Our Travel Blog

The temperature continues to yo-yo. This morning was around 10°C climbing to around 15°C by mid-afternoon. We decided it was time to have lunch out so we headed north to the town of Darien about 25 miles away.

Friends of ours had stayed at this campsite recently and told us about a small restaurant that had good shrimp meals. The plan was to go up on the I95 and after lunch we would drive around the area and come back on the local roads.

We reached Darian and our first thoughts were that the place had seen better days, it looked as though the economic downturn was not kind to the town. We found the restaurant, which we had been warned about not looking the greatest, and went inside. It was surprisingly busy for a lunch time but we eventually ordered the shrimp basket. We had been advised to go for the baskets rather than the meals as they were pretty large and the meals were really large!

The baskets had 1/2lb of shrimp, which was plenty and delicious. Once the meal was over we headed out to find the waterfront park that Lyn had read about, from the description appeared to be a large park with a boardwalk along the river. We finally found the place, it was about 100ft x 100ft with a play structure in the middle and no sign of the boardwalk.

Next we headed north to try and find some fishing villages that were mentioned in some information on the local area. As we headed out of town there was a real mish-mash of housing along the road from beautiful bungalows to run down trailers, unfortunately the latter were more prevalent. We took a turn off the main road into what appeared to be a luxury sub-divison under development. The house there were large and well cared for, but there were far more empty lots than houses, and no sign of any construction.

The fishing villages were just a group of reasonable sized houses close to a launching ramp and small harbour. Nowhere near the character of fishing villages in NZ, Scotland or Cornwall!

Back at the campsite we sat out for while enjoying what warmth was left of the day, then the breeze dropped and the pesky no-see-ums came out to play. Time to head in.

Nice to wake up and not hear the sound of the furnace. Outside temperature was around 60°F, rising to 68°F later in the day. After breakfast and the usual checking of e-mails and blogs it was time to start on the dreaded waxing and polishing of the trailer. The good news is the wax compound was very good at removing stubborn marks, aka airborne road kill, from the surface, the bad news was my arms got a real good work out polishing the wax off. I got the whole of the front cap done before the showers hit!

After lunch Lyn headed over to her craft group, another new person arrived, so at least there is some interest. The showers persisted which (sadly) prevented me from doing any more waxing. The issue I had with the internet box here has been solved, after discussing the issue with the manufacturer the software was downloaded from them into the box and all is as it should be.

Low temperature last night was 28°F rising to around 56°F this afternoon. We spent a lazy morning as is befitting a public holiday. A few house-hold chores were done and, as requested, photos of Lyn’s latest quilt top were taken.

The quilt was bought as a kit in NZ and features NZ materials representing life in NZ. These representations are depicted on hexagonal pieces.

NZ Quilt

NZ Quilt Close Up

After lunch we headed out to another coastal island, St Simon’s Island. The weather was better than it had been for the last few days, although there was still a cool breeze. At least the sun was out and the sky was blue.

The beach on the east side of the island consists of fine white sand and goes on for miles.

St. Simon’s Island Beach

Today’s exercise was taken along the beach, ensuring that the outbound leg of the walk was made into wind, at least it is warmer coming back that way!

Having lost so many calories on the walk we felt morally obliged to replace them with a stop at Dunkin Donouts; not as good as Timmies, but it was all we could find.

After replenishing the calories we headed off to join the Presidents Day crowds at the local shopping centre. Lyn got some photos of Noah printed to put into one of her projects, and I got the rest of the stuff I needed to wax the trailer. I guess I am out of excuses now, bar the weather, and will have to get polishing!

Woke up and it was clear and cold outside, I have no idea how cold because the indoor and outdoor temperature units had a fight and wouldn’t talk to each other after midnight! I am guessing it dropped to around -2°C last night. At least my stomach was back to normal now.

After breakfast I set about getting the two temperature units to speak to each other, which they finally did.

Next up was there was no hot water. At this park the hydro is included in the cost so the hot water, fridge and some of the heating run off hydro rather than propane. If the wrong thing turns on at the wrong time then it may cause a breaker to trip (we only have a 30AMP service in the trailer). This was the problem. I suspect that the hot water tank switched itself on when the fire and coffee maker were on last night, and the load was too much. Resetting the breaker gave us hot water back.

Next problem; half way through drying my hair the main breaker popped. Again too many things running. Problem is with the fire and hot water on thermostats you are not really sure what is running at the time. The only casualty appears to be the alarm clocks as they need resetting every time. Off to the dollar store tomorrow to by some batteries for them. The computer and video stuff is fine as they all run off a backup battery system.

Next, the WiFi distribution device we have in the trailer was behaving very illogically. Most computing devices operate on binary system of 1’s and 0’s which simply put means it works or it doesn’t. This device seem to have introduced halves into it’s repertoire  it either works, doesn’t work or partly works. Spent a lot of time working on that, but it seems to be the boss at the moment!

