October 6, 2014 Savannah, GA to James Island, SC

What a day! We left the Savannah Visitor’s Center this morning and drove to Bluff Drive because it was supposed to have a large collection of Antebellum houses. It was a pretty drive, but we would not have placed it in our top 10 things to see around Savannah.


We continued on to Tybee Island to see the lighthouse. It was built in 1867 and is supposed to be the tallest and oldest in South Carolina.The lower 60 feet of the lighthouse was built in 1773. Pretty scenery.

We also stopped to tour the Fort Pulaski National Monument. There is a long history of forts in this location – first Fort George in 1761, followed by Fort Greene from 1794-95. During the Revolutionary War, American patriots demolished the Fort Greene to keep it from falling to the British. Then Fort Greene was destroyed by a hurricane in 1804. It took 18 years to construct Fort Pulaski, beginning in 1829. It is shaped in a kind of irregular pentagon and is surrounded by a 7 foot deep, 32-48 feet wide moat and has a drawbridge.

The picture above is a demilune, a large triangular piece of land bordered on all side by the moat. It protected the rear, or gorge wall of the fort. During the Civil War, this area was flat with a surrounding parapet and contained outbuildings and storage sheds.



This portion of the fort was pretty interesting. It is the Southwest Bastion which burned in an 1895 fire. It was left unrestored to show various construction details of the fort. We spent a couple hours before getting back on the road.

Penny enjoyed watching over Tobey’s shoulder as we arrived in South Carolina.

We are camped at the James Island County Park. It is a very large campground with over 100 sites – all with full hookups!

We took the scooter and went to dinner at the Roadside Seafood Restaurant. We had a variety of their fish/shrimp tacos. They put a “BAM” sauce on them that was so spicy, I could hardly eat them! They sure look good, though! Tomorrow we will take the scooter into Charleston to tour the historic part of the city. I am sure it will be another busy day!

October 5, 2014 Savannah, Georgia

Another great day in Georgia! We walked through the Visitor’s Center and looked at some of the displays about the early days in Savannah, then wandered by the Georgia State Railroad Museum.
The Tri-centennial Park and Battlefield Memorial Park are directly south of the Visitor’s Center and has a re-created redoubt to show what it was like for soldiers during the Revolutionary War. It was interesting to see.

We continued on to Colonial Park Cemetery which dates back to about 1750, but closed to internment in 1853. So many of the gravestones are so worn that you can hardly tell there is any inscription on them! It is said there are over 10,000 people buried there, but only about 800 gravestones because so many were destroyed during the Civil War. The Cemetery in now part of the Savannah Parks System. The Historical Society has placed lots of interesting plaques telling about the people buried there.

We made our way to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist which was built in 1896.

It is one of the largest cathedrals in the South and was absolutely amazing. We happened to arrive between services so I was able to go in and grab a few photos, since tourists are not allowed during services.

We headed back to the RV by way of the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of America. She was born in the house below in 1860.
After lunch, we took the “Old Savannah Tours” company 90-minute trolley tour of the city. Our driver/guide, Sonny, was quite entertaining, as well as informative. We opted not to do the “hop-on, hop-off” feature since we had already walked most of the area.

Their tour company offers a feature that some of the “characters” from the area who are dressed the part, get on board the trolley and tell a little story.

We had a visit from a pirate from the “Pirate’s House” come aboard and tell his side of the story regarding “importing” alcohol and exporting or “Shanghai-ing” captives!

Forrest Gump also came aboard at one stop. Apparently, over 80 movies have had scenes filmed in Savannah!

We enjoyed hearing more about the background behind some of the beautiful historic homes in the area. I don’t know if it true, but our drive said the house below was ordered as a kit from the Sears-Roebuck catalog and the instructions weren’t very good. He asked what was wrong and Tobey knew the answer – the windows are installed upside down! Can you tell? I couldn’t.

