Heading south . . .

We left Tab and Deanna's on Saturday. We had a great time visiting with them and eating out. We will not see them again until next spring when we start our three-month trip to Alaska! What fun that will be!

Leaving St. Paris, Ohio, we traveled on to Heiskell, Tennessee, to camp in the Escapees park there. We know what to expect from Escapees parks and we have been to Raccoon Valley before, so we weren't disappointed. But it sure seems that there could be a lot of improvements made. I know they recently spent a lot of money upgrading this park, but it is hard to see where the money went. The electric was very good and the boxes look new, so that was nice. They need to do a lot of work on the sites themselves, adding gravel and leveling the pads. In addition, there was a Jayco Class C a couple sites down that was in such bad condition. The overhead bunk area was duct taped around the entire curved part and the lower bunk area was sagging. On the other side the entire outer wall area was duct taped from the window forward and down. And it too was sagging and had to be leaking during any rain. I don't think the overhead box would stay together going down the road. It all looked incredibly soft and mushy. I could imagine chunks dislodging and flying off. It certainly was not road worthy. I know some parks would not allow an RV in such bad condition to enter.

We are now parked in Hardeeville, South Carolina, at a no-frills park. It accepts Passport America, so the camping is $21 a night for 50A, full hook-up. The sites are spacious and while the roads are gravel, there is ample room to maneuver.

Yesterday afternoon after setting up camp, we drove into Savannah, Georgia, just 15 miles away and took a bus tour of the city. Dave was our narrator and he did a good job and was knowledgeable when questions were asked. When the tour was over, we drove out to Tybee Island to do some sightseeing on the island. We ate at the Crabshack (not to be confused with Joe's) and had a delicious meal. Mine was seafood and Terry had BBQ. We chose to eat outside and while we were eating we noticed little fiddler crabs. There came up over the edge of the deck from the marsh area and would skittle across the deck. If you looked at them, the would rush away and hide. Hah! I really didn't care for them because they really just look like a big spider, but they are kind of comical. There are several cats that hang out at the restaurant and they would chase them. After awhile, they would creep back up over the deck boards. What an interesting little animal they are.

We returned today to the Visitor's Center which is housed in the old railroad repair facility. It has a roundhouse still operating today, but as a museum. Many of the buildings are in disrepair and some are gone, long since torn down. But now there is an effort to preserve what is left. There was a machine shop, where tools and train parts were fashioned and forged. There were many support businesses so that when steam locomotives and railroad cars were in need of repair, they could be brought here, taken into the roundhouse and any repair that was needed could be done right here. Many of the support businesses grew in order to serve the workers and their families. There are some cars restored for you to see and others being worked on. We also toured the Savannah History Museum which had a nice display on Juliette Gordon Low, who was the founder of Girl Scouts in the US. When we were here years ago with the kids, we toured her birthplace home because Jocelyn was in Girl Scouts at the time.

Later we parked close to Bay Street and walked over to River Street. River Street is down on the level of the harbor itself. Many of the buildings there were built during the heyday of cotton and were businesses and warehouses associated with trade. The buildings are two story with the bottom level on the river and the top level is the level of Bay Street behind the row of building. There are ramps to drive up to the upper level, along with stairs in various places. There is an alleyway of sorts behind the buildings known as "Factor's Walk." Factors is the name applied to what we would call (cotton) brokers today. It is interesting architecture and has been left much as it was back the those days.

We visited a lot of the shops along River Street and had lunch at Dockside. It was okay, but not as good as the Crabshack last night. It did give us a nice dry spot to sit while it poured rain outside. We did a lot of walking today, not even utilizing the second day bus passes we had bought, but we try to walk whenever we can. We were both tired when we got back and it started to rain again, so it was nice to be here inside. I did manage to get a picture of the double rainbow though!

Till next time. . .

Dale