the showers. So it was Q to the rescue. And the fresh water spigot at the dump station had no way to be turned on so we had to find a source in the campground. The one we chose had a problem! It sprayed as much water straight up into the air as it supplied to the hose. When we got off at 8:20 (43°), Mark was soaked!

Buck Hall Campground, Francis Marion National Forest (x2)
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March 24, 2006 (Fri)
McClellanville, SC to New Bern, NC (187/3708 miles)

Overnight low 41°. And it rained off and on. The sky this morning was overcast and dreary as we headed up US-17. We chose US-701 rather than staying on US-17 to avoid the ultra heavy traffic through Myrtle Beach, SC but after doing laundry in Conway, we decided to have lunch at an Atlanta Bread Company (sandwich shop chain) in North Myrtle Beach. The traffic turned out to be much lighter than we'd expected but much worse through Wilmington, NC. We don't remember it being anywhere near that bad other times we've been this way.

As we approached Jacksonville, NC, we began to think that our chances of getting a camp space in the National Forest late Friday afternoon were very low. (Buck Hall CG was almost fully booked when we left this morning). So we decided to go on and stop at the Walmart there. It was super crowded - no place at all to park, much less spend the night. The Walmart in New Bern, 28 miles Northeast, is much better and although the highway is not far away, it is going to be our home for the night.

In a couple of more days we really will be home. We are thinking Monday, if we decide to push, or Tuesday

Q030956 Camp Walmart, New Bern, NC