Roadtrek van motorhome tour to Florida

1. Roadtrek Tour No. 81 Winter Tour 2001 South to Florida February 2001 28 Days 2,680 Miles

2. Itinerary Feb 20-Mar 18, 2001 Tour No. 81 South to Florida (27 Days) Chestertown, MD Interstate Inn CG, Roanoke Rapids, VA Tobacco Farm Life Museum, Kenly, NC Huntington Beach State Park, Murrells Inlet, SC Altalaya Huntington Mansion, Murrells Inlet, SC Patriots Point Naval Museum, Charleston, SC Skidaway Island State Park, Savannah, GA Ft Morris Historic Site, Midway, GA Ravine State Gardens, Palatka, FL Tomoka State Park, Ormond Beach, FL Sebastian Inlet State Park, Sebastian Inlet, FL Del-Raton Travel Park, Delray Beach, FL Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens, Delray Beach, FL Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Delray Beach, FL Horseshoe Cove RV Resort, Bradenton, FL Bellm Car & Music Museum, Sarasota, FL Ringling Museum, Sarasota, FL Southern Palms RV Resort, Eustis, FL Leesburg Arts & Craft Show, Leesburg, FL Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, GA Laura Walker State Park, Waycross, GA Cotton Exchange, Augusta, GA Augusta Museum of History, Augusta, GA Augusta Riverwalk, Augusta, GA Petersburg Corps of Engineers CG, Appling, GA SC State Museum, Columbia, SC Cheraw State Park, Cheraw, NC NC Museum of History, Raleigh, NC Richmond-Americamps, Ashland, VA

3. Kenly, NC Log Entry: Stopped to tour Tobacco Farm Life Museum, Kenly, NC. We started with a 15 minute video on tobacco farming and how tobacco auctions work. The museum has a large display of local memorabilia relating to farming in the area as well as displays of tobacco products through the years. There is a restored farmstead consisting of a two room 1880 farmhouse, a four room 1910 big house and a tobacco curing barn. The farm belonged to the Brown family and is depicted as it was during the depression. The curing barn was heated by burning wood until oil heat was installed in 1940. Beautiful short sleeve shirt day and daffodils and forsythia in bloom. Tobacco Farm Life Museum

4. Murrells Inlet, SC Log Entry: Arrived at Huntington Beach State Park at 2:30 and got a flat graveled site not far from the beach. Took a tour of Altalaya, the 55-room mansion, on the beach built in 1933 by the Huntingtons. The house is a complete square, enclosing an inner courtyard with a covered center walkway, palm trees and a “watch” tower that was actually a cistern for water pressure to the house. The house is empty and the construction is brick with a stucco exterior. Among the rooms, there is a large walk-in ice box, kitchen, food prep room, food service room, dining room, breakfast room, sun room, library and an indoor and outdoor sculpture studio. There are many servants’ rooms down one side. Walked back to the campground via the beach. There are many walking trails, lagoons and marshes for birdwatching.. Altalaya

5. Charleston, SC Log Entry: Stopped to tour Patriots Point Naval Museum, Charleston, SC. Took a guided tour of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown covering from the hangar deck, below through the mess decks, berthing (sleeping) compartments, ships facilities, all the way down to the massive boilers and steam engines. Construction of the ship started December 1, 1941, six days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Working 24 hours a day, it was commissioned 16 months later. She was the carrier used for the Doolittle raid on Tokyo in 1942. Lt. Commander O’Hare, the first WWII combat ace, and namesake for Chicago’s O’Hare Airport served aboard. The ship received 11 battle stars in WWII and had a documentary film called “The Fighting Lady”, shown aboard three times daily. She was in Tokyo Bay in Japan with the USS Missouri for the Japanese surrender. She was converted to an anti-submarine carrier and saw service in Vietnam. In 1968, she was the recovery ship for the Apollo 8 astronauts. She was decommissioned in 1970 and towed to Charleston in 1975 to become a museum. USS Yorktown

6. Charleston, SC Continued: We next went aboard the USS Ingram , a USS Coast Guard Cutter. She battled in the North Atlantic in 1942-43, sinking a German U-Boat and later served in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Atlantic and Pacific theaters. Our next ship was the destroyer, USS Laffey , built in 1944 in time for the German beach defenses at the D-Day landings in Normandy, France. After Europe, she saw service in the Pacific and assisted in the liberation of the Philippines. She was struck by five Kamikaze planes and three bombs in April of ’45, with 32 killed in action, but remained afloat. She also participated in the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll after the war. Our last ship visit was the USS Clamagore , a WWII type submarine, commissioned a few days before the end of the war. During her 30 years of service, she operated out of Key West, Charleston and New London. She was used for patrol duty during the Cuban missile crisis. Lots of golfers on the ships due to rainy weather. USS Ingram USS Clamagore

