South Bound Mix

Kat:
We left Camp Thursday at 2 and began our somewhat hurried trek to St. George Island in FL. We had three stops, First Landing State Park in Virginia, Wilmington NC, and Savannah GA. The drive down to First Landing took us down the Delmarva Peninsula and across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The CBBT is a 17.6 mile crossing at the mouth of the Chesapeake consisting of 12 miles of low-level trestle, 2 one-mile-long tunnels, 2 bridges, 2 miles of causeway, 4 man-made islands and 5-1/2 miles of approach roads. It was crazy to start crossing a bridge you can't really see the other side of.  We stopped on the far island after emerging from the second tunnel to wander around and read about the bridge.

Looking back at the other island where the tunnel started.

We arrived at the First Landing State Park near dusk. The girls headed off to scout, I started trying to put together dinner and Ry went to get camp wood. The girls went too far and it started to get dark, so I headed off to get the girls, when we returned Ry was sweating away trying to get a stubborn campfire lit. In the end we cooked via the propane stove, only to discover pre-marinated chicken from Wal-Mart leaves much to be desired. After feeding the girls cereal in the truck to avoid bug bites, we settled in for the night. The next morning we headed to the beach for a few hours.

Stylin with my new "packable" sun hat. 

Our next stop was my father's house in Wilmington, NC.  We arrived just in time for great conversation, snacks and then an excellent dinner compliments of my step mother Theo. We thoroughly enjoyed a night sleeping in A.C. We were so comfortable and enjoying our time we forgot to take pictures. Luckily my sister Sarah snapped a few.

Me and my little sis Sarah

Lazy morning in Wilmington

We headed out around 10:30 the next morning to head toward Savannah. The original plan had been to camp near the Okefenokee Swamp, but two night minimums and 107 degree temperatures made us think twice about camping in swamp territory. Instead we decided to find a KOA near Savannah and do an afternoon tour of the historic district and dinner. We didn't arrive at our camp ground until 6ish. I went into the office to check in only to be apologized to and warned about our neighbors for the night.  I smiled politely and said no problem we'd be heading into town for the evening so it really shouldn't be a problem. Wanda, who was working the front office that evening, assured me that her friend Rose was just across the way and she would keep an eye out for us. We pulled in to our spot next to the family in question. Their area was a bit of a mess; they had commandeered the neighbor to the right's picnic table and our water and electric. They had a mini fridge on one table, a radio going, random items strewn about the site and their dog tied to a tree with an extension cord. We pulled in and quickly went about setting up our site. As we packed away some food I noticed the dog had chewed through the cord and had happily started to trot off. I let our neighbor know, we would later learn his name was Ray (by reading "this is Ray's tent" scrawled on all four sides of said tent).  Without further incident, we headed off to Savannah for the evening. Unfortunately, by the time we found parking and made it to City Market it was 8. We had a decent dinner on the patio at the City Market Cafe while listening to live musing in the square. After dinner I attempted to drag the family around historic Savannah in the dark, it din't go so well. In the end I gave up, I will admit not very gracefully, and we headed back to the car.

One of the few shots we got in Savannah, blurry about covers how the crew was doing at this point.

We arrived back at the campsite to some heightened tensions between our neighbors and Rose, the aforementioned guardian angel. The girls and I headed to the bathroom and apparently while we were gone there was a verbal scuffle that went on between the family and Rose. It was pretty unclear what Rose's particular beef was with Ray, other than his general state of slovenliness. When the cops arrived and started comparing stories, Ryan decided to hang around in the shadows to see what might unfold.  Eventually, the cop came over and said, "I couldn't help but notice that our conversation has caught your attention."  Ryan told him he was just trying to make sure things were not going to escalate, asked what the problem was, and was assured that "They just don't like each other."  After the cops left and Ray roared away on his little green Vespa, we settled in for the night. Ray did return the next morning and tried to pull us into the debate by putting Ryan on the phone with the manager, Ryan begged out of the conversation and we hurried to exit the campground. We were out by 9am and on the road to meet LuAnn, honorary family member, outside of Jacksonville for an early lunch.

We had a lovely lunch with Lu at Olive Garden.

We made it to St. George in good time ready to enjoy a week with Ryan's family in a house on the beach.