Shark Valley - Everglades NP

Having bicycled the 15 mile loop trail here on last year’s trip, we returned to take the tram tour this year to learn more about the park and see the amazing bird population as well as alligators. We saw blue herons, white ibis, great egrets, snowy egrets, great white herons, wood storks, anhingas, turkey buzzards, black buzzards – you get the idea! Jose’, our narrator, told about the founding of the park, the ecosystem, the origin of the names Shark Valley and Everglades, info about alligators, and was a good story teller. Our RV park (about 15 miles west of Shark Valley) is Midway Campground run by the park service. It’s quite nice w/ paved sites and patios and 50 amp service with fresh water and dump available at the entrance. It is mid-way between Miami and Naples on the Tamiami Trail.

Key West and Marathon

Lots of sunshine, sampling Key West’s restaurants, bicycling, returning to favorite places from previous trips – all of these filled our 2 weeks in Key West. While most of the nation experienced unusually cold weather, most of our days ranged from low’s in mid to upper 60’s and highs in the 70’s, generally breezy but some days winds gusting 25 to 35 miles an hour. On a negative note, George’s bicycle disappeared overnight shortly after arriving in Key West, but he was able to find a new bike which he liked so we continued bicycling. George especially enjoyed riding in Key West including Old Town. We also rode sections of the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail on 5 old Flagler railroad bridges linking the Saddlebunch Keys. These were the bridges that existed in the Keys when we first came here in the summer of 1979, all of which have now been replaced for highway use. We went to 2 events at Boyd’s RV Park where we stayed – a pot luck dinner and a cookout at the pool with a band. We enjoyed visiting with a couple who live full time in their RV at the pot luck dinner, and at the cookout we sat with the widow and sister of Boyd, the RV park’s founder, who are from Saskatoon, Saskatuan . George was relieved that the park allowed us to wash the coach since it had road spray from showers en route to Key West. And George does love a clean coach! We celebrated George’s birthday at 915, a restaurant where we’d previously eaten w/ our friends Jim and Hope. It’s still good! In addition to seeing the sunset at Mallory Square, we viewed the sunset from the roof of La Concha, a recently renovated Crown Plaza that was previously Holiday Inn. It’s on Duvall and gives a great view of the town as well as sunsets. We also went to the annual seafood festival where George ate lobster and Irene ordered steamed shrimp – messy but so-o-o good! We decided to linger in the Keys a few more days so stayed 3 days in Marathon after leaving Key West. Here we bicyled at Grassy Key in Curry Hammock State Park and also to Pigeon Key on the Old 7 Mile Bridge. When the new bridge was built, a section of the old bridge was maintained by the state since it was the only way to reach Pigeon Key. Now it’s a one-way gated bridge to the key and a favorite biking and walking route as well as a section for fishing. George also took some great photos of pelicans and the sunset from the seawall at our RV park.

Tampa/Key West

We left Jekyll Island Sunday morning which was pleasant and sunny – finally! We stopped at Flying J to buy fuel for the coach and truck and empty the holding tanks. It was very busy and we were there almost an hour. En route to Tampa we stopped to buy fresh squeezed orange juice at the Orange Shop in Citra, FL – really good! We checked into LazyDays Rally Park Sun. afternoon and were pleased with our site – good view, close to exit to Crown Club, and the WiFi works. We enjoyed the Crown Club benefits – breakfast, lunch, and happy hour daily. Crown Club membership for two years came with the purchase of our coach and is renewable only by purchasing another qualifying motorhome. Our membership expires June 2008 so we decided to enjoy its benefits for a few days en route to Key West. We enjoyed meeting other members and dining with them and also had the pleasure of meeting fellow Country Coach owners and full timers Don and Janet who stopped to visit and and went to happy hour with us at the Crown Club one afternoon. They had contacted us after reading our article in the Country Coach magazine. We also attended several seminars: refrigeration, Cummins engines, Internet 101, Country Coach info, and Fantasy Baja tour. George did all this despite getting sicker and finally ending up with a sinus infection, but he was recovering by the time we left LazyDays Friday morning after one last great omelet at the Crown Club. We drove to Florida City where we overnighted at Wal-Mart and bought a few supplies and groceries. We had a pleasant but slow drive down the Keys and arrived at Boyd’s RV Park around lunch time. We got settled in and took the truck to the car wash since we had considerable road spray from a couple of showers en route. Then we went to Mallory Square to see the Sunset Festival performers and, of course, the sunset which was fabulous. A Carnival cruise ship was departing as we arrived, and we saw a beautiful sailing yatch from George Town, the largest sailing yatch we’ve ever seen – and such marvelous varnished teak. After sunset, we went to our old favorite, the Half Shell Raw Bar, for dinner of yellowfin tuna for George and broiled shrimp for Irene – a great ending for our first day in Key West.

