Our month began in Briarcliffe RV Resort in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a very nice Coast to Coast membership park where we stayed one week. We had a hot-phone at the campsite so Norm got to update our website and surf the net to his heart's content. Last year we planned to tour the historic Low Country of the Atlantic Coast, but hurricanes were battering the coast so we went to southern Alabama instead. Being retired and traveling fulltime in a motorhome we can change our minds on a moments notice.

There is so much history in the Low Country one could not absorb all of it in a lifetime. We will not attempt to write a history book this month but will give some highlights of our trip. From Myrtle Beach we drove 126 miles to Hollywood, South Carolina, a few miles south of Charleston. We stayed there one week and made day trips to Charleston and the surrounding area. Cold weather hampered our sightseeing a few days as a cold front came through and there were record lows five days in a row. In Mt. Pleasant we visited Patriots Point, one of the world's largest naval and marine museums. The tour of the World War II aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown, took several hours and we ate a navy meal in the Officer's Mess. The ship has been turned into a naval museum and is very interesting. My, there are lots of steep steps to climb going through the many levels. If you visit there be sure to wear good gripping walking shoes. Next we toured the submarine Clamagore. There was plenty of head room in the rooms but we had to duck or crawl between the various rooms. It is hard to imagine living in a submarine and there were three men to a bunk as they worked shifts. The next ship we toured was the World War II destroyer Laffey and again our legs got a workout as we climbed many steps. At Mt. Pleasant we dined at Vickery's Bar and Grill Shem Creek and their Creole food was spicy hot and delicious.

A twelve square mile area of downtown Charleston has been placed on the National Historical Register. We recommend you start your tour at the Old Exchange Building & Provost Dungeon. Here we learned the history of Charleston that was settled about 1670. Construction on the building began in 1767 and the building has seen many historical events. As a Customs House all arriving merchant ships had to pay duties before docking in Charleston. In 1774 South Carolina's delegates to the Continental Congress were elected in the building and later three signers of the Declaration of Independence we imprisoned by the British in the dungeon along with common criminals. In 1791 President George Washington visited Charleston and two banquets, a concert and a magnificent ball were held in the Great Hall in his honor. Next, we took a walking tour of the Battery, an area of old large houses, churches and other historical buildings. After eating Low Country food at the Southend Brewery & Smokehouse we walked the waterfront and a pier where dolphins played in the water and we saw one of the largest cruise ships in the world.

A visit to Magnolia Plantation and Audubon Swamp Garden is a must. The Drayton family acquired the land on the Ashley River in 1676 and thirteen generations of the family have lived on the plantation. We spent a full day touring the plantation house, the gardens, taking a tram ride and walking the swamp. Keep an eye out for alligators, they are everywhere. The plantation currently occupies 530-acres and has the oldest gardens in America. The gardens were developed about 1680 and have been open to the public since the late 1860's.

After a week in Charleston we moved 127 miles to Riceboro, Georgia, south of Savannah. We decided to take a narrated tram tour of Savannah that allowed us to get off the tram, sightsee, then get on the next tram. Savannah was settled in 1733 and the city was laid out with 21 squares of which only one has been lost. We saw more elegant churches than we have seen in any other city. We walked the historical district and toured an old mansion. As evening approached we visited the beautiful and interesting riverfront and ate Low Country Boil at A.W. Shuckers. During a group tour of an old house everyone was asked where they were from. We answered that we travel fulltime in a motorhome. After the tour two nice couples told us that we are living their dreams and had many questions. We gave an impromptu thirty minute seminar on fulltiming as we love to talk about our lifestyle. (For those contemplating fulltiming we suggest you buy Movin' On, Traveling Fulltime in an RV - by Ron and Barb Hofmeister. You can visit their website and order their book at www.movinon.net)

Having seen cities, we decided to sample the back roads of low country life. Our drive took us to Darien, the second oldest planned city in Georgia. (Savannah was the first.) Darien is a small community where the first English fort in Georgia, Fort King George, was constructed in 1721. On the waterfront we watched shrimp boats arrive and off-load their day's catch. Further down the road we happened on Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation, a rice growing plantation. The plantation passed through family generations and was last operated by two sisters who never married. When the last sister died she left the entire plantation, with all furnishings intact, to the State of Georgia. Driving back on route 17 to our campground we found the Smallest Church in America. Wait a minute. Last summer in Iowa we found the World's Smallest Church in a cornfield in Iowa. Ok, let's settle this issue of the smallest. The church in Iowa is 20 x 14 feet with four pews that seats eight people. The church in Georgia is 15 x 10 feet and it seats twelve people. The church in Iowa could easily install two more pews and seat twelve people, but the Georgia church has no more room for pews. We declare the church in Georgia as winner of the smallest we have seen. We won't say America's or the World's smallest because we still have a lot of traveling to do. If we find a smaller church we'll report it on our website.

Moving on down the coast we drove 39 miles and stopped at Brunswick, Georgia for three days. We toured the nearby Golden Isles of Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island and Sea Island. Jekyll Island is most interesting as the island was purchased in 1886 by a group of wealthy families for a private retreat. By 1900, The Jekyll Island Club membership included Rockefellers, Morgans, Cranes and Goulds and represented over one-sixth of the world's wealth. The families built mansions (called cottages) on the waterfront and used the retreat for relaxing, fishing, hunting, horseback riding and swimming. In 1942 the State of Georgia purchased the island and is restoring the old mansions. We took a guided tour of the houses and the old historical district, then had a picnic lunch on the Atlantic seashore watching birds and waves. On St. Simons Island we visited the lighthouse and watched shrimp boats dragging nets just a few hundred feet off shore. On the northern part of the island we visited Christ Church, a beautiful old church with stained glass windows and integrate woodwork.

