Judy was on duty at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, so we returned. And are glad we did. We got to spend some time with her and she took us on a tour out to the Chesser Homestead. We also took a guided boat tour of the old Suwanee Canal and Chesser Prairie.
It was a great day to be in the swamp! Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!
While we were are Okefenokee National Wildlife Preserve, we took the Swamp Island Drive and stopped at the Chesser Homestead.
In the late 1880’s W.T. Chesser and his family settled in the eastern area of the Okefenokee Swamp. Over time, they had seven children, two of which stayed in the area. In 1927, Tom Chesser built a homestead which is one display today.
It gives some insight into what life was like in the days before the Depression in a place a long way from the nearest town. The house is quite impressive as are the grounds with many different facets.
Seems to me that this was a big house after all the additions.
There was a small living room, two bedrooms, one with a sewing table set up.
The kitchen had a nice stove and a large table. Looked like they had a fair amount of room.
Outside, they built a number of functional areas:
Smoke House and Storage Shed; Work Area and Syrup Making Vat; Mounted Hand Crank Drill Press
Sugar Cane Mill, Hog Pen, Chicken Yard and Coop, Vegetable Garden
I took one last photo of the back side of the house before we departed. The Chesser Homestead is one of the more well done displays we have seen of how life once was.
Thanks for checking out the Roadrunner Chronicles! Until next time…
We are staying at the King’s Bay Naval (Submarine) Base near St. Mary’s Georgia. The campground here is great (Eagle Hammock RV Park). Since we are going to be here a few days, we started exploring the area and took a day trip to Okenfenokee NWR.
Okefenokee (“Land of the Trembling Earth”) NWR was established in 1937 and spans 402,000 acres of swamp, lakes, rivers is one of the largest and best preserved fresh water systems in America.
Over the years, the area has been intended for a number of different uses. Back in 1891, the Suwannee Canal Company bought the land from Georgia and intended to drain the swamp, harvest the Cypress trees and turn the area into farm land. That company went bankrupt, sold it to another who built a railroad nearby and logged over 431 million feet of lumber before the Depression hit and operations ceased.
A few years later it became a National Wildlife Refuge.
As we drove on to the property, it seemed as if it is well maintained and well funded which is nice to see. The NWR is a great place to do a lot of different things including, hiking, fishing, hunting, nature photography and wilderness canoeing.
The Visitor’s Center is situated near a training building, gift shop and canoe/pontoon boat guide area. Near one of the buildings, there was some new construction and additions to the facility. Large and small groups come to the NWR and take advantage of the educational and nature opportunities.
The Visitor’s Center has a number of interactive displays and informational stations along with a short video and a story telling kiosk. It is very well done.
Out behind the facility is a canal and boat launch.
A fellow RVer and blogger Judy of “Travels with Emma” fame, got in touch with us and said to come on over for a tour. We didn’t know she was here until after we returned, but we hope to connect with her in a few days and do just that.
Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles! Until next time…
We left our spot in Tallahassee at the Tallahassee RV Park and headed east, then north. Our destination for the next nine days is the highly rated Eagle Hammock RV Park in King’s Bay Georgia.
It was only 200 miles and a very easy 3:30 minute trip.
We stopped at the Visitor’s Center just across the border into Georgia and it was a busy place!
There must have been 25 or 30 RVs heading north. After picking up some tourist information, we finished the last short leg of our travel day.
We arrived at the Navy Campground about 11:30 and got set up.
We have another great spot at a Campground we like. We have stayed here before and like it. It has spacious campsites, full hookups, is well run with free laundry and a great view.
We’ll be here for over a week before we go farther north. I will be doing some online work and we will be exploring the history and sights of the region.
Thanks for joining us today! Until next time…
We are in Tallahassee, FL for a few days. We decided we wanted to see the State Capitol and some historical items in the city. I don’t know why we haven’t visited more state capitols. Sadly, I think we have only seen and toured Santa Fe NM and Harrisburg PA. Maybe we will add that to our list of things to see.
