Home Sweet Home in Savannah, GA

Anne and Neil at Fort McAllister in Georgia

We hope that everyone is staying safe out there. We continue to be SO thankful for our health, and our ability to travel in the middle of this worldwide crisis. We would really like to thank all of the people who are working through this crisis to save our lives, stock our fridges, make our food, deliver our packages, and all of the other things that we sometimes took for granted before this came along. We also continue to practice social distancing and good hygiene, and are amazed how much we can actually fit in our pantry and fridge... We pretty much made it an entire week without a grocery trip. $250 bucks fit into this rig today with NO problem! Hopefully, everyone reading this is happy, healthy and safe, and we hope we get to see some people on this trip. I'm sure we all hope to see people soon in some other form than video chat.

As we sit on a rainy Sunday, we are recalling the events this week - we are both thinking that we need to post more often:). It's another long one with a lot of pics, hopefully you enjoy!

Monday, April 13

We pack up the RV, say our goodbyes to Kentucky (for now), and hit the road for Georgia. Thanks to Mart and Carol's gift, we have all of the checklist items ATTACHED to the steering wheel. It would be just great to drive off with the sewer hose still attached, GROSS. And, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Neil would do that. Not by a long shot. Great gift.

It's a beautiful sunny day for a drive and we are enjoying the rolling hills of green trees in Kentucky and Tennessee. We are driving right by Anne's Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim's house, north of Atlanta and it would be hard to go by without at least a wave hello. So, we swing by, sit outside on their patio and have a wonderful, but brief, socially distant visit with them. We wish we could have stayed longer to visit as initially planned, but with Covid, time to get rolling.  Thanks Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim for the great visit and the muffins and cookies! YUM!! 

While driving, we get an email from our real estate agent saying that the photos and 3D video of our house are complete and we can list our place.  It's official, our home is for sale!  We drive about an hour past Atlanta and boondock at a Cracker Barrel off the highway.  We did not fill the fresh water tank yet, as Neil is still shy about driving with another 55 gallons of water. Time to do more research on ANOTHER thing - it sure would be nice to have running water. He is pretty sure that he will be a full-fledged maintenance man between the house for sale and the RV! It is nice to learn, though, and our next boondocking adventure WILL BE WITH WATER!

Tuesday, April 14 - Neil's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Neil... in a Cracker Barrel parking lot.  Love the fact that they just let you park there for free. Pretty cool. Almost feel obligated to crush a 7,000 calorie breakfast to give them some business during these times, so we do! We can order food from our phones in the RV, walk 2 minutes to pick up breakfast and no dishes. Awesome birthday item number 1. Plus we're only 3 hours from Savannah and the forecast says 70 degrees!  Awesome birthday item number 2. After breakfast, we hit the road so that we can get to Savannah and enjoy the day.  It was a great day for a drive through the amazing Georgia pines - they never get old. Awesome birthday item number 3. Best birthday = Cracker Barrel and driving.

We pull into the KOA where we have reserved a spot.  We go through the checklist and get Ronald Vincent Vega set up for our stay - leveling out the RV (thank goodness for auto levelers), bump out the living space, and hook up electric, water, and cable.  Neil is getting pretty good at this now - it only takes about 10 minutes this time. The KOA has a nice lake with swans and geese (and apparently an occasional alligator!). Plus, we are only about 16 miles south of Savannah, and the weather is perfect.

Not a bad setup - plenty of space!

Stop looking at me Swan (Billy Madison) - where's the gator?

Not bad for a KOA off I-95  

Neil has one wish for his birthday and that is to go frisbee golfing. We find an 18 hole course that is only a half hour away.  The Tom Triplett Disc Golf Course is through a beautiful park, mostly wooded around a large lake.  When we pulled up to the park in Georgia, we didn't really know what to expect. In Kentucky, some parks were closed, and some were open. However, here in Georgia, all of the state parks are open for exercise - just remember social distancing. Sweet. We definitely need exercise!

