We are now in Tennessee at Rocky Top Campground a few miles from Kingsport after driving 419 miles. Yes, I'm tired of driving for a while. We plan to stay for a week to visit family in the area before heading to Kansas City for a couple of months. I want to post a few more photos from our 3 days in the Savannah area. Savannah is one of our favorite cities. It is so cool to walk around the historic district with all the old homes and parks. The azalea bushes were beautiful and near their peak. I took a lot of photos of iron work associated with hand rails. The folks who made these were artists in their own right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



We arrived at Fort McAllister State Historic Park on Wednesday and settled in for a 3 day visit. The campground is down a long causeway on a small island named Savage Island. RV sights have 30amp electric and water, no sewer but they do have a dump station. They have nice bathrooms with flush toilets and great showers. Campsites are level and widely spaced.This is one of the best campgrounds we've stayed at in our year of travel. Our site is right on the edge of the salt marsh under live oaks and palm trees, a very beautiful setting.

 

View of our pull thru campsite.

 

 

 

 

Miles and miles of salt marsh...about 50' from the RV

 

 

Fort McAllister was the southernmost and most active Confederate fortification in Savannah's defense. It is a massive earthwork fort, designed by recommendations of Robert E. Lee when he visited in 1861. Although attacked repeatedly by Union ships, the fort stood until December of 1864 when Sherman ended his march from Atlanta to Savannah by taking the fort by land.

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

Ogeechee River. Union ships would approach to a point near the far edge of the river before firing on the fort, 900-1200 yards away.

 

 

To show how beautiful our campsite is, here are a few photos taken from inside.

 

 

 

Beautiful ending to the day

 

 

 

 

 



Why is it that when you get ready to leave a place after staying for a while you discover a special place you wish you had found on the first day? I found such a place yesterday, quite by accident. Barbara and I made a trip into Brooksville to do some shopping and while on the way back, we kept our eye out for a place to eat lunch. Just when we were about to give up, we rounded a curve on the outskirts of Brooksville and came across Coney Island. Now if you like hot dogs, this is the place to be. In business since 1960, you could just tell it was a special place the locals were fond of.

I had a foot long with chili, onions, cheese, mustard, and mayo and washed it down with a sweet tea. Now I've had a lot of good hot dogs in my day but this was the best! It was so good I went back for another one today.

 

 





 

We end our stay in Florida tomorrow as we begin our way back up north. Our first stop will be Fort McAllister State Historic Park, Georgia. We'll just be a few miles south of Savannah so we plan to visit my sister while there. After a few days, we'll head to the mountains of east Tennessee for a week visiting with more family.

We really enjoyed our 6 weeks in Florida at Yankee Traveler RV Park and Sumter Oaks RV Park. They say RV'ers are some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet. Well, I believe it. The last photo is of some friends made at Sumter Oaks. Even though we all come from different places and have different backgrounds, our common love of travel and the RV lifestyle binds us together in friendship.

 





 

We had planned to leave Florida today for a return to Savannah but decided to stay for another week. We are enjoying our stay here very much. It is so quiet and comfortable here, besides, we still have several things we want to do in the area. Barbara will be going back to her sister Bonnie's house for an overnight stay on Friday. I'm glad they are getting to spend some quality time together.

On Monday we drove to the Webster Flea Market, a rather famous and huge flea market in central Florida. This place covered over 300 acres. Now we hardly ever do the flea market thing but this place was absolutely massive in scale. We spent almost 5 hours there and didn't get to see it all. I think we may go again next Monday.

 

Parking lot at the Webster Flea Market

 

 

 

 



Today we drove to Leesburg, a small city about 30 miles northeast to spend the day. We used to live in Leesburg many years ago. Barbara was born and raised in Leesburg. Back in 1981 I was transferred to Leesburg when I worked for Sprint. I met Barbara there in 1983 and in May of 84 we were married. It was nice going back and seeing where we lived and places we went when we were dating.

 





 Venetian Gardens at Lake Harris. When we were dating we would go for a walk in the gardens and sit at this bench.

 

Venetian Gardens has a series of canals which harbor hungry reptiles

The house in Leesburg that Barbara grew up in...without AC mind you!

The house we lived in from 1992-96

Barbara & I were married in this church in 1984





We've been at Sumter Oaks RV Park, just south of Bushnell, FL for 5 days now and are in love with this place. It's so peaceful and quiet here in a wooded setting, far away from civilization, just what we need after a hectic month in the Tampa area. The campground is old, but very nice. It has a pool (indoor), a recreation room, laundry, and bathrooms with showers.

 

 

Today, we traveled to Barbara's sister's house in Brandon to have lunch and visit with Uncle George who drove down from Huntsville, AL. It was good seeing that he was doing so well. Even though he's in his 80's, he gets along very well and doesn't hesitate to travel far from home. We had a very nice visit with everyone. I didn't think Barbara and sister Bonnie had that much in common (with the exception of the love of talking), but today, I know without a doubt they are sisters. We were talking about the wonder of today's computers when Bonnie began relating the occasional difficulty she has with new programs or trying new things on the computer and the frustration that follows in some cases. Barbara reacts the exact same way! It must be genetic.

 

 

From left: Wendy, Bill, Bonnie, Uncle George, Rob, & Barbara

 



Our month in Largo ends tomorrow. We're only driving 72 miles north to "Sumpter Oaks RV Park", a few miles from Bushnell and Brooksville, Florida. We'll stay for at least a week, maybe two. Good bye city, hello countryside! I won't miss driving in the Tampa/St. Pete traffic but we had a great time here.



Yesterday we drove to downtown St. Petersburg. This is the Pier with the inverted pyramid at the end. The pyramid contains various shops, a restaurant, other eating options, an aquarium, and observation deck. It's pretty cool but the city is getting ready to close it and tear down the pier and replace it with an entirely new one.

 



Downtown St. Petersburg from the observation deck  at the pier pyramid

 

 

St. Pete Marina

 

 

At the pier, looking out into Tampa Bay

 

 

Waiting for supper

 

 

Must have been a sailboat race in the bay

 

 

This fellow let me get within 3 feet.

 

 

Treasure Island Beach

 

 

This is the largest inflatable I've ever seen. It's a slide a couple of guys put up, hoping to cash in on the upcoming spring break crowd.

 

 

Maybe a sailboat in our future??? This is a small Hunter Marine 27 footer for sale.

 

 

For our final photo...I give you Baklava! This is the best I've ever eaten, by far. While in Tarpon Springs we bought it at the Hellas Bakery. They have all kinds of Greek deserts and bread.