The Big Eclipse

Yes, we saw it!  We waited a bit long to decide to see the eclipse. By then, the nearest campground we found was two hours away from the path. After hearing (every day for weeks!) the TV news reporters talk about the crowds and heavy traffic, I made John get up fairly early and leave by 9:30 am to get there in time.  Turns out there was little traffic until we reached the town we had selected (Orangeburg, SC). Orangeburg is pretty small, between the larger towns of Charleston, Columbia, and August, and had several city parks for parking and viewing. Plus the park had a bathroom which can be important as you wait. We spent time talking to people from Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Nobody local went to this park. Parking was haphazard as people just parked wherever. There were no vendors selling anything except one lady sold eclipse glasses and that was a very reasonable $2 a pair. It was nice!

Up to the last minute we were worried about the weather. In general South Carolina had lots of clouds and some rain. We were VERY lucky in having only a bit of clouds during the early part of the partial and everything was clear for the full eclipse. As we drove back to the campground, we hit heavy rain. So, as I said, LUCKY!

We had eclipse glasses and I made a pinhole projector. Hey, kids can’t have all the fun!

They say a full eclipse is much more exciting than a partial eclipse, and they are right. It was also nice to have some people around but not crowds. Someone noticed that crickets started chirping as it got darker which I might not have noticed. Plus the cheering, gasps, and comments added to the excitement.

One of the pictures came out with both the sun being too bright and some reflection that showed the crescent below it.

None of our pictures really show how dark it was or how fantastic the view was. We don’t have great pictures, but we have great memories!

Magnolia Springs State Park

We’re a bit farther north in Georgia now. First, yes there is a spring at Magnolia Springs. The bad part is that you can’t swim in the water. Oh well!

There is some interesting history at this park. When the nearby Andersonville Confederate prison had too many people, a new prison (Camp Lawton) was built here. It only lasted one month before Sherman came through the area but 10,000 prisoners of war were housed here at one point. Scary history to hear how many people died every day due to lack of shelter, food, diseases, or sanitary facilities yet it was considered much better than Andersonville.

In the middle of nowhere was this large and unused church called Big Buckhead Church. There were a couple of signs discussing that a church had been here since before the American Revolution and that a skirmish occurred nearby during the Civil War.

John thought I was crazy, but I liked this dog cemetery that was nearby. A rich guy built an area for field trials of bird dogs. His own dogs along with several horses, a cat, and even a couple mules were buried here with epitaphs.

Some were about friendship and companionship like Freckles like being a “Sweetheart”.

Some discussed weird ways to die like “Death by Wasp” and several were “Poisoned”.

Poor luck was mentioned on several stones like “Much Hard Luck” or “A Great Obedient Field Trialer but Unlucky”.

Others were kind of bizarre like “Poor Training Ruined Him”.

My favorites were the ones about bitches.

Sightseeing

We spent an afternoon sightseeing at Saint Simons Island and Brunswick Georgia. An interesting point is that the barriers on this highway have openings at the bottom to allow turtles to cross.

Our first stop was Fort Frederica National Monument. This was both a fort and town created by the British. The settlers traded with Native Americans while the soldiers defended the town against the Spanish. Much of the settlement is gone, but the moat is still there along with lots of large oak trees.

 

What is left of the fort.

The community only lasted a few years (1736 – 1748) so the cemetery was fairly small.

Christ Episcopal Church was nearby. It was established in 1736 and Reverends Charles and John Wesley served this mission. It started as a Church of England but changed to Protestant Episcopal Church.  John Wesley is known as the founder of Methodism while Charles is known as a major Methodist leader and wrote over 6,000 hymns including “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”.

There is a legend that Native American lovers secretly met at Lovers Oak. It is believed to be 900 years old and is located in the middle of a road in Brunswick.

I’ve never heard of Brunswick Stew (it’s a thick vegetable soup with meat) but apparently the origins are controversial. Brunswick County Virginia claims to be the birthplace of the stew while others say it is from Brunswick in Germany.  However, Brunswick Georgia has a pot where they say the first stew was made.

For some reason, there is a ship moored at Brunswick that was built in 1989 as a charter vessel. It’s for sale!

This memorial is for the U.S. Merchant Marines and the U.S. Navy Armed Guard for service during World War II.

We had a late lunch at a seafood restaurant. Good day!

Wildlife at Crooked River State Park

Add-on: Since I posted this, we found a small frog in the RV in our bed. We were able to capture it and release it outside, but that was a first!

The last time we visited we only saw a single gopher tortoise and it had several disgusting ticks attached. This time I’ve seen over ten and all seemed healthy. Four were in the general area of a nesting section of the park, so maybe this is the time of the year to travel again? It included a tortoise that was smaller than most, though not a baby. 

