Marching through Georgia - Sherman did it, why not us?

With reluctance we left the area on Tuesday, November 17th and arrived at Kathleen and Lee Haller‘s home on St. Simon’s Island. Kathleen insisted there was adequate space near her home to park our rig, but we don’t think she completely comprehended the 45’ length, 8’width and limited maneuverability of our truck and trailer. Parking our rig in a somewhat cleared, 12’ wide space bordered with cedars on one side, the street on the other and capped by a street sign at the rear and a tree in front, might have been perfect for a 16’ Airstream but was a bit tricky for us. Chris was having kittens while watching large branches of a cedar tree scrape the front and side of the RV as Jay backed and pulled forward multiple times. He did get Sonny off the road with no apparent damage.

Kathleen and Lee in front of their home.

Kathleen is a realtor and chauffeured us all around St. Simon’s and Jekyll Islands pointing out the majestic, waterfront homes owned by the rich and famous and the newly renovated Sea Island resorts. Resort membership is a little out of our price range as the annual fees exceeded $7,000. That’s okay, we’re not golfers anyway. Our visit to the Jekyll Island Club Hotel on Jekyll island was especially enjoyable as strolling through the impeccably maintained, Victorian style hotel took us back to its heyday in the late 1800s. Originally named the Jekyll Island Club, it was founded in 1878 as a hunt club and its members/investors included wealthy northerners such as J. P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer and Wm. K. Vanderbilt. It was the most exclusive club in the U.S. at the time but lost half its membership at the onset of The Depression and was evacuated and closed by the Government during WW II. After the war, the State of Georgia purchased the entire island and converted it to a park which is enjoyed by millions of visitors each year. Unfortunately our stay with Kathleen and Lee was only for one night but we were so entranced with the area that we vowed to return for an extended photography stay at Jekyll Island’s park.

Some of the ornate exterior of the Sea Island resort, The Cloister.

The Jekyll Island Club Hotel.

The turret at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel entrance.

Jacksonville, Florida was our next week-long destination. It was chosen it because of the RV park at the Naval Air Station and we felt there were fewer attractions in the area to distract Chris from installing Windows 7 and all new 64-bit software on her computer. She was not breathlessly looking forward to the week’s anticipated frustration, but the condition of her system mandated it. Since we had to change our residence to Florida, we did take some time out to get our Florida drivers licenses, voter registrations and a Coast Guard logo tag for Sonny. We were pleasantly surprised at how convenient it was to obtain everything. Florida has registration and licensing centers in shopping malls and retail stores. We even found one in a car parts store!

The Windows installation went well and Chris’ computer had the essential programs in place by the time we left on Wednesday, November 25th to head to Melbourne, FL for Thanksgiving dinner with our friends Mona and Merrill Wood. It had been a busy but productive month and we were happy to be making our way closer to Jessica.

Oh Savannah - or is it Suzanna?

Hmmmm, Charleston or Savannah – Charleston or Savannah? Where should we spend most of our time? This was our mental debate as we tried to decide which city would be the most interesting for Chris to photograph … and Savannah won. A decision had to be made because of our campground reservation in the Miami area for December 7^th and the amount of time we wanted to stay at other stops along the way.

Charleston was voted to be a short, 2-night stopover location which kept our drive close to 200 miles and allowed a visit to the famous Boone Hall Plantation. The plantation is one of the most photographed in the South. Famous for its centuries old live oaks lining the ¾ mile long driveway, and stately Georgian style brick mansion, its grounds have several original buildings including seven, brick, slave quarters and the gin house where the cotton, that was grown on the premises, was processed. There is a guided tour of the first floor of the home (the current owners sometimes occupy the upper floors) and each slave quarter building exhibits a different aspect of everyday slave life from cooking and sleeping arrangements, to their religious practices, to making the famous low country sweet grass baskets. Several films have utilized the grounds including The Notebook, Alex Haley’s mini-series, Queen and the ABC TV mini-series North & South. It continues to be a working farm today growing peaches, tomatoes, strawberries, pumpkins and other fruits and vegetables that they sell either at their roadside market or allow people to pick their own.

