Sunday, June 5, 2005 - Day 1

    Departure Day - After spending the last couple of weeks occasionally and all day yesterday getting ready, it looks like we are ready to go.  Friday night, we met up with Liz & Russ, JD & Alton, at our favorite 'supper table' at Charlie's.  We were able to visit with Angie, and her fiancé, Kevin, and his two kids.  Angie is the second shift manager at the restaurant owned by her parents.

After spending Saturday getting things rounded up, loaded, and stowed, again we went back to Charlie's for a bite to eat.  Several of our friends were there to say goodbye.  Danny, J.D. Jack & Lou, Russ and Liz, as well as Angie, the manager, and Teresa, one of our favorite waitresses.

            Danny                                                    J.D.

                Jack                                                    Lou

                    Liz                                                Russ

                    Angie                                        Teresa

We left home this morning about 7:45, heading up US 59 to Carthage, then US 79 to I-20.  We re-fueled at the Flying J, then headed east on I-20.  As usual we switched drivers as we came upon rest stops, with each of us getting a nap at one point.  After about 525 miles, we stopped in a Wal-Mart / Sam's parking lot about 6pm in Tuscaloosa.  We walked over to the Wal-Mart store, and did a little grocery shopping.  Tomorrow we will probably make it to Atlanta, where we plan to stay a few days.

So far, we have experienced no problems, except for a bit of a problem with the satellite reception parked here in the parking lot.  We are getting some disturbance on the screen, that is not there when on the antenna, so we suspect we may have a problem with the dish or the receiver.

Monday, June 6, 2005 - Day 2

12:30 pm EST - We arrived at the Stone Mountain Campground, in Stone Mountain Park and were able to get a great site, with good exposure for the two Satellite dishes.  We left the Sam's lot about 7, stopped at the Georgia Welcome Center for breakfast, and made it through Atlanta with no problem.  Actually traffic in Atlanta on I-20 at noon was rather light.

And, by the way, the TV reception solved itself this morning when we got away from some huge electric transmission lines that we were parked under last night.

7:00 pm EST -  After a short nap, we drove around the campground, then explored Stone Mountain Park, visiting the Tram base that takes folks to the top of the mountain and the amphitheater where the Laser Light Show is held.  The area overlooks the carving on the mountain, and I expect the carving is the focus of the show.  Rumbles of thunder right now, so not sure yet if we will brave the weather for the show tonight or not.  We'll see!

We also visited the Plantation area of the Park, with a display of nearly 20 buildings that have been moved to the Park and restored.

10:30 pm EST - Well, the rumbles never turned into more than a few sprinkles, so about 9 we headed for the show, and its was really great show, popular music as well as some patriotic themes.

Tomorrow, we plan to take the MARTA to downtown, and spend the day explore the downtown attractions.

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - Day 3

9 am - Getting ready to catch the MARTA to downtown Atlanta.  Will update later.

4 pm - Back from downtown Atlanta. We took the MARTA from the Kensington Station to the Five Points Center in downtown Atlanta.  From the station we took a walk over to the CNN Building (about 1/2 mile) across a walkway and a parking deck.  The atrium area had a lot of tables for dining and snacking (our favorite), with a lot of food and drink choices.  Of course, I had a Starbucks Coffee.  We considered taking the tour but I declined from fear that Bill O'Reilly or my other favorites from Fox News Channel would spot me, and cut off my satellite. On display in the lobby was 'Warrior One', one of the Hummers used by CNN in their war coverage.

Then we walked over to Centennial Olympic Park, part of the venue of the Summer Olympics held a few years ago.  We visited with a guy who had brought a Church Youth group that was about to perform in the park.  We then sat around a bit, and walked on down to the entrance to Underground Atlanta.  Underground Atlanta is a collection of shops, kiosks, fast food spots, and a couple of restaurant, and several night clubs ( which were closed of course).

From there we went to the Coca Cola Building for a walk-thru tour about Coca Cola.  Mostly was example of their advertising media from the beginning through now.  There were several movie presentations about the history of Coca Cola and about Coca Cola around the world.  There was a little actual soda fountain area to experience the only way Coca Cola was originally served when first introduced.

After returning to the campground, we had a little snack and Donna took a nap.  Later we drove over to the Park area, and had dinner at Miss Katie's Sideboard Restaurant.

Wednesday, June 8 2005 - Day 4

We spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon visiting the Atlanta Botanical Garden and its Orchid Greenhouse and took a ton of pictures.

