The Trip So Far....

Okay, I've been negligent with my blog. I'm retired and lazy.

This time we're travelling the southeast cost from Beaufort, SC to Jacksonville, FL. We had a wonderful time with Reggie and Linda Fraser on Lady's Island. We parked the rig at The Oaks at Point South. A nice, older RV park at exit 33 on I-95. The rate for us was very reasonable at $10.00/night for a full hookup pull-thru spot.
Reggie and Linda have a beautiful island-style home in walking distance from the Beaufort Yacht and Sailing Club. Their club is a very nice facility for powerboats and trailer-sailors, but a little shy of the mark for cruising boats. They've been permitted for a cruising boat dock and that will really perk up Reggie. His boat "Slipaway" is currently on a mooring in the river, so it is really "away from the slip".
Reggie is a USCG-certified captain and drives a 24-foot Donzi for TowBoatUS. Last Tuesday, he asked me to tag along as deckhand to tow a 39-foot C&C cruising sailboat with a bad transmission from a slip on Lady's Island to a marina up the Broad Creek on Hilton Head for de-rigging and transport to a new buyer. That means we passed at least six other marinas capable of the work to get to that one.
Reggie was quite impressive as the towed the "Iron Duke" out of a narrow slipway and into the channel. The next four hours were spent toodling along at 6 knots with a fair wind behind us getting around Parris Island and up to Harbor Town on the south end of Hilton Head to get into Broad Creek. There is a cut-through, but the water is only 3-4 feet deep. No access for a keelboat.
Luckily (or did Reggie time it?) the wind and tide were both in the same direction when we got there enabling a perfect slow sidle up to the dock. The trip back only took an hour.
We found a hidden gem on Parris Island. They have a new RV park that isn't listed anywhere. Gorgeous concrete pads and facilities, and just off Cuba road where the old Argonne trailer park was.
We took our hosts for their first visit to the Depot and showed them the Ribault Monument where the French Huguenots landed and the Spanish had their northernmost fort. Then we went for the "Traditions" tour of the monuments on the Depot. "Iron Mike" is a WWI memorial with an extremely belligerent Marine holding a .45 caliber M1911A1 pistol defiantly towards heaven with a water-cooled .30 caliber machine gun across his right shoulder and a Hun's Stahlhelm at his feet. No bent-knee wimp mourning his dead. Just a Mud Marine shouting at God, "Okay, What else ya got!"
The first time I ever saw "Iron Mike" I was soaking wet in stinking swamp water covered in sand and jammed ignominiously close to ninety similarly disgraced recruits, while a gravel-voiced DI forcefully informed us that we, "didn't even pack the shit to be a Girl Scout, much less a Marine!"
I had made the error of telling Private Woodruff, that I was going to kick his ass if he bitched at me again about guard duty. Unfortunately, My Senior Drill Instuctor Staff Sergeant Kennedy (yep, it's always the full moniker!), considered Recruit Woodruff's ass a private reserve. And furthermore as Corporal of the Guard my orders were to "report" not "discipline". That was 2 AM. By 4 AM I was standing out front waiting to be picked up by the bus for my trip to "Motivation". Thus by 9 AM I was wet, nasty and tired and sweltering while being lectured on my relationship to a proud Marine heritage that I was unworthy of. This visit was much more pleasant.
Now we're on the Submarine Base at King's Bay near St. Mary's, Georgia. This RV park has been consistently rated the tops in the US. I can see why. Full hookups, Wi-Fi, cable and free laundry! Woo-hoo! The base is beautiful with a new feel to it. Bike trails everywhere and all the on-base stuff. Friday we went to a travel fair. All the brochures and reps from places to go, but also a full buffet of hot snacks and drinks. I love freebies.
Yesterday, we went to Saint Simons Island and Fort Frederica. Another wonderful day.
This morning the bicycles gave our bottoms a new coat of soreness.
Tuesday is a travel day. Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport to sit by the channel and watch ships. Life is good.