"SUNSHINE" Stories: 2017

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

2017 Fall Camping - Week 5: Tybee Island to the Flock Reunion

Thursday, October 12, 2017 👔 🐝 🌴!

Skidaway Island State Park is not too far from 👔 🐝 🌴, so we took a day trip there. It’s not as affluent a place as I thought, or at least it didn’t appear to be. There is public parking lots behind the dunes. The rate is $2.00/hr. We paid for two hours. There were sun bathers on the beach and several folks in the ocean. Off in the distance, surfers sat on their boards waiting for the perfect wave.

There were about a dozen folks fishing on the fishing pier. There wasn’t any evidence that any fish were being caught. After checking out our he area, we strolled to Bernies Oyster House where we ordered a bucket of steamed oysters and some fries. It made for a very nice lunch.

Most of the beach stores were having 50% off sales. We walked around noticing that much of the sale merchandise was faded from being out in the sun for extended hours. That’s the stuff that had the 50% discount. We did buy one “T” shirt but it was inside the store and we paid full price!

So, who can tell me where we were?

Friday, October 13, 3017 A Visit to St. Simon Island!

After setting up in a rat hole (Golden Isles RV Park isn’t particularly nice or scenic) (Note: all the nearby parks (Skidaway, Fort McAlister, Jekyll Island, Crooked River and Blythe are filled for the weekend)), we set out for St. Simon Island. Along the way, we hope to find an RV store where we can find a cap for our gray and black water lines. The ears have broken off one of them and it's just dangling in place. We did find what we were looking for at a small RV dealer nearby.

We walked around St. Simon’s, checking out the store fronts and lunching at Iguana’s. The food was average; nothing to write home about. After lunch we walked some more, sat on the covered fishing pier while watching the fishermen and enjoying the ocean breeze. It is hot again today, probably in the high 80s.

Saturday, October 14, 2017 Romantic Jekyll Island!

Jekyll Island is fantastic. We always stopped here when plying the waterway on SV SUNSHINE. Besides the cottages, the island boasts fantastic beaches and nice hotels. The campground was full. The shopping district has been moved and rebuilt on the beachside of the road. There are more shops and restaurants. The area has ample parking and provides the appearance of a beach mall with lots of open space for entertainment and parties.

We rode our bikes around the cottages. In the evening, we enjoyed a romantic ride in Cinderella's carriage. It was a chilly night, but there was an inner warmth in the open air carriage. Our guide provided lots of interesting information about the history of the island, the barons who owned the cottages and members of the club and of the cottages themselves.

Sunday, October 15, 2017 Crooked River SP

We moved from Golden Isles to Crooked River State Park in St. Mary's, GA, in advance of our reunion which starts tomorrow. We've stayed in this campground many times and like the large sites and the proximity to the river. The hosts and office folks have always been very nice and pleasant. We're camping tonight and moving to the cottage tomorrow.

Monday, October 16, 2017 The Reunion Begins!

Everyone arrived at near the appointed time. After moving in the our respective cottages, we spent several hours catching up with the members of the flock. We took a break to dine at one of our favorite seafood restaurants.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017 Jekyll Island!

While cruising, the flock visited Jekyll Island. It's the perfect spot to have a reunion breakfast. After our repast, we took a carriage ride. It was an entertaining ride full of information from the guide. It was also full of laughs and camaraderie.

10th Year Reunion Breakfast at the Jekyll Island Club

The Flock posing after a sumptuous breakfast at the Jekyll Island Club

The Flock enjoying a carriage ride at the Jekyll Island Club

Wednesday, October 18, 2017 Dinner at Lang’s Seafood; Awards Ceremony!

Today's reunion highlight included a very nice seafood dinner at Lange's Seafood. Vanessa's fish was overcooked. The server gladly offered her a fresh piece of fish but it would take awhile to for the chef to cook it. It was nice that they tried to make good on her meal, but it was a bit awkward in that Vanessa was still eating while everyone else was finished. Speaking of everyone else, they all raved about their meals.