The mansion on the Boone Hall Plantation.

This illustrates the size of the magnificent Live Oaks that line the ¾ mile drive leading to the mansion.

Some of the brick slave quarters.

November 6^th we arrived in Savannah for an 11-day stay. A tour through the Visitors Center gave us the necessary guides and maps we needed to navigate the city. The next week and a half was spent photographing the beautiful wrought iron fences and gates, and historic homes, visiting with our friend, and historic district resident, Rubi McGrory and touring the Mighty 8^th Air Force Museum. Although we loved the sunny, warm days of our stay they played havoc with photographing outdoor architectural features so, Chris planned photo days for cloudy days or at least photographed in the shade when the sun was out. Since Chris spent so much time “working” her subjects, we were invited into three of the beautiful homes by the owners and learned about their history and how they are lived in today. One is owned and lived in by an older couple, one has a portion divided into apartments and one couple rents the lower living area out for weddings and corporate events, and lives upstairs. All were beautifully maintained and individual in their architectural design.

We were invited into this home. It was beautifully decorated inside and had two porches that overlooked one of the many parks in the city.

The unique curved façade and unusual yellow brick of this home set it apart from any in the city. We got a tour of the lower level that they rent for special events and weddings.

An ornamental detail of another home we toured. The red brick mansion boasted a turret, had slate roofs and original floors, decorative plaster bas relief and paneling inside.

Chris is in the process of creating a gallery of other photos from our Savannah stay and will continue to add more photos as they are edited. Click here to view the gallery.

Jay being the World War II buff that he is, we spent a rainy day at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. It was a very educational experience for Chris as she’d always known about the airfields built and manned by American forces stationed in Britain before the Normandy invasion, but didn’t know the grand scale of the effort. The museum is in Savannah because the 8^th Air Force was headquartered there before it was sent overseas and was one of the armed forces segments that experienced heavy casualties – estimated to be about 26,000 – between 1942 and 1945. The tour begins with a walk down a long hall housing a pictorial history of Germany’s actions which led up to WWII. Other rooms contain fully and partially restored aircraft, a recruiting video by one of its pilots, actor Jimmy Stewart, cases filled with uniforms and other artifacts from the time, and lots of displays explaining all about what they did. Because the war took so many men away from flying jobs here at home, a section of the museum paid tribute to the many women WASPs that flew the newly manufactured Air force planes. Some were test pilots and others transported the planes from the factories to air fields in preparation for transport overseas. The museum is a must-see for all that visit the area.

A B-17 bomber the museum is restoring.

Jay looking into the ball turret of the B-17.

All good things must come to an end and Jay had to dddrrraaaaaaaggggggg Chris- kicking and screaming – away from Savannah since the weather was cooling and our deadline to get to Miami was fast approaching.

Post Roost Rendezvous

We were ambivalent about leaving the Outer Banks as we wanted to stay and see more of it, but we were anxious to find a location with milder weather. Our commitment to attend a party the evening of Sunday, October 18^th necessitated our departure and we meandered down the coastline through the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and small towns like Swan Quarter, Leechville and Washington, to the home of Dave and Theresa Arnold in Morehead City. We dined and laughed with other Coast Guard retired pilots Cliff Vogelsberg and Gerry Murphy, and their wives, Maureen and Nancy while everyone told stories of days gone-by.

The next Tuesday we went sailing with Gerry and Nancy Murphy on their beautiful double-ended sailboat. Due to light winds we didn’t make our destination of lunching at Oriental and instead had an enjoyable, several hour sail during the cool, perfectly sunny day. Following a short driving tour of New Bern, we had lunch in town then Jay discovered the birthplace of (drum roll please) -- PEPSI!!! It held mostly Pepsi logo memorabilia but it was a fun place to explore.

Jay standing in front of the home of Pepsi-Cola.

