Texas and more

 Maine was our next objective, but how we will get there and what we will see along the way is anyone’s guess!

Tag along, it’ll be fun.

North was an obvious choice of direction! So we did that.

A night or two in St Augustine seemed nice but the trip up I95 to Savannah was a mess with trucks and cars fighting for lanes. Exactly what we hate, and a good reminder to stay off the interstates. We have no deadlines until August now so there is no need for speed.

Nice tree lined streets and little parks everywhere

We have never visited Savannah before and didn’t realize what a pretty city it is. Except for the parking situation.

Some really fancy tombstones

We have always had a “Thing” for cemeteries and the Bonaventure Cemetery was an excellent one, with memorials going back to the foundation of the Colony of Georgia and including prominent people up to the Civil War and beyond.

Old buildings and cobblestone streets on River Street

Savannah was spared from destruction in Sherman’s “March to the Sea”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman%27s_March_to_the_Sea

which split the Confederacy in half. The citizens of Savannah paid the Union forces 25,000 bales of cotton to spare the city and so there are lots of original buildings to wander around.

Juliette Gordon Low founder of Girls Scouts in the US
was from Savannah

We did our customary “Hop on Hop off” bus tour to get the feel of the place then explored the water front area which is aptly named “River Street”. Some nice beers and seafood helped us get to know the city and I think we will return again sometime.

By the end of the day we were both feeling exhausted from all the walking. We should have done more during the winter… but we say that every year!!

North up the coast again to Myrtle Beach gave us the opportunity to see another old friend from our Maryland/Motorcycle days and we explored some of Barry’s favorite watering spots. Not being particularly “Beachy People” we spent our spare time shopping for RV accessories!

Our tour guide Barry

Barry’s last name is Monaco so he liked our rig!

He liked the RV brand.

It’s beginning to sound like we slogged further and further North but things were fairly close together and next we had an invite to stay at Mike and Holly’s farm in North Carolina.

The faithful Sheep Dog

We were back in Maryland last October for Mike and Holly’s wedding in Frederick and they kindly invited us to stay with them if we found ourselves in the Wilmington area. 

We jumped at the chance!

The curving driveway

Porch overlooking the creek

Their “farm” is a charming little place at the end of a country road and down a winding private driveway which opens up to reveal a beautiful house on a quiet creek with a barn and their collection of animals roaming in the paddocks. So quiet and relaxing with room in the drive for our rig.

Enough room for the rig!

Our great hosts Mike and Holly

We spent several days exploring the area, eating out at their favorite spots, sitting on their pier and annoying the fish with my amateur attempts at fishing! We eventually had to tear ourselves away but thank you Mike and Holly for the great hospitality.

Not much further away but West instead of North had us camping in a nice campground attached to an adventure park outside of Charlotte NC just a couple of miles from Barbara’s cousin Helen and her family who we got to meet.

Helen and Barbara

Friends and neighbors from Maryland also live within about 50 miles so we caught up with Dave and Kathy who we rode Goldwings with. 

Dave, Me, Barbara and Kathy

Then with Heather who is the daughter of our neighbors back in Gambrills. You realize how time has flown when you find that the young girl from back then is now a teacher and mom!

With Heather and her family

So this section of the trip has been all about visiting friends, and it has been delightful!

Still more friends to see along the way but you'll have to wait until the next post to meet them!