Jekyll Bluegrass

Jan. 1, 2008 We started the year off by leaving on an RV trip on New Year’s Day, spending the first night in Fayetteville visiting our friends Jim and Hope Tarpley who moved to GA from NC last summer. Their son and daughter-in-law Jamie and Michelle kindly allowed us to park overnight in their driveway, and we enjoyed seeing them and their children Alex (5) and Taylor (2) also. Jim has been emailing us photos of their home which is under construction, and we toured it and visited other locations they had considered. We enjoyed dinner at an excellent Chinese restaurant ending an enjoyable – but too brief – visit with them. Jan. 2, 2008 Today we drove to Jekyll Island, stopping at a country crossroads store where we ate lunch in our coach. A rest area where we stopped had an RV dump so we emptied our grey tank in order to have full capacity for our 4 nights at Jekyll. We topped off the fresh water tank at a truck stop on I-95 at the Jekyll exit and soon after leaving there had a great view of the Sidney Lanier Bridge with the sun shining on the suspension cables. We parked near the Jekyll Island Convention Center in a parking area adjacent to a bathhouse facing the Atlantic with sea oats waving in the gusty wind – the same place we parked last year. Though not usually allowed, overnight parking is permitted at the convention center for the Bluegrass Festival. This year marks the 32nd year for the Jekyll festival. Jan 3, 2008 Having sat much of the day on Wed., we went to Brunswick and walked in the mall Thursday morning since it was cold and windy – not pleasant for walking at the beach – and ate lunch at a locally owned seafoof restaurant that we have enjoyed in the past. We returned via the Sidney Lanier Bridge in time for the first day of the Jekyll Island Bluegrass Festival which began at 12:00 noon. There were six bands performing back to back until 4:30 when the supper break was scheduled. Afterwards, the same six performed a second show ending around 10:00 p.m. We saw all of the performers once but not both shows since noon until 10:00 p.m. is a long time to sit! The cold weather that arrived in Rome with the new year has reached Jekyll too, so it’s too cold to bicyle on the great trails at Jekyll this year – at least so far. Jan. 4 – 5, 2008 The bluegrass festival continued with the same format as Thursday, and we’ve enjoyed hearing quite a variety of bluegrass performers. George especially enjoyed the banjo pickers. Irene visited the Christmas shop and some other stores on the island. We learned about the Initiave to Protect Jekyll Island (http://www.savejekyllisland.org/) and a petition one can sign to preserve access to the main public beach (http://www.jeffchapman.us/). There is much concern that developers will turn the state park for the people of Georgia into an upscale resort too expensive for many Georgians to enjoy. One can also visit http://www.rediscoverjekyll.com/ to give your opinion about the proposal directly to the developer, Linger Longer Communities. We are spending our last night at Jekyll and have enjoyed being here except that George has been sick with a cold and sore throat. Hopefully the sunny weather in Tampa will be therapeutic and he will soon feel better.

Back Home

After 6,969 miles in the coach and untold miles touring in the truck, and after 81 days, we’re back home in Rome, bringing our trip to a conclusion. And what a trip it’s been! Looking back over the trip, it’s been a saga of scenery – mountains, waterfalls, coasts, and canyons; of thoroughfares – highways, byways, and railroads; national parks, state parks, and historical sites – punctuated by hiking, dining, entertainment, and meeting fellow travelers. In addition, it was a great history lesson; we learned a lot about the Lewis and Clark Corp of Discovery and the Oregon Trail pioneers. And we have a great deal of appreciation for the courage and determination of these explorers and pioneers. George lists these places and events as his “best of trip” winners: Country Coach and Boeing factory tours, the volcanic features in Sisters and Bend, OR, the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, OR, Golden Spike National Historical Site in Promontory Point, UT; the Canadian railroads and the Fraser and Thompson Canyons, Mt. Revelstoke, and Yoho National Park in British Columbia (especially hiking the Hoodoos Trail and our gorgeous comp site on the river – now the main photo of our blog); Glacier National Park with the Highline Trail hike, and visiting the Minuteman Missile Historical Site and the Clinton Presidential Library. Didn’t leave out many places, did he? And I guess that about sums it up: we enjoyed every place we visited, and we appreciate having the good health and circumstances to be able to make a trip such as this. We especially appreciate our friends who were interested in following our trip on our blog.

Elvis Presley's Graceland

These last few days of our trip seem to be combining very different venues – from a presidential library in Little Rock to Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, TN. Visiting Graceland was nostalgic, looking back at Elvis’s career and listening to his songs. Graceland evoked a previous era with its furnishings, replete with shag carpets and gold colored appliances in the kitchen. However, most of the tour focused on memorabilia including a hall of gold and platinum records, an award from the City of Memphis for Elvis’s philanthropy, and his proudest award, a 1970 Young Man of the Year award from the Jaycee’s. The tour ended in the Meditation Garden where Elvis is buried, along with his parents and grandmother. There is also a memorial to his twin brother who died at birth. We couldn’t be in Memphis without eating BBQ so we went to Corky’s, recommended by friends who previously lived in Memphis, to get their famous dry-rub BBQ ribs. M-m-m-m GOOD!

William J. Clinton Presidential Center

Heading south from Branson to Little Rock was more of a task than the 170 miles indicate; it was a very curvy, hilly road and took longer than we expected. But we should be used to that kind of road by now! We spent about half a day at the Clinton Library watching the introductory video, viewing the displays, listening to the tapes, and also hearing an 87 year old lady who is an artist tell about the replica of the Clinton cabinet room. Some of the highlights of the center to Irene include seeing the duplicate of the Oval Office and the Christmas display from the White House, including a crystal Christmas tree created by Dale Chihuly, and listening to the artist friend of the Clintons tell about the Cabinet room and her attendance at the Inauguration. For George the highlight of visiting the center was briefly reliving a happier time in the country.