Nancy then insisted we visit Mitchell’s Hardware store. One would normally not think of a hardware store as being a “must see” feature of a town, but Mitchell’s is an exception. From 1898 when it began as a livery stable, it was in the same location and owned by the same family until 1987 when it was sold to the Taltons, long time residents of the County. The Taltons moved the store to a larger 1912 building across the street in 1988, preserving the integrity of the structure by retaining the tin ceilings, leaded glass and other historic architectural features. The store has anything you could desire and more. The worn, wooden, plank floor hasn’t seen a coat of varnish or wax for decades and is mostly covered with an assortment of display cases, tables with seasonal displays, and free-standing, floor to the 12’ high ceiling, shelving. Every inch of wall space is put to use with built-in painted wooden shelves and racks and hooks for retail items that hang. The more we wandered through the store, the more we thought of that we needed in the RV and, no surprise, they had most everything!! Chris even found unusual candelabras that sit atop wine bottles and bought one for the RV and one as a Christmas gift for Jessica. A few days later she returned, on another errand, to find potted salad greens and bought two. Even though she can’t putter around in a stationary garden like what is at home, she can at least have a portable one to satisfy her addiction. Go to this link to read the store brochure.

October being the howl-a-ween month that it is, New Bern hosted a Ghostwalk complete with tours of its historic 17^th and 18^th century homes, graveyard and a variety of plays and dialogues reminiscing about the goings on in New Bern during the Roaring 20s - its theme for the year. Gerry Murphy dressed up in a gangster outfit complete with black, pin-striped suit, dark shirt, white tie and topped with a Fedora and sporting a violin case reminiscent of the tommy gun days. His assignment was to “guard” a pristinely restored red, Stutz Bearcat Roadster that was stationed in front of the largest, most beautiful home in town. We strolled around town visiting several houses, the fire station museum, the cemetery, attended the stage presentations and in general had a wonderfully enjoyable evening. We were even invited to a post-Ghostwalk party at Gerry’s friend’s house.

Gerry Murphy with the Bear Cat.

The Bear Cat was parked in front of this gorgeous home.

The front entrance of the home shown above.

The stuffed bear represents the town of New Bern – New Bear.

A home that dates from the colonial days of New Bern.

Our original plan was to stay in the area for about two weeks but both of us had been plagued with slow and unruly computers. A troubleshooting session on Chris’ computer was more than it could take and it had a full-blown hardware crash six days into our visit. We agreed it was time for a complete upgrade and a new motherboard, CPU, power supply, memory and the brand new 64-bit version of Windows 7 was ordered. While waiting for the parts to arrive, we visited the 300 year old sleepy, seaport town of Beaufort. Both Jay and Chris had stopped there during their boating days voyaging to and from the Caribbean Islands and found that, although the town and anchorage hadn’t changed, the dock area had been substantially upgraded from a single, long bulkheaded gas dock to a sizable marina complete with at least a half-dozen floating piers hosting several 80-foot plus motor yachts. Historic tours were not offered on the Sunday we were there so, we entertained ourselves with a visit to the North Carolina Maritime Museum, strolled the streets and photographed some of the 200 year old sea captain’s homes and visited the Old Burying Ground an ancient graveyard whose mossy, lichen encrusted tombstones seemed to be randomly placed amongst the contorted trunks of the live oak that dotted the grounds.

An example of some of the large, captains homes that line the waterfront area.

A cute Beaufort home.

A view of the Old Burying Ground and its randomly spaced headstones.

Another view of the Old Burying Ground.

Another afternoon was spent at the Civil War fortress, Fort Macon, a beautifully restored five-sided, brick, stone and earthen fort containing 26 vaulted casements housing museum displays and re-creations of storage, dining and barracks rooms. For the first year of the Civil War, the fort was held by the Confederates until the Union General Burnside’s forces attacked it with an 11-hour rifled cannon barrage damaging it severely enough for the Confederates to surrender. Our plans to walk through the surrounding 385 acres of beach and forested park grounds were thwarted by yet another barrage of wind and rain and we beat a sodden retreat to the truck and returned home. Go to this link to see the Fort Macon State Park site.

We dodged the drops at Fort Macon and were rewarded with this rainbow.

