Thanksgiving and Relocated to Orlando Thousand Trails

Last week was another week of relaxation around the campsite. It was Thanksgiving week and we really didn't want to do much but eat Turkey and Pumpkin Pie. Both Bev and I rode our bikes around the campground everyday to work off the Thanksgiving dinner.

It was a great Thanksgiving meal, the campground supplied the turkey, potatoes, and gravy while we all brought side dishes and dessert. There were almost a 100 people enjoying the fantastic food. It's nice to be around friends and family for the holidays but it wasn't possible for us this year so we enjoyed the friendship of our fellow campers.

We did get a chance to do a little touring though. One day we headed toward the Gulf Coast where we visited some of our old stops and ended up at Yankeetown.

Yankeetown is a charming Coastal Village on the north west coast of Florida. Known for its tree lined streets, quiet lifestyle and "Outstanding Florida Waterway" the Withlacoochee River. Yankeetown is home to approximately 502 residents.

We followed the "Follow That Dream Parkway" through Yankeetown to the end of the road at the Gulf. The views were great.

This road got it's name because in July and August of 1961, Elvis Presley filmed his ninth major motion picture "Follow That Dream" here. Several locations in the area were utilized. The majority of scenes being shot just a few miles from here at Bird Creek Bridge. I didn't take any pictures of the bridge but some of the following photos were taken from the bridge.

Of course there must be a power plant to keep the electricity flowing in Florida.

Tuesday was a travel day for us. We didn't have to get up very early though because our drive was less than an hour to our new location at Orlando Thousand Trails in Clermont, FL. I really enjoy having a short drive between locations.

Here is the view from our patio.

This is a great resort and it's like we're home here. They have many many activities and entertainment throughout the week including Line Dancing everyday for Bev. We have always enjoyed staying here and will be here for three weeks. A lot of the same people stay here each year so Bev can meet up with her old cronies.

We will leave here on December 18th for Pioneer Village in Fort Myers, FL. That will put us very close to Don and Joni's house for Christmas and New Years. We really enjoy visiting them, they are such great hosts.

Relaxing at 3 Flags RV Resort and the Folkston Funnel

This past week we have been hanging out at the 3 Flags RV Resort in Wildwood, FL. Sometimes it's good to just relax and be a "watcher". That is my favorite pass time in the campground, just watching other RVs as they arrive and leave. Most of the RVers pull in and connect the utilities without a problem but once and a while someone makes you laugh at the way they try to get into their site and get everything connected. It can be a comedy of errors.

Every day I have been riding my bike, this is a great place to ride the bike because it's flat and all the roads in the campground are blacktop. I love to ride the bike but unlike my buddy Pete, who likes to climb mountains with his bike, I like to cruse around without much effort.

Bev has been very active here (as usual). She has been teaching line dancing 4 days a week and this past Saturday she had a table at the campground tag sale. This is a smaller campground and all the "snow birds" have not arrived yet so she didn't have much activity at her table. Actually there were only two tables set up and neither of them did much but she had fun.

Here are some of the things she made with her beads.

Here are some dog bone treats and turkey pins she made. She just loves doing her crafts and it keeps her out of trouble.

I don't mess around with crafts. My craft is messing around with camper maintenance which is an ongoing process with any RV.

We did drive around the area a bit seeing the old sites from our stay here last year. Of course we did get out to eat at some of our old stops. Did I tell you we like to eat out.

This week is Thanksgiving and we will be enjoying the feast here at the campground. We will probably also continue driving around the area seeing the sights.

As I mentioned in the last blog I didn't have time to cover all the places we toured on our last stop so I will cover our tour of Folkston, GA.

Folkston, GA which is known as "The Gateway To the Okefenokee Swamp" is also known as "Train Lovers Paradise". Over 60 trains a day pass through the The "Folkston Funnel" which is a double track serving as the main artery from railroad traffic into and out of Florida. All the CSXT's trains moving to Florida (except the few trains  that go west) must pass through the Funnel.

Waycross, GA, which is just north of Folkston, is the home of CSXT's Rice yard, the largest rail yard in the southeast.

