On our way home

Well, we said our good-byes to our friends at Camp Florida and headed for the east coast of Florida. We were one of the last to leave the campground because on April 1, it was like a mass exodus heading north. The trip was uneventful except for the wind which was very strong and made Roy use two hands on the steering wheel at all times. We arrived at North Beach Campground around 3:00 p.m. Not as nice as we had anticipated, but we’re only here for three nights.

Our tour of St. Augustine was very interesting. The history is really quite amazing. Ponce de Leon discovered the North American continent in 1513. He claimed it for Spain and named it La Florida for the springtime flowers that he saw. This claim included all of North America from Labrador through Mexico. It was very interesting to learn that Ponce was only 4 ft. 11 in. tall and he was the tallest of his entire crew which sailed from Spain on an 84 ft. sailboat! When he arrived he found friendly Indians which were very tall---over 7 ft!. He thought that the Fountain of Youth would keep him young and extend his life. At that time, the average age of Spaniards was 35 years! Ponce unloaded all of his cargo and loaded it with water and headed back to Spain. He did live to be 62 years old which was quite unusual for that time.
The fort in St. Augustine is quite interesting also. It was painted white because the battles were only fought during the day and at night the soldiers would go out and white wash the walls so that the fort would not show any damage. The Spaniards were Catholic and they felt that everyone else, including the Indians should be converted. If one refused to be converted to Catholicism, they were killed!

Okay, enough history on St. Augustine! On to Savannah!

We arrived at Savannah Oaks Campground on Friday. A very nice campground with lots of live oak trees. There has been a lot of rain in this area with standing water, so there is an abundance of mosquitoes! We signed up for a tour of Savannah and was picked up at the campground at 9 a.m. Savannah has lots of history just like St. Augustine, but guess you have had enough history lessons. Savannah was founded and settled by the English and as you may remember, the English and Spanish did not get along. There are several forts in the Savannah area that are quite interesting. The city was laid out with 24 squares by General Oglethorpe and today there are 21 remaining squares through the historic area of the city. Savannah is also a large overseas shipping port and was one of two when it was settled. The other port was in Boston, so the warm weather kind of took precedence. We enjoyed the shops along the water, and had a nice seafood lunch overlooking the Savannah River. The weather forecast is calling for some severe t- storms so we will spend another day in Savannah. Our extra day was spent visiting the 8th Air Force Museum. World War II history is always interesting to us.
The road home was a nice ride. We took route 26 to 40 thru the Smokeys. The scenery is always breathtaking in that area and with the onset of spring, it was even more beautiful. Rt. 75 of course, was the last leg of our trip and the construction around Cincinnati and Dayton is still there!!!! The timing was good to arrive back in Lambertville. The weather for the first two days was warm and sunny. Motorhome, washed, emptied, scrubbed, and vacuumed. Now it's time to get the house and yard dewinterized !!