We are staying at the Tallahassee RV Park. It is very convenient to getting the downtown area. Only about 5 miles away and a straight shot into town. I really like this RV park. It is clean, well manicured and maintained. The rates are going up to $41/night. We paid $38 and now that we have been able to see some of Tallahassee, I am not sure we would pay those prices again. Still, our projected average for March is $22.38 – a little under our $25/night budget.
The Old Capitol is now a museum.
We arrived just in time to hear some experts begin a presentation on “Early Roads in Florida” – between St. Augustine and Pensacola.
It was fascinating!
After the war, many came back to visit and solidify a growing tourism industry.
If you get to see the museum, I highly recommend it. It was very well done and among the best we have seen in our travels.
One reason we decided to come to Panama City was to check out the FamCamp (one of the best we’ve seen) and to see Mexico Beach which is 20 miles south. We packed a lunch and started out to explore.
Along the way we passed through Port St Joe which had signs to the Constitution Convention Museum.
Unfortunately, the museum is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Interesting that the town in 1838 was a booming Gulf Port town and won over Tallahassee to host the delegates in writing Florida’s state constitution.
We drove through Mexico Beach and decided to stop on the way back from Apalachicola. We learned a couple of interesting things in Apalachicola. Another State Park sign we saw was for Gorrie Museum. Dr. John Gorrie arrived in 1833 and lived there until his death in 1855. During his time there he combatted yellow fever and achieved some positive results from patients when his experiments lead to a refrigeration unit to cool patients room. Unfortunately the museum was also closed.
We drove through the quaint town of Apalachicola and parked for some walking around. The only store we walked through was Grady Market.
It is a quite high-end and pricey outdoor / adventure clothing and nick nack store but interesting none the less. In the 1850’s the store provided supplies to the ships on the waterfront associated with the cotton business, lumber and later the fishing/shrimp industry in town.
We parked right across the street from the Grady Market and walked around the historic downtown area.
One building was an old sponge warehouse, now space for an antique shop. Flowers were in bloom all over.
We found a picnic table on the dock over near the shrimpers. These boats go out from ‘moon to moon’ – sometimes out fishing for up to five weeks.
We talked with one hand who said the best shrimping is during rough waters when the bottom is all stirred up. Interesting fellow. He pointed out an otter than was lurking nearby. He was glad to chat for a few minutes in the middle of fixing the bathroom on board the boat. He lives months at a time with his wife in Denver where they own an HOA company for some properties. And their son is a PhD candidate at Harvard.
After a nice picnic lunch we drove around the rest of town and headed back up to Mexico Beach.
It is another nice beach along the Florida Gulf Coast. The town is a small one and has tourists, but nothing like the congestion and popularity of Destin or Panama City.
We returned to the FamCamp in the middle afternoon and quietly enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening. Both of filled out the NCAA Men’s Basketball Brackets.
My picks on the Final 4:
Pam’s Final 4:
Who are your picks?
That’s it for now on the Roadrunner Chronicles! Thanks for joining us!
We have been at this now for 45 months. We are bonafide full-timers. By now, we have a feel for this lifestyle and many of its associated financial costs. We also know there are many, many ways to do this. But I wanted to be able to answer the question, “How much does it cost to do that”.
One answer is, “It depends”. If we have no major repairs or don’t eat out too often or no trips or events in the month our costs are low. But that is not realistic. I want to know the ‘usual’ monthly costs. I have attempted to track our costs every month and put together a compilation.
Below I show the Monthly Budget and our average over 45 months. The red numbers show where we are over budget. The two largest areas where we are over is in RV & Car Maintenance and in Miscellaneous Expenses.
RV and Car Maintenance included things like new tires, a new residential refrigerator, new AGM batteries, new inverter, manifold engine and gasket repairs as well as yearly generator maintenance. Overall, at under $4,400 per month, I am satisfied.
The item that we will have to increase is our budget for diesel fuel. We intend to leave Virginia Beach in May and spend next winter in Arizona by way of Wisconsin and Oregon.
The other comparison I wanted to see was our most recent monthly expenses. Last month we were well under budget. That probably will not continue long but I wanted to show that every month is not full of bad news.
