Category: 2015 Southern US

  • Estero, Florida to Cedar Key, Florida

    We got up bright and early as we had to report to the ranger office to pay for the previous night camping fee. After this we discovered what the historic site was all about.

    Dr. Cyrus Teed led his followers to Estero in 1894 to establish a community based on his religious and scientific ideas, a community free of crime, tobacco and drugs that was to be the New Jerusalem. Dr. Teed took on the name Koresh which is Hebrew for Cyrus. The community had a large focus on education, philosophy, art and theatre. Those who joined the religious order lived in the settlement and were celibate.

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    We continued on US-41 and had lunch at a nice Italian restaurant close to Sarasota called Carrabba’s. After lunch we decided to take the Interstate to speed our trip to Cedar Key.

    We found out about Cedar Key in one of our RV magazines.  It is a small rural artist town on the Gulf of Mexico. Our RV campground for the night is the Sunset Isle RV Park and Motel which is right on the water. We had dinner with a nice bottle of red wine, right on our own dock and watched our neighbours fish catfish and crabs from their docks.

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  • Key West, Florida to Estero, Florida

    Today we wrestled alligators.

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    If you believe that we have some fine Florida swampland we’d like to sell you.

    We did start our journey North. In a way we were happy to leave the Keys and see something new. We crossed the lovely 7-mile bridge again and discovered that the old bridge was in fact a railroad bridge.

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    We again avoided the interstates and followed SR-997 for a while.  They are a huge number of nurseries, orchards and fruit stands along this highway and eventually we had to give in and stop to buy some excellent mangos and milkshakes. Velfa, the beautiful girl who looked after us, educated us about the different mango varieties and helped us select exotic fruits for our milkshakes. We ended up choosing Mamey and Guava.

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    With renewed energy we continued our journey and turned onto US-41 which led us through the Everglades and to Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery. This was the third gallery we visited in Florida – the other two being the Peter Lik Gallery and the Jorge de la Torriente Gallery, both in Key West. Clyde does amazing black and white work with view cameras and produces stunning mural sized prints costing up to $35,000.

    His swamp images inspired us to ask at the visitor centre where the next swamps where. Sure enough, two were close by and had nice boardwalks to keep us dry and away from the messy bits.

    The posted signs scared us a bit – with mention of black bears, panthers, alligators and white tailed deer thrown in for good measure. We were ready to risk life and limb to get exquisite photographs of all of them. We ended up with a nice portrait of a locust and a couple of alligators of different sizes ranging from about two feet to about eight feet.

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    The swamps themselves were interesting from a vegetation perspective as well.

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    Exhausted, hot, sweaty, mosquito bitten, tired, thirsty and hungry we were ready to find a home for the night. This was not an easy task as several of the state parks were closed for the season or renovations. We finally arrived at the Koreshan State Historic Site at 8:30PM, ten minutes after sunset when the park closed. The gate was still open and we surprised the ranger who was just closing his office. He was kind enough to let us stay the night.

  • Key West, Florida

    Did we find the perfect solution to see Key West after all!  As good doggy parents we left Pepsi in the air-conditioned van on our campsite and took the bus to Key West.

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    The super-nice bus driver dropped us off close to the trolley stop where we purchased tickets for the 13 stop hop-on/hop-off tour as well as tickets to see the Hemingway house.

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    Since we were early enough we did not have to stand in line to get into Hemmingway House. We had a very nice and knowledgeable guide who didn’t just tell us about the house, Hemmingway’s way of life, his four wives and the six toed cats but made reference to his literature and historic facts.

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    Hemmingway was very much into boxing and had a boxing ring in his garden. His second wife, quite upset about his one year reporting assignment with a very dear colleague (soon to be wife number 3), had a large pool built to replace his boxing ring. This was the first pool ever in Key West and cost a fortune. Hemingway was furious when he came home with his new boxing gloves and found a pool instead of his boxing ring. He accused his wife of spending his last red cent and threw a penny on the ground. His wife had it permanently cemented into the patio in front of the pool and pointed it out at all of her parties after their divorce.

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    We had a late breakfast at the Six Toed Cat and then hopped on the trolley for the remainder of our tour of the island.

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    Key West is full of Hemingway stories and the famous bar Sloppy Joe’s is one of them. The owner of Sloppy Joe’s was upset at a $1 a week rent increase at his original location so he purchased another property down the street with Hemmingway’s help and the night of his lease expiry asked his customers to pick up their drinks, chairs and even the bar and move them to the new location where it continues to be to this day.

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    There are two kinds of animals roaming the streets that you don’t normally find in other cities. Chickens, roosters and iguanas. Iguanas are not protected by the city but chickens and roosters are. The question of why did the chicken cross the street is very real here.

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    Key Lime pie is of course another feature of the Keys and the place that makes the best pies (according to our guide) is Kermit’s Key Lime Pie Shoppe. Kermit can be seen advertising his pie on the street.