The park has A LOT of trees.. let's just say that we hit more than a few. Also, ringing bug spray would have been a good idea. Oops. Who would have thought that we would need bug spray in April! What a bunch of Yankees. One piece of excitement - while walking through the woods between holes, Neil almost steps on a snake, which we later identify as a Copperhead.  It quickly slithers under some leaves, but we are able to get a photo (from a safe distance).  We are so happy that Neil did not get bit by a poisonous Copperhead on his birthday!! That would've been a heck of a present, right? Plus, I'm sure it would be a great time to show up at the ER looking for the snake bite juice. Yikes. I believe Neil's exact quote was, "Well, that's a new experience". Haven't seen a snake on a disc golf course in awhile, if ever. Guess we should look down the rest of the round!

This course map is slightly small, unlike Neil's chin...

Frisbee golf themed bench - It's hard to read the signs, but pretty cool!

Thinks he's cool - but might be a tool...

Nice pavilion near the lake, which we both happened to hit with our discs. LOL.

The copperhead snake that Neil almost stepped on.  Close call!

We drive back to the KOA and pick up a pizza (Neil's birthday dinner pick) at Little Caesar's.  Anne tells Neil that he can splurge, but LC is Neil's current cheap pizza choice. Plus, advertising works, and we are ready for the contactless pizza portal, baby.  We paid $2.73 for a 27" pizza and a 30 piece order of Crazy bread. OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it was cheap and tasty for sure!

We're relaxing and enjoying dinner and we get an email from our real estate agent that we have an offer on the house. A short while later, we get another email, saying we have another offer.  And then a 3rd. We can't believe how quickly things are moving given the circumstances in the world now. We are so very lucky, and it looks like the 3 weeks of intense work might pay off... What a great way to end Neil's birthday.

The animals seem to be taking to the RV life just fine

Stella found a new spot in the sun!

One of the more open holes on the disc golf course we found

Wednesday, April 15

Since we have a few offers on the house and 2 additional showings today, we decide to stick close by as we likely need to take care of house stuff. Anne was a rock star yesterday, basically writing emails back and forth in the middle of throwing discs. She is also a rock star today, finding a cool thing to look at only a few short miles from where we are staying. We are headed to Fort McAllister State Park, a Confederate Army Fort that has been preserved as a Georgia State Park.

As we pull up to the parking area, we figure out where to go, pay the "Iron Ranger" for parking, and walk towards the visitors center. The park and fort are still open, and we can give ourselves a guided tour. The park district asks that we leave before 5, so we grab a self-guided brochure and we are off.

As I learned, Fort McAllister was at the end of General Sherman's March to the Sea. The Fort was overtaken by Union forces on December 13th, 1864. Furthermore, Papa Tim (Anne's dad) told us that one of her relatives actually fought with the Union army until the end - pretty amazing. That means we could have been stepping in the same spot as he did over 150 years ago. Crazy. We took a ton of pictures (mostly for Papa Tim:), but we would highly recommend a visit if you ever get the chance!

After going back and forth a little bit with our FOUR HOUSE OFFERS (another came in today), we have accepted an offer from the couple that we were hoping for - they wrote us an amazing note, and we feel like they will be a good fit with our neighbors. So exciting. We are humbled and reminded again just how lucky we are... We are under contract. Fingers crossed. We need to pay for this new home on wheels somehow!

The bunkhouses for the people who had a little status

An entrance to one of the magazines - where they stored explosiv

  

Entrances to the underground bunkers! So cool.

Looking out from the bunker!

These are bunks in the underground bunker

What a cute couple...

Pretty amazing - look at the wooden fence in the moat

Nobody would want this guy in their army...

 

Pretty neat signal tower with a nice view

On a pretty beautiful stretch of coastline!

Parts from the C.S.S. Nashville

 

The road coming in from the rear - ended up being a weakness...

