Our route plan including driving right through downtown Atlanta in the Lark. This seemed preferable to the mountains and WV Turnpike in always threatening weather. Until of course, you need to turn the key and head into the worst traffic on the East coast. When our Jason and Michaela lived in Buckhead in N. Atlanta we experienced the crazy traffic and it has only grown worse.
Ed had done the research on a guidance system for the Lark. We invested in a Garmin (Satellite) system made specifically for RV's. Worth it's weight in gold. The little bus on the BIG screen travels along, routing you, telling you when speed limit changes, warning of school zones, sharp curves, downhills, uphills and low bridges. Seriously. When highway traffic slows in front of you, a mile or so, away, you get the warning. When traffic clears you get an announcement the traffic is "light" in your path. Getting on and off ramps is a task. We are slow to climb and merge even more careful to slow, as stopping 14,000 lbs can be a trick. Garman shows you the lanes to approach and where to be when. I have a feeling that in a few years, a Garmin will be called the beginning of automated driving, we'll remember that old thing we used in the Lark!
Back to Atlanta, we got up steam and headed straight through, all indicators said "do not use bi-passes" they are worse. We waited until 9AM, followed Garmin directions and orders and did really well. Came to a total stop a couple of times going in...and breezed out the south end on I75. Did all this while driving in 6 lanes going each way!
Speeding on: (65MPH) is our preferred speed, good gas mileage and power to step on it if needed. Headed for the Okefenokee Swamp... Foster State Park, Ga. in the middle of a National Wildlife Refuge. The swamp is 700 SqM of protected habitat and the road in is 62 miles from the highway. Two lanes of pole pines and logging trucks. The longest "dead end" road ever! Ed is pleased to announce Home Depot will never run out of 2 x 4's. Certainly not in our lifetimes.
This spot is known as the best "stargazing" east of the Mississippi. No light pollution. No nothing.... made sure we had enough gas to turn around, if that became an option, and continued full steam ahead. Ed was muttering something about the "adventure" and we soon found ourselves giggling, wondering what could be at the "dead end".
A beautiful Georgia State Park. Nice people, well run, wooded private sights, utilities and no cell connection. Can't have everything. The Garmin book talks of "bluetoothing" through my IPhone, but have not explored that possibility. The quiet was rather nice. Oh the quiet and sweet air. The quiet was deafening. No planes, trains, machinery of any kind, boats, waves...no nothing, including no stars...overcast skies :( Again, out of season).
We were so taken with the place and only three other campers, we stayed two nights. First night a bear tried to enter a tent....exactly why we have solid walls and a door with a lock. Great birding and photography and hiking. The second day we got a private boat tour out into the swamp that was a very special experience. Swamps are not dark and scary, but lovely and alive and quiet and old...we saw a tree estimated to be 900 years old. We saw no "swamp people"..thank goodness. No Ivory Billed Woodpecker, either.
No Kayaking for me in these waters!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment