Where we have been up to now:

Today (01/11/10) was supposed to be Shuttle launch day but as ever the damn thing has been delayed until Wed 3rd. We anticipated a delay and booked for a week at a site that normally we wouldn’t give a second look – commercial, close to the interstate (but nothing else there), no fires (land of the free? my a***) and expensive. Unfortunately we have already got used to staying in the state parks which are amazing tropical oasis in a sea of fast food outlets, medieval knights and Disney. We didn’t come to do that – we have done that with the kids already.

Where have we been so far? 2 months, already! It goes so quickly and we have already done 3000mls in the RV!

Without boring you too much - here is the short version.

Washington DC – Athens GA, 800 miles in a hire car / hotels with Phyllis
Tea at the Whitehouse, well in a café in the adjoining garden… through the Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway. Think, beautiful dense deciduous forest going orange for fall, pitch black at night, Rangers, Bears and cooking on camp fire (for extra warmth). It gets cold in the mountains at night and RV’s are not very well insulated.















Athens - a couple of weeks with the relatives.

Getting the RV sorted took two trips to Florida and then another back to Albany, Georgia to sort out the registration in our name. Without Julie and David (my Cousin and her husband) this would have been tricky and taken a week. In one day we visited 6 Gov Agencies obtained a Georgia ID card and a letter proving that we could not claim Social Security and even then they tried to take our UK Driving Licence away and charged us an extra $800 tax!! Who said foreign visitors must do this all the time – not in Georgia they don’t it is a painful process.
Orlando – Athens (and more family time) then back to drop Mother at DC airport (via Dollywood, Tennessee and Great Smoky Mountain National Park for her return flight (Oct 5).








In the RV now - around 1,500mls.
We visited and did lots in the Athens area with family - clay pigeon shooting, four wheelers and watched College Football game (Georgia Bulldogs) with 90,000 others.








Washington, DC – going south down the Atlantic coast… mainly State Parks
Jamestown, Virginia Beach… into North Carolina… our first Walmart car park… into South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, Givhan’s Ferry, Charleston, Skidaway and Savannah and across to Albany for the RV Tag (number plate)

NB Den was looking forward to going to Jamestown as it is the site of the original English settlement that started the USA. Of the 150 only 60 survived the 1st winter and only then by eating each other on occasions - nothing much has changed down by Ipswich docks then! The Captain of one of the three ships (Godspeed, tiny, only 30 crew) was Bartholomew Gosnold who enlisted sailors from the Suffolk area and sailed from Ipswich dock not far from our flat. All ships records are lost but you can tell from the names of the towns that there was a strong Suffolk influence (Woodbridge etc). Back to bloody Disney and Pocahontas, but the truth appears to be that she was a 14 year old chief’s daughter who only wore an animal skin loin cloth, er… no underwear and would often cartwheel into the settlers’ camp… 150 sailor types who had been at sea for 3mths! No wonder John Rolfe (and not John Smith, as told by Walt) fell in love and married her.

We had a really interesting day at the site and on the replica (fully sea worthy) ships etc. More about Gosnold if interested… http://www.historynet.com/bartholomew-gosnold-the-man-who-was-responsible-for-englands-settling-the-new-world.htm

Albany, Georgia… south again down the Atlantic coast to Florida
Okefenokee Swamp our most remote place so far… 47mile park road that stops at a dead end… 67 miles to the nearest doctor. The park was virtually empty because of its remote location (and name?) but lots of deer (not too frightened as no hunting allowed in parks), snakes (inc. the US 5 most venomous), huge noisy woodpeckers (16inches tall) and alligators in the waterways. As you would expect it was very dark with all kinds of flying ‘things’ at night round the camp fire!

St Augustine (beach side state park) Florida, then Tomoka SP (near Daytona Beach)
Another beautiful tropical beach state park with very hip wife and husband duo / camp shop owners who did a live music set from 6 – 8 at weekends. Everything from Hendrix to Irish Ballard’s… free, but coffee (no alcohol in Florida State Parks - unless the Ranger is offered a can or two!) and desert (Key Lime Pie) for 2 for $5. Our kind of Saturday night… well almost, a bottle of wine would have been good.

Cape Canaveral and the shuttle launch delayed again until Thur 4 – damn and the forecast is for thunder storms so who knows. We are due to leave on Fri 5th Nov maybe the rocket will go up that day…

PS Maybe I lied about boring you… : )