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.