Georgia on my mind

After leaving Florida, the only issues heading to Georgia were gas prices. The good news they are below 4 dollars a gallon! …and going down. After a quick overnight in Live Oak, Florida, we arrived at Skidaway State Park just outside of Savannah. It is a beautiful coastal area crowded with majestic old live oak trees draped in stately Spanish moss. Besides the iconic trees, there are plenty of southern coastal flora and fauna. Cabbage palms, saw palmetto, along with vines and muscadine grapes join the oaks to impress the Southern flair. Squirrels, white tail deer, cardinals, skinks, and red shoulder hawks as well as osprey are just some of the wildlife that abounds in the park. There are some great hiking trails within the park giving historical information on the 300 years of trying to defend Savannah’s port.

Deer and wildlife are abundant at Skidaway CG near Savannah, GA

^{Pictures from Skidaway Campground just outside of Savannah}

Savannah is world-renown for its antebellum-era architecture and atmosphere and has many historical buildings and in-town sites. In order to get a good feel for the city, Deb and I took a 2 hour ride on the Old Town Trolley. After the ride, we walked to the sites that interest us the most …plus a great spot to have lunch. Between the 22 town squares, the river front, and the nature trails back in the park, I accumulated over 22,000 steps this day! An exhausting day for both of us but well worth it!

^{Downtown Savannah where Forrest Gump sat.}

^{More pictures of downtown Savannah.}

After 3 days, we were ready to head inland to a COE (Army Corps Of Engineer) campground just north of Augusta. Winfield Campground is on J. Stom Thurmond Lake. This is a large man made lake teaming with recreational opportunities… or just some good old fashion R & R. COE campgrounds are inexpensive, safe, and beautiful, a great stop-over on our trek northward.

PICTURE – HCG Watsadler

Whatsadler COE Campground

After celebrating Easter at Winfield CG, we head to Watsadler COE campground just outside of Elberton, Georgia. This town has piqued our interest for a few years. Here, the mysterious Georgia Guidestones stand erect. This campground is located on the southern shore of Hartwell Lake about 2 miles from the South Carolina border. Experiencing warm weather for most of our stay south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the 55⁰ degree day came as a shock. (West Virginia, our next stop, has winter weather advisories, so I guess it could be worse.). In any case, the Guidestones, not the weather, was our main attraction.

Very interesting story.

^{The Guidestones and the plaque explaining them.}

Known as “America’s Stonehenge,” the Georgia Guidestones in Elbert County were unveiled on March 22, 1980, after a mysterious man known as R. C. Christian commissioned a local company to engrave the stones with ten maxims to “an age of reason.” The text on the Guidestones is presented in twelve different languages.¹

They are 4 humongous granite slabs with a center one topped with a capstone that have directions chiseled on them on how to survive the impending apocalypse. No one knows why or even who R. C. Christian is and why he financed this monolithic monument. But here it is! Like all of the places we’ve been, we strongly urge you to google this. There is a LOT more to this story.

^{Notice the hole in the center stone and the hole in the capstone.}

^{Pictures from Watsadler Campground (Hartwell, GA)}

1 Georgia Guidestones – New Georgia Encyclopedia (georgiaencyclopedia.com/articles/history-archaeology/georgia-guidstones)

Editors note: At $3.99 a gallon for gas and a vehicle, when hauling, gets 10.5 mpg, it generally cost us about $105 a day (in a 275 mile day). In Savannah, I paid $3.31 which translate to about $86 a day. Just an FYI.

^{cheap gas}

Happy camping!!!

Coming soon, more tales from the Campah!

… Next adventure; “New River Gorge NP”

STAY TUNED! More “tales from the campah”!

Please comment (and share to facebook, twitter, instagram, other social media) (campahedu@gmail.com)