Dave and Sandy On The Road: Leaving Fort Myers and first day in Savannah, GA

We left Fort Myers on the March 3rd and headed north to Savannah, GA. It was a nice day for traveling with clear skies and the temperature got to 80 degrees. As we were headed north the first weigh station had some extended light polls that have a mesh platforms on top for the osprey to build nests. Here one of the parents is leaving the nest, presumably looking for food.

While driving we had another Allegro Bus pass us and motioned to get on the CB. He informed me that the pickup lights were signaling different than the motorhome. They had checked out OK when we left in the morning. We had to stop for gas anyway so I checked the lights out and, sure enough, they were backwards. It can’t be the wiring because everything has been working OK for the last year and a half. We stopped early around 2:00 at a KOA in Starke, FL, to check out the lights. After checking out the wiring I traced the problem to the wire connection on the pickup.

We woke up to rain on Sunday so we decided to stay another night here in Starke.

On Monday we drove to Savannah, GA.

We are starting to see spring in bloom.

We decided to stay at the Savannah Oaks RV Park that is located on the backwaters of the Ogeechee River.

Today, Tuesday the 23rd, we went to Historic Downtown Savannah and took a three hour bus tour of the area. Even though we could not get off the bus to take pictures, the tour guide spoke nonstop about the historic structures and history of the area. After the tour we went out to Tybee Island to check out an RV park and to see some of the historical sites on the Island. This Battery was used to guard the entrance to the Savannah River.

Here I’m heading out to the beach area.

Although the original lighthouse was built in 1736 it has been destroyed and moved a couple time to its present site by the Battery.

Some pictures of homes on the island.

Fort Pulaski was a fort on Cockspur Island that was taken over on January 3, 1861 by the Georgian government two weeks after they seceded from the Union. The Commandant started the reinforcement of the fort to withstand artillery of the time (round cannon balls). On November 10, 1861 the Confederates abandoned Tybee Island thus giving the Union the only site from which Fort Pulaski could be taken. The Union army later landed on Tybee and set up 11 artillery batteries containing 36 cannons of which 10 were new experimental rifled cannons that fired pointed projectiles. While from a mile away, across the south Savannah River Channel and after breaching the wall and exposing the power magazine the Confederate Commandant surrendered 24 hours into the battle with only the loss of one soldier on each side. After 1880 a caretaker and lighthouse keeper were the fort’s only occupants. They too were soon removed and the fort was left to nature’s decay. Cockspur Island was made a national monument in 1924; restoration of the fort began in 1933, probably with help of the CCC.

The next day we went back downtown to take pictures and visit a couple of the homes that are open to the public. We started at the water front.

Factor’s Walk is now shops and restaurants, but was once the cotton exchange.

This new bridge from Savannah to Hutchinson Island was built so larger ships could get through.

The lower streets were paved with ballast stones from ships coming in to pick up cargo.

The following 4 pictures are of the of the Owens-Thomas house where the Marquis de Lafayette stayed when he came to the city in 1825. They do not allow the taking of pictures inside the house.

Colonial Park is a Cemetery that was established in 1750 and closed in 1853. It has three styles of burial monuments, upright headstones, flat or raised and crypts.

This house is a duplex. The one on the left, with the red doors, is the unit where General Johnston lived. The other unit’s doors look like they could be the originals.

A lot of the houses have interesting stairways. Most of the houses and buildings are built with the first floor half in the ground. This first floor was usually where the kitchen, laundry and storage were placed and the second and higher levels were used for the living quarters. House entry stairs began at the sidewalk unless people were wealthy enough to purchase a “trust lot” which allowed for a 20 foot setback from the street.