On to Cape Hatteras

As we travel north on our way home we want to see places we haven't been yet. Cape Hatteras on the east coast of North Carolina seems like a good place to check out. Its a very narrow spit of land called the Outer Banks. If you look on a map its not even a pencil line wide. Lets head across Pamlico Sound and check out our new home.

As we drive south along the main road there are spots where the ocean is so close to the sound on the other side that they have piled sand up to keep the ocean from flowing across the road. Water still oozes through the sand and pools on the road. I hope it doesn't storm while we're here.

We arrived at our campground without sinking and took time to meet our neighbours; perhaps when they arrive. I'm standing on the big man made sand dune on the ocean side of the campground. The building with the red on it sits on the other water side. Its about 1/2 mile from sea to sea, to coin a phrase.

This is the ocean view on the one side of our campground. As we go to sleep at night we drift off to the sound of the surf crashing; its very soothing.

Driving here, we spent most of the day in the rain so Harvey was pretty dirty. I decided to take a day and hand wash the grit off. Looked pretty good, I must say. It took all day but its worth it.

Cape Hatteras is beside the Atlantic Ocean and hundreds of ships have sank over the years due to storms and sand bars far out to sea. The worst sand bar is just off the coast where the Cape Hatteras lighthouse sits. That area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic it is so dangerous. This is the tallest lighthouse in the US at 208' and is part of 4 lighthouses along the cape to protect ships.

The lighthouse was originally built where I'm standing and was moved in the 1990's back to where it is now. Thats over a mile. Years ago I saw a program on Discovery showing a lighthouse being moved which was really interesting. I had no idea where it was until I saw this one; it looked the same. There are books at the park office showing how the move was done. In 100 years, the ocean had claimed enough shoreline to threaten the lighthouse and force its move. It is now the same distance from the ocean as it was 100 years ago.

Most of the buildings on the cape are built like this one. Its on stilts about 15 feet off the ground. The lattice works hide the poles and open area. The cape is so low and narrow that big storms or hurricanes will sweep over areas covering them with water. This style of construction survives the best. A large hurricane in the 1930's actually cut the cape into 3 parts. A bridge has been built over one of the openings, but the other was so wide that a ferry service is used to cross the open water to the town which was cut off by the washout. I think I'd head to high ground whenever a bad storm threatens.

We get to watch the sunrise on the Atlantic side (yeah right). By walking a few hundred yards we get to see the sunset over water as well. What a cool campsite. This is one of the best spots we've stayed so far. Being close to the ocean and falling asleep to its roar it very therapeutic. Now lets do a little exploring.

Myrtle Beach - again

If you've been following our blog, you know we stayed in Myrtle Beach when we headed south in the fall. Here we are again. Nothing much has changed except the traffic is worse and the weather is cooler. But, there's still a few things we didn't do when we were here last. This is the typical walk along the beach except this time I felt I was in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". Didn't get pecked though.

One thing we wanted to do which we didn't do in the fall was go to see a pre-civil war plantation. About an hours drive south of Myrtle Beach was the Hampton Plantation. We did a tour of the mansion but it didn't have any furniture but some of the walls were open so you could see the way the building was built.

The main road to the plantation is lined with Holly trees. You couldn't see most of the house, so when you arrived in front the sudden view was spectacular. To the right of this road was a horse race track so the plantation owners could come and race on Sundays and holidays.

Around the front yard were a number of very old oak trees. These were planted before the US became a country, around 1730. Remember, the US became a nation in 1774.

Right in front of the home is a giant oak, called the Washington Oak. After the US became a nation, George Washington traveled around the country convincing people to support the new nation. The southerners were particularly ambivalent about the whole thing. The owners of this plantation were among the most powerful people in the Carolinas and he stopped here to discuss the benefits of the new nation with them. Apparently, they discussed removing this tree to improve the view of the race track and Washington convinced them to leave it. Its kind of neat to look at a tree that George Washington had looked at as well. Thats around 250 years ago.

Although this was a working plantation, the owners planted a number of plants and trees to beautify the property. One of prettiest shrubs is the Camelia which blooms early in the year.

Our timing was great and we got to see dozens of Camelias in full bloom. In a couple of weeks, they will be finished but then it will be time for Magnolias to bloom. They planned their plants so that something would be blooming nearly all the time.

From 1730 to the civil war, this plantation made a fortune growing rice. A 350 acre island behind the mansion was cleared of trees, leveled and ditches were dug to allow controlled water flow to the rice plants. This was all done by hand by the over 365 slaves who toiled here. The owners made a fortune raising rice until the civil war when the market for rice dried up and the loss of slave labour made growing rice too expensive. A lot of the slaves, when freed, stayed on at the plantation as sharecroppers where they would work a patch of land and give most of the crop to the owners of the land as rent. There is a slave cemetery on the property and descendants of the original slaves are still being buried there. I always though of plantations as growing cotton, and didn't realize rice was also grown in that volume. Descendants of the original owners continued to own the plantation until the 1970's when the property was sold to the state of South Carolina and turned into a Heritage Site.