It may seem I am fixated on Finances. On one hand I am. On the other, I find great freedom in knowing where things are for us financially. One great concern of getting older and retiring is wondering if we are spending our future. At this point – we have been ‘treading water’ so to speak. All in all we have not touched our savings and retirement accounts. As long as we continue to monitor things and don’t go crazy at some point, I think we will be fine.
I know life has a way of providing some challenges so we intend to take those in stride and figure it out when we need to.
For know – I feel much better being able to answer the question, “How much does it cost to live like you do?
As always, Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles! Until next time…
We went for a drive on Saturday to check out a couple of things and to see the beach north of Panama City. First we located a CVS in town and checked on a prescription. Apparently is was not in the system. I’ll have to call on Monday and see where it is. Then we found a church we think we’d like to try later on this morning.
Then we came upon a city produce market in the St. Andrews area.
We usually find these things interesting. I like the tables and chairs.
We settled on some tomatoes. After the market, we ate our lunch that Pam packed for us and then we drove up the highway along the beach.
It is St. Patrick’s Day weekend and Spring Break and we saw a lot of hotels and young people. I didn’t realize there were so many hotels on Panama City Beach. But there were lots of them. North of PCB we found some beaches that were not so crowded.
These are definitely our kind of beach. White sand, big beaches and lots of sun. It was a gorgeous day.
After a nice drive we made our way back to the Tyndall AFB FamCamp where we are staying. It is a very nice campground and well maintained. After dinner we went for a walk around the campground. We started out on the hiking trail near our campsite.
It winds around the campground and is near the water.
The campsites are in a wooded area but we have cable TV. And all the sites have plenty of room. It is not crowded at all. The people that run the campground do a great job of keeping the roads and grounds well maintained. No potholes along any of the roads and the trees are all trimmed back
We are liking it here and will be staying a few more days. We still want to run down to Mexico Beach and see what that looks like. And maybe play another round of golf. We will see.
That’s it for this edition for the Roadrunner Chronicles – thanks for joining us! It is beginning to warm up here again, hope the same is happening where ever you are.
We have enjoyed our time here in Destin. It is a very nice area and one place we come back and visit again and again. Even though it is a bit cool, it is a great place to be.
A highlight at the Destin Army Recreation Center Campground is that it is located right on Choctawhatchee Bay in the Emerald Coast Region of Florida’s Panhandle. The campground is tight but we have a 42′ pad and at $21/night, it works.
We found out the solenoid came in to Fleet Maintenance in Fort Walton Beach, so we packed up and drove over there early yesterday.
Brad jumped right on it and had it installed before 9:00 a.m. I paid the $310.44 bill and the good news is that have no more random amperage draw or ‘Low Voltage’ light. Meanwhile Pam made a quick commissary run in to Hurlburt Field. Then we headed back to the campground in Destin.
One of the great joys of this life style is meeting new friends! Ron contacted me earlier in the week and we had lunch with him and Jana at the Shrimp Basket in Fort Walton Beach. They are from Oklahoma and at one time had a motorhome and started following the Roadrunner Chronicles.
They felt like they knew us and brought up a lot of different episodes that we have encountered in the last four years. It was a great time of getting to know them and hearing about how they relocated here to be near their daughter and son-in-law and grandkids. Thanks Ron it was great meeting you two!
It was a beautiful day so we went over to Gator Lakes Golf Course on Hurlburt and played 9 holes. We hit some good shots but then… yeah, not enough good shots.
We had pork chops for dinner and watched some TV before we called it a night.
We are back at the Destin Army Recreation Center Campground in a few miles east of Fort Walton Beach. I think this is our third time here. We didn’t plan on being here but got into a jam and decided to take a campsite for the week.
This part is now on order and hopefully will be here in a couple of days. Meanwhile we are in close quarters at Destin.
We made a rookie error in moving on the weekend. We could have stayed in Pensacola a few more days. But we made an appointment at the Freightliner place for Monday a.m. We could have made it for Tuesday.
Then we stayed at a place where we could lose our spot when we moved over to the repair facility. Our other option was that we could have stayed at the repair facility with power but no water or sewer. So we opted to make the reservation at Destin.
That’s it for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles! Please join us again…
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