Intermodal trains that originate in the northeast move south through Savannah, down to Jacksonville. The intermodal trains from the Midwest move south through Atlanta down to Jacksonville. The northbound trains just reverse the routing. The unit coal trains originate in Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, and move south through the funnel to the coal-fired generating plants in North and Central Florida. When these trains are empty, they will return to the coal mines by reverse routing.

In addition to these trains you can see loaded and empty automobile rack trains and molten sulfur trains going to the Bone Valley in Central Florida.

There are also eight Amtrak trains passing through the Funnel each day; four southbound and four northbound. The Auto Train is one of these which originates in Sanford, Florida and terminates in Lorton, Virginia. (If you don't want to drive your car to Florida you can load it on the train and have an enjoyable train ride to Florida.) Tropicana Juice Train moves from Bradenton, Florida to Kearney, New Jersey five nights a week.

A unique thing in Folkston is the "Train Watcher's Platform" which is located on the east side of the track. The platform features lights, ceiling fans, and a scanner to listen in to radio traffic between trains. Adjacent to the platform are picnic tables, a grill, and a new restroom facility for guests. We were able to listen to the train crews talking as they approached and passed by the platform. They also have flood lights shining on the tracks from each end of the platform for night viewing.

Trains can also be enjoyed from the grounds of the restored Folkston depot, just diagonally across the tracks from the platform. The depot is also home for the Folkston Train Museum which we visited.

This guy in the yard of the Train Depot/Museum almost looks real.

There were many displays of old time train equipment and tools.

They even had and old phone used in the train stations. Hey, I have one like that hanging on the wall in my house. It was given to us a long time ago from an old friend who worked for the railroad.

They even had an electric train display set up which they ran for us. Oh the memories of my old train set from the past.

While we were in Folkston we had to try out the local food so we stopped at the "Whistlin' Dixie"for lunch. It is located in the old section of Folkston and along with a little diner it is a gift store and a section where they do framing. It is run by a bunch of little old ladies which were having a great time there. As you can see they already have the Christmas decorations up.

Well that concludes our past touring, now I will try to keep this blog up-to-date. I can't complain though, we're having too much fun to have time to write about it.

Tom & Bev livin and lovin the RV lifestyle.

Moving to 3 Flags Wildwood, FL, Touring Saint Marys, GA.

Yesterday was a move day. We left Walk-A-Bout campground at 9:00 am and headed south on I-95, picked up I-295 west to I-10, from I-10 we picked up US 301 south where we jumped on I-75 to Wildwood, FL. After a short 3 hour drive we are now at our new home at 3 Flags RV Resort, Wildwood, Fl.

The weather is warmer here and we love it. It's great to sleep without a heavy blanket. This is the view we have from our patio.

The campground is fairly empty but yesterday and today a lot of RVs arrived. This is the beginning of the "Snow Bird" migration.

We are here for two weeks before we head about 45 minutes south to Orlando Thousand Trails. We will have our Thanksgiving meal here at the campground with all of our RV family. 3 Flags is providing the Turkey and we will bring a side dish.

Last blog I mentioned I would add the rest of the touring we did in south Georgia. One stop was the Historic town of Saint Marys.

Historic St. Marys' enchanting storybook setting on the St. Marys River beckons with white picket fences, charming Victorian inns, majestic magnolias, stately live oaks, fragrant salt air, alluring waters, quaint shops, and captivating cafes. St. Marys community includes those working at the near by Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base.

St. Marys is a small but growing city located just north of the Florida-Georgia line on the Atlantic Coast  a quick 35 minutes north of Jacksonville, FL.

First settled in the mid 16th century by the Spanish the city has been occupied since the mid 1500s and was  founded in 1787. Within historic Oak Grove Cemetery is the final resting place of the Acadians who were driven from Acadia by the English. After years of sorrow, fear and loss they found refuge in St. Marys.

During the War of 1812 the Battle of Fort Peter occurred near the town, at the fort on Point Peter and along St. Marys River. The British captured the fort and the town and occupied it for about a month. The town has a Peace Garden commemorating the War of 1812.

The United States Navy bombarded the town's shore side buildings during the American Civil War.

