At Tallahassee Airport (20th September)

The morning is spent packing and fiddling to finalise photos, etc. We then make our way to the capital to have a look around the old capitol building. Florida has had a very interesting and checkered past with wars, segregation and civil rights. We have lunch, wash and feed our trusty steed and head to the airport. The month has come to an end and the touring is over. Our trusty steed has been bid a fond farewell after 4,108 miles / 6,600 km (to put that into perspective - Melbourne to Perth to Melbourne is 6,800 km), 7 states visited and a lot of sights seen. The South really does live up to the reputation of the friendly states, and the food has been tasty and very different to the rest of our trips. We have enjoyed ourselves immensely. Now the flight home! Just under a couple of hours to Dallas, then 16 hours to Brisbane and for me, a couple of hours to Melbourne. Will be home sometime Monday afternoon. Russ and Carolyn are over nighting in Brisbane before heading for Perth on Tuesday. So the party is over!!

The End

Swamp Tour but we are coming to a close (19th September)

We are up early to go on our swamp tour. We leave our little cabin and venture out in our boat on our own private tour. It is overcast and there is a little breeze. What a great morning to go out. We see a couple of alligators early on. One so close you could almost touch them!! The scenery and the birds keep us busy with clicking cameras. The swamp is pretty full so the alligators have a lot of water to hide in. But the overhang of the trees and the Spanish Moss makes it a unique place. After our cruise we start our homeward bound journey. We cross the Florida border just south of the swamp and then drive the Interstate to Tallahassee. We find a southern BBQ place to have our final dinner for the trip and happen on the Sweet Rack where we are given a sample platter of the meats and sides. Great meal to finish our trip.

 

Heading Down the Coast (18th September)

The first order of the day is to go north and east into South Carolina so that I can get my magnet, You know it's all about the USA magnets!! We follow a wildlife tour into the Savannah Wildlife Refuge. We see some birds, a couple of alligators and a tortoise. Not bad out the window of the car. We cross back to Savannah and journey out to Tybee Island where there is a Fort which played a critical role in 3 wars in the 1700 / 1800's. But pushed for time, we head for the lighthouse and museum. Then we head south along the Georgian coast. A couple of quirky things to see on the way, such as the largest cow and the mascot for the Atom Smashers football team. As we go along, we see a lot of wet lands with the many rivers, plus the barrier islands make it hard to distinguish coast from island. We cross a photo graphical bridge but decide to leave that until we come back. So we head to Jekyll Island, bought and developed by the Carnegie family in the late 1800's as a play ground for the rich. Known as the Jekyll Island Club, many of those rich built cottages on the grounds, you know the 8 bedroom, 8 bathroom, 3 story cottage types for such people as the Vanderbilt's and Rockefeller's. Now it is an upmarket hotel where you can stay in the original building or one of the cottages. As we leave we stop for the photo opportunity and lo and behold right there is a Rattle Snake. Big fat one too. We turn inland soon after and head for Okefenokee Swamp for the night.

Savannah in all her Glory (17th September)

We're up early so that we can be on  the first trolley bus tour. And lucky we are as it doesn't take long to fill up. The trolley winds its way through the narrow streets of Savannah showing us the largest number of Antebellum homes in the country. Savannah wasn't burned by the Union army when they left after the war, so the street layout with its many green wedges / squares as designed in the early 1700's still remain. And though the live oaks were all felled for the wood to build ships, the founders had the foresight to replant for the future. For lunch we go to Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House. It is a tourist institution now, a long way from its early days of feeding the poor and homeless. The spread is still served in the boarding house style, where all the food is on plates placed on the table. Way too much food for us to consume. After lunch we walk to see the "Birth place of the Girl Scouts", a couple of old police cars, the Catholic Cathedral and the restored Savannah theatre. Alas the bench on which Forrest Gump sat is no longer there so we take the best option and sit on the bench facing inward. We then catch the cemetery tour of Bonaventure, once a cotton plantation, then a private cemetery marketed to the rich. It is now one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world, with its Live Oaks, Spanish Moss and its very artistic head stones for the family plots. It was also featured in a film which made the cemetery's appeal sky rocketed. In the evening, we dine at a fine restaurant featured in the 1,000 book and just love the food. Great time in Savannah!!

Rural Georgia (16th September)

Today is a big day of travelling across rural Georgia. Abbeville is the Wild Hog Capital of the World and of course has a festival to prove it. Vidalia is the capital of the Sweet Onion and has a museum describing why and how it is the sweetest onion in the world. Claxton is the Fruitcake Capital of the World, and they are baking 24 hours a day to get enough cakes for the festive season. The Mighty Eighth Airforce museum is focused on the US involvement in Europe in WW2; the lives of the men and women who served, their impact on the war, the lives that were lost, the POW and the escape routes that were set up to get downed pilots away from the Germans when they were shot down. Very interesting.Our journey for the day ends in Savannah. The hotel shuttle is available to ferry us into town so dinner is by the Savannah River in old River Street. Just across that bridge is South Carolina. We will be exploring Savannah tomorrow.