The afternoon's activities included a highly competitive Bocci game. The ground was not even and made a poor surface for Bocci, but the unevenness seemed to be a great equalizer You never knew who would make a spectacular shop.

The evening was especially entertaining. The Awards Ceremony began with a play/poem by Ray and Vanessa. The awards followed and are as follows:

First to Swallow the Hook was awarded to Pat and Ray.

Boat Longevity Award went to Fran and Larry. They still sail Kallista and are the only couple to have the same boat they did the trip on.

The First Light Award was given to Vanessa and Andrew who always seemed to raise their anchor before the agreed upon departure time - First Light!

The awards presentation was followed by a ukulele sing-along. Everyone seemed to have a great time singing some fun, old songs.

Vanessa and Ray presenting "The Flock"

"The Flock"by Vanessa and Ray

Enjoying the Awards Ceremony

Pouring an adult beverage during the Awards Ceremony

A ukulele sing-along!

Thursday, October 18, 2017 Good Bye for Now!

The residents of Cabin 3, Fran and Larry and Vanessa and Andrew, departed before the residents of Cabin 1 were up. Said Cabin 1 residents, Me, Anna Marie and Pat and Ray, packed and hit the road at 10:00. We stopped before getting on I95 in opposite directions at the local Denny's for a Goodbye breakfast.

Thus ended the 10th Year Reunion of the Flock!

Our plan to take a slow, easy, week long drive back home was foiled when we learned that many of the campgrounds we had hoped to use were booked solid. We stayed at South of the boarder tonight and made it home on Friday October 19. Driving on both days proved to be long but relatively easy. We even managed to take the Cape May Lewes Ferry home, saving several hours and perhaps one hundred miles of driving. I liked that!

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

2017 Fall Camping - Week 4: Wrapping Up the Smokies and Moving On!

Thursday, October 5, 2017 Cades Cove Loop Road

Too hot or too cold? That is the question I ask after another terrible night’s sleep. I haven’t had many this trip, but when I do, I don’t enjoy it.

After rising at 0900, we ate breakfast walked around the CG, got trail info and decided to take the auto tour of the Cades Cove Loop. The Smokies claim to have the largest and best maintained collection of log buildings in the US. Who would argue?

It was 1400 when we returned to the CG. We had a quick bite and walked both loops of the CG, had dinner and lit the evening fire before stepping into the Little Mansion at 2030 for the evening.

Tomorrow we hope to get an early start so we can make Deep Creek CG by 1100. The sites are available first come first serve and, it being a holiday weekend, we want to make sure we secure a spot!

Friday, October 6, 2017 Did we get an early start? Was it early enough? Did we get a campsite? Read on!

Okay, I got almost six hours sleep last night, from midnight until almost 0300 and from 0600 until almost 0900. I don’t know why I sleep in three hour shifts occasionally, but there you have it.

So, we were underway by 0930, not particularly early, but not particularly late either. We had hoped for an 0800 start but that was not to be. It took us the better part of an hour to do the 24 miles back to the Sugarlands Visitor Center and the Newfound Gap road. Once we made the right turn, it was climb the mountains time. We were going up for about 15 miles or so when we reached the gap, it was downhill for the next 15 miles.

Deep Creek was reached by about noon. We set up camp, drove into Bryson City where we walked and shopped. I bought a few local flies from the Fly Shop. They suggested a good spot for me to try.

We also found the Fly Fishing Museum and paid it a visit. I’m not sure why there is a Fly Fishing Museum, but Bryson City claims to be the capital of Fly Fishing in the south!

Saturday, October 7, 3017 Trying My Luck!

Our day started at our usual time, about 0900. We decided to go to McDonalds for breakfast and wifi. We got both and spent an hour or so checking e mail and such. Several years ago we looked at a light weight folding camper made by Lee-sure Lite. The salesperson suggested that it was light enough to be towed by a motorcycle. We'll looky here, there are four of them here at the McDonalds all hitched up to Honda Goldwings.

