Golf Cart Tour

Monday night in Jekyll Island was the most miserable time I’ve had since we left Austin.  Not only did I have three ticks on me Monday morning, but that night I was assaulted by mosquitos, biting flies, sand fleas and – worst of all – chiggers.  IN THE RV.  I’m sure the dogs brought some in or they flew in while the door was open or they were on me or whatever.  But I itched and scratched and was near tears for the hours and hours I was awake in the night.  I didn’t want to hate Jekyll Island but that sentiment was fast approaching.

My dear friend Becky, when she saw pictures I sent her of my dozens of bites, said smartly, “Might I suggest you invest in some bug spray?”  Good call, Beck.  Unfortunately, the bites I got are despite my applying a near toxic amount of bug spray on myself several times a day.  Turns out Georgia bugs love Deep Woods Off the way frat boys love tequila.

I took a nice hot shower Tuesday morning to get rid of any remaining cooties from the night and decided not to let some stupid bugs ruin my trip.  I got cleaned up and Dave rented a golf cart for the day so we could tour all around and not have to walk.  Yay!  I brought along my Cortisone for flair ups, sprayed myself with half a bottle of Cutter Insect Spray (thinking that maybe the bugs would leave me alone with a different brand) and off we went.

Our first stop was the Georgia Sea Turtle Hospital and it was great.  They take care of four different breeds of sea turtles, some of whom have naturally occurring diseases, but many of which get tangled in fishing line, have their shells cracked by boats and other man-made catastrophes.

They put them in large tubs which I equated to hospital beds and this month’s rescued turtles were all named for pasta (they choose a theme each month).  We saw Linguini, Manicotti, Orzo, and Jumbo Shells.

They had little bitty turtles too!

We were lucky enough to see a vet come get Manicotti because he has tumors growing on his body that are a result of a virus.  The tumors slow him down in the water which causes him not to be able to escape danger or eat enough.

Manicotti is on the back table, and the front table had a turtle whose shell was cracked and needed repair.

After the turtle hospital we toured the historic district where in the late 1800s, prominent families like the Goodyears and Rockefellers had “cottages” by the sea.  Their cottages can be up to 10,000 square feet so I’m thinking that term is relative.

I confess that the dozens of bug bites and the massive doses of Cortisone to combat the itching and blisters (did you know chigger bites turn into blisters?! Oh dear god!) dampened my enthusiasm for taking lots of pictures but it was lovely and without the bugs, I would have loved Jekyll Island much more.  We drove the golf cart all around, going the full nine miles that the island spans and then went back to the park. 

Once we got back to the rig Dave smiled and said, "Why don't you get a few more pictures of the dogs in the pen?  We don't have nearly enough of those."  Smart ass.

We busted out the puzzle again in the afternoon and did that for a while, and then took the golf cart to The Beach House for dinner.  Once we got home from dinner, I was singularly focused on packing us up so we could move on the next day.  My pajamas on Tuesday night were a pair of jeans (yes, I’m serious), long socks pulled over the bottom of the jeans and a long sleeved shirt.  Dave looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Are you seriously sleeping in that?” and I gave him the evil eye and said yes, I’m seriously sleeping in this.

And no chiggers or sand fleas or mosquitos could penetrate my fortress of clothing in the night.  Score!

Wednesday we pulled out of the Jekyll Island campground to my great relief.  We stopped at Walgreens to get my prescription which was transferred from Austin and we were smug all morning about it.  See?  We can get groceries, pay bills, pick up prescriptions, get dogs to the vet – all while on the road.  This is totally do-able.

We even saw a bald eagle sitting on a tall pole on our way off the island which we took as a good omen.  We drove to Santee, South Carolina to our next park and guess what?  It’s a densely wooded area next to a lake.

Looks like I’m going to need a new brand of bug spray.

Jekyll Island, Land of the Relentless Bugs

Easter Sunday started off fun because Dave had a shower companion before we left.

This little guy was just hanging out, representing Florida the best way he knew how.