The computer parts arrived and Chris spent a day tearing apart and rebuilding her system. Although it would at least boot, the old operating system was still in place and she continued to have problems related thereto until the software upgrade could be installed. Due to the volume of Windows 7 orders placed the same day as hers, Microsoft delayed shipping our copy forcing us to extend our stay at the Camp LeJeune campground. So, we continued visiting with friends and Cliff Vogelsberg graciously gave us a tour of the hanger where the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft squadron resided at the New River Marine Corps Air Station, where he works. He was very patient while we pelted him with questions about how the engines tilted, how many crew and size of payload it carried and how did the engines, wings, propellers and other parts fold together into a small enough space to be used on an aircraft carrier? It is a masterfully crafted engineering marvel and we are lucky to have such a versatile aircraft in our armed forces. Go to this link to view the aircraft at the station and get more details on the Osprey.

Friends we visited, Bryan and Linda Genez, in front of their beautiful, custom built home.

On Monday, November 2^nd we trekked down to Wilmington, NC to lunch with Deese Thompson and Bill Caster, Coast Guard friends that Jay knew but didn’t serve with, and their wives Jeanne and Diane at a lovely waterfront restaurant. It was a fun visit and we also drove down the road where a young, 20 year old Jay lived in the area when he was stationed on the CG Cutter Mendota. On our way home we picked up the Windows 7 software and prepared for a Wednesday departure to Charleston, SC.

Outer Banks

October 12^th we left the Elizabeth City Air Station campground and made the 50+ mile trip to our next campground on Roanoke Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Indian Summer eluded us as we experienced day after stormy day of 20 mph winds, overcast skies and rain confirming why the region has been dubbed the “Graveyard of the Atlantic”. Being the “sailors” that we are we braved the elements to see as much of the area as possible in the 5 short days of our stay.

First stop, of course, was Kill Devil Hills to see the Wright Brothers Memorial. What an inspiring place it is to see the exact location of where man first flew. The original sheds they used to live in and where they stored the Wright Flier are recreated and markers indicate the location of the distances flown on their four attempts of that memorable day of December 17, 1903. Their first flight lasted a mere 12 seconds for a distance of 120 feet. Each successive flight was longer in time and length with the fourth resulting in a distance of 852 feet in 59 seconds.

Bronze plaque honoring the Wilbur and Orville Wright with the memorial in the distance.

Detail of the Wright Brothers memorial.

Recreations of the original sheds and granite markers designating where the Wright Flier lifted off and landed.

The Wright Flier

Intrigued by the wildlife and remoteness of the northern beach areas, we set out the following day (the only sunny one of the week but, the winds were still howling) to investigate the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, the towns of Duck and Corolla, and drive the beach in search of the wild ponies that have lived there since Spanish settlers released them in the 1500s. The exposed brick Currituck Beach Lighthouse was the last lighthouse to be constructed along the Outer Banks filling the dark space between the Cape Henry light to the North and Bodie Island to the South. It was activated in December of 1875 and automated by the Coast Guard in 1939 which eliminated the need for lighthouse keepers. As a result, the keeper’s houses fell into disrepair. They have since been renovated and they and the lighthouse are open to the public. Click here for the informational brochure on the Currituck Beach lighthouse. Go to this link for an informational brochure on the lighthouses along the Outer Banks.

The Currituck Lighthouse and one of the lighthouse keeper’s homes.

There are many companies that offer guided or unguided Jeep rentals to view the wild ponies, but we opted to take Big Red since it had four-wheel drive capability. Driving the beach was a bit of a challenge as we needed to drive during low tide. Some areas are hard packed sand but much of it consists of softer areas riddled with tire ruts which tried to wrench the wheels in directions contrary to our desires. Chris found that increasing the speed helped, much to Jay’s discomfort. We were blessed to see a pony idly standing next to a fishing rod looking like he was actually surf fishing. See photo below. Click here for an informational brochure on the ponies.

One of the Outer Bank’s resident ponies fishing in the surf.

Big Red on the beach.