A magazine and a mortar

The replica of the barracks - reserved for the commander and officers

 

 

Lots of pics like we said... One of the coolest things we have seen so far!

Thursday, April 16th

With the offer accepted, and Neil's bike fixed (after a few tries, he got it done and it is working well), we decided to hit the road for some biking today. It was announced a few days ago that Tybee Island beaches would be open. Tybee Island is an island about 15 miles from Savannah, and it is a pretty cool little beach town. It also has a special significance to us, because in February of 2012, that is where Neil asked Anne to marry him! Understandably, we are both excited to get back to explore the town and it looks like a perfect place to bike.

As you may remember, we had an issue with our bike rack on the car at the beginning of this trip. We ended up taking a corner and losing Neil's bike, which caused a little delay in our bike riding adventures. A new rack is on order, but won't arrive til next week. So - we fashioned about 37 bungee cords on the old rack and set off with our fingers crossed, watching nervously in our rear view mirror the whole way ... After only one stop on I-95 for a quick adjustment, the bikes look good. We made it all the way to Tybee Island (whew!), half expecting that we would run into a large crowd of people trying to get to one of the only beaches that seem to be open in all of the USA. Although we saw a handful of people (from the protection of our car) trying to figure out which entrance they could use to get to the beach (there were only about 5 spots to enter, with police monitoring), it really was not that crowded at all. Anne found us a great bike route to bike the entire island, and we were off.

Another beautiful day, about 72 degrees and sunny! It's been awhile since we have been on the bikes, but, well... it's like riding a bike! We biked from one side of Tybee Island all the way to the famous lighthouse, a beach (that had no one, except a guy that had caught a huge fish), and all the way back. It ended up being about a 9 mile ride that was absolutely glorious. 

Nice to have a private beach!

 

Working that gut off

Gotta love getting some miles on the bike!

Gotta love the Tybee Lighthouse - a cool landma

  

After a bunch of exercise, Neil was able to convince Anne to check out another disc golf course... He got a brand new disc golf bag from Amazon (yes a disc golf bag is actually a thing), and he was super eager to try it out. So, after another 45 minutes in the car, we arrive at the next disc golf course. It might even be the best one that we have seen so far. It was on the grounds of the One Savior Church, and it was a really nice campus. They had a beautiful disc golf course, some fishing lakes (with a ton of geese) and walking trails all around the lands. I would love to go to this church, although you would probably find me on the course during the sermon... too big a distraction to have a disc golf course calling my name. Amen.

The course was a lot more open than the last course we played, and definitely a little easier. Of course, that did not stop us from hitting a few trees. Anne was also able to throw her disc into the water not once, but twice on one hole... She was able to recover the disc both times though, so no biggie. After disc golf, we did our usual evening ritual of grilling some food, enjoying the outdoors, and kicking back at the RV. We could sure get used to this... And, after looking at the landscape in our neighboring states, we both make a decision. Georgia has been really good to us, and our trip has been busted by Covid - so we decide to stay an extra week at the KOA near Savannah. We realize that we like it here, and it is a known entity. Also, Georgia is still open in terms of exercising, so why venture into the unknown. We are so lucky to have the flexibility!

Another day - another disc golf course!!! 

 

Friday, April 17th

With bikes freshly on the mind, we decide to take another bike riding trip today. We decide that exploring the city of Savannah on bike is a good way to go. Anne finds a bike friendly map of the city, and it looks like a lot of roads are good to bike on. Score! She also notes that there are 22 different squares around the city, and they are setup in a pretty easy to navigate grid. She suggests hitting all of them - and Neil agrees that this will be a fun challenge, so off we go. By the 2nd square, Neil is already complaining about stopping at squares. He would rather bike than stop and take pictures... But, once again, she is right - the first few pictures look really cool, and he is glad that HE had the idea to stop at every square. LOL.