The Okefenokee Swamp

About an hour from where we are camping lies the famous Okefenokee swamp. With our fridge finally replaced and working fine, we had some free time so figured this would be an interesting place to visit. There is a visitors centre which describes the history and makeup of the swamp. At over 400,000 acres, its the largest freshwater swamp in North America and is fully protected as a National Wilderness area. That means the area is being kept natural and visitors are strictly controlled to protect animals and vegetation.

If you wish to travel into the swamp you need to go in supervised groups with a guide. Thats to protect the area as well as keeping tourists from getting lost. Wilderness canoeing and camping can be done at designated sites although the thought of tenting amongst the over 25,000 gators doesn't appeal at all.

From the visitors centre to the main area of the swamp is a canal to travel on. This was built about 120 years ago by a company called the Okefenokee Swamp Company. Their plan was to run a canal through the swamp which would drain the swamp to the St. Marys river. Then they could cut down all the trees and sell housing lots and they would all get rich. Most of the canal dredging was done by convicts using horses and hand equipment. They managed to go 10 miles before they ran out of money. The canal as still there and is the only water over 2 feet deep so it suits the boats which are used for tours.

The trip down the canal was quite long and the guide gave everyone who wanted to a chance to drive the boats. Grammie is following in the footsteps of hundreds of people who have navigated the swamp over the years. The guide is a 7th generation swamper and had all kinds of stories to tell. The swamp was famous for being a hideout for illegal stills where they made "white lightning".  Stills were made on rafts and if its location became risky, the owner would pole it to another location.

A lot of the swamp is open water like this called a prairie. Its only a foot or two deep with no bottom to speak of. Its all rotting vegetation underwater and when a pole is pushed in, methane gas bubbles up. Sometimes big chunks of the bottom break free and rise to the surface pushed up by the methane. As these float, plants and small trees will take root and soon it looks like a small island. You can walk on the older ones but they bend and twist causing the trees and shrubs to sway. The name Okefenokee is a native word for "Land of Trembling Earth".

All those islands in the background are floating; pretty cool, huh. As you may know, Grammie comes from Grande Prairie, Alberta so we thought this sign was neat. Thankfully it never gets this wet in Alberta.

It was a cool day but sunny so we saw a few gators that have climbed up on hummocks to soak up the sun. After being told there were over 25,000 gators in the park I figured they would be stacked on top of each other but we only saw a few. Kind of makes you wonder where they all are.

Because the water is so shallow, cypress trees will take root and grow. Boaters give them a wide berth because, if you will recall from a previous blog, they have big root knobs (called knees) that stick up above the water line and are one of the few solid objects in the swamp. Big problem if you hit one of them. No water comes into the swamp except rain. In dry years this area may be too low to boat. The water drains from the swamp by the St. Marys River and the Suwanee River. They both start their journey in the swamp.

Without man to disturb them, a lot of animals thrive here. This blue heron is sitting on dry land, its part of the canal wall. Panthers, bobcats, a dozen different snakes as well as many other animals call the swamp home. If you're lower down on the food chain this would not be a friendly place. Because water drains from the swamp and none come in, its considered almost pollution free, just rain pollutants get in. The water is the colour of dark tea and is slightly acidic from the rotting plants underwater. In fact the swamp is mostly peat.
Its one of the healthiest ecosystems on earth; thanks goodness the plan to drain it didn't work out.

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.

Florida Keys and Beyond

After a refreshing nights sleep (actually I would like to say that but with the window air conditioner rattling, a street light shining in our eyes and the waste disposal experts picking up the large bin beside our window at 6 AM, I can't), we ventured forth for the breakfast part of the B&B.

Just at the end of our path is the breakfast bar with all the normal offerings, very fresh with lots of citrus and homemade breads. Tables were arranged around the pool, all very relaxing.

This view from the other side of the pool shows the breakfast bar to the left, tables to the right and more rooms in the old plantation behind. The B&B was once a cigar factory and the various rooms are made up of the old factory, the original plantation home and some of the managers houses. Our room was an managers house just back behind the breakfast bar.

After a relaxing breakfast and a lovely walk around, it was time to head down the main walkway and continue our adventure, much later than we should have. Once we found our car, we drove through old Key West and along the shoreline until the road left the island.

Driving back along the Keys I still took opportunities to stop and check out the old bridges still left standing. The middle section of this old bridge has been removed and the newer bridge is much higher to allow bigger boats to enter from the ocean. You can walk along a lot of the old bridges, but they are closed to traffic.

I pulled off the road to take a picture of the 7 mile bridge. As far as you can see is the bridge with a very high section in the distance just to the left in the picture. The 128 miles of road in the Keys is one lane each way and was very slow driving. It was well past lunch before we got back to the mainland, and well behind schedule I might add. And that was the best part of the drive.

By the time we found a suitable hotel and stopped for the night I was exhausted. The drive after the Keys took us through Miami. We had planned on taking A1A, the scenic route, through Miami but because we were running way late we decided to take the interstate. Big mistake. Just got on it and the traffic stopped. It took us almost 3 hours to cover the 10 miles we needed to go before we could get back onto A1A. By that time all the roads were jammed with commuter traffic and even the scenic route wasn't. The problem we found with A1A was that it was not very commercialized which made for a lovely drive but hard to find accommodations. We finally found a great hotel in West Palm Beach. By that time, I didn't even care that we bought our first house for the amount of one nights stay here (a slight exaggeration, but not much).

But, oh it felt good to get out of the car and the traffic and sit and unwind a bit. I would recommend the drive along the eastern seaboard along A1A to everyone. Its an absolutely breathtaking drive in places alongside mansions that have to be seen to be believed. We'd have to liquidate all our funds just to buy the front gate on some of these places. It makes for a wonderful drive though. I would recommend avoiding Miami (for heavens sake, avoid Miami). But I'm off the road and starting to breath normally again.

The hotel had a great seafood menu so I broke one of my rules about never eating in the hotel I'm staying at (actually I was just sick of driving). We had a great meal with a nice merlot; it was very relaxing. Brad, our son, called to wish me a Happy Birthday, which was great. I've always struggled to remember special occasions, its a relief to know your son has more class than you do; there's hope for the next generation, isn't there. We had a great nights sleep. I got up, made coffee in the room and went for a walk. Even finding a hot tub we didn't know about couldn't spoil the moment.

Just past the hot tub was the beach. Not nearly as warm but still a beautiful beach with no one around. I would have been tempted to stay at this lovely spot another day but, the kids are expecting some inheritance I'm sure. We breakfasted on some fruit we lifted from the B&B and hit the trail for home.

For most of the day we continued north on A1A, absolutely enjoying the ocean view and the mansions. We stopped at a number of roadside parks to stretch our legs but finally we had to turn westward across the middle of Florida and head home. After following the ocean the trip across the middle of Florida is boring and we never even took a picture till we got home. But now we're back and its raining here again. For 3 days we had beautiful weather and I spent my birthday someplace exotic so the trip was worth while.

Florida Keys-Part one

Although we have been in Florida for almost 3 months, we haven't done anything more than a day trip. We're only a few hundred miles from the Florida Keys so we decided that would make a great adventure for a few days. Driving due south of Bradenton takes us through Ft. Myers, Bonita Springs and Naples where we start the turn left at the bottom of Florida. Here we stopped at Fakahatchee State Park to view the alligators. They always look more interesting behind a fence.

Walking along the boardwalk, we came across this little snake, about 2 feet long and sitting in a tree alongside the fence rail. A ranger nearby said not to disturb it, its a cottonmouth and its bite is deadly. He doubted a helicopter could get you to the hospital in time. There went any ideas of draping it over our necks for photos.

Farther up the road we stopped at a picnic site for lunch in Big Cypress Preserve. The road we are travelling on has light traffic with no restaurants or stores for most of the west to east drive so a picnic fit the bill nicely.

There was a mile long boardwalk through the swamps at the picnic site so we went for a walk after lunch. It was a great walk; I can't imagine getting through the swamps on foot. It was bog for the whole walk. This is all part of the everglades and covers thousands of square miles just like this. Do you still want to buy some Florida land?

Eventually we left the mainland and drove onto the Keys. The first one is Key Largo and after passing over dozens of small islands and keys, you arrive at Key West, the last Key and roads end. This is a typical bridge that takes you from one island to the next. Some are very short and one is called seven mile bridge, so I guess its long. The original roads and bridges were built in the 1930's and have been replaced with wider stronger ones. In most cases they didn't remove the old bridges, they just knocked sections out so boats could pass through. That bridge is as narrow as it looks; I can only assume that traffic travelled one way at a time.

The old bridges were low arches, too low for most boats now which is why sections are removed. The keys are 126 miles long and mostly bridges so it must have been a major undertaking in the 1930's.

 We had stopped at a tourist office in Key West and booked a B&B ahead. This is the front of it. Its right in the heart of old Key West, a beautiful and picturesque town at the very end of the keys. It was a long drive so its nice to get to our hostel.

The B&B has no parking so I dropped off Carmen and our bags in the room and drove around until I found an open parking spot about 2 blocks away. The downside of a picturesque little town built before cars arrived and the roads were built for buggies. Thankfully Carmen had some Scottish nectar poured for me and all's right with the world again.

After suitable R&R time we ventured into old town Key West for sustenance. Although the establishment was called "The Rum Barrel" (which neither of us drinks) we loved the decor and were assured of other drink options. I had a beer and Carmen had a tea, pretty exotic, huh? We each had a great fish meal and then walked around the wharf area and main street. That was day one.