The Main Garden contains hardy outdoor plant collections featuring perennials, roses, herbs, conifers, irises, carnivorous bogs, vegetables, wildflowers, hardy tropicals and distinctive seasonal floral displays.  Other gardens include the Japanese, herb and winter gardens, vine arbor, aquatic plant pools, and a woodland shade garden filled with fern, native orchids, and woody ornamentals.

Gardens Under Glass - Conservation and biodiversity are the twin themes for the award-winning Fuqua Orchid Center and Fuqua Conservatory.  Rare and endangered tropical and desert plants from around the world and an internationally recognized collection of orchids from high elevations of the tropics are on view.

About 10:15 tonight we started losing the TV satellite reception, which I knew meant that hard rain was on its way.  Within 5 minutes a frog strangler started, and is continuing as I write this.  I stowed the Data Storm antenna, just in case we had extremely high winds.  It has an automatic stowing wind sensor, but better to be safe.

Thursday, June 9, 2005 - Day 5

Last night turned out to be a bit of excitement.  A little after 9pm, a major storm came blowing through, with lots of rain, wind, lighting, and thunder.  A few minutes after the storm started a fire truck pulled into the park.  We never did learn what that was about, but shortly afterwards, all the electricity went off.  It took a few minutes before we realized it, because the coach automatically switched over to battery power. Since the A/C won't run on batteries, I went out and turned off the breaker to the shore power, switched on the generator, and went off to bed with the A/C just ginning along. 

The drive from Atlanta to Charleston was fairly uneventful, with a stop at the SC Welcome Center, a stop for breakfast, a stop for fuel, and then a stop for lunch.

We are now at the Oak Plantation Campground a few miles outside Charleston.  Will go do a little exploring here in a while.

After getting set up and settled in, we took a drive out to Seabrook Island and Kiawah Island.  It turns out the bulk of these two areas are private and have guard at the gate house.  From there we drove back toward Charleston and on the way spotted Charleston Crab House.  We decided to stop and eat, and learn this is only one of 6 or so, with the original in downtown Charleston. While we were eating, James, one our 'Charlies's' buddies called, and visited with him on the phone for a few minutes.  A little later our buddy Alton called, we missed the call, but he left a message, which we will return his call this week-end (free minutes).

Although it was dark, we drove to the downtown area, founds lots of folks on the streets shopping, eating, and hitting the bars.  After driving around and seeing many of the mansions near the water, we parked near the market and walked around a bit.

Tomorrow we will either go back downtown or go to one of the nearby plantation, Magnolia Plantation that was built in the 1600's and has remained in the same family for nine generations.

Friday, June 10, 2005- Day 6

5:40  Well, we decided to go back downtown this morning, and take the boat tour to Fort Sumter. This fort was the target of the first shot fired that started the War of the Northern Aggression (Civil War).  The fort at the time was occupied by 85 Union soldiers and about 30 or so cannons, but was capable of housing 650 soldiers and 135 cannons.  After 34 hours of bombardment the Union soldiers surrendered, were allowed to return to the north, and the commanding officer was allowed to keep the flag. That flag is on display at the Fort in the Fort Museum.

Originally 3 stories tall the brick walls remaining are only 1 story tall, and many of the buildings and walls are totally gone.  The fort was used up until after World War II.

We returned from the tour about 2:30, found a parking place near the market area and browsed through the market for an hour or so. We had lunch at A.W. Shucks, a seafood restaurant right next to the market.

Then we drove around in the area where many of the famous homes of Charleston are located.  Streets like South Battery & East Battery.  I took a few pictures from the truck as we drove around. 

Saturday, June 11, 2005 - Day 7

8:30 am - We are up and just about ready to leave to visit the Magnolia Plantation.  Alleged to be one of the most visited plantation and gardens in the US.

3:00 pm - We just returned from our visit to the Magnolia Plantation, and what an experience!  I took over 130 photos of the gardens and swamplands.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside the house. I will post a few pictures here, and maybe if time permits will create a separate page of pictures of the plantation. This plantation has been in the same family since the early 1600's and is now operated by the 11th generation. Originally over 2000 acres, it was necessary after the Civil War for the family to sell off all but 525 acres.  The gardens that were established over 200 years ago are still maintained and are being continuously improved.

5:30  We drove over to Folly Beach doing a little sight-seeing, stopped at a little cafe called Snapper Jack's and had some Crab Cakes and salad, really tasty.  From there we drove over to Patriots Park across the river to the north.  The Yorktown aircraft carrier is on display here.  We didn't take the tour, but enjoyed watching folks board one of the harbor cruise boats for a dinner cruise. 

8:00  Back to the coach, had a few bites of dinner, and got things stowed for departure in the morning.  Not sure where we will go, but headed north, past Myrtle Beach, toward Wilmington NC.