Starting for Home - Georgia bound

Although we don't need to be home for awhile yet, its time to take our first step on heading north. So we leave early for 2 reasons, 1 to beat the morning rush and 2 to stop and have our fridge looked at which had quit 4 days ago. Obviously leaving early didn't solve the first reason and after stopping at LazyDays, a huge RV repair depot about an hour along our way, we were told they couldn't see us for 6 to 8 weeks. We discussed that option as we left their parking lot.

It was a beautiful day for a drive and we enjoyed the companionship of the other drivers as we headed north. Lunch gave us a break and a chance to stretch our legs. Coming south in the fall, the rest areas handed out free orange juice; no such luck going home.

Because we left so early and didn't spend much time getting repairs, we arrived at our campsite in Georgia nice and early. This gave us time to do our hookups and even Star Choice for CBC news tonight. We then relaxed in our lawn chairs with a refreshment. This is the universal signal among RVers that not only have you arrived without incident but you are already fully functional and are ready to accept visitors. Neighbours stopped by and commented on our efficiency at setting up and the fact that they don't normally drink until after noon. Fooled them, it was only orange juice. And it was after 4PM.

We went for a walk after supper and found the dock and boardwalk beside the campground. Although we are camped about 10 miles from the ocean, this river, the Crooked River, is still affected by the tides. At the moment, the tide is out and the marsh is nearly dry.

Sea and fresh water combine here making for brackish water that not much lives in. This egret is looking for frogs in the mud. In 6 hours this will be under 6 feet of water.

The next day dawned cold and rainy. This made it an in day which was OK. I needed to find a service company and arrange for a new fridge while Grammie had to do housekeeping and wash some clothes. We both got our jobs done but had to have happy hour inside where it was dry.

The new fridge doesn't come until Thursday so today we decided to head to the coast and see whats there. We found the small town of St. Marys which is famous for being around a long time, as far as I can tell. Its also the departure point for Cumberland Island, an historic island without cars, stores, or much of anything except lots of walking. Look it up, its fascinating!

As we enjoyed our walk around historic St. Marys, we came across the Orange Hall which, according to their brochure, is "A perfect example of Greek Revival type of architecture - every detail correct" That may be, I'm not an expert on that but I found the design fascinating. It was built by a local preacher with a rich family and was the finest statement of modern architecture when it was built in 1826. The ground floor was 10' tall and was used by the servants/slaves. It was built 10' tall because studies had show that mosquitoes and gnats only fly up to 8 feet off the ground. Remember, screened windows never came into usage until the 20th century. The interior rooms on the next 2 floors were large with no walls except around the centre hallways. The staircase to the upper floor was huge and very ornate. All of the windows on both the floors could be opened and were high enough to walk through. So what you say? On a hot summers day (and believe me it gets hot in southern Georgia), all of the windows would be opened. Even without a breeze, warm air would rise from the lower floor, up the staircase and out the upper windows. As the house heated up, this airflow would be so pronounced that the lower curtains would billow in and the upper curtains would blow outwards. Therefore, air movement was created of such volume that some of the discomfort would be mitigated. Now, remember the 10' lower floor? Without that, you would also have a home filled with flying biting insects. You've got to admit thats a great design. Maybe you have to have an Air Conditioning background to appreciate how cool this is. Sorry, I got carried away.

Oh, by the way, theres a great submarine museum in St. Marys which we enjoyed touring. I assume its there because of the nuclear submarine base at Kings Bay, just outside of St. Marys. A number of nuclear submarines were decommissioned as part of the arms reduction treaties and just outside the naval base they built a life sized trident submarine as a display using the conning tower from one. It appears to be rising out of the lawn, actually quite cool.