When we first arrived we walked around the waterfront checking out the scenery.

This is a view of the St. Marys Waterfront Park, a neat park overlooking the water and a great place to relax.

We took a guided tour of the town on this super sized golf cart.

Saint Marys is loaded with old churches and have almost every denomination you can think of. I only took a couple of photos of them but there are many more I didn't get.

This church is the First Presbyterian Church c. 1808 within St. Marys Historic District.

The one with the red door is the Church of Christ.

Here is St. Mary Methodist Church Established 1789 - 1800.

This is left over from Halloween.

The Goodbread Inn is noted for it's ghost. A few hundred years ago a woman was murdered in a second floor bedroom (the one on the far left) and she is still roaming the house. A few years ago a paranormal TV show checked it out and found paranormal activity.

The next photo is Orange hall which is being renovated. The name originated from the sour oranges that surrounded the property. Orange Hall c. 1830, is located within the St. Marys Historic District in Camden County and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was added to the list of the state of Georgia's ten most endangered historic sites by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

The St. Marys Peace Garden, Dedicated July 4, 2012 commemorating the forgotten War of 1812. The St. Marys Peace Garden is the most southern garden of the 1812 Bi-national Heritage Peace Garden Trail.

The Bi-national Heritage Peace Garden Trail is designed to attract international visitors as well as residents of this historically-significant cross-border region to experience and enjoy the natural beauty that a garden provides while commemorating the peace that has existed between Canada and the United States over the past 200 years. There are Peace Gardens on the Bi-national Heritage Peace Garden Trail that runs from Canada to it's southern most garden in St. Marys, GA.

Check it out at www.binationalheritagepeacegardentrail.com

The next photo is the site of The Washington Pump & Oak. There were originally six wells one in each square, the only source of pure water for St. Marys (until the tidal wave of 1818).

On the day that George Washington was buried at Mt. Vernon local services were also held throughout the nation. St. Marys citizens marched to the dock to meet a boat bearing a flag draped casket; bore it up Osborn Street and with due ceremony and firing of guns, buried it where the well known as the "Washington Pump" now is.

To mark the spot, four oaks were planted and have since been known as the "Washington Oaks". Only this one remains (at least the stump remains). This well was driven the year of Washington's burial and has ever since been called the "Washington Pump".

The St. Marys Submarine Museum is also downtown.  It's not as large as the Submarine Museum in New London but it is a great little museum. This museum contains 90% of all the World War II Submarine Log Books. This is a great place to follow the Submarines heading off to battle by reading the log books.

Notice the red ""Love Town signs on the sides of the doors. (The signs were on many of the buildings in town.) St. Marys was selected as one of several towns to be featured on Oprah's new TV show. (Some sort of dating show.) Oprah was in town for a large celebration to start it off.

Who knew! I could drive a Submarine!

This periscope actually works. I was able to view the surrounding town and waterfront.

We spent a lot of time in the museum and learned a lot about the submarines and the submariners that were aboard. The museum covered not only the World War II Submarines but Nuclear Submarines as well.

Our next stop was the Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, Georgia. (Right next to St. Marys)

We were not allowed on base but this is a view of the front gate.

This is a very interesting display of the USS George Bancroft at the front gate.

USS George Bancroft SSBN 643 was a 640-class Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) submarine home ported in Charleston, SC and Kings Bay, GA. Built in Groton, CT the boat was launched 20 March 1965 and commissioned 22 January 1966. The boat completed 19 deterrent patrols with the Polaris A-3 missile, 27 deterrent patrols with the Poseidon missile and 13 deterrent patrols with the Trident I missile. The crew earned two Meritorious Unit Commendations and four Battle Efficiency "E" awards.

Our last stop for the day was the Crooked River State Park just down the street from the Submarine Base. The views were outstanding.

We actually spent a couple of days in St. Marys and the surrounding area. There was so much to see.

I ran out of time so the next blog will cover our trip to the town of Folkston, GA and the Folkston Funnel. Folkston is where people go to "train watch". There are over 60 trains per day that go through the town so it draws a lot of train enthusiasts. There is also a Train Museum in the town.