We also learned that many of the old houses had beautiful balconies, but no doors out to them because doors were taxed. The owners got around the extra tax by putting in large windows and just stepped through them! Of course, iron was expensive, so the more ironwork on your home, the wealthier you probably were.
After the tour, we picked up Penny and headed back to the City Market area to listen to some of the music. She settled right in on the bench and enjoyed the music. It turned out to be the same guys we listened to yesterday and they were good.

We took Penny back then went back to the RV so we could go back to the Wild Wing Café to see the Broncos-Cardinal football game. We had some really good chips and salsa and the Broncos won, 41-20, so we left happy campers! Another band, the Steppin Stones, was playing just outside so we stayed to listen to them. They played lots of good rock ‘n roll music from Crosby,Stills and Nash to Led Zeppelin to Janis Joplin and lots of their own original music. It was entertaining and fun! They have a Facebook page I will have to check out when we have internet again!

We head out tomorrow toward South Carolina, but would love to come back to Savannah again!

October 4, 2014 - Statesboro, GA to Savannah, GA

We headed to Savannah this morning – it was only about 60 miles from Statesboro, so it was an easy drive. We had read that the Visitors Center allows overnight RV parking for only $7.00 a night and we thought we would check it out. Turns out to be true – and it looks like it will be a pretty quiet location right in the heart of the city.

After getting our 24-hour pass, we took Penny and started off exploring the city on foot. It is filled with a rich history dating back before the Revolutionary War. Founded by General James Oglethorpe and his settlers in February 1733, Savannah became England’s 13th and last colony. It is located on a bluff overlooking the Savannah River and became a prosperous port as a crossroads with England. Savannah was a key location during the Revolutionary War. In 1778 the British captured the city by surprise and made it their base of operations against the colonies until their departure in 1782.
We passed the First African Baptist Church which was built in 1859. It is the first brick structure in Georgia owned by blacks. It is open for tours, however, not when we went by.

We continued through the City Market area and down to River Street. Located on River Street is the Old Savannah Cotton Exchange building which was completed in 1887, during the era when Savannah ranked first as a cotton seaport on the Atlantic and second in the world. The Cotton Exchange was the center of activity and the staple which dominated this city’s economic life before its evolution into a leading industrial seaport.

Octoberfest is going on, so there were lots of arts and crafts booths, food booths, and music and entertainment. We even got to see the keg rolling contest.

At the east end of River Street is the Waving Girl Monument. The statue is of Florence Martus, the city light-tender’s sister. Martus became known to seamen all over the world for waving at every ship. Legend is that she promised her sailor sweetheart to greet every ship until his return.


We stopped at several squares and read the historical markers. Every square we went by – and there are 22 in the city – have statues or monuments of some kind. This was James Oglethorpe, founder of Savannah.

Penny was greeted by lots of people with remarks about “what a cute dog!” We had to agree. She was also becoming a tired dog, so we took her back to the RV to rest.
We caught the free DOT bus and headed over to Forsyth Park. In the 1840s, 10 acres of wooded land was set aside here for the development of Savannah’s first recreational park. It was named for Georgia’s former governor, John Forsyth. In 1854, the fountain was added. There are 52 different kinds of trees in the park, along with other plants. The park is beautiful and was busy with activities going on. As a matter of fact, tomorrow the city is sponsoring “Picnic in the Park” with free music and other activities. We will probably check it out!

We walked back to River Street and took the free ferry across to the Hutchinson Island then back to the Waving Girl Monument dock. We made our way home to change into jeans then headed out for dinner.at the Six Pence Pub. We both had French onion soup and shrimp salad sandwiches and it was good.

October 3, 2014 Stone Mountain, Georgia to Statesboro, Georgia

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans … that happened to us today! Yesterday, we bought tickets to the Stone Mountain Park and had planned to ride the Summit Skyride – a cable car that goes 825’ up to the top of Stone Mountain with a good view of the Confederate Memorial carvings. This is the same picture as yesterday and the view today with the rain and fog was not so good. I am glad I took a picture yesterday!

