First signs of winter reminded us that we are in for it ... cold, cold, cold, snow shoveling, long Johns, sweaters, parkas .... before we wake La Buena Vida up from her winter slumber and return to warmer temperatures, jumping into the water, sitting in the cockpit in shorts and t-shirts.
Time to shorten the winter months. An easy decision. There is a reason we have a converted mini-van.
On a “warm” day, we loaded the van with our camping gear, but added this time our two folding bicycles. We had missed them during our trip in Europe, and thought about how we can have them with us, in addition to all our other camping gear. Solution: an 18 cubic feet Thule roof box. It worked, and we had even space to play with.
Weather agreed to pass through the Appalachians on the way to North Carolina (Battleboro) for a late night arrival at the Quality Inn. This positioned us well for our next leg to Skidaway State Park (close to Savannah), a place famous for its lush forest, overgrown with Spanish Moss, marshy swamps, hikes and bicycles paths.
The place was huge, and looked almost empty - which was not the case! Without reservations, we would not have managed to get a camping spot. A bit confusing after our experience in Europe, where your camping sites are about 30 X 30 feet in size ... here we had what? 100 X 40 feet just for us? But given the size of campers around us, no wonder.
Overlooking the marshes and the ICW (Intracoastal) Waterway, it reminded us of our sailboat travels south, our nights on the boat, watching the swamps disappearing out of sight at low tide, only to re-emerge a few hours later. Yes, we had been here before, good memories, experiences we missed while standing along the shoreline, looking at the boats passing by on the ICW, heading south.
The marshes are full of defenses, which were constructed during the Civil War (and later abandoned); we wondered how anyone could have managed an attack here from the sea, without being lost or sucked up by the mud or drowned by the tides. The memorial plates posted along the paths suggested the same.
It is interesting to see so many historical reminders of this war in The South, accompanied by a sense of loss (of way of life?) in these remarks .... while more recent wars don’t seem to have a place in history here.
An uneventful drive brought us to Fort Myers, Florida's Gold Coast, where we spent some delightful days with our friends. Weather was gorgeous, and we took our time during our walks in one of the parks to see alligators, snakes and all kind of wild life, and looking at reflections in the swampy waters.
Two years ago, we very much enjoyed Fort De Soto Park, close to St. Petersburg
and we wanted to return to this area. Last time, however, our visit had been cut short. We had camped in our tent, but the weather suddenly changed dramatically to close to freezing temperatures for a couple of days, and we were forced to move into a hotel. It is then that the wish came up to buy a mini-van, and to equip it in similar fashion to the one (VW Transport, bought from an utility company) we had before and lived in (while working during our study breaks for 3 months plus) and traveled in - come rain, snow or high water.
The park provided wonderful, winding bicycle paths, beaches with powdery snow, and nice vistas to look out to the sea.
And yes, the weather turned cooler again (not as bad as last time), strong winds picked up, and we witnessed people fighting with their awnings and tents throughout the night ... while we were nicely snuggled up inside, the heater running, feeling great.
St. Petersburg has some great museums. Last time we visited the Dali Museum there (https://archive.thedali.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=collection), which was quite an experience. Having been at the Dali House and Museum in Spain only a few months ago, we did not feel like re-visiting this, nevertheless, worthwhile place. Instead, Marleyne wanted to see works by Sarasota Artist Syd Solomon (https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/articles/2018/10/5/works-by-sarasota-artist-syd-solomon-on-view-in-st-petersburg).
While we were in Florida on the West Coast, we received an email from two Germans sailor friends: Ulricke and Thomas, on sailing vessel Toriba. The email informed us that they were in Titusville, getting their boat ready for a new season in The Bahamas. We first met them 9 years ago while sailing towards Bequia in the Caribbean. At that time, we had a hilarious exchange about our clothing (little to none due to heat) and later on spent some time with them ... which included making sushis on their boat.
It was great to hear from them again and we decided to change our travel plans and move over to the east coast and looked for a camping spot near them.
Things worked out re camp site. With a nice view overlooking, once again the ICW Waterway, and the Cape Canaveral Launching site across the bay.
But even better, we had an instant connection again, as if we had seen each other only a few weeks ago. The tough part about sailing/cruising is that you meet people and make friends, share stories, your daily life events ... only to loose these friends and the new found connection when moving on. The nice part is, to pick up from where you left off when you see them again. It felt good - and we miss them: again!
Weather up north showed us that we had to keep an eye on a window for us to pass through the Appalachians on the way home. We had to attend an appointment we could not miss, so our thoughts turned to planning the next few days. Again, Skidaway State Park was a great place to visit Savannah proper, and a good intermediate station to head north. We like this city and its numerous squares (24, in a grid pattern). The weather was beautiful and warm (except for the day of our drive), and we very much re-enjoyed our visit to the city.
A further 12hour drive up north brought us to Greencastle, PA, where we stayed for a night at a very nice hotel, and another drive of 8+ hours brought us home the next day ... with the snow on our tails from an advancing front.
Today, writing this entry and looking through my window into our backyard, the gray sky, the leave less trees, I feel it is time to think about our next travel plans.
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