Last night a large motor home pulled in next to us. This morning we were looking at it while eating breakfast and we noticed a wind speed device mounted on the roof. First thought was that it was part of a weather station,but there was no wind direction device as part of it. Suddenly there was a large gust of wind, the cups of the device started to speed up AND at the same time the awning retracted. Sure enough this big shiny coach had an awning that automatically retracted when the wind got too high! A quick look on the web showed that the base price of that rig was $435,000.

After lunch we had reached the tropical temperature of 50°F so we donned our cold weather gear and set off for a trek around the campsite.

Tonight’s forecast is for sub-zero temperatures again, we didn’t sign up for this when we moved south!

Well the Chinese gave the stomach a good run for its money, but eventually the stomach was victorious.

Today saw a blustery cold front go through with temperatures dropping throughout the afternoon to around 7°C. Tonight the low is forecast to be around – (as in MINUS) 2°C

We took a walk around the site, and it really has filled up for this long weekend (Presidents Day), other than that nothing overly exciting happened, although Lyn did manage to finish the the quilt top for a fairly complex quilt she bought in New Zealand, and rather good it looks too!

We had a failure on the internet front as well, this time it appears it is a problem with the router in the trailer so that will keep me occupied during the deep chill of tomorrow.

………. my stomach stops fighting last nights Chinese take-away!

Overnight the winds dropped and so did the temperature. We awoke to the sound of the furnace and the outside temperature was 50°F, climbing to around 55°F as the day progressed. Seems just about everywhere is plagued with bouncing temperatures.

First order of business after breakfast was to get one of the propane tanks filled, all that can be done on site which makes life easy. As you can see I am again desperate for titles!

Thursday as usual is shopping day, so we headed out before lunch to replenish the empty shelves. It says a lot for the available storage in the trailer that shopping is only needed once a week, although Thursday evening does see the fridge and freezer at bursting point.

After lunch we headed out for a walk around the site, even had to put a jacket on as the wind was cool. After that is was back for a coffee and some hobby time.

Wake up temperature was a balmy 73°F, rising to 81°F (27°) by early afternoon.

We decided to head a few miles up the road for our daily walk to Blythe Island Regional Park. We had been there before and decided to go again as it is more interesting walk than going around the concrete roads of the campground.

The walk starts off going along the edge of the South Brunswick River, about 5 miles down river is a huge parking lot. This lot is filled with cars coming in from Europe for distribution in the US. The cars come in by ship and then are hauled out either by train or truck transporter. Not a particularly good picture below as the camera has focused on the palm leaves rather than the boat.

Car Transporter

At the start of the walk on the rivers edge there was a strong wind, strong enough to create 2ft. waves and whitecaps on the river, just a few feet inside the forest is was calm.

A little further along the path Lyn stopped and said “come look at this” in a very casual voice. “This” turned out to be a Southern Black Racer snake. As most of you know Lyn is not a great fan of snakes!

Southern Black Racer

The pathway was marked by small palms, and overhead were sheets of Spanish Moss hanging from the tress.

Palms and Spanish Moss

After lunch Lyn headed out to do some shopping and I stayed back at the trailer keeping my brain active with Sudoku, much of the time was spent outside where the strong gusty winds made it feel a loot cooler. Wind Chill does have its uses!

Again a warm wake-up, but the temperature remained close to 62°F All day. We had light rain for most of the morning so no great incentive to do anything! There has been an almost continuous stream of weather disturbances coming off the Gulf of Mexico for the last few days,  with the severest of the weather passing about 30 miles north of us. We’re not getting the severe storms, just the “anticyclonic gloom”; one of the few phrases I remember from my met. course 40 years ago!

After lunch Lyn headed off, with some trepidation, to the meeting room at the site. When we got here there was no organised activities so she decided to see if there would be any interest in a craft group. She made up some signs to put in the office and laundry areas on Sunday, today would be the moment of truth. Two other people turned up, the promise of more to come next week! Success!

After the craft meeting we headed out on our walk around the campground and the spent the rest of the day doing hobby stuff inside!

A warm wake up again at 65°F climbing to 81°F (26°C) by mid-afternoon.

A lazy morning was spent with a walk around the grounds followed by watching the comings and goings of rigs to and from the park, with the occasional dive inside when the wind dropped. There are quite a few of those evil no see-ums flying around, and although they don’t sting they can give you a bit of a start when they dig their teeth into you. As soon as there is any sort of wind they disappear but when the wind drops they strike with a vengeance.

After lunch we headed into the big city of Brunswick. Lyn wanted to get her hair cut, and also cost out some quilt batting from Jo-Ann fabrics. I  filled the truck up with diesel at the only place where it is less than $4 per gallon. The price has risen about 40¢ per gallon over the last week – not impressed.

While in Brunswick I heard some distant thunder, but it didn’t come to anything, most of the heavy weather is staying to the north of us. It seems we left Alabama at the right time, it has been pretty rough there the last few days.

Back at the trailer it was warm and a little humid, I was tempted to put the A/C on, but resisted!

Going back to yesterdays blog, turns out the beach we went to was driftwood beach, I guess that explains all the drift wood!