We look one last romp around the open area with the dogs and started packing up to go to Jekyll Island, Georgia.  First, I want to mention that Mike Roess State Park has positively prehistoric sized pine cones.

Second, we found these two items on our picnic table when we got there and I thought one was an elk or a deer or something, and the other was…. I had no idea.

Then I figured out that the animal goes on the base and the base shows his tracks.  Oh!

Then Dave looked closer and there were antlers and now we see he’s a moose.

We’ve adopted him as our RV mascot.  I think he'll be Mike the Moose, named for the park..

As I have many times this trip, I find myself saying that I’m going to miss this place with its beautiful serenity and lush forests.  Goodbye, Mike Roess State Park.  I am really, really going to miss you.

Our drive to Jekyll Island was only a tad over two hours so in our excitement to make blueberry pancakes with sausage the next day for breakfast, we figured out we need real maple syrup and that means a grocery stop.  Turns out that Publix is closed on Easter Sunday but our pagan friends at Winn Dixie were open and ready to sell us real maple syrup!  We also stopped at Petsmart for Maiya’s food and got gas so Easter Sunday was a day of errands for us.

On our way into Georgia, we stopped at the Georgia Visitors Center for a break and it was quite nice!  Since I don’t drive between states very often I didn’t realize that the visitors centers are a great place for a rest stop.  They have picnic tables, they’re well kept, there are large grassy areas and plenty of room for parking a huge RV.  Dogs got a nice walk, we had a picnic and everyone enjoyed the outstanding weather that came with us from Florida. 

We arrived at Jekyll Island and I gotta say the RV park looked a lot like an enchanted forest.  Well, like a crowded neighborhood in an enchanted forest anyway.  We found our spot and it was nestled right between three other rigs so once you walk out the front door, it’s time to say hi to your neighbors since they’re RIGHT THERE.  Hmmm.  Far cry from the space and quiet of Mike Roess, but I’m cool with it.

There were pine needles covering all the grounds and squirrels everywhere.  Unfortunately, the park was so crowded that letting Maiya off the leash to chase them was out of the question so she spent the next few days looking longingly out at squirrels who came up close to the pen to taunt her.  She shot us looks like we were doing this to torture her but I promise we weren’t.

We sat outside for a while until the sun started to go down and we had to go in because the mosquitos and no-see-ums were horrible.  I got a lot of bites and was ready to call it a day.

Monday I woke up with not one, not two but THREE ticks on me.  OH DEAR GOD.  Thank goodness I’m with the OG Boy Scout because I was one step from hysteria but he took care of them.  However, even the presence of blood sucking parasites wasn’t going to spoil my blueberry pancake with real syrup breakfast.  It was funny because Dave cooked the pancakes outside on his camp stove and all our neighbors are RIGHT THERE so all the other campers knew what we were having for breakfast.

We met Darryl and Molly from Florida who are raising their granddaughter Aubrey, and Darryl is quite the talker.  It’s a far cry from the solitude we’ve had so far but not necessarily unwelcome.  Once the dogs were walked, we put them up and went to Driftwood Beach.  I’ll let the pictures tell you how beautiful and haunting this beach is.

We saw a little bit of wildlife including a crab,

A sea bird (maybe a type of piper?),

 And some sort of bird that looked like a statue because he never moved.

This trunk reminded me of an abstract painting.  Mother Nature can be so artistic.

So many trees.  On a beach!

That afternoon we read and relaxed and finally busted out the puzzle I brought!  It’s 1000 pieces and I have a cool mat that you can roll up if you aren’t finished and it keeps it all in place.  I think the park at Jekyll Island is lovely but we woke up each morning to the trash truck coming down the streets and there are lots of sounds like you’re living in a suburb.  It wasn’t unlike being at home and that wasn’t so appealing.  At Mike Roess we woke up to birds and calm.  I also woke up to numerous additional bug bites that caused me to go through a half a tube of Cortisone cream to keep from itching myself into an ICU.

Uh oh.  I have a feeling nothing will live up to Mike Roess.  Even gorgeous Jekyll Island.