We crossed the border at Fort Erie at 11:30 am. US Border Security was right on top. "Where are you headed?" Me: "Florida" USBS: "So, what's happening there?" Me: Well, duh! Look around. Its frikkin freezing here. In Florida, its sunny and warm. Need I say more?" Well, I didn't really say that, heh heh. Instead, just meekly said "ahh, just rented a house down there for two months". USBS: "Ok, have a good trip".
And that was that. We were in the good ol' U S of A.
By 1:30 pm we'd reached Erie, PA, which is where you make that all-important left turn onto I-79. At about the same time, the light drizzle turned to snow, which became progressively more heavy as we entered the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
Made a quick stop at Amity, PA for a tank-up at 4 pm. Distance travelled: 627k. Gas: 12.37 gal, at a total cost of $29.20 US. Shortly after that, decided to call it a day and checked in at Morgantown, WA for the night. Got a room at the Econolodge for a rather hefty $78 US. Already craving the seafood to come further south, we dined at a local Red Lobster. I've had better fare at Red Lobster restaurants in the Toronto area. Anyhow, our total distance for the day was 687km.
January 22, 2015. Before leaving, we made a pact: "no rush" and so got on the road again by 9 am. Weather still cold (1 C) and miserable. Stopped at a Waffle House for an amazingly good breakfast: scrambled eggs, sausage, cheese slice topped off with a generous helping of grits. Grilled biscuit on the side. Awesome artery clogger, but lasted me till dinner.
As we headed further south, it became a practice to announce, with much relish, each degree of increase in the outside temperature. Stopped for gas at Dobson, NC at 2:55 pm: 1186 km, 11.64 US gal., and $24.31.
By the time we made it to Charlotte, South Carolina, we were basking in 14C. Found a Days Inn and looked for a place to eat. Came across a joint called Azteca Mexicana which was right next door. It seemed well attended so we gave it a go. Turned out to be one of the best mexican meals we'd ever had.
January 23, 2015. With clear skies but temps still in the low single digits, we hit the road at 9am again. Stopped for breakfast at a place neither of us can now remember; obviously not very memorable. Stopped again for gas at 2:15pm. Distance to date: 1787 km; 12.2 gal, and $26.78 US. The weather forecast for our arrival at Russ and Ginny's trailer at Fort McAllister, GA had, since the previous week, called for heavy rain and high winds. The learned meteorologists were bang on. The wind was howling our of the east driving the rain in horizonal sheets. And in these conditions, we found our good buddies and sat down to a real healthy belt of, in my case, Scotch and for Karen, Vodka.
Our total distance driven over the past 3 days was 1906 km.
The stay in Ft. McAllister was a great change from the wicked cold back home, even tho the weather remained cool and windy.
January 24, 2015. Because of the weather, and having spent 3 days driving, we decided to just veg out today. Did some reading, watched a bit of TV, Karen and Ginny went for a walk. All in all, just some solid down-time.
January 24, 2015. The weather having improved significantly, the four of us went into Savannah and wandered around the historic waterfront area. So much to see! Although this was not our first time in this wonderful city, I'd forgotten just how majestic the live oaks lining the boulevards can be. Lots of spanish moss hanging down, and beautiful architecture evident in both commercial and residential structures. The history of the place is evident everywhere you look. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to envision how it must have looked 100 years ago.
We dined this evening at a local seafood joint - Fish Tales. From the number of cars parked outside we figured it had to be pretty good. Which it was, but by no means outstanding. Russ and Ginny each order the 8 oz grouper sandwich. In my opinion, both portions together might have made up 8 oz., so there was some disappointment there. I can't remember what I had, so its fair to say that, apart from the "low countries" atmosphere, the place fell somewhat short in the food department.
When we returned, Russ backed the truck in to the campsite and unfortunately took down the tent shelter fixed to his trailer awning. So we spent the next half hour with a step ladder and flashlight jury-rigging the damaged shelter so that we could at least sit out of the wind when Russ went for a smoke. Having done what we could in the dark, we sat out by a nice little fire and cured all of the world's problems. A fine day overall!
January 26, 2015. Time to head further south. Packed up the trailer and were on the road by 10 am, bound for Crooked River State Park. This is almost at the border with Florida. Taking our time, we arrived around 1:30. Karen and I carried on to look for motel accommodation for the next 7 nights, and Russ and Ginny proceeded to the park to set up camp. K and I figured we'd have a take out pizza, but were unable to find any in Kingsland, which is where we booked into the Best Western. So, we figured we'd just head out along the main strip and see if we could find a pizza joint. I'd just left the hotel driveway, when we spotted Angelo's Italian Eatery right next door! Well! Put the car back in the parking lot and walked over to Angelo's, where we enjoyed some of the best pizza either of us could recall having in a long time! Great stuff. Plus the beer and wine was cheap and the wine was generously poured!
January 27, 2015. The Best Western throws in a hot breakfast with the room, and as these go, this was a really good feed. Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, yogurt, hot waffles, etc. Figured that this made the $69 per night rate very well worth it. After brekkie, got some errands done, including a session at the local laundromat. In the afternoon, found Russ and Ginny in their new site at the Crooked River state park, and enjoyed a fine walk and dinner with them.
