GEORGETOWN, KY.  Arrived in late afternoon just as (you guessed it)  a thunderstorm turned loose lots of rain.  Once again had to disconnect the Jeep from the motorhome in a downpour.  Otherwise we have a site in a very pretty setting behind the motorhome (see photo below).  Tomorrow we shall visit the Ark Encounter and on Sunday afternoon the Creation Museum.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Today the traffic was far less hilly but still encountered an hour of construction bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-75.  Once we got to the end of it, all semblance of construction work was absent.  All obstructions had been removed and traffic was moving smoothly as if nothing had ever impeded traffic.  Very odd.

Just as we had seen in Greenville, SC, on I-75 in Kentucky we saw kudzu vines overwhelming whole forests of trees along the road.  Looked like something out of Tolkein's Middle Earth.

View Behind Motorhome Site

Not As Pretty Viewed from Front of Site

CUMBERLAND GAP NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK.  We are parked in one of the many rustic camp sites for RVs.  It is back-in only and has only electical hookups, but it does include a 50 amp connection, so we are well set for the night, since we have ample water in our 90 gallon fresh water tank, and I emptied the holding tanks last night.  Payment is made on the honor system, with small envelopes at the entrance and a sign describing prices for various sites.  Since this is associated with the national park service, we got a senior pass discount.  Thus the night costs only $10.  It is interesting getting in here, driving around loops looking for a site of choice.  We ended up with a nice level site, even though the Jeep has a rather secluded home for the night (see photo below).

Getting here from Greenville was a challenge, since I-26 and I-40 are VERY mountainous, with steep climbs and descents, winding left and right.  Combined with too many big trucks vying for the same space and road construction, it was bumper-to-bumper for about an hour at one point.  Very frustrating.  I made a note never to drive that route again in a motorhome.

Camp Site at Cumberland Gap Historic Park

Nature Trail Beside Our Camp Site

TRAVELERS REST/NORTH GREENVILLE, SC.  Arrived yesterday, July 17th, at this KOA park in a heavy rain.  It rained on and off along most of the road in South Carolina, and we had a heavy thunder storm the prior night in Savannah.  It has been a wet (humid or rainy) trip so far.  The high point of the trip thus far was having a wonderful dinner with the Easterdays at a small local Italian restaurant.  Best Italian food we ever ate.  Great time of fellowship.  Kevin and Tina Easterday are good friends from two churches in northeast Florida.  I almost forgot to get a photo of us together, but managed to grab a selfie in our motorhome after returning from the restaurant.  See below.

The internet here is poor, and our Verison jet pack booster does little good since the Verison tower is on top of a high mountain and we are in a valley, so the signal passes over top of us.  Currently using the campground open access.

Travelers Rest/North Greenville KOA Between Downpours

Selfie with Easterdays

Today, July 18th, we followed the Easterdays' advice and visited three places, Campbell's Covered Bridge, Falls Park on the Reedy River, and Poinsett Bridge Heritage Preserve.  Easily the most impressive site was Falls Park.  The meticulously groomed grounds, the variety of flowering plants, the artistic architectural touches, and overall tasteful layout are like nothing we had ever seen before in a city environment.  It spoke well for the city fathers of Greenville to plan, execute, and sustain such a welcoming and calming venue.  The few photos below barely capture the magnificence of this place.

Campbell's Covered Bridge and Old Road

Interior of Campbell's Covered Bridge

View from Parking Lot of Falls Park in Downtown Greenville, SC

View at River Level Under the Walk Bridge

Betty Watching Activity Under Walk Bridge Area

Steven and Betty in Front of Falls

Wide View of the Falls

Geese Along the Falls

Stone Work Everywhere, Including Numerous Stairways

Grotto Area

Flowering Plants Along Walkways

One of Many Plant Arrangements

More Plant Arrangements

Monument Leading to Old Poinsett Stone Bridge

Side View of Poinsett Bridge Showing Stone Work

SOUTH SAVANNAH, GA  We left St Augustine this morning around 11:30 am and arrived here at the South Savannah KOA around 3:30pm.  I am sorry to report that it is as hot, humid, and buggy here as it is in St Augustine.  No improvement by travel so far.  Otherwise, this is a very nice park, having a sizable lake with swans swimming tranquilly.  Tomorrow we leave for Greenville, SC to visit with some friends and see if this Asheville competitor is all that we have read about.  It has several very good PCA churches, we hear.  Stay tuned . . .

Our site at the South Savannah KOA

Lake at South Savannah KOA RV Park

Swans Gather at Lake's Edge

AS WE PREPARE TO DEPART ON OUR NEXT RV TRIP, we are mindful that we shall have left here this year by the time we were only preparing to leave last year.  If you look back at late July last year in this blog, you will see that we posted a USA map with the outline of our future trip highlighted in green.  This year, we leave in mid-July and travel until mid-November, four months altogether.  As we learn more about RVing, we become more ambitious.

Once again we incorporate an RV tour into our overall trip.  Last year we were part of a tour that began in Nevada just outside Death Valley (130 degrees).  This year we shall head northwest toward a tour of the Northwest USA, beginning near Mount Rushmore, then proceeding to national parks and other scenic locations in that part of the country.

After the tour ends, we shall travel eastward along the southern edge of the Great Lakes, stopping to visit Betty's relatives near Chicago, then stopping at Niagara Falls, Rochester NY to see the George Eastman Museum, a Fall Colors Tiffin rally in Vermont, Bar Harbor, Maine and Acadia National Park, and Gettysburg.  After that, we shall visit some of my relatives in Virginia, then to Williamsburg, followed by showing Betty my hometown on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  After that it is down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and on home down the east coast.