There is also a scenic 1940s railroad that goes around the mountain and an Antebellum plantation and farmyard, as well as several other attractions we had planned to see. Instead, we woke to clouds … then rain, then thunder and lightening, and lots more rain! We went ahead and drove over to the ticket booth where we had to exchange our voucher for actual tickets and they were kind enough to refund our money and $10 parking fee. The forecast was for rain for the rest of the day, and the girl at the ticket booth didn’t know if they would open or not. We were disappointed, but nature happens! You can see the rain rolling down the side of the mountain!

It rained off and on as we headed south, then around noon the rain pretty much stopped. Oh well, who knows what it was doing at Stone Mountain!

Tobey spotted a billboard that caught my eye, so we turned off the highway to check it out …. A Scarlet Thread Quilt Shop!
It was a great store with friendly staff, and I had fun picking out some fabrics and quilting tools. We had also seen a sign for La Parrilla Mexican Restaurant, so we Googled it and it had 4-1/2 star rating. The chips and salsa were pretty good, the wait staff was excellent, but the main courses were so-so. Another bummer!

It has been interesting to see the different billboards along the interstate. One restaurant was advertising they were the “home of the Allman burgers and Jimmy Carter milkshake!” Maybe we should have waited to eat there.

We checked out the Roadtripper app and found “The Big House, The Allman Brothers Museum” in Macon, so we decided to check it out. I’m not sure what I expected, but it certainly would not have been in such a beautiful, big, old house!


With our AARP discount, it was only $6 each to go in. The Big House was actually owned by the Allman Brothers and they lived and wrote music there. The original members of the Allman Brothers Band and their extended family called this home from early 1970 until January 1973. There were lots of concert promotional posters, photos, and artifacts from their early years.


It was amazing that some of their first concerts were only $1.50 up to $5.00 admission! Oh, if we could just turn back the clock to the 1960s or 1970s!

It continued to rain off and on ad we ended the day in Statesboro, Georgia. Hunger for one of our favorites took us to Papa John’s for Friday night pizza! Not fancy or adventurous, but that’s fine with us. The forecast for Savannah for tomorrow is partly cloudy, but dry and cooler. Should be a good day! Tobey has the Allman Brothers playing on the I-pod so life is good!

October 2, 2014 Little River Falls, Alabama to Stone Mountain, Georgia

It was chilly when we got up this morning so we lit the oven and I made blueberry turnovers. Yummy!

We got everything ready to go and stopped at the Little River Falls Visitors Center, then across the road to the falls.

We hiked down to the river upstream from the falls and let Penny get into the water. She didn’t have any sticks to chase, but she actually went in and swam around!

At the Falls overlook we could see the 45 foot falls plunge off the Cumberland Plateau at the head of the Little River Canyon. During the summer months (and early October) the river is no more than a trickle, but the river apparently surges with rainfall in the cooler months. They had pictures of the falls during January and water rushed across the entire rock fall area!

Even though there wasn’t much water, they were really pretty.

This area is where the U.S. military rounded up Native Americans after Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The Cherokee resisted removal, but ended up signing a treaty in 1835, agreeing to relocate. Even though a treaty was signed, many Cherokee protested the move, and in 1838, 7000 US soldiers were brought in to round up and remove them, sometimes at bayonet point. Many were held at Fort Payne while they awaited their departure west to the Oklahoma Territory. Of the 18,000 Cherokee forced from their homes, it is estimated that 4000 died and many suffered severe hardships on the 800+ mile journey.

We continued our journey and are camping at Stone Mountain Park, just east of Atlanta. A lot of the roads we have been on have followed the Trail of Tears! The RV park is really large and we have a nice view out to the lake. Penny has been a happy girl – swimming, swimming, swimming!