After hitting all 22 squares, and eating our packed lunch at one of them, we decide to try to ride along the riverfront if possible. Along the way, we pass a brewery that is open (for takeout only). They are selling beer that you can drink on the street. Although we decide that a beer will really slow down our ride, we decide to pick up a few Crowlers (growler sized cans) and a few cans that can fit in Neil's saddlebags. We buy a can or crowler of every IPA they make! Gotta support local business in these times... And, although we forget to cash in, they are giving away a roll of TP for every purchase - too funny. On our way again, we bike along the riverfront (something that would be impossible during normal times) and head back to the car. All in all, we covered about 10 miles (9.99 to be exact:) and headed back to the car. Both of us decide that we are pretty tired, and we head back for grilling and chilling at our current homesite.

We found one of our favorite games is online - Dominion! We proceed to play about 5 games, each on our own computer. 2 feet apart. LOL. But so cool, we are able to play a game with Anne's sister, Suzi, in Seattle. Also in the game is Anne's brother T.J. - from Tokyo! A little crazy with the gap in time zones (9:30PM by us, 6:30PM by Suzi, and Saturday morning in Tokyo), but pretty amazing. Although the Covid crisis really sucks, at least we have the wonderful modern technology. I guess it really is good for some things... 

Here is another slew of pictures, but first - a competition. Anne and I both made our best attempt at an artistic picture of Johnson Square - who did it better??... Picture A or Picture B??  It will remain anonymous, because we don't want ANY personal bias. Haha.

Picture A

Picture B

We won't bore you with our pictures of all 22 squares, but here are a sampling of the pics of the squares and the amazing city of Savannah that we took during our ride. One of the squares (Chippewa Square, not pictured) is where the bench scene from Forest Gump was filmed.  Savannah has a great Southern charm in which you feel like you've stepped back in time.  Love this town!

Gotta love local beer! 

The Pink House restaurant - we had our engagement dinner here almost a decade ago!

What a cool old cop car...

Another old cop car. Love the Taxi hybrid, and the note that says "This ride costs $1800".

Nice view of the riverfront - pretty deserted down here...

We took this picture in the cemetery in the middle of town. Pretty appropriate during these times!

Saturday, April 18th

Are you bored of reading yet?!? OMG, we need to do posts a little more often! Sorry! Anyway, another day, another chance for some exercise! We decide that we will wait for the new bike rack we ordered for the car (arriving to our campground on Tuesday, theoretically) and skip riding today. We really don't want to go through the 3 hours it takes to jimmy rig the bike to the car with an old rack and bungee cords. Plus, Hamilton the dog really misses out on the adventures when we hit the bikes - so we decide to do some hiking and exploring another couple of state parks today.

Always the amazing planner, Anne finds us a couple of places to check out that are only about 15-20 mins away. First on the list is Wormsloe State Historic Site, which is an old plantation from the colonial days that has been preserved by the State of Georgia. Pretty cool. With Hamilton in tow, we explore the grounds, and he only barks at every person we encounter. He is a real stickler about social distancing - good boy! We checked out the grounds, and it is always very interesting to think about what life was like during these times. Crazy. We managed to get in about 1-2 miles of hiking on the trails around the grounds while exploring some of the ruins and sites and learning a few things.  You know the phrase "Don't let the bed bugs bite" - Well, they used to use Spanish moss (the cool stuff that hangs from the trees here) to stuff their mattresses with and guess what likes to hangs out in Spanish moss... chiggers!  Ouch!  Don't touch the Spanish moss!

The 1 mile entrance road to Wormsloe, Oak Avenue, is beautiful. A very iconic road that makes you think of Savannah!

A family picture - not sure Stella the cat would have liked this place...

After our visit here, we head over to the adjacent state park. It looks like it is right next door, but the Google Maps says 27 minutes? What? We could probably get there in 2 minutes as the crow flies, but we have to go out and drive across the river over the one bridge. First world problems. 