The next stop on our Atlantic Coast historical tour was St. Augustine, Florida, a 103 mile drive. We began our tour with a narrated train ride that had twenty stops in the historical part of the old city. St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States having been founded in 1565 Pedro Menendez de Aviles of Spain. The Spanish and English flags flew over the city until 1821 when St. Augustine became a possession of the United States. The city was 256 years old at that time. During our two day tour of the city we visited Memorial Presbyterian Church, one of the most beautiful churches we have seen. It was constructed by Henry Flagler. Mr. Flagler, with partner John D. Rockefeller, was a founder of Standard Oil Company. His influence and wealth can be seen all over the city. He built the beautiful Ponce de Leon Hotel that is now Flagler College. To bring patrons to his elegant hotel Mr. Flagler constructed a railroad from the north to St. Augustine. He later extended his railroad, the Florida East Coast Railroad, to Key West, Florida. Another of Mr. Flager's hotels was the Hotel Alcazar. It featured the world's largest indoor swimming pool and a ball room with bands that played 24 hours a day. That hotel presently contains the Lightner Museum. We recommend you spend a half day in the museum and make sure you see the demonstration of the music boxes. One room contains 1880's era music boxes that are played twice a day. These are large boxes that contain entire bands that are mechanically played.

The most interesting attraction in St. Augustine is Castillo de San Marcos, a Spanish fort built on the bay. Construction took twenty-three years (1672-1695) and the fort was so solidly built it never lost a battle. The bottom walls of the fort are 16 feet thick and the tops are six feet thick. It was constructed of coquina (white sand stone composed of fragments of seashells and sea materials) so the walls absorbed cannon balls and never cracked. The fort is under ownership of the National Park Service and make sure you attend the Park Ranger's talk on the history of the fort. In the historic district we found a large coquina ball that is "Mile Marker Zero" of the Old Spanish Trail. This was the first road from the Atlantic to the Pacific. There is an identical coquina ball in San Diego, California marking the other end of the road.

We drove across the Bridge of Lions, an old draw bridge, to Anastasia Island where we saw Florida's first lighthouse, then strolled out a long fishing pier over the Atlantic Ocean. Back in St. Augustine we walked historic St. George Street, one of the oldest streets in the United States, and we ate a delicious meal at Columbia Restaurant. On our second day touring the city we stopped at a Greek Festival and ordered combination meals of pastitsio, dolmathes, spanakopita, tiropita, hot rolls and coffee. For desert we ordered diples. If you don't know what these foods are, don't feel bad. We had no idea what we were ordering but it was very good food.

Our goal for the southeastern Atlantic Coast historical area was to learn the history of our country from the time the first settlers arrived until the Civil War. We also wanted to sample the foods of each area. This is an impossible task as each city would take weeks to study and a volume could be written on each area. Our tour consisted of twenty-three days and a distance of 395 miles from Myrtle Beach, SC to St. Augustine, FL. We will have to return someday and visit the places we missed.

In February we had met JW and Vassie Roberts in Harlingen, Texas and they invited us to visit them at their condo near Leesburg in central Florida. The Roberts live in Mid Florida Lake, a retirement community, and have their boat docked a few feet from their back door. From their home they can cruise lakes, rivers and creeks to many areas of central Florida and even to the Atlantic Ocean. The four of us took their large pontoon boat out cruising nearby waterways. We visited Lake Harris, Little Lake Harris, Lake Eustis, Lake Dora, Dead River and Haines Creek. During our ride we saw osprey, white ibis, little blue heron, great egret, American anhinga (water turkey), a variety of ducks and many other birds and water fowl. We also encountered raccoon, otter, turtle and alligator. For lunch we docked at a small restaurant and all ordered steamed shrimp. For the evening meal we went to the town of Taveres and docked at Dead River Vic's restaurant for a delicious meal. The sun set while we were eating so we boated back to their house in the dark watching reflections on the water. The next day JW and Vassie's boat club, Mid Florida Lakes Boat Club, had a boat-a-cade and we were invited to ride along. Eight boats and about eighty people boated across two lakes to a picnic area where we all had lunch. It was enjoyable meeting many of JW and Vassie's friends. After the picnic we boated back to their house and had a nice visit before we had to leave. JW and Vassie are very nice people and we plan to visit them again when we are in central Florida.

For more pictures of our boat trip click here.

We ended the month boondocking at The Resort, Florida SKP Resort, in Zolfo Springs Florida. After a month of sightseeing we needed some R&R and The Resort is a beautiful park with friendly residents. After settling in the park we went to town for our evening meal at Pioneer Restaurant. Linda ordered prime rib and Norm ordered 1/4 fried chicken. Both meals came with two side dishes and hot rolls. Linda had coffee and Norm iced tea and being near Halloween we received complimentary Halloween cupcakes. Now get this, the total bill including tax was $11.45 and the food was hot and delicious and the service was great. We felt like we were stealing by paying so little, but we went back and stole some more.