One has a nest under the 2^nd hole of a putt-putt golf course at the park.

This one was crossing the road. You know how they say how they are slow…it is not really true.

The river beach with lots of fiddler crabs. There’s a few things to consider as you watch this one…One: There are more than you see in the movie. As I got closer many had already disappeared. Two: I’m in flip-flops. All the time I’m expecting to feel a crab crawl across my feet. Eek!

The nature center had several interesting creatures like this box turtle.

There are two Diamondback Terrapins, one female and this male. The female is bigger but this male has more striking “diamonds” on its back.

And there is an American Alligator at the nature center. Always cool!

BTW, right before I took this sunrise picture, an alligator splashed into the river near me. If you look really closely, you can see the eyes and nose near the bank. Sorry to disturb you, alligator!

Weird and Strange in Starke Florida

I use www.roadsideamerica.com quite a bit to see the more unusual spots when traveling. Most places are amazingly silly. This white Brahman bull at Grannie’s Country Cookin’ Restaurant really makes no sense. I did enjoy the sign beside the bull - Warning: To avoid injury please do not sit or climb on the bull. (He's not as young as he used to be.).

Back in 2012 and 2013, the Bradford County Courthouse was in the news. A group of atheists had complained about a new Ten Commandments monument located on government grounds given the separation of religion and state. After negotiations, it was decided the Ten Commandments monument could stay as long as other monuments were allows. The group of atheists installed a monument nearby where it still stands. The Washington Post even did an article on it in 2013. In the article, they say this was the first atheist monument on government property in the U.S.

The weirdest was after John went to visit his brother. Soon after he left, the internet went out. Then we realized cell phone service stopped. It turned out internet for the entire campground and town was down and included the Verizon cell tower. It was funny. I went to the office where the guy told me that everything was down and they didn’t know when it would come back. As I left he said I could call the office if I had any questions. Uhmm, how do I call when cell service is down? 

We couldn’t call, text, or email John to let him know. Luckily we still had electricity, water, and TV. We frequently don’t have cell or internet, but this was weird to be in a town and suddenly lose service for 8 hours.

Exciting and Scary Walk

As I’ve mentioned multiple times, I love taking a morning walk by myself. Sometimes I’ve been worried like when I pulled a muscle (July 16) or was followed by a bobcat (March 17), but most times I just enjoy the walk and the morning. The walk along Bolen Bluff Trail seemed to have a theme of being a bit scary.

The birds seemed to be scared of me and always flew away as I approached along the trail.

The deer were scared of me. The only problem is when we don’t see each other until I’m close. Then the deer would jump and run away so that the sudden loud noise startled me too! Here’s a fawn that hadn’t learned to be scared of humans yet. Mom stayed close while I walked past.

This preserve has wild horses and bison. On another hike we saw both in the distance: a horse (with an egret riding on its back) and several bison (lying down in the grasses). This time I saw two wild horses right along the trail. I’m thinking how cool they are since they weren’t scared of me. Then one of them starting walking toward me and ended up being maybe 6 feet away from me before I walked away. I’m not sure if the horse was hoping for a snack or what. I’ve never heard of a wild horse attack but who knows!

The scariest were the feral hogs. I’ve always heard these can be dangerous. There were several along the trail. They didn’t move away as I passed. Luckily they didn’t head towards me but they were difficult to see through the plants along the tree so there were times we were fairly close. It is difficult to take pictures with all the plant life, but this is as close as I wanted to be!

Sometimes my walks allow me to contemplate life. This time I was paying attention and living in the moment

Rain at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park

Like I’ve mentioned before, it’s been raining a lot…every afternoon and sometimes more. The good part is that gorgeous mushrooms are everywhere…

… the greenery is GREEN…

…and the Spanish Moss stands out more.

Trip to Pittsburgh

I took a quick semi-business-related trip to Pittsburgh. Most of the time was spent in meetings. But I was excited to see this in the office. It’s a movie prop from one of the Thor movies that Chris Hemsworth actually signed (not that I love Chris or anything)!

We got to ride a ducky tour. The bad part was that we couldn’t go on the amphibious part since the river was running fast from a recent rain. The most fun is when we all quack together to entertain the kids (and adults) along the streets. Along with corny jokes and interesting stories, we saw all kinds of things in Pittsburgh like the statue of Honus Wagner in front of the stadium. Pretty sure I’m not related, but who knows?

I liked the details of the architecture on the old buildings.

Near the restaurant was this Bessemer furnace. Given that it was a metals group, this was appropriate.