We arrive at Skidaway State Park (a.ka. Skidarow, as Anne refers to it), and it is open - although we kind of figured it would be. We headed straight back to the hiking trails, and set out on foot with Hamilton... It turns out to be some great trails, and although we encounter a few people, everyone is really good about making space whenever passing - I guess some people actually are watching the news down here. Hamilton again helps people keep a good distance, his new name should be Dr. Jonny Barkboy! Good boy.

After about a 3 mile hike on the Big Ferry loop, the Earthworks loop and the Liquor Still Loop, we are beat. The temperature is about 86 degrees and sunny today - quite a bit hotter than the last few days. This was a great park, and it was really nice to get Dr. Jonny Barkboy out for some exercise. When we arrive back at the RV, he proceeds to sleep the entire rest of the evening. All that barking and walking wore the little guy out. 

A pretty nice trail for hiking

Someone is ready for the hike...

They used to make moonshine in these "swamps" during prohibition.

Alligator pond - No alligator sightings yet

A boy (or fat old man in this case) and his dog

Someone is a little tuckered out...

After the hikes, Neil is hellbent on playing the church disc golf course, and Anne is game. This time, we play with Hamilton. It is just as beautiful and almost as empty as before, but a little different, it is WINDY. A little more challenging, and a little tougher today. Anne throws her first disc, and it crashes and rolls into the water. NOOOO. Luckily, it floats because it is upside down! Although we can't reach it, we monitor it's progress as it floats with the wind ACROSS THE LAKE. LOL. We finish the hole and track it down!  We manage to each throw a disc in the water on hole 4. After a little wading, we are able to get both discs. Phew. It wasn't this tough the other day...

On the glorious closing hole, which is a bit tight with some water in play on both sides, the wind decides to kick up a bit. Anne lets one rip, and it is headed right. Uh-oh. Let's just say that no one is wading to get this disc. It definitely didn't land upside down, and apparently it DOES NOT FLOAT when it lands right side up. No way are we swimming out into that pond for a $7 frisbee... buh-bye. The score is: One Savior Disc Golf Course = 1, Anne and Neil = 0. Neil is reminded of how similar this game can be to regular golf, and reminds Anne that he usually loses at least 3 golf balls a round. No biggie, that frisbee has found it's final resting place. GOOD RIDDANCE!

We enjoy another evening of Zooming and games online with friends. I will say that the RV is a little small for 2 different Zooms at the same time. Again, first world problems... Anne plays some Cahoots trivia with the folks from Peoria, and Neil plays poker (again) online with his old band mates from Vermont. Although we won't get to see as many people as we would like in real life, we both feel like we are at least seeing and interacting with people online. Time for bed - one thing is for sure, we have been staying up a bit too late each night! Oh well.

Sunday, April 19th

Well, it was bound to happen eventually, a rainy day. In fact, we are both a little worried because there are severe storms in the forecast... not the news we want - feeling a little exposed in the RV. But, at least we are only about a 2 minute run from the storm shelter, which is the bathrooms. Sweet. I can just picture us running through the rain in our pajamas to the bathrooms. Yikes. Definitely one of the disadvantages of RV living...

I guess it's a good day for chores - I guess the RV life is not exempt from those! On the docket is laundry and a trip to the grocery store. Surprisingly, we can easily fit 1 to 2 weeks of food in our kitchen. Niiiice. After a short morning walk of Hamilton and a bike ride around the campground, the rain starts. Heavy rain, light rain, hard rain, soft rain. I'm happy to report that we made it through the night without having to run to the shelter. Sweetness.

As the week closes, we have a great Zoom meeting with Neil's family. We need to buy stock in this company! We then close out the evening with some games of Dominion with the Ritchie's in Peoria. And we might have played a few 2 person games to end the night... Onto another week in Savannah - until next time, thanks for reading our long post and stay safe out there!

A rainy day is a good day for chores - it only takes 10 minutes to clean the house. LOL.

Even the animals like a rainy day sometimes! Hey, that's a chair for PEOPLE...