After breakfast, we returned to our Lil Mansion where I rigged up my fly rod. I put on a new tippet and one of the new flies. I set out to fish Deep Creek. It’s not at the confluence of the Tuckasiegee and Deep Creek, where they said I would catch 40 fish. We checked that place out and there were several drift boats and three or four guys up to their arm pits in the river. Because I have hip waders, i couldn’t get that deep if I wanted to. Besides, I would fall trying, i don’t know how those guys negotiate the slippery rocks beneath the surface.

I decided to fish Deep Creek from the CG. I was making some good casts, but rocks peeking above the water surface hampered the drift of my fly. On my last cast before quitting for the day, I got the line snagged on some sticks that were in the water. I lost the Fly and about five feet of the tippet I just put on the line. To make matters worse, as I was trying to retrieve the Fly, I fell in! AGAIN! Not “again” today, but during my last foray, I slipped on some slippery underwater rocks and, although I didn’t technically fall in, I managed to end up deeper then my hip waders, at least on one leg!

The remnants of Hurricane Nate are expected to hit the area tomorrow and Monday. Strong wind and as much as 10 inches of rain are possible. We’re toying with the idea of heading to Mt. Pisgah tomorrow instead of Monday when we planned to return there. That CG is predicted to get the storm as well. Of course, we’re concerned about trees being blown over in 50 mph gusts and wrecking the camper or worse, us! Flash flooding is also possible, but we’re pretty high above Deep Creek if we stay here, and the Mt. Pisgah CG is pretty high up on the mountain, so flooding shouldn’t be a problem at either place. Of course, if the “Tuck” (the big river that runs through Bryson City is the Tuckasiegee) floods, our egress from Deep Creek through Bryson City would be compromised. Stay tuned!

Sunday, October 8, 2017 Running from Nate?

In a word, YES! We made the decision yesterday, based on weather forecasts, to abandon our plans to camp at Mount Pisgah. We did, however, hop on the BRP for 25 miles so we could have lunch at the Pisgah Inn. Delicious as usual!

Anna Marie found Croft State Park, near Spartanburg, SC with electric and hot showers. We arrived at about 1530, having driven for six and one-half hours, a record for this trip. Shortly after our arrival, we received a tornado warning on our phones. We avoided gusts of 48 mph at Mount Pisgah only to have to worry about tornados? To top it off, within an hour of our arrival, the area had a power outage. The Ranger said she was told power would be restored at about 2100 hours. I’m writing these notes at 2330, and we still don’t have electric! It’s warm and muggy. The AC would have been nice. I suspect it will cool down a bit, perhaps into the high sixties. We had significantly more than the 1/4 to 1/2 inch of precipitation that was predicted.

Since the rain curtailed our outdoor activities, we found a nearby movie theater. It was a multiplex with oversized, leather, living room like, lounge chairs that were very comfy. Our movie selection, Kingsmen: The Golden Circle, was below average and not nearly as good as the first.

Tomorrow we plan to drive to Santee State Park, about 150 miles away. Next, we’ll stop at either Skidaway or Fort McAllister State Parks. Both are in GA. We’ll pick the one closest to I 95. On Wednesday, we should arrive at Jekyll Island. We’ll leave there on Sunday for Crooked River Stste Park, also in GA, and site of the Phlock Reunion which begins on Monday.

Monday, October 9, 2017 Four Hours to Santee State Park

This mornings drive was mostly on I26. The 70 mph speed limit (we did 60) and gentle, rolling hills made for easy driving. A couple light showers didn’t hamper our progress.

We secured our campsite at about 1300. After being viciously attached by gnats, we sought shelter in the camp store. It has a very nice lounge was free wif and AC (it’s 85° and humid). We spent a couple hours surfing the net and looking out at Lake Marion, the largest lake in SC.