7. Savannah, GA Log Entry: Arrived at Skidaway Island State Park at 4:15 for a two day stay. Got a very large wooded pull-thru site with cable TV. Still using the electric heater at night. Visited the Interpretative Center at the park. Local artists are painting a mural backdrop for the display of a reproduction of a giant sloth, the tallest land mammal that ever lived. The prehistoric bones of one were found on Skidaway Island several self-guided trail tours through salt marshes with observation towers, mainly for spotting marsh birds. Whiskey stills were prevalent in these marshes during prohibition. The back of the Interpretative Center has large windows overlooking bird feeders with many local birds including bluejays, cardinals, woodpeckers and crows. Later in the day we saw a video on white-tailed deer and how they almost became extinct in GA. Skidaway Island

8. Sebastian Inlet, FL Log Entry: Arrived at Sebastian Inlet State Park at 1:00 PM. Wound up in the overflow lot (again). Walked down to the campground area where we talked to a retired couple living in a Coachmen van motorhome. They sold their home and are waiting for a new condo to be finished in New Jerry. It is now a year behind in construction. They spend 2 weeks in a Florida State Park and leave for one day, then back for two more weeks up to the yearly allowable total of 6 weeks. We thought that longer term, it would be a pain to unhook, dump and go grocery shopping but people wonder how we can go out for 30 days in a van motorhome. It's nice to sit out in the sun with a nice breeze and read. Walked out to the fishing pier and saw a manatee swimming in the ocean, a first for us. There are egrets, pelicans and other water fowl sitting on the rocks along the inlet. You see a lot of nature here as well as a lot of people fishing and boating. Saw Roadtrek 7 and 8 today. Along the Inlet

9. Delray Beach, FL Log Entry: Toured Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach in the morning. It is a tribute to the Japanese settlers of Yamato Colony who came to Florida in the early 1900's to establish farms. The newest section of the gardens opened this past January with tranquil paths and benches to rest around a good-sized lake. There are several beautifully landscaped memorial areas along a winding path with a bridge joining them that symbolizes the union between Florida and Japan. The earliest rock garden has little planting and the stones are all up on end for the Gods to sit on. In the later rock garden the stones are flat with more plantings. Small stones are raked into swirling patterns around the rocks. Morikami Museum

10. Continued: One garden is enclosed for meditation. The path leads to an island in the lake which has a traditional Japanese house with interior courtyard. It serves as a photo exhibit of the people who founded the colony. You remove your shoes and they give you paper slippers to wear while in the house. The colony failed during the depression and the people dispersed to many places including CA and PA. One of the farmers, George Morikami , stayed, bought 200 acres of ground and ran a truck farm. The U.S. Government took the original colony's land in WWII along with surrounding land to establish an air force training base. Morikami had no family and he left the farm to Palm Beach County with the understanding they would make it into a garden. A Japanese architect designed the gardens. Craftsmen from Tokyo built the bridges and wood structures. The museum had a gallery of combat illustrations produced for newspapers at the time the colony was established during the Russo-Japanese War. There is also an oriental style restaurant on the grounds. Delray Beach, FL Morikami Museum

11. Delray Beach, FL Log Entry: In the afternoon, we visited the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, a wildlife habitat created by the Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department pumping two million gallons of treated water into the wetlands daily. The wetlands act as a natural filter for nutrients in the water and further cleanses it. There is a raised walkway through the wetlands with fish, turtles and a variety of birds, including Heron, Cormorants and Anhinga or snake-bird. These have long necks and swim underwater with their head raised, looking like a snake. Saw one come ashore and sit allowing the water to run off its feathers. It then slowly spread its wings to let them dry. We also saw a tri-colored Heron. Wakodahatchee Wetlands

12. Sarasota, FL Log Entry: We toured the Bellm Car & Music Museum and the John and Mable Ringling Museum in Sarasota, FL, just 8 miles down the road. The car & music museum started out with a tour of the music room where there was a collection of various pianos, organs and instruments, including player pianos and one of a kind music boxes and oddball machines. The car museum tour included many European autos, with Rolls Royce Silver Ghosts and Bentley, Jaguar and a French CV4 among them. They also have John Lennon's Mercedes, a DeLorean, Model T Ford, Nash Metropolitan and a collection of "Burma Shave" signs. The highlight of the tour was actually Arthur, the 85-year-old guide, and the last living member of the original Flying Wallenda Aerialists. He performed as part of the "7 man pyramid". He took Fay for an exciting ride around the parking lot in a 1905 Curved Dash Oldsmobile. Bellm Car Museum

13. Sarasota, FL Log Entry: The Ringling Museum is a complex consisting of the Art Museum, Museum of the Circus and Ca d'Zan (Venetian for "the house of John"), the Ringling mansion on the bay. The art gallery is housed in what is considered to be one of the most beautiful buildings in America with an unbelievable open colonnaded courtyard in the middle. A bronze statue of David dominates the courtyard and it is the symbol for the city of Sarasota. The museum opened in 1930. The collection consists of over 500 years of art, displayed in gallery after gallery with wall colors to match backgrounds in prominent paintings. The doorway arches around the entry to each gallery are works of art themselves and match the period of the paintings. The museum houses the largest collection of Reubens in the United States. We had a guided tour, which ended at the gift shop, which was a work of art itself. Ringling Museum

