Tuesday, November 16, 2010 (Fort McAllister State Park, GA)

Before heading to Tybee Island today, we needed to decide on our next stop and reserve a site...it was Tuesday already and we were leaving on Thursday. It still amazes me how fast a week can go by! We had narrowed it down to either Crooked River State Park, which is closer to the coast, or Laura S. Walker State Park, which is further inland. We thought we would stop at the Park office here and see if they could help with our decision.

The fellow manning the office today basically said that each had their own attractions. Crooked River, being on the coast, has similar vegetation and is on the salt marsh as there is here at Fort McAllister. Laura S. Walker, on the other hand, is further inland and has fresh water lakes. We opted for a change and decided on Laura S. Walker State Park. He let us use the office phone and we made our reservation...arriving Thursday, November 18th for 6 nights.

On the way to Tybee Island, Steve wanted to stop at a tire shop he had noticed along highway 17 and have the truck tires checked. As usual, the truck garnered a lot of attention and many questions from the fellows working in the shop. The manager even sent one of the guys out to take pictures. Steve was busy talking with the fellows while they checked the tires while I sat inside on my Ipod...I had managed to pick up a WiFi signal. Although slow on that little keypad, I managed to respond to an email.

It was quite breezy out this morning and there were clouds moving in. When we heard the “rain” word being mentioned, I thought that I should check out the forecast since I had an internet connection on my Ipod. Sure enough, thunderstorms with an 80% chance of rain....hmmmm...maybe we should go to Tybee Island tomorrow when the forecast is for sunshine. We had a lot of “stuff” to do that we were going to do tomorrow so we decided to just switch days. Hopefully, all would go smoothly tomorrow with the truck (the part would arrive early so they could get it fixed) and we would have time to visit Tybee Island.

So back to the trailer we go where I gathered and sorted the dirty laundry into 3 big bags. Steve found the information he needed to phone Keystone and I had the info I needed to phone Rogers. But before we head up to the WiFi zone at the Park office, let’s have the picnic lunch I had packed for Tybee Island...that’s picnic #2 that we haven’t had at Tybee!

Okay, now it was time to take care of some business. Sitting outside the Park office (and with a good strong internet connection), Steve used Skype on my Ipod (with a microphone built into the headset) to call Keystone Customer Service. We needed to find a Montana dealer in the Orlando, Florida area that would do some warranty work on the 5th wheel while we were at home for Christmas. He called a dealer that was about 13 miles from the Orlando airport...we could drop the trailer off December 14th and leave it and the truck there for the 3 weeks we were going to be gone...yay!

Once he was finished taking care of his business, it was my turn to use the Ipod and call Rogers—I wanted to see if it would be possible to suspend our cell service while out of the country. If by chance, they would do that, then we would buy a cheap phone at WalMart and purchase a pay-as-you-go card for it. Nope, they can’t suspend the service...I didn’t think they would, but it was worth a try. So, instead, I purchased a US Travel Pak...$25 for 40 minutes that expires in one month. When we are home at Christmas I will have to research better options with Rogers—she had suggest a “voice add on” package for the 3 months when we head back down in January.

After a quick skype call to Chris (because he was not answering my emails and I hadn’t had any contact with him for awhile—he’s fine, by the way...just very busy at work), we headed into Richmond Hill to the Laundromat. Now, that was truly a bad experience...and I thought the one in Elliot Lake was bad. We stopped at “BC’s Laundromat” and I went in to take a look...a dump! Okay, I had seen another sign further down the road that said “Laundry and Dry Cleaners”...unfortunately, it wasn’t a Laundromat. The only Laundromat was “BC’s” ...great...so back we go. With no other choice, we haul our laundry bags inside and I load 3 of the “better looking” washers. What an absolute joke! The wash cycle had barely any motion...the sheets in one of the washers wasn’t even getting wet...sheesh!!! We were not happy, needless to say! After the so-called spin cycle, we hauled all the wet clothes out and back into the bