Day 1   Saturday, December 9, 2006

We moved into the motorhome today but didn’t plan to go far. Our destination is Foxboro, MA. We have had some aggravation with the coach, mainly another water leak that caused a lot of damage in the bedroom. We’ll have to deal with it when we get south. After saying goodbye to Don & Sandy, we drove to Normandy Farms in Foxboro, one of the few campgrounds open all year up north. Roberta & Elliot came by and we went out to dinner. We went food shopping and settled in for our winter in the coach.

Day 2   Sunday, December 10, 2006

The family Hannukah party was wonderful. Nearly everyone could come so we had over 30 people. . The potato latkas were great and the kids seemed to enjoy their presents. After the party we had a smaller celebration with Mom, Alan, Barbara, Elissa and Jose. We had a traditional Hannukah dinner of Chinese food take-out and got back to the coach early for the start of our trip tomorrow.

Day 3   Monday, December 11, 2006

We drove 390 miles today from Foxboro, MA to Abingdon, MD about 30 miles beyond the Delaware border. It was an easy drive with few traffic slowdowns and we got to the campground shortly after 4 PM. The park is on a wide river and once we got set up we walked along the shore and spotted great and little blue herons, hooded merganser, large rafts of Canada geese and large flocks of ring bill gulls. On the way back we spotted a belted kingfisher. Once back at the coach we had to deal with the latest maintenance issue; the propane leak detector went off! However, all of the appliances that use propane were off. Carl shut off the tank valve and after a few seconds the alarm stopped. Just when we were sure it was a real propane leak, the alarm went off again even though the valve was still shut off. We turned the valve back on and cooked supper and the alarm was silent so Carl concluded it was contamination in the sensor. Well watch and listen carefully. We spent an otherwise quiet evening, enjoying wireless internet and cable TV in the campground. Tomorrow we head for North Carolina.

Day 4   Tuesday, December 12, 2006

The propane leak detector was silent all night and we didn’t blow up. Just to be sure, please check to see if this email came from dolphinriders@heaven.org ;-). We started later today to avoid the traffic in the Baltimore and Washington DC areas. An easy 400 mile drive brought us to a KOA right off I-95 north of Fayetteville, NC. More free cable TV and wireless internet. Over dinner we talked about the damage to our current coach and decided to buy a new diesel coach, probably a Tiffin Phaeton 35 DH, when we found the right unit. We also got an email from Shari and Bert Frenz, the couple who led our Mexico/Belize birding caravan in 2005. They are planning a 78 day trip that will spend 23 days in Costa Rica in 2008. It sounded interesting so we emailed them to express interest in the trip. Tomorrow is a shorter drive to Savannah so we stayed up late!

Day 5   Wednesday, December 13, 2006

And slept late. The 300 miles to Savannah passed quickly. Soon after crossing the Georgia border we stopped at the visitor center to get maps and brochures about Savannah and the surrounding area. Loaded down with a few pounds of brochures, we were soon creeping through rush hour traffic in the southern suburbs of Savannah. This is the first time we have stayed at Skidaway Island State Park. It is lovely with loop through sites, water and electric hookups. We walked around the campground in the near darkness and drizzle, more to stretch our legs than explore the park but it seemed very nice.

Day 6   Thursday, December 14, 2006

Today we took the coach to an RV service place to fix the roof leak and check the propane detector. They sealed around the rear marker lights and some roof molding. Hopefully this will stop the leak. Unfortunately, the headliner, rear wall and carpet are stained by the water and we confirmed that our extended warranty does not cover damages due to leaks. On a brighter note, instead of waiting around for the coach, we drove back to Savannah and walked around. We visited the Telfair Museum and Jeppsen Center then wandered through the art and craft galleries of City Mall. Sandy found a two panel painting of red flowers that would look wonderful in our living room. Unfortunately, they were too big (36”H by 48” W) and too expensive ($630 per square foot – do the math). We then met the artist who offered to paint a pair just the right size for us. When we realized she didn’t have a web site, Sandy offered Carl’s service to design the web site. No deal but it was worth a try. We are now back in the campground where the coach can stay for the next four days as we explore Savannah and some of the nearby wildlife refuges.

Day 7   Friday, December 15, 2006

We spent a delightful day in Historic Savannah. We used the Old Town Hop-On, Hop-Off Trolley to get around and enjoyed the narration as well as the beautiful restored buildings and city squares along the route. At the first place we got off we found a hotel and restaurant with a magnificent collection of wildlife paintings that were just like photographs. One painting in particular was a stunning, realistic leopard in a tree. Next stop was Congregation Mickve Israel, a fascinating gothic revival temple. The first 42 Jews, mostly Sephardic came to Savannah in 1733, just five months after the founding of the city. By 1878 they had outgrown the old building and hired a New York architect to build a beautiful, though unusual synagogue. In the small museum the community has captured the history of the Savannah Jewish community and it’s prominent citizens. The centerpiece of the museum are the torah scrolls brought from London by the original settlers. Since the scrolls were from the Sephardic community, they are believed to predate the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal during the inquisition. They are written on deer skin and are in a remarkable state of preservation. They are even read from once a year. The next few hours were spent shopping and lunching along the Savannah River. After lunch we toured the Owens-Thomas house, a beautifully preserved merchant home dating to about 1821. By this point we had missed the last trolley so we walked back to the visitor center. Fortunately, Historic Savannah is quite compact, about one mile square, so it was an easy walk. Back at the coach we lit candles and began our celebration of Hanukah

Day 8   Saturday, December 16, 2006

What a glorious day. Sunny with temperatures in the high 60’s to low 70’s; it was a day to be out doors. Our first stop was the Savannah NWR most of which is in southern South Carolina. We drove the five mile wildlife drive, stopping often to watch ducks and raptors, then we hiked for a couple of miles along an impoundment dike. We spotted eight different duck species and five different hawks. We enjoyed our picnic lunch sitting on a sunlit knoll at the edge of the refuge by a huge live oak tree. After lunch we drove further into South Carolina to the Pickney Island refuge just outside of Hilton Head, SC. This was another delightful refuge with hiking trails along ponds and overlooking the intercoastal waterway. We hiked about five miles round trip and spotted dozens of additional birds. Our total for the day was 49 different species. Back at the campground, we had a great supper then sat by a quiet, peaceful campfire. The sites here are very big, it’s not too crowded and we didn’t hear any other people for the whole time we sat by the fire. A peaceful end to a wonderful day.