Wednesday we spent driving south through the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and saw colorful parachute-looking things flying in the sky. We decided to stop and investigate and found an instructor with two students preparing to kite board on the ocean. Never having witnessed the like we stuck around and watched as they donned harnesses, raised their kites, braved the surf, mounted their surf-board like platforms and skidded across the choppy seas. The strong winds that day enabled the instructor to launch into the air a good 25 feet, land upright and just keep on truckin’. As we continued driving south we could see the kites from the road all the way to their destination north of Rodanthe.

Jay chatting with the instructor while his students brave the surf.

A highlight of our day was visiting the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station in Rodanthe. Although the structures are original, their locations are not. They have been moved five times – three by storms and two by man. The site boasts stations built in 1874 and 1911, a cook house, a wreck pole, stable, the Midgett House (where the brother of one of the Keepers, John Allen Midgett, Jr. lived and is indicative of how people lived at the time), and other buildings. The station was particularly interesting to us because of Jay’s past and Chris’ daughter, Jessica’s, current Coast Guard affiliation. Go to this link for a view of the Station’s brochure.

The 1874 Life Station building with other buildings on the site.

A surfboat in the 1874 Life Station building.

Returning north to our campsite we decided to seek out the house that was used in the film Nights in Rodanthe. Not seeing any that matched our vision of a weathered, multi-story, oddly shaped dwelling with blue storm shutters on a remote stretch of beach, on our first pass, we made two trips up and down the highway looking for it to no avail. We recently discovered its location and indeed we had unknowingly passed right by it at the northernmost part of Rodanthe. Go to this link to learn about its new ownership and view a video of its 2,500 foot move to a safer location, not threatened by encroaching surf, by the same company that moved the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.

Our last sightseeing day was spent at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Built in 1870 the lighthouse was in peril of succumbing to the advancing Atlantic Ocean’s erosive effect on the surrounding beach. The Visitor Center has a lengthy movie showcasing how the lighthouse was moved to a new location one-half mile inland in 1999. It had to be cut from the base, lifted to a support structure of steel beams then make a 23-day trip along a specially laid bed of railroad tracks to its present location. The original Keeper’s houses were also moved and contain a museum about the lighthouse and history of the Outer Banks. Some of the stones from the original base remain at the old lighthouse site and are inscribed with the names and dates of the men and women that served as Keepers. Go to this link to learn about the lighthouse. Go to this link to learn more about the lighthouse move.

The Cape Hatteras lighthouse in its new location and one of the keeper’s residences.

Some of the original stones used in the base of the lighthouse, inscribed with the names and dates of keepers gone by, and a view of where it currently stands.

A view of the distance from the original location to the ocean.

Where the lighthouse currently stands in relation to the beach.

Despite the cloudy, cold, windy weather, we did enjoy our stay at the Outer Banks but had to move on to the Morehead City area to attend a dinner party at Dave and Theresa Arnold’s house with other Coast Guard buddies that Jay served with in Cape May, NJ.

Clock Reset

After a 5 month “sidestep” we finally got back on the road on the 8^th of September 2009. As we did last December, we only went the 10 miles to Ft. Meade so we could make last minute adjustments before trekking off. It’s a good thing we did too! We weighed Sonny just after leaving Crownsville and found the RV was 1,700 pounds over gross weight. Even though our holding tanks were full, from living in the trailer for nearly a month while sitting in the driveway of our house, we figured we were still at least 1200 pounds too heavy. We spent an extra week removing stuff we decided we could live without including some photo lighting and Melaleuca stuff that was pretty heavy. The local library got an unexpected supply of hard bound books and we dumped as much paper as we could scan in the short time we had. Naturally both our scanners crapped out on us during this marathon so we took the rest of the papers with us, along with a new HP All-in-One to continue scanning as we went south. It’s amazing how heavy paper is and how much space it takes up. It’s also interesting how little we actually need to “file” in our lives and if it wasn’t for taxes, and the government requirements therein, we could get rid of most everything. Anyway, after cramming our storage space in Maryland as full as we could and shedding weight like a crippled aircraft, we headed south on the 24^th of September and reset our two-year time frame for our Odyssey.