Upon returning to the camper, we fired up the AC and settled in to watch a movie. Half way through, the propane alarm began chirping. But the propane is off? What’s going on? It chirped a bit last night too, but the it stopped. Thinking about the problem, I reasoned that it might be chirping because of low voltage coming from the battery, even though we are plugged into shore power. We were plugged in last night too, but the power went out in the CG) and never came back on. It was still out when we left!

Something must be wrong with the power inverter. It must not be charging the battery. I checked it out and sure enough, I found that the 120 power cord plug was disconnected from the inverter. I plugged it back in and voila, the light were bright again! We’re back in business.

Tuesday, October 10, 3017 Skidaway Island State Park

This morning, we departed Santee SP headed to Skidaway SP in Georgia. Over the years while cruising the ICW, we sailed through the Skidaway Narrows after getting an opening of the Skidaway Bascule Bridge. That bridge is gone now, having been replaced by a high rise bridge several years ago.

Skidaway SP is a gem. This is our first time here and it looks great. The sites are big, there are ample restroom facilities with showers and laundry, and the sites have water and electric or water, electric, and sewer connections.

We tried to get to Delegal Marina on the island, but it is located in a gated community. We used the marina after transiting the notorious Hell’s Gate passage one time while north bound during a rain storm.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017 Savannah!

Today’s adventure was a self guided walking tour of Savannah. Rather than a mileage objective, we were intent on finding unique food, a couple architecturally interesting buildings and a few of the famous squares (areas of green parks scattered throughout the city).

We started our walk at the Visitors Center and walked down Liberty Street. We turned right onto Bull Street and in a few blocks came upon Madison Square. I waited until school was out before texting our discovery to Madi! On the other side of Madison Square and across the street we found our first food destination, Gryphon. Owned by the Savannah College of Art and Dedign (SCAD), Gryphon is a Restaurant and tea room. We were there to partake in a Savannah culinary tradition: Grilled Pimento Cheese Sandwich with Cucumber Salad. It was not our normal fare nor was it something we would necessarily ordered, but it's a classic Savannah tradition. We washed it down with Georgia peach iced tea, not the store bought kind, but fresh made with the real ingredients. Very refreshing.

Next we walked several blocks to St. John the Baptist Cathedral where, while walking in a cross walk, I was almost run over by a bus that refused to stop.

Our next target was Leopold’s Ice Cream Shop, reputed to be the 5th best ice cream in the WORLD! AM ordered the Pink Sunday, a breast cancer awareness promotion, and I ordered a Tutifruti Malted Milkshake. The Tutifruti concoction was invented by Leopold’s in 1919 and is another Savannah tradition. Turns out I liked it. We were both happy with our choices.

It was a long walk back to the car and we were both bushed having walked almost four miles in the heat and humidity.

Marker for Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church. The church is well preserved.

Marker for the first white settlers of Cades Cove.

Log house at Cade's Cove

Farm House - Cades Cove

Mill at Cades Cove

Typical Cades Cove barn

One of a couple of Cades Cove churches

John Oliver's (first Cades Cove white settler) Cabin

Bryson City Fly Fishing Center

Fly fishing the "Tuck" (Tuckasiegee River)

Campsite at Skidaway Island outside of Savanah

St. John the Baptist Cathedral (Savanah)

Lunch at the Gryphon (Savanah)

Grilled Cheese and Pimento
and Cucumber Salad

Inside the Gryphon

Ice Cream at the world
famous Leopold's
(Savanah)

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

2017 Fall Camping - Week 3: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Thursday, September 28, 2017 😊 🎉 🌹! 61 Miles to the Great Smokies!

Before getting to Waterton Knob, we stopped at the highest point on the BRP. Then we drove the final 61 miles to get to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

While at Waterknob, we huffed and puffed our way up an extremely steep trail. It was much steeper than the path leading to the pinnacle of Mt. Mitchell that we use as a test of our stamina. We did OK on this trail too, but we ran out of time in our effort to get to the top.