The snapshot of this trip is shown below.  I used the same green highlighting that I used last year for consistency.

2018 4-Month RV Trip Itinerary Map

FLORIDA GULF COAST TRIP - APRIL 23 - 27, 2018.

Took a few days to explore the west coast of Florida.  Had heard of great places to see north of Tampa before the coast bends south of Tallahassee.  Stayed at an RV park in Inglis, just north of Crystal River, named Gulf Coast RV Resort.  A nice park with a heated pool, but the pool is located under the limbs of an oak tree that kept shedding leaves into the pool.  All other facilities were very nice.  In the past the park was an independent business, but now has recently been bought by a corporation that will standardize it along with several other parks.  Time will tell whether this will be good for the customer.

Our site at the RV Park.

We had naively hoped to swim with the manatees while there, but found out they return to the Gulf with warmer weather, which came this year in mid-March.  To see a lot of them for such an experience, one must come December-February, which we may do in the future.

We limited our exploration to Cedar Key, Homosassa Springs State Park, and Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.  I had visited Cedar Key in 1966 with my parents, but found it to be quite different now.  The area is a cluster of islands, with the boundary of the town having been moved since my last visit.  The old pencil museum is not the highlight that it used to be, and the petting zoo was no longer there.  We went on a Tuesday only to find that much of the town was closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  The focus of the area now is for retirees from the north who come down and drive around in golf carts, which outnumber cars.  We ate at one of the restaurants, but found the food not to be very good.  It is all atmosphere in this place, as aging "hippies" congregate to share common memories.

On the way to Cedar Key we saw a rather unpretentious road to the left named, "Follow That Dream Parkway."  On the way back to the RV park we turned in to see how it got that name.  Turns out that Elvis Presley filmed a movie there by that name, so the town named the road after the film.  A road sign further explains that the filming mostly was done near the bridge over Bird Creek, so we followed the road to the bridge, which is in Yankeetown, a place I had heard of but never visited before.

Sign Along Follow That Dream Parkway

Bird Creek Bridge Area

We got the movie after our trip and was surprised to see how much the area had changed since 1961.  The whole area to the right side of the bridge, which we mostly ignored in this photo, was a sandy beach along the water leading far to the right in the movie.  Now it is all covered with a jungle of palmettos and underbrush too thick to penetrate.  The bridge area, and all to the left, is still a beautiful place.  In fact, all of Yankeetown is a gem of an area.  If you continue down this "Parkway" to the Gulf, you find a boat launch area that is also beautiful.

Area to Left of Bridge

Betty Watches Windy Departure of Fishing Boat By Launch Area

Sun Setting Beyond Boat Launch Area

Homosassa Springs State Park was the highlight of the visit.  The collection of wildlife was a joy to see and photograph, with wading birds present nearly as abundantly as at St Augustine's Alligator Farm rookery.

Anhinga Swimming at Homosassa Springs

Blue Heron at Homosassa Springs

Blue Heron Closeup at Homosassa Springs

Golden Eagle at Homosassa Springs

Very Tame Gray Squirrel at Homosassa Springs

Green Heron at Homosassa Springs

Hippopotamus at Homosassa Springs

Ibis at Homosassa Springs

Manatee Being Fed at Homosassa Springs

Pelican at Homosassa Springs

Roseate Spoonbill at Homosassa Springs

Roseate Spoobills at Homosassa Springs

Flamingos at Homosassa Springs

Whitetail Deer at Homosassa Springs

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park is of interest if you want to go into the water with scuba or snorkel gear and see the fish in crystal clear water.  The water park portion is like the water parks in Orlando except here one lands in crystal clear spring water instead of a large swimming pool.  The part of the park where one sits in a theater and watches "mermaids" swim in the crystal spring has pretty much seen its day.  There are TV screens on the wall that show mostly black-and-white videos of the heyday when many young shapely ladies swam in mermaid outfits, doing stunts with water scooters and other props.  Now all you get are a couple ladies swimming the same loops over and over.  All the talent has fled to Orlando.  It is a wonderful setting and a shame to be such a shadow of its former glory.  People still pack the theater to watch, but word of mouth will eventually change that.  We took a boat ride along the river that feeds the springs area but found it to be a short ride with little to see.  A beautiful area, and likely a joy to swim, but not worth the price of admission unless you want to get into the water.  This is likely true of other springs in the area also.

"Mermaid" Doing the Roll, Which Is All They Do

Weeki Wachee Springs.  Theater on Left.  Water Park on Right.

Very Tame Peacock at Weeki Watchee Springs State Park

Gray Squirrel at Weeki Watchee Wildlife Walk

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the area this time of year is the flying swarms of "sand flies" (locals call them "flying piranhas"), which are so small that a pencil point dot on paper would be no bigger.  They come in as the sun sets and cover you, even swarming into your hair and biting your scalp.  They slowly disappear as darkness sets in, only to return the following sunset.  Some call them "no see ums," which we have on the Atlantic coast but they only bite individually, not in swarms, usually around the ankles.  We had never experienced anything like these pests.  Our visit last year to the panhandle of Florida also exposed us to a host of flying pests, but those were big enough to see and swat.  One can either avoid this area this time of year, or simply flee indoors at sunset.  It seems the Gulf has its own ecosystem for bugs.