Based on the experiences of our first endeavor we decided to stay OFF Interstate highways, travel back roads , scenic byways and keep each day’s travel to 100 to 150 miles. To this end we only made it over the bridge from Maryland into Virginia on Rt 301 to Fort A. P. Hill; a huge, even peaceful, quiet, out of the way place that was very considerate of us sleeping in by not starting their artillery barrages until after 8am. It was a nice place to make some adjustments and catch up on housekeeping items early in our trip. We detoxed from our elevated stress levels acquired with yet more rushing to “get everything done” prior to our departure and were finally able to relax on our journey. Due to our “get it done” natures, we have to constantly work on maintaining a geared down pace; otherwise we could have just kept up the “rat-race” from home.

We took a day to visit the Civil War battlefield of Fredericksburg, which was featured in a TV special we viewed a few years ago. The National Park Service has done a wonderful job of explaining the battle via a movie, and other aids in their visitor center immediately adjacent to the famed sunken road where the Confederate army made their stand. It is mind boggling to imagine thousands of Union soldiers marching through acres of open field to the Confederate line who fired volley after volley into them from the protection of a low stone wall. Over 5,000 Union soldiers died that day compared to just over 1,000 Confederates.

This is the original wall the Confederate forces stood behind while they fired on the Union soldiers advancing up the hill to the left.

A cannon positioned on the hill where the Confederate forces fired volley after volley into the Union Troops that were down the hill to the right .

An ardent fan of Stonewall Jackson, Jay was surprised and pleased to find the Chandler Plantation Overseer’s house where he died of wounds obtained at the battle of Chancellorsville. The house contains the original room, bed where he lay, and other items of furniture and household objects present at that time.

A marker on the Jackson Shrine site.

The original plantation house burned long ago but the Overseerer's home, above, is where Jackson died.

On to Elizabeth City, NC for the annual Ancient Order of the Pterodactyl Roost that was held this year at the Coast Guard’s huge aviation facility there. Along the way we had to stop and have dinner with Al & Sue Brassel at their favorite Mexican restaurant in Yorktown, VA. The best part of this whole travel thing is being able to spend time with dear friends along the way. The Roost was excellent with several special events. The Commandant was there to participate in the change of watch for the Ancient Albatross; Vice Admiral Vivien Crea retired and Rear Admiral Gary Blore took over the duties of the Coast Guard Aviator with the earliest designation date. It is a mostly ceremonial position but it does carry on a long tradition of CG aviation, complete with leather coat and helmet with goggles and white, silk scarf, reminiscent of the open cockpit days of flying.

Admirals Crea and Blore during the Ancient Albatross change of watch ceremony.

The new Coast Guard exhibit at the museum in Elizabeth City was exceptional. They have a helo rescue mock-up for children to raise a basket with a teddy bear in it. Naturally, Jay had to try it out. See below.

Jay reliving his flight days while hoisting a teddy bear.

The banquet was held in a large hanger with wine and glasses donated by Lockheed (we think) and the young aviators that received awards for excellence showed that the CG is now allowing high school kids to fly – at least they looked that young to Jay. But then the Admirals are just kids now too. Jay treasures the memories of his all too short career and thoroughly enjoys seeing old friends and meeting the new kids coming up the ranks. We always fill up a table of people Jay served with in Puerto Rico or Cape May and we look forward to attending the next one in Jacksonville, FL in 2010.

A street sign at Elizabeth City Air Station in honor of the Pterodactyls.

Especially fun was being able to visit with Bob and Ann Mueller, who are restoring an old house in E-City. Bob and Jay went through flight training together in 1967 and have not seen much of each other since. They had a lot to catch up on.

Bob and Ann Mueller in front of the house they had moved to this site and have been renovating for years. It's almost done.

Part of the Ptero Roost weekend is visiting the interesting places in the area. We chose the ranger guided tour of the Great Dismal Swamp State Park. We normally go for the nature activities and besides, both of us had traveled the Dismal Swamp Canal in our boats during our cruising days.

Chris and Jay on the raised decking at the Dismal Swamp State park.

The Dismal Swamp Canal. The boats are tied up at the North Carolina Visitors Center. Chris and her family tied their boat up to this dock and rode out a hurricane that was coming up the coast in the early 90s.