After some discussion, we secured a campsite at Smokemont for the three days before our reservations at Cataloochee. When camp was made, we drove to Bryson City to check out the train. While there, we had lunch. On the way back, we talked to Rose via phone. Today marks her 11th birthday. We shopped at a few stores in Cherokee. We even saw a herd of Elk in the field adjacent to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

Back at camp, it was time to light a fire, chill and play the Uke. Thus ends what we did on Rose’s 11th birthday!

Friday, September 29, 2017 Exploring the Smokies!

Today’s exploration of the Smokies included stops at Mingus Mill where we bought a small bag of corn meal, the mountain farm at the Oconaluftee VC, and finally, Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in the Smokies at 6645 feet (Mt. Mitchell, not in the Smokies, is 6684). Our planned wagon ride didn’t happen because the wagon left 20 minutes earlier than we were told.

Saturday, September 30, 2017 Yikes! A Problem to be Solved!

How about this, Anna Marie, returning from her usual morning constitutional, opens the door and announces that a tire on the van is “soft.” Sure enough, the tire pressure was low, too low to drive on it. We removed the tire and found a self tapping screw perfectly embedded in the tread.

This added another project to our list which included laundry and provisioning for our two week stay in the Cataloochee Valley. By 1500 hours, all the tasks on our list were accomplished and we were back in the campground.

All we wanted to do was chill out. At around 1700 I started the campfire and brought out the Uke. A few folks stopped by to comment on the music and neighbors from across the street invited themselves over to listen. Their names are Mike and Nancy and they are from Michigan. We exchanged camping tales and stories from back home, and even managed to squeeze in a few tunes. They were delightful and we certainly enjoyed meeting them.

Sunday, October 1, 2017 Winter?

Holy Smokies, it is cold this morning. I’m guessing the wake up temp is in the low 40s! It was so cold last night, we had to break out the heavy weight sleeping bag.

As the sun warmed the day, we set out to break our Smokemont camp. We did so with what has become our usual efficiency. After dumping the holding tank, we were on our way. It was about 1000 hours as we were leaving the campground.

We stopped at Country Vittles in Maggie Valley to fortify ourselves for the run to Cataloochee. And what a run it was! The four mile unpaved section of road was steep, winding, with many hairpin turns and, to top it off, it was mostly a single lane! And, did I mention no guard rails? It was interesting to approach a hairpin turn only to have another vehicle appear out of nowhere, bearing down on you with no place to go. It was much worse driving that road than the Bear Tooth Highway.

We made it to the CG finally and set up camp in our usual efficient manner. By 1430, we were participating in a Ranger program about the reintroduction of elk into the Cataloochee Valley. It wasn’t the best program we’ve ever attended, but the volunteer presenter was full of energy!

Monday, October 2, 2017 Sauntering and Fishing!

For the first time this trip, we converted the bed back into a dinette where we had our morning brews and oatmeal. The overnight temperature was very chilly, but we stayed toasty with the heavy sleeping bag. The window frames were soaked with condensation but a little fresh air circulation dried them in no time.

Outside, the sun shone brightly and warmed us as we sat in our chairs above the creekside. Our plan for the day was to saunter into the woods. We choose the Pretty Hollow Gap trail and decided to walk about two miles and then retrace our steps.

The Beach Grove School House (circa 1903), was near the trail so we stopped to have a look. It was a sturdy two classroom building. One can only imagine the teaching/learning that went on here. Surely it was very different than today’s classrooms.

Our trail led us past the Cataloochee Horse Camp where two sites were occupied. After the horse camp, we walked along a picturesque creek that offered many cascades as the water fell from the mountain to join the larger stream below.

We probably did a round trip of four or five miles. Going uphill, the first leg took an hour. It was slow going, but not too steep, just constantly up hill. The return downhill was a cinch.

We walked through the horse camp on the way back and saw how they handle the manure. At least how it gets the the manure wagon. We don’t know where the wagon takes it.

Back at the car, we took a little tour across the wooden bridge and the schoolhouse. We came across the Caldwell House, a very attractive home with delightful porches. The family also had a large barn.

Finally, our tour took us to the Palmer Chapel, the Methodist Church of the community.

