On to the Gulf (Part 1)

When last I wrote, it was raining and it's raining again. Now we've moved south to Gulf Islands National Seashore, across from Pensacola, Florida.

We had a nice day on Tuesday, our last day at Buck Hall. We'd visited the main places we wanted to see around Charleston and had the option of leaving early and meeting our friends near Savannah or staying around another day. We opted to stay at Buck Hall and go for a bicycle ride along the Palmetto Trail. The trail is a hiking and mountain biking trail that runs the width of South Carolina from the coast at Buck Hall to the Piedmont at Oconee State Park in the far western corner of the state. Of course, we didn't ride the whole thing.

The first seven miles of the trail is called the Awendaw Passage and goes from the campground through dense forest and along the Awendaw Creek to Highway 17 where it links to the 47-mile Swamp Fox Passage through the national forest. We rode only the Awendaw. It was fairly flat, as you would expect in the low country, but had its share of twisty bumpy parts over tree roots and stumps. The views over the marshes and the creek were worth the ride. Near the end of the passage, there is a canoe landing at a road end, part of the national forest, with a ramp and floating dock on the creek. If the weather had been a bit warmer and our backs a bit better, we would have liked to put our new inflatable kayak to the test, but it awaits a better day.

After returning to camp via Highway 17, we had lunch and started packing up for the new leg south. We got a relatively early start on Wednesday, but made a provisioning stop at the Charleston Whole Foods. We were finally on our way by 10 AM. It was an uneventful day, down I-95 to beyond Savannah, GA, turning southwest onto US 84 across Georgia to intersect I-10 near Tallahassee. Much of the roadside landscape through Georgia seemed rather scrubby until about Homerville, where it became more rolling and agricultural. It was good to see some hills again, although Speedy was less happy pulling the trailer and guzzling gas.

We figured on a roadside overnight stop near Tallahassee and stopped at a Cracker Barrel, our first choice for overnight stops (and cheap eats), but this one didn't have any RV parking—a first for us. It was also on a hill, which made level parking impossible. It was on to the next choice, the Flying-J at the next exit. Not a great choice as it was bright and noisy, as truck stops inevitably are. This one was even more so, as the entrance ramp was right next to the RV parking area and the trucks accelerating up the ramp all night long added to the cacophony.

We considered going on a bit further, perhaps to the next rest area, but elected to stay as it was getting late. We should have gone. After dinner, I noticed a missed call from our friends, Tom and Jean, who were also heading to Gulf Islands, but since it was late, I didn't call then. If we had, we would have found them at the Lake Seminole Corps of Engineers campground, which turned out to be less than an hour away, with electricity, hot showers, and above all, peace and quiet.

A few Palmetto Trail Photos