Tybee Island

It's embarrassing, but we have never been to Tybee Island. It's right next to Savanah which is only an hour or so from Beaufort. There is a really big fort with 8 foot thick walls on the way to Tybee. Fort Pulaski. It took 18 years to build, required 12 million bricks, (all transported by boat) and cost 1 million, 1863 dollars. It fell after 30 hours of bombardment by Union troops. The union cheated. They used artillery that left the barrel spinning and was thus more accurate and had a longer range. One of the pics shows some leftover damage done by the shelling. Tomorrow we are doing a walking tour in the historic part of downtown Savanah.

Skidaway SP Savanah Ga.

On the way here we looked at the map and realized we could pick up 3 more stamps in our SC state park book. If we get a stamp from every state park we become "ultimate outsiders". We have a ways to go. We will be here for 3 nights. These pics were taken at a couple of the parks we visited today. It's a shame, really, that we don't stop and explore, because all of these places have something to offer.

F.A.T.S. revisited

Yesterday, as I was stopped at the closed trailhead gate, I noted that there was a phone number to call for trail Information. I called that number this morning not expecting that there would be any change in the "Trails closed UFN" status. Well, I was wrong about that. They unlocked the gate at 9. I drove back out there and did some riding. It was great and certainly worthy of some more visits. After a huge lunch, Jenny and I biked around the park, visiting all of the closed campground loops. It took 2 hours. Tomorrow we backtrack to Savanah. We are going to do some tourist stuff. We live 45 minutes from Savanah and haven't spent any time there.

F.A.T.S.

That's the "Forks Area Trail System". I had wanted to ride some of those trails. That's why we are here. I drove to the trail head only to arrive at a locked gate. The trails were closed due to recent rains. Damn! I did get a good ride in near the campground. The weather was, again, spectacular, 20 degrees above normal. We launched the yaks and paddled in Strom's Lake for 2 hours. We are here 1 more day.

First day of our winter trip

We are still in SC. at Hamilton Branch St. Park. It is on Strom Thurmond Lake near Augusta Ga. Our most southern destination will be Dry Tortugas NP, which is a 70 mile boat ride out of Key West. We have 3 weeks to get down there so our route will be somewhat circuitous. This park is near some bike trails in a national forest that I have been interested in riding for a while. These pics were taken at our campsite. We are right on the lake.

So long 2016

Austie prefers formal attire while playing with his Pops