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    Key West is most southern point of the US and is full of the most southern places – most southern house, hotel, restaurant, etc. A buoy marks the most southern spot and tourists line up to have their picture taken here. The actual most southern point of the US is on a military base, but civilians obviously aren’t allowed there.

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    At 3PM we took the bus back to the KOA where we had spent last night. By sheer coincidence this is the most southern KOA in the US.

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    As it was Sunday night, there was a special chicken dinner available in the pub. All proceeds go to the KOA kids camp to benefit kids with terminal illnesses.

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    We liked this campground and here are some visual impressions:

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    Tomorrow we leave and the KOA has helpfully provided a departure checklist:

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    No map today as we didn’t drive anywhere

  • Key Largo, Florida to Key West, Florida

    Today was a leisurely drive down the Keys to Key West. The colours of the water were beautiful to see.  There are a number of places where one can see the older bridges that have now been replaced.  One was seven miles long.

    We again tried to stay at a State Park – this time the Bahia Honda State Park but again it was full. It turns out there is a mini lobster festival for the next two weeks which explains the number of people here.

    We stopped at the most southern KOA Campground and secured a spot for the night close to the beach and the boat launch and then continued our trip to Key West. Key West was a dud today – it was hard to maneuver the RV through narrow and very busy streets and we spent a long time looking for the Eco Discovery centre which we had been told would be a good place to park. It was very hot and humid and the three of us decided Key West wasn’t to be today.

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    We drove back to the KOA, had a nap and then inflated the kayak and went for a paddle until the sound of thunder announced it might be a good idea to head back to shore. There we went for a swim in the bay and then in the campground pool.  The thunderstorm never really materialized.

    Ruth was brave enough to cook in the heat and we had a nice pasta dinner outside.

    It was a good day after all.

  • St. Augustine, Florida to Key Largo, Florida

    We got up bright and early this morning and went for a wonderful swim in the Atlantic before even having breakfast. The showers at the beach weren’t working but we had a nice shower once we walked back to the campground.

    We drove to St. Augustine and had breakfast in town. Because we had Pepsi with us we weren’t able to go into a restaurant so we stopped at a bakery/cafe that offered take-out. It took over 30 minutes from the time we ordered to the time we got our breakfast burrito. Martin got to read the newspaper (aka local fish wrap) before we got the order. News – George H.W. Bush (aged 91) fell and broke a bone in his neck. The king and queen of Spain are coming for a visit in 2016.

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    Once we finally had our burritos we sat outside only to have it start raining – lightly at first to give us time to get back to the van and then in torrents. What a downpour and flooded roads.

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    There was no sense for us to stay in the rain so we began our long drive to Key Largo. Along the way we had another two torrential downpours.  The van is nice and clean now.

    Miami was very slow and tedious to get through given it was rush hour but we finally made it into the Keys. Our first choice for staying was John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park but it was already full.

    We then decided to stay at the Point of View RV resort where our next door neighbours spend 4 months each winter. We got the last site there, right next to the dog walk and the private latino music festival.

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    We had a nice dinner at Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen before a thunderstorm rolled in and we had our Key Lime Pie dessert in our van. Pepsi doesn’t like thunderstorms.

     

  • Colleton State Park, South Carolina to St. Augustine, Florida

    We had a pretty good sleep and the air conditioner kept is nice and cool although it does make a lot of noise. When we woke up in the morning the outside temperature was quite pleasant.

    The park had a very good internet connection and we were able to upload the last four days of blog entries.

    We left in good time, returning to I-95 and quickly found ourselves at the Georgia Visitor Centre. There the agent persuaded us to visit Savannah and we were glad we did! We left I-95 and took I-16 into the historic part of Savannah.  A visitor center there had inexpensive RV parking and helped us narrow down what to see.

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    Savannah has many squares which are the heart of the different districts. The squares often have a monument of a famous figure from Savannah or Georgia’s history. The benches and mature trees provide a lovely shade from the heat.

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    We saw a number of small exquisite art and clothing stores as well as cafes and restaurants.

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    We walked to the Savannah river promenade where we admired the beautiful Talmadge memorial bridge and Ruth got to eat the Southern fried chicken she had talked about all morning.

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    After lunch, we happened upon the Savannah Candy Kitchen where we saw taffy being made. Taffy was not all that was available there – a whole wall of candy, sure to delight any candy lover. We sampled extensively.

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    It was now time to move on – Florida awaited. We drove non-stop to St. Augustine where we are staying the the Anastasia State Park right at the Atlantic ocean.

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    After settling in, we went for a sunset stroll along the beach. Tomorrow we hope to go for a swim before leaving.

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  • Meadows of Dan, Virginia to Colleton State Park, South Carolina

    Today was to be a driving day to make up for yesterday and we did make in fact make 526kms. Nevertheless we had some exciting diversions.

