Good Sam Rally - Daytona Beach

Day 27 – (Thursday, 11-1-12) Arrive at Good Sam RV Rally

After having a wonderful breakfast prepared by Stephen (good old southern biscuits and sausage gravy) we enjoyed spending some more time with my family. Kurt and I got ourselves and the RV ready to roll on down the road to the Daytona International Speedway. We arrived there around 3:30 and drove into the infield. We completed our registration and received all the details of the Rally, trade shows and events. The RV was setup as usual and we were ready for Happy Hour and some dinner. The dogs were worn out and hit their beds early. We are “boondocking” here in the infield (that means our own water & power). This is the first time we have used our generator to run the main power. So far, so good. We’re looking forward to tomorrow, the events and RV show.

Day 26 – (Wednesday, 10-31-12) Heading to Daytona Beach

We finally made it out of camp in Savannah, and headed to my sister’s house just south of Daytona Beach. We arrived there around 4:00 pm. Suzi, Stephen, Steve and Derek (Stephen’s sons) were all there. They have a very nice home way out in the boonies (sort of like our situation). The 2.5 acre lot is really nice. We enjoyed Suzi’s pot of chili for dinner, along with drinks and lively discussions. We all enjoyed our evening together and it was great to see them again, especially at their home. We stayed in the house with our dogs, who were pretty well behaved. After a late evening, we went to bed around midnight.

Last day in Savannah

Day 25 – (Tuesday, 10-30-12) Errands & Relaxation

The morning started very cold and windy. It must have been in the upper 30s last night. Thank God we brought the portable electric heater; we’ve used it several times on this journey. But it seems to be cool just about everywhere. But, we’re enjoying it and will be ready to “winter” in Florida.  Neither of us are cold weather people! Kayaking was still out of the question and it was still too windy.

We had some errands to do that required us to go into town to shop. Dog food, our food, banking, etc., we got accomplished and then headed back to camp. We did some housekeeping, gathering wood for a campfire, etc. Kurt decided to go trail biking for awhile to unwind, it’s scary how much he and Kody can’t sit still for very long… I decided to relax in my style and actually sit out in the sun (with all my winter clothes on) and read my book. While I was sitting out there, the wind was whipping and suddenly a huge dead branch fell down from one of the trees! Glad I wasn’t hit by it, but the weird thing is just a little earlier we were discussing how we could get some firewood! Wow, Kurt just had to break it up a little…

Dinner was prepared, grilled chicken thighs (one of our favorites). We began getting some of the camp chores done early to prepare to leave. We want to get an early start tomorrow, as we head toward Daytona Beach. We will be staying with my sister Suzi and her husband Stephen. We are looking forward to seeing them; it’s been awhile, and they have a new house that we haven’t seen!

We sat around the campfire for awhile before the fire waned and it got too cold to sit outside. We went inside and watched TV for awhile, then got ready for bed and our journey tomorrow.

Exploring Tybee Island

Day 24 – (Monday, 10-29-12) Tybee Island!

This morning was colder than it’s been since we have been here, it was in the low 40’s¸brrrrr….  Kurt and I decided to go for a hike with the dogs in the morning, and then just the two of us will drive over to Tybee Island to explore that area.

We took the boys on a hike here in the park, the Sandpiper Trail.  The boys enjoyed getting out for a run/walk in the cool morning air. We just wanted to get some of the energy out of them so that they would sleep when we left them in the RV. It was also a very nice hike and we all enjoyed it. We took the boys back to the RV and got ourselves ready for the trip to Tybee Island.

Tybee Island is about 20 miles from Skidaway. It’s an easy drive and very scenic. We also took our bikes as the map showed a bike path on the island. We parked on the beachside near the pier and found a restaurant that served fresh seafood. Both of us had been craving local seafood. We sat on an upper outside balcony and had a wonderful lunch! I had a fried shrimp basket and Kurt had a blackened grouper sandwich. It was all wonderful! The view was great and the atmosphere was perfect. After eating, we went back to the truck and got our bicycles ready to ride. We rode north on the island bike route, until we reached the Tybee Island Lighthouse. We decided not to pay admission to go up into the lighthouse (we're on a fixed income now!), but we took some great pictures from the outside. There was also a small fort on the beach side, which was used during the Civil War. There is so much history in this area, it’s amazing. We then decided to ride our bikes back down the beach to the pier where our truck was parked. It was actually quite a nice ride, as the wind was at our backs and the beach is hard packed sand. We then headed back to the campsite, after making a couple of shopping stops.

After dinner, we were all tired and went to bed early. It was very cold outside and we buttoned up and turned the heater on.

Savannah & Skidaway Island State Park

Day 23 – (Sunday, 10-28-12) Exploring the area!

After breakfast, we decided to ride our bikes around the park and the nice trails! The trails were well maintained and took us by the salt water marsh area of the park. There were displays with some historic information about the island and the area. We went up into an observation tower to see the marshes and water channels. The weather was beautiful, but with a slight chilly wind. It made the bike ride even better.

Since the kayaking here is limited to the salt water marsh, we decided to go exploring in the city of Savannah. We took the dogs as we were told that Savannah was very dog friendly. Our first stop was at the visitor’s information center in the city. We received great advice for a walking tour of the historic area and riverfront. The boys were with us and got their first “city hike” experience. The tour was very informative and we learned some historic facts around the city. The city was a “planned” city and has park squares every 3-4 blocks.  It’s very lovely and we were amazed at the huge live oak trees everywhere! The historic buildings and homes were magnificent. Looking at the original cobblestone roads and brick seawalls was amazing; making us think about how this city has been around since the early 1700’s.  After a couple of hours, we decided to head back to the campground.

After arriving back at camp, we took care of some housekeeping and getting ready for dinner and the evening. We prepared hamburgers for dinner and Kurt made a campfire. As the evening went on, we went inside the RV since the temperature was getting colder as the fire waned.  We settled down inside for some TV and updates on the hurricane. Bedtime was upon us and we were tired, as we did have an active day.

Day 22 – (Saturday 10-27-12) Heading to Savannah

Due to Hurricane Sandy’s weather effects in S. Carolina, we decided to cut out a day early and head to Savannah. We disconnected and shut down the RV in a misting rain and some wind. The drive south today is only about 3 hours, so we will arrive there late afternoon.  We drove mostly the back roads to see the local flavor of the south. The drive was uneventful, after a stop at Walmart to provision more food and supplies. We arrived at Skidaway Island State Park near Savannah around 4:30 pm. We were able to pick our RV site and found one that backs up to a natural area and the campsite was HUGE! The dogs love it, as we allowed them to run and roam free with our supervision. The campground was sparsely occupied, probably many cancelled due to the storm.  We setup quickly and got ready to make dinner; which was tacos and guacamole, one of our favorites!

We went to bed fairly early and wanted to be rested for whatever the next day had in store for us.