Wednesday January 3, 2024 - We were supposed to leave for Florida on January 8th, but Kevin wore me down, and convinced me to leave early. It's very difficult to find campsites in Florida in the winter, especially a week before you plan to leave. Luckily I was able to piece together some extra days. Ocala National Forest had sites available so we decided to spend our extra time there (and the sites were half price with our Senior National Park Pass, only $20/night) The state parks in Florida are next to impossible to book. We booked this 3 month trip 11 months ago, when the sites opened at 8:00 AM. We were especially lucky to book 6 weeks in the Keys, two weeks at each of the state parks in the Keys (John Pennekamp, Bahia Honda, and Curry Hammock). While we were booking these sites we could see how many people were also looking at the same site we were interested in, and it was usually 100-150 people! We just had to be lucky enough to hit the reserve button at the right time (which Kevin was actually quite good at!).
I wanted to add some new National Parks on this trip, so thought we'd head east to pick up Congaree NP in South Carolina, on the drive to Florida. I noticed that we would be driving close to the Smoky Mountains, so decided we should spend an afternoon there. It was a 7 hour drive to the Sugarlands Visitor Center. We got there around 2:30, so only had time for a relatively short walk. The ranger pointed us to the Laurel Falls trail (2.4 miles round trip). There were lots of people at the visitor center and on the trail, which I was confused by, since it seems like it would be a quiet time to visit the park, since it's after the holidays. I looked to see how many people visit the Smokys, and found it is the most visited National Park of 2022 with 13 million visitors a year, the next most visited was the Grand Canyon with 4.7 million. Of the top 15 parks we've been to them all, except for Olympic NP in Washington, and I have to say most of the parks on that list are not my favorites. The best National Parks are the ones that are least visited!
Today's my birthday and I found Kevin's card on the fridge. He made it using AI, giving it just a few details. He said that it was my 63rd b-day, and he wanted a picture of a 63 year old dancing, in the style of Matisse and he wanted AI to generate a birthday poem. Pretty funny card!
Sunrise as we leave Indy
Before leaving Indy I requested a birthday bagel, but our bagel shop was closed for renovations, so we had to pivot to Rise and Roll across the street and I got my favorite caramel with vanilla cream filling
There are the Smoky's as we drive into Pigeon Forge
Pigeon Forge is filled with every type of amusement park, shop and restaurant you can think of.
The Great Smoky Mountains
It was a nice hike to Laurel Falls
A Smoky Mountain bench
We had a quick snack of nachos before our 2 hour drive to Flat Rock NC. I found a Cracker Barrel there, using our iOverlander app, which recommended it as a good spot for the night.
We stopped for a few views of the mountains, as the sun was setting, but it was a pretty cloudy sunset
Instead of going into Cracker Barrel for birthday cake, Kev saved his toffee covered donut from rise and roll, which we split as my b-day treat. YUM
Thursday January 4, 2024 - We slept great at the Cracker Barrel. There were a few other RVs in the lot overnight and it was far enough from the highway that we didn't hear any road noise. After breakfast we headed for Congaree NP in South Carolina, which was a 2.5 hr drive. We stopped at the Visitor Center for a stamp on our National Parks passport and to find out what hikes to do. The ranger told us the best trail in Congaree is the 2.6 mile Boardwalk Trail, that came with a self-guided brochure. We added in the Weston Lake Trail, which took us off the Boardwalk (and got our boots quite muddy!) for a total of 4.4 miles. Congaree is the largest remaining tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in North America. It was established as a National Monument in 1976 and changed to a National Park in 2003. After our afternoon at Congaree we drove 2 hours to Walterboro SC, where we spent a few hours wandering around the town. They had a nice artists consortium with over 250 artists from SC. We walked around downtown Walterboro and cooked supper in a downtown parking lot before heading to the nearest Walmart for shopping and sleeping in the parking lot!
This section of the boardwalk trail had a lot of Bald Cypress trees, which are often found in swampy areas. Cypress trees have "knees" that stick up from the roots underground. The function of these knees isn't entirely understood, but it's thought that the knees help provide support when the area floods as well as providing a form of aeration for the roots that are often submerged in water.
It was a beautiful day for a hike, 60 degrees and sunny
the trunk of cypress trees are wider than a little further up, to provide stability in swampy ground. These trees can live to be over 1000 years old and the wood is often called "wood eternal" because it decays slowly.
we had packed our lunch to eat on our hike
knees in the water
we're back on the boardwalk
This part of the hike had many loblolly pine trees (2 trees right in the middle of the picture). Pine trees don't usually grow in wetlands but loblollies can tolerate wet conditions better than any other pine trees. Loblollies are the tallest trees in SC and can be over 150 feet tall.
loblollies up close
Dwarf palmettos (SC is known as the palmetto state)
We added 2 new Congaree NP stickers (the Smoky Mountain gift shop was closed for renovations at the visitor center, so we didn't get a Smoky Mt sticker). Aunt Gerry and Uncle Gene gave us a hike naked sticker (not sure we'll be doing that but we support anyone that wants to!)
We drove through a few cotton fields on our way to Walterboro SC
downtown Walterboro
Walterboro's water tower (which was built in 1915) had a dual purpose. Water storage at the top and a 3 cell jail on the bottom. The jail was also used occasionally for travelers who couldn't pay for a hotel.
looks like it's been a few years since the jail was used
you can tell you're close to the ocean when sidewalks are made with seashells
pretty clock on the old bank and we're happy to see palm trees
Friday January 5, 2024 - The Walterboro Walmart parking lot was full of RVers and Semi trucks, so I wasn't sure we'd get a good night's sleep, but we slept just fine! Today it's 5 hours to Ocala National Forest. We have a campsite for 5 nights in Juniper Springs Campground. We made a quick detour to Jekyll Island for a quick workout and a walk next to the beach. We had hoped to ride our bikes on the nice bike trail, but it was very windy so we opted for a walk instead.
The Walmart parking lot is full...looks like everyone is headed to Florida
Jekyll Island
We used the van to block the wind so we could do our YouTube workout
It's a windy walk!
Site 45 in the Juniper Springs campground
We went for a bike ride and found this pavilion with a tree growing through the middle of it! They left a hole in the roof so they didn't have to cut down the tree.
Here is Juniper Springs, we should have worn our bathing suits on this bike ride, since it's maybe the warmest it's going to be for the next 5 days (70ish).
salad time
brats on the grill