14. Sarasota, FL Log Entry: We next toured the Circus Museum, which features a complete miniature of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus with many moving characters. A wood shop in the museum makes reproductions of decorations used around the circus and another area is a tribute to Emmett Kelly, the famous clown. The museum also has a collection of costumes, circus wagons and handbills, posters, etc. advertising the circus coming to town. Today the circus travels by train and is held in large indoor arenas. Circus Museum

15. Sarasota, FL Log Entry: The interior of Ca d'Zan, is currently under restoration by the State of Florida, who now owns the property. You can walk around the outside of the magnificent mansion finished in 1926 and stand at the marble-paved bayside terrace with steps to a boat dock on the water. We left the grounds by way of Mable Ringling's rose garden, which is surrounded by Banyan trees that were a gift of Thomas Edison. Ca d’Zan

16. Bradenton & Eustis, FL Log Entry: We had lunch outdoors on the patio at Brandenton Beach with friends who are members of Continental Campers, our local PA camping club. Continental Campers

17. Waycross, GA Log Entry: Stopped outside of Waycross to tour the Okefenokee Swamp Park. The Okefenokee Swamp is the largest fresh water swamp in the U.S.A. Signs on way in said "Alligator Crossing Next 3 Miles". The park is in a beautiful setting on the edge of the swamp with Azaleas, Wisteria, Dogwood, etc. along paths leading to raised boardwalks into the swamp. The park is also home to the Pogo and Walt Kelly museum and they have his office setup complete with drawing board. In an observation area we saw Otter, Turtles, Snakes and baby Gaters. We took a boat tour into the swamp, which is also the headwater of the Suwannee River. We saw many alligators sunning on the banks. The drought in 1986 dried up the swamp, but it's come back. We saw a show featuring snakes, both poisonous and non-poisonous at an open amphitheater in the park. After the show we took a train ride around the periphery of the park, stopping at an island with a settlers cabin and Seminole Indian burial grounds and even tepees. Okefenokee Swamp Park

18. Augusta, Ga Log Entry: Arrived in Augusta, GA and stopped at the visitor center, which is in the restored old 1886 Cotton Exchange building along the Savannah River. There is a display there on the "History of Cotton" and one inside wall of the building is a giant chalkboard used for posting market quotes. Someone remembered it and was still there when they removed the drywall put up during a renovation. The most recent date on the board is in 1905. Cotton Exchange

19. Augusta, Ga Log Entry: Toured the Augusta Museum of History, which traces 12,000 years of local history. There is a diorama of native Americans 2,500 years ago. The Revolutionary War, Civil War, and both World Wars are represented by displays. The cotton industry is also pictured. They have a 1914 steam locomotive, steam fire engine, trolley and a gas station with an old car. There is a separate section on the Art of Healing from a early local hospital medical school, with displays of an operating room, nursing and the tools of medicine. Another exhibit chronicles the life of Lt. Susan Still, an astronaut from Augusta. And of course Golf, with Bobby Jones, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, and all the hotels, etc. that support the Master's Tournament every year. The museum recently moved to a large modern facility. We next walked along Augusta's Riverwalk, a recent addition to the riverfront area. It is a multi-level brick esplanade along the top of the original levee that protected the town. There is street access to lower level park areas. History Museum Riverwalk

20. Columbia, SC Log Entry: Stopped in Columbia, SC to go through the SC State Museum. Our second visit, worth seeing again. There are many good dioramas of SC history and a full size reproduction of the CSS Hunley, the submarine recently raised in Charleston harbor. They have a section on lasers and the people that developed them. There are many good "hands on" type science exhibits to show how things work. There are also sections on Native Americans, communications, mining, forestry, a country store and the Confederate flags that hung from the capitol are now displayed here now that they are no longer flown over the capitol. There is a large clothing collection including inaugural ball gowns of some of the governor's wives. There is a display on early 20's auto industry in SC with a locally produced, aluminum bodied, car in an old fashioned gas station. SC State Museum

21. Raleigh, NC Log Entry: Stopped in Raleigh, NC to go through the NC Museum of History. The town was getting ready for its Saint Patrick's Day parade later in the day. The museum is large and well laid out. We first toured the NC and the Civil War Gallery, which told the story of the soldiers who fought it with pictures, uniforms and memorabilia. The next gallery dealt with Health and Healing starting with herbs, through Native American medicines, and on to more modern times. Slaves had their own cures and did not want "white medicine", it often injured them. There was a display of the sleeping porches at a TB sanitarium and another on a Black hospital in Raleigh that was so good that whites used it. There was an exhibit on first families of NC with more inaugural gowns and fancy clothes, including "spats". The NC Sports Hall of Fame covered golf, football, baseball and basketball around the state and had a stock racing car and Dale Ernhardt's racing suit. There is a replica of the Wright brother's plane and an early autogyro hanging from the ceiling at the main entry hall. The museum had a special exhibit called "A Brush with History" from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. The portraits ranged from colonial era paintings by famous artists such as Gilbert Stuart to a formal portrait of Lena Horne. NC Museum of History

22. Gregg Graphics Gradyville, Pa. A Presentation of