OCMULGEE NM MACON, GA

&

CONGAREE NP HOPKINS, SC

30 Mar

Ocmulgee NM sits right in the heart of Macon GA. In the park there are seven mounds they are funeral mounds, earthlodge, village site, cornfield mounds, prehistoric trenches and trading post site. As always we took the tour of the visitor center and watched the park video movie to get an inside look at the history before touring the mounds themselves. Some of the mounds were over twenty-five feet high and built by hand. Men carried 60 lbs bag of dirt in estimated seven phases to build just one mound. The most impressive was the earthlodge, which still stands today (with the help from today's man). The ground ceremony floor is still the original, but the mound built on the side and above is new. Twice a year when the sun rises the light would shine directly on the head leader sitting place in the circle. Next, we walked to the the funeral mound that once stood twenty-five feet high. It was still tall as we had to take the ramp stairs to get to the top. Once on top you can see over the National Monument and can see downtown Macon. As we were walking back I heard noise in the woods and went to look, it was four deer running. They were too fast to get a picture, but it was still a sight to see.

31 Mar

I want to start off by wishing my mother a Happy Birthday.

Congaree NP is in Hopkins, SC. The visitor center was small and the park video player was broke, the ranger said it has been that way for almost six months. So we went on to walk the trail with only a paper guide to inform us of what we were to expect. The weather was not the best so we tried to make a quick tour of the park. The trail is only two miles, but we took a ton of pictures and took us almost two hours to walk the two mile trail. The trail is a wood platform as we walked over water, swap like land. As we came to one of the bridges there was a water moccasin. Luckily for us, we just passed by it with no conflict. The rest of the park was trees and birds. We both had our camera in hand taking pictures of trees and birds.

1 Apr

We have to be at campground tour tomorrow and there is nothing close to see, so we stopped at Wal Mart and spent 18 hours in the parking lot. There was two semi trucks, so we parked close to them and nothing happened. This was our first ever day/night at a Wal Mart and the horrible stories I heard and read on blogs  where not true. There was even a sign that said no over night parking, but we kept to ourselves and quite. There was a shopping area close by where we ate dinner and had free WiFi. All-in-all not one bad experience to write about. 

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
JIMMY CARTER NHS & ANDERSONVILLE NHS

25 ~ 28 Mar

Good thing I packed last night. In the middle of the night a heavy rain storm came. We waited until the sky opened before we hit the road. We crossed the Georgia border on the second day of travel and stopped at Moody AFB, but their FAMCAMP was not on base. Instead we spent three nights at a small highway RV park. We had to recharge the cell phone, camera battery and do laundry. 

With five days to get to our next campgrounds we would hit four National Parks in three days and spend 19 hours at Wal Mart.

29 Mar

We arrived at President Jimmy Carter's hometown and the NHS is located in his old childhood school. As you arrive the video is in the school auditorium. Couple of the excepts you'll see is a replica of his old classroom, his Nobel Prize, and a White House Oval Office desk. The town is small and less than two blocks away, so we walked and checked it out. There is about 5-6 stores. Here is an ice cream store, restaurant, hardware etc... The old train station where Jimmy Carter had his campaign rally still stands and is part of the NHS.

 

The next President of the United States

Andersonville NHS is about one hour away so we were able to get there too. It was a POW camp for captured North soldiers in the Civil War. During the 14 months the prison existed, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined there. Of these, almost 13,000 died here. Today, Andersonville NHS is a memorial to all American prisoners of war throughout the nation's history and it's still an active cemetery. When we arrived we had only 1 1/2 hrs. before they closed for the day. We were able to see the NHS video and exhibits. The exhibits was talking about POW's from every war/conflict in US history. I just stood there thinking of what these men and women had to go through to allow myself and the rest of Americans to be free.  I'm honored to be part of the arm services in doing my small part to carry on the tradition of protecting America and keeping her free.

 

EVERGLADES NP (DAY 4)

24 Mar

Final day at Everglades NP and we went to the other part of the park to Shark Valley Visitors Center. The name is miss leading, there is no sharks in the park. We were going to visit here when we head out, but found out that parking is limited and maybe no room for a RV. The drive is about 1 1/2 hours on US 41. We used our National Park Pass so not sure the fee to enter. There is a lookout tower, but it's 7 miles away from the parking lot. You have three choices 1) walk, 2) bike (own or rent) or 3) take the park tram. The tram is a two hour tour and cost $20 adult and $16 child. With our limited time we only walked about 2 miles down the path and turned around heading back to the parking lot to eat our packed lunch. As we left the park there was a line of cars waiting to enter. More people wanted to visit than there was parking space. Note, there is no parking for RV's. There is a sign for RV's, but the spots are turned into car parking. As we got back to our RV I had to make dinner again. When we dry camp and there is a fire pit or place for BBQ grill I cook dinner ... most of the time and tonight I made HOBO (beef squares with vegetables) turned out pretty good. I packed up most of the stuff for our departure in the morning.  We are parked with the back of the RV against a wooded area so I will have to put the bikes on the RV ladder in the morning and dump our tanks as we leave the park.

 

 

These are the last alligator picture... I promise... for now!

 

 

HOBO dinner

 looks and taste good... thank you husband!



EVERGLADES NP (DAY 3)

First I want to thank everyone who is still viewing this blog. I have not stopped, We have been on the road the last three weeks and had no permanent internet connection. My post will have the date the event took place.

23 Mar

The morning started off with a park tour by bike. You can use your own bike or the park will provide one (no fee). Even though this is a tour by bike, it's an informative bike-hike that explores the unique beauty of the Everglades. The guide is very informed and shows you plant life, lime stone where you can see in dry season, When the wet season arrives this area is under water. After shower and lunch we went to the other half of the park we have not seen. We hit the trails, but the best two was one, nine mile pond; there was two gators just sitting on the beach and also saw a vulture tagged with what looked like a radio tracker. Second, Flamingo visitor center; we saw two crocodiles with one missing part of it's bottom jaw. At one of the displays the ranger had a twelve foot long python skin that we unrolled and took a picture with.

 Bike-Hike Guide

Lime stone sink hole

The wife returning with the Bike-Hike guide

Tracking vulture

 One of two gators just sitting

The closes I'll get to gator



Crocodiles one, Pinocchio



 Crocodiles  two, missing jaw

 12' python skin