RenegadeRider

Yesterday we drove into South Carolina – barely. It was barely enough to carve another notch on our steering wheel (States that we have visited). It may be only a “qualified” notch because we only drove the car and not the RV. We wanted to see Hilton Head Island (just north of the Georgia State line). The island oozes wealth and exclusiveness. It was a rare community that didn’t have controlled, gated access. It has beautiful beaches. Access points are frequent, but it is nearly impossible to find a place to park. Consequently, I didn’t find the beaches convenient to those of us in the masses. It was likewise, too far to walk or bicycle. It was sort of like Laguna Beach or Malibu, but with less parking. There is only one road leading to or from the island. I can only imagine how traffic might be in the event of a hurricane evacuation. Driving south, back into Georgia, we passed through Savannah again, and onto Tybee Island. Parking is still at a premium and controlled by me...

I have been noticing the weather around the country. I'm sorry for the folks in SanDiego that I am not there to counteract the forces of my cousin Libby. The rain will not last forever. The will return to Wisconsin -- eventually. It's not raining here.

We have a couple of weeks before Bike Week at Daytona. To pass the time we decided to explore Georgia. We are currently staying in a RV park situated on McIntosh Lake, approximately midway between Savannah and Florida. Yesterday we visited Darien, GA, a small nearby town. Darien is the home of a shrimp boat fleet, and sometimes the shipping of timber. Today we visited Savannah, the oldest city in Georgia. We mostly explored the historic area. Until about 25 years ago, it was one of those decrepit decaying downtowns that were awaiting the wrecking ball. Now it has been largely restored and is densely populated with restaurants and galleries and other such touristy shops. It also includes a large number of restored homes of prominent early community leaders. It sort of resembles the Gas Lamp District in San Diego with houses except that it is significantly larger. We took one of the shuttle bus tours to get an overview. It wasn’t until we were leaving the historic district that we realiz...

Pelicans, Lakeland, FL

Just waiting for a careless duck or pigeon.

Black Swan from Australia

Black necked swan

Swans by the lake in Lakeland, FL.

Swan art in Lakeland, FL

Lakeland, FL is a city built amidst numerous lakes. About 400 swans, along with numerous other waterfoul live in and on these lakes. We also saw an alligator, sitting on the shore. I estimate that he was about 5 or 6 feet long. I suspect he frequently dines on birds. They seemed very cautious about getting too close to him. Lakeland has also a large number of fiberglass sculptures of swans, much like previous posts from Midland, TX and Jackson, MS

Wednesday we attended the Florida State Fair. It may seem strange timing to folks in other parts of the country where fair time is usually in the summertime or in the fall. Like all fairs, it was mandatory to gorge ourselves on "fair food", stuff that we would not eat normally. Interesting attractions included a one-ring circus and "Cracker Village", which had buildings form Florida's history. It included a lot of people actually "living" in the manner of Florida Crackers. It was very enjoyable.

Growing up in Wisconsin I learned that the robin is the official state bird. It was always exciting to see the first robin of the spring. They sort of represented an omen that spring was on the way. Here in Florida we have seen extremely large flocks of robins, many more birds than I ever saw in Wisconsin. I guess that would indicate that spring is still a long way off. I understand that the groundhog saw his shadow, indicating six more weeks of winter. BTW, my cousin Libby is visiting San Diego and consequently bringing rain to sunny California.

Da Goddess has photos of her visit to the Bus 19 exhibit.

We finally left Palmetto today. We are staying in a RV park near Tampa. We have business in Tampa this coming weekend. We had been at the same location in Palmetto, FL for nearly two months. We have explored many of the local areas and have visited with many friends. We’re both getting antsy and are ready to move on. It seems that no matter how long we plan to be at a specific location or how long we plan to be away from home, it always seems to exceed the ideal amount of time by “just a little bit”. If we intended to stay three days, then two days would have been ideal. If we had planned to stay a week, then five days would have been perfect. This time we intended to stay in Palmetto for two months (We paid for the park rent by the month and two months fit our time to be in Tampa.). Six weeks would have been perfect etc., etc., etc. The time was not wasted, but we still felt the urge to be moving on. Dianne is also feeling the urge to be returning home. Our tentative i...

It has been brought to my attention that the photos in the post, "Are We Safe" could not be seen. They were there inside the post, but some form of magic may have decided that the post should only contain text. Anyhow, here they are again. I have also included a photo from Marion County, OR, that great bastion of conservative principles. LGF reported that the sign has subsequently been vandallized.

Tsunami evacuation.

Hurricane Evacuation Route.

Last one in is a rotten egg.

For the benefit of our Marion County contingent, this sign has been vandallized. Photo was obtaine from LittleGreenFootballs.com.