TRAVEL DAY – WE’RE PLAYING CATCH UP NOW; WE’VE HAD NO INTERNET CONNECTION FOR A WEEK.
Day 56 – Rob was up at 7:15 a.m., me at 7:45. It was 44 degrees when he got up & quite overcast. Rob had called his mom & texted his brother last night and I texted my relatives this morning, letting them all know we could be out of touch for a week. This also means we can’t send out the Blog daily. We’ll have to send it all out in a big lump when we have a connection again. Today we leave for Stephen C. Foster State Park, deeper in the Okefenokee Swamp of Georgia.
85 miles, (1:40), 35392-35477
The campground we’ve been at for the past five days, the one that’s been so peaceful, was clearing out, getting ready for the onslaught of weekend visitors. We figure it’ll be crowded (and noisy) at our next campground for several days, then empty out to almost no one during the week. That’s when we’ll do our Swamp boating! In 2017 when we stayed at Stephen C. Foster, it left an imprint on our hearts that we’ve never forgotten. We are excited to be going back.
We departed at 11:30 a.m. after dumping tanks – already 66 degrees, partly cloudy. The sun had burned off a good portion of the haze. The girls were good about going back into the bedroom, their chamber of travel. It was as if they knew it wouldn’t be a very long journey. We arrived at Stephen C. Foster State Park, 17 miles north of the blink-and-you-miss-it town of Fargo, GA, at 1:10 p.m. Once you leave Fargo and head north on the 177, there is nothing but beautiful Longleaf Pine Trees & Saw Palmettos lining the narrow two-land road. Except for the Wild Turkeys that we always have seen.
Click on any picture below to see a slideshow.
We were out in the boonies, surrounded by the Okefenokee Swamp. It was a little cloudy, breezy & 74 degrees. If you have a medical emergency, the closest place to get help is 55 miles away. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. The campground was somewhat crowded already; the weekend campers had begun arriving. It took us awhile to check in.
After having lunch in the parking lot of the Ranger’s Station, we drove to our campsite, unpacked, and Rob put up the screened tent. There were a few biting bugs. (Wait till later in the week when it warms up more!) We had Site #56 & we were happy with it. On one side the trees & bushes were thick & we could barely see the campsite next to us on that side. Behind us was nothing but the woods and one of the hiking trails which was closed due to flooding. (No traffic there.) On the other side of us there were some bushes separating us somewhat, but not completely, from our neighbors, a family with two kids & two dogs. The dogs were much better behaved than the kids, LOL. Because we were near the end of the campground road & on a curve, our site was big and offered more space than most. No campsites were across from us. Come Sunday/Monday when the campground empties, we’ll have the place to ourselves, darnit! LOL.
We spent what was left of the afternoon in the screened tent. It was very nice out, a little noisy, but we ignored it. We remembered from last time we were here that it gets very noisy at night; like you are deep in the jungle, with the frogs & owls & cricket, etc. Looking forward to it! The high today was 78 degrees, breezy, and comfortable. The kitties adjusted to their new place immediately.