When we finally made it back to camp, we toasted the day with a beverage before breaking out the fishing gear. I didn’t have far to go. I just went down the steps adjacent to our campsite and fished the stream that runs by our campsite. It was a disaster! The water looked shallow enough, but it was just about as deep as my waders, so my pants got wet. I slipped on an underwater rock and got my shirt sleeve wet too! Still, I found a spot where I could present the fly to any fish waiting for a meal. After a few casts with no results, I tried to sharpen my casting skills and promptly got my fly snagged on a tree limb. That mishap brought my first babbling brook fishing experience to a close.

I don’t usually write about our meals, but I made Portobello Rubens on the Cobb Grill. They were very tasty!

Tuesday, October 3, 2017 Settled In!

Well we’re old hands at Cataloochee now. We’ve driven both roads in the valley so there’s no need to drive unless it's to a Ranger Program. We’ve seen many elk, heard lots of bugling, especially today, during and after our Ranger walk to what used to be the elk acclimatization pen, where the first group of elk stayed four two months (January and February, 2001). We even saw some big bulls bugling as they attempted to attract females.

As we were driving to the program, we saw a black bear cub coming down the Palmer Chapel Cemetery trail. He vanished into the woods before I could get a picture. We looked around, from the confines of the car, for mama bear, but saw or heard nothing from her.

Earlier in the day, we sauntered up the Roaring Fork trail to Woody’s Place, another of the few homesites that have survived. According to the 1910 census, 1200 people lived in Cataloochee Valley. The population was larger than that of Cades Cove (800 residents). It was a most pleasant walk that included three river crossings over log bridges.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017 Goodbye Cataloochee!

Even though our reservation for this intriguing campground runs until October 14, we decided to leave today. We visited all the historical structures within reach (we missed three that were on the Little Cataloochee Trail). We saw elk, turkeys and a black bear cub. I dipped a fly in the stream near our campsite and, we attended the two Ranger talks that were offered during the period of our reservation. We hiked or sauntered along three trails and got a good perspective of the valley. So, we decided to pack up and head to Cade's Cove CG, also in the Smokies. It’s been 41 years since we’ve camped there.

Since we made the decision to leave last night, we had extra duties to perform in breaking camp. We had to disassemble and pack the fly rod, fold and stow the chairs, and roll up the awning, before we could start our normal breaking camp activities.

We set about completing our tasks and were ready to leave in about 45 minutes. Although we weren’t looking forward to driving that crazy, mostly single lane, dirt road, we reasoned that we’d be leaving before the day trippers and new campers would arrive. That’s pretty much what happened as we only passed five vehicles and one camping trailer that was much larger than our Scamp.

Our drive to Cades Cove was uneventful. A short portion of the drive took us through Gatlinburg, the tourist town that pretty much burned to the ground a few years ago. It has been rebuilt and seems easier to negotiate than before. It’s more touristy than ever.

Once in GSNP, the 24 mile ride to Cade's Cove seemed to take a long time. Par for the course when driving a twisty, turning mountain road at a max speed 35 mph. We arrive at Cades Cove at 1600 hours, about five hours after leaving Cataloochee. Funny, but as the crow flies, it’s about 55 miles.

We hoped to stay at Cades Cove until Monday, but all sites are reserved for Columbus weekend. We didn’t count on it being a holiday weekend. So we’ll stay for two days and try Smokemont again on Friday. NOTE: Upon checking with the Ranger, we found that Smokemont is full for the weekend too. If that’s true, we get a site at Deep Creek near Bryson City. It’s sites are first come first served. We hope to get there before some weekend campers!

Just like last night, we cooked over the open fire only this time we were using “Biofuel” that we bought at the camp store. It’s an alternative to wood and is made of compressed hardwood sawdust. Although not as esthetically pleasing as real wood logs, it burned well and evenly and put out as much heat as hardwood logs would have. We only used five of the twelve blocks in the package, but the fire lasted about three hours, plenty for relaxing, cooking chili and making popcorn.