January 28, 2015. Karen and I decided we'd check out Amelia Island today. This is the most southerly of the Georgia "Golden Isles". We toured the historic district; lots of typical old Georgia homes, live oaks and spanish moss trailing from beautiful curved limbs. Also spent time at Fernandino Beach, another site of historical significance dating back to the initial "occupation" by the Spanish. Dined on a grouper sandwich (shared it) and some good cold local beer.
For dinner, we thought we'd check out a local favourite, Steffen's. Its about as close as you could possibly come to a 1950's diner, complete with soda counter, pedestal stools, lino floors, chrome / arborite tables and chairs. The food is fabulous! All good, home cooked southern fare such as fried green tomatoes (awesome), collard greens (didn't try them), chicken fried steak (arteries would have clogged 100%), biscuits and grits. I settled for the fried oysters, which were heavenly. Karen had the roast beef sandwich, with tons of gravy. There is no way we could do justice to the portions. With wine and a beer, the tab came to just under $25! Outstanding dining experience.
January 29, 2015
Spent the morning roaming around the little seaside village of St. Mary's again. Just to check out places we hadn't had time to do a few days ago. Lucked into a great seafood place - Lang's, which apart from being a restaurant, is also a fishing operation. It was started in 1962 by Lang (can't recall his first name) and the food you eat is fresh caught either the same morning or the day before. Karen had the crab bisque and I can't recall what I had, as I'm writing this a couple of days later. Anyhow, it was damn good stuff.
Around 2:30 we joined Russ and Ginny at their trailer and I cooked up a batch of Nasi Goreng, which was well received.
January 30, 2015
Karen, Ginny and I took the ferry to the Cumberland Island National Seashore. Its an 18 mile long island that started out as a cotten plantation in the early 1800's. In the early 1900's the Carnegie family established their "summer home", Plum Orchard. Google it; I can't do it justice.
For the more technically appreciative, here are some shots of the electrical panel and the original Onan generator; Paul might recognize some similarities to the unit we have up at Georgian Bay:
These shots also show how the wiring was run. The hot wire and neutral wire were run through lengths of wooden slats that had 2 grooves; one for each. The wire was laid into the groove, and then another piece of wood about 1/4 inch thick was nailed on top to "seal" the run. The bare copper wire was wrapped in paper! I reckon this set up would be enough to cause a major cardio vascular accident in any electrical inspector today.
We opted for a guided tour; 10 of us in a van. Really a worthwhile experience. You can't buy anything on the island so you have to bring your own food and drink. Everything has to be packed out. At some points the "road" (more like a cart track) was so narrow that the palmetto shrub on either side threatened to remove the paint. There are still a handful of privately owned properties on the island, all of which are owned on a "retained rights" basis. This means that the owners have pledged to turn the property over the the Georgia State Parks Commission upon their death or the death of their heirs, which of course has significant tax benefits. There is one ol' girl who has lived there since the early '60's. She's now in her 70's and is pretty well completely self sufficient. She lives of what she shoots, traps, or scrapes off the road (seriously) and seems completely happy in her isolation.
January 31, 2015
By special request from Karen, we returned to Tybee Island, where we went in 2003 to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Thankfully, there had been virtually no changes. Still the same, quaint, sorta touristy area (reminded me of Grand Bend). We had lunch at Coco's Seafood Shack, just off Hwy 80 - the only road into the island. It handn't changed a bit either. Comforting indeed!
For dinner tonight, we returned to Angelo's for another feed of pizza!
February 1, 2015
Happy Birthday to bro Paul!
This being the last day of our rather protracted trip south, we thought it would be worthwhile spending the day in historic St. Augustine. Seems pretty well everything in these parts are historic. St. Augustine was about an hour's drive south and we arrived there around 10:00 am. We parked the car along the seawall. I was just plugging the meter and fed it a couple of bucks when this old dude reeking of booze holler "stop"!, and explained that on Sunday's parking is free. Well, I got my change back, but the meter kept the two bucks. The old dude explained that he was homeless and could we spare him 50 cents for a coffee (not sure where he was buying 50-cent coffee, and didn't ask). Anyhow, I figured one good deed deserved another so I gave him my entire change collection. Poor ol' guy was over the moon!
Anyhow, here are a few shots that may give viewers a "flavour" of St. Augustine.
We bought a ticket on the "hop on/ hop off" trolley (the best investment you can make in an unfamiliar city, IMO) and learned all about the city of St. Augustine. Seems that a fella by the name of Flager featured prominently in its early days. His entreprenurial spirit made him millions, and his vision is captured in the archticture evident in the old hotels. For one of them, he commissioned a guy by the name of Tiffany to put in stained glass windows in the round reception area. Today, those windows are insured for $130 million!
All in all, this is a beautiful city, with a fascinating history. We'd return here for a few days of more in-depth exploration in a heart-beat.
Well, this being our last "restaurant dinner" for a while, we thought we'd deviate from sea food and try the local BBQ. Ended up at Sonny's BBQ Pit. Not bad, for a chain operation. Shared an full rack of baby back ribs, beans and close slaw, couple of beers and left feeling satisfied without feeling full. Just right. Back to the Best Western to watch the second half of the Super Bowl!
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