    On the parkway we stopped at the Puckett Cabin where “Aunt” Orelena Hawks Puckett lived for the latter of her 102 years. She was a midwife for 52 years and assisted at births of more than 1000 babies, delivering the last in 1939, the year she died. She never lost a child or mother through her own fault although none of her own 24 children lived beyond infancy.

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    We left the parkway and soon entered North Carolina where we stopped at their visitor center to stock up on fresh places to visit. There are a number of vineyards in the area and we stopped at Grassy Creek Vineyward and Winery where Ruth tasted 6 different wines (Martin was driving) and we spent some time talking to Jim, the owner and winemaker. Jim is not only a great winemaker but also a well travelled person with many stories to tell.

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    Lunch was a picnic at Lake Norman State Park overlooking a beach and swimming area.

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    After lunch we determined to make up for lost time and didn’t permit ourselves to visit the South Carolina visitor center.

    Our home for the night is the Colleton State Park in South Carolina which is located next to a river and is very spacious with lots of trees. The air is very humid and hot. No aligators are reported in the vicinity and the cottonmouth and rattlesnakes also haven’t come for a visit.

    We’re very happy our air-conditioning works!

  • Staunton, Virginia to Meadows of Dan, Virginia

    We started the morning by writing blog entries for the last two days but were unable to post them as we didn’t have a fast enough internet connection. Our plan was to drive as far as possible today but the idea of going to the Roanoke visitor center changed the entire day. The visitor center is located at the former Norfolk and Western Railway station which now houses the permanent exhibition of O. Winston Link’s photographs documenting the last steam trains in America. We had a fascinating tour of the exhibit, including seeing his cameras and lighting equipment (flash bulbs!) and details of how some of his images were created, followed by a movie on the photographer’s life. We were so impressed that we bought a book about the exhibit.

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    The visitor center staff suggested we drive up the nearby mountain to see the large star overlooking the city and then take the Blue Ridge Parkway south.

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    The parkway has a speed limit of 45mph and is quite curvy which meant we didn’t make it very far. At the beginning there wasn’t much to see so we took a suggested detour to visit the town of Floyd which feels a bit like a hippy town from the 1960s and is quite well known for its live music festivals.

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    Back on the parkway we stopped at the Mabry Mill, built about 1910 and used to grind corn and saw lumber. In 1945 the National Park Service restored and landscaped the mill. Today is it the most photographed feature on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

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    Now it was time to find a place to sleep. The first option was a state park but it didn’t appeal to any of us. Pepsi even nipped the nose of the park ranger who stuck his face too far into her personal space. The second option, Meadows of Dan Campground was much nicer and we settled in for the night after having had dinner outside, going for a short walk and then reading outside until it became too dark.

    Total distance covered: 268kms

  • Allegany State Park, NY to Staunton, Virginia

    We had a great sleep, the black bears we had been warned about didn’t attack us, and we were sad to leave.

    Today was driving day. We drove through the beautiful park and saw the sign “Quaker Area” and wondered whether this was an old Quaker settlement or whether the pretty green wooden cabins were specific ground for Quaker families.

    After leaving the park we continued on smaller roads through lush hilly areas. It was a bit sad to leave the coutry roads and get on the Interstate, but the Interstate is definitely faster.

    Before we got on I-70, we had a late lunch at a Classic Denny’s. It was a replica but it definitely reminded us of Route 66 with its red seats and black and white tiled floors.

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    In Winchester, Virginia we stopped at a farmer’s market, sampled some delicious peaches and cherry-apple cider and left with fresh tomatoes, peaches, a half gallon of cherry-apple cider and a mouth watering peach pie which was to become part of dinner tonight.

    After 575kms, we were done for the day. Tonight there is no beautiful park but a friendly Walmart with RV and truck friends.

  • Dundas, Ont to Allegany State Park, NY

    We should have listened to “On the Road Again”, what a great feeling! Departure was 3:00PM but we still had a stop at MEC to return a brand new InReach SE satellite communicator that had decided to no longer charge. Not much use as a safety device if the batteries run out.

    Despite our late departure we still drove 250kms. We had a very smooth border crossing at Fort Erie, Ontario although we almost lost our driver side mirror because an impatient pickup truck driver felt the need to squeeze into an already occupied space.

    We configured our GPS to avoid toll roads which routed us along beautiful country roads and quaint rural towns. A traditional stop at Walmart supplied us with some much needed groceries since we didn’t bring any across the border.

    Pepsi assumed her also traditional position in the van patiently awaiting our return.

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    Now we were ready to find a nice place to spend the night – and it wasn’t Walmart. We use a terrific app on the iPad called Allstays Camp and RV that shows a map with parks and campgrounds in the area we are travelling in and what a place we found. Allegany State Park was created in 1921 and construction of the Red House adminstration building was from 1927 to 1928. In 1929 the beautiful lake was created by building a dam. The park now has a beautiful campground as well as cabins and a few rooms in the adminstration building.

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