After lunch, we drove the around the park and stopped at the songbird habitat and trail.
Penny had to wait in the RV – no dogs allowed on that trail. It was a very easy walk – a mile loop. We spotted several cardinals, but weren’t really able to get good pictures.
From there we continued around the park loop to King’s Trail, located on Indian Island. We parked and walked about 1/4 mile down the road and through the covered bridge which is one lane with weight restrictions so it kept the RV out.

Once on the island, we took the purple trail around the island – about 3/4 mile. At Sand Point, Penny had the chance to swim again. She is one happy dog!




After the island, we stopped at the Grist Mill. We saw three groups of teenagers on some kind of a scavenger hunt where the had to follow clues and bring information back. At the grist mill, the clue was to find something that was not found in fresh water and bring the count back. There were 13 large sea shells placed in the stream. It was fun to see them trying to figure it out, then dash off to the next location!

We were off to our next stop, also, the three Civil War figures, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and General Robert E. Lee, which are sculpted on three acres of the mountain’s sheer northern face. This picture was taken from the RV because the “attractions”part of the park are only open Friday-Sunday during the Fall. We will see the rest of the park attractions tomorrow.
Back to the campground, Tobey took Penny for another walk and swim while I fixed dinner. We were treated to a lovely sunset over Stone Mountain and Stone Mountain Lake.

October 1, 2014 - Memphis, Tennessee to Fort Payne, Alabama

After dinner last night we decided to go back to Beale Street to see if there was more activity on a Tuesday night than Tuesday afternoon. I am sad to report that there wasn’t much more - at least early in the evening. 

We did see some really fun carriage rides. The carriages are light up to look like pumpkins or Cinderella’s carriage!

We stopped at the Park and listened to some music for a while before heading back to the RV.

This morning we stopped at a Meineke Muffler Shop and they were able to weld the tailpipe back into place so it isn’t bouncing anymore.Ten minutes and $30 cash later, we were on our way!

We crossed into Mississippi for a short while driving on Highway 72 and were in Alabama before we knew it. If you are counting the states you have been in, does it count if it is less than 100 miles? Hwy 72 across northern Mississippi was a 4-lane, divided highway with very little traffic and passed across rolling hills.It was really scenic. Just west of Corinth, MS, we noticed a few cotton fields with the cotton balls ready to be picked.

We have noticed a few of the leaves starting to change color, but nothing like Colorado! We are definitely south and at a much lower elevation. The elevation is about 445’ compared to our home at 4954’!

This picture shows the state line quite well – Mississippi’s highway is concrete, Alabama’s is asphalt!

As we got close to Muscle Shoals, we checked Tobey’s phone app, “Roadtripper,” and found that the Alabama Music Hall of Fame was located in Tuscumbia, right on Hwy. 72, so we stopped. It was an interesting museum and opened in 1990. We were amazed at how many great musicians have come out of Alabama – Etta James, Nat King Cole, Hank Williams, Lionel Richie and even the band Alabama, just to name a few!

The 1960 Pontiac convertible "Golden Country Car" has more than 500 silver dollars and 12 silver guns mounted in and around the car, topped off with Texas Longhorns mounted on front.
The museum was playing a documentary that we are going to check out on Netflix, “The Muscle Shoals Documentary,” because it was too long to stay and watch, but looked interesting. http://alamhof.org/

We spotted a sign for Helen Keller’s birthplace, so we drove into Tuscumbia and see it.
From there we went on to Muscle Shoals and drove past the FAME Recording Studio (FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) which was founded in 1959 by Rick Hall, Billy Sherrill and Tom Stafford. In 1961, Hall split and became the sole owner of FAME and moved to this location in 1963.It is really interesting to see how many music artists have recorded at his studio, including the Rolling Stones! http://www.fame2.com/our-history/

We had originally thought we would stay near Huntsville, but decided to head on to the Fort Payne area. As we drove through town, we noticed the statues of the Band Alabama, who were from there.

We are camping tonight at the Little River Falls RV Park, just east of Fort Payne. We will stop at the Little River Canyon National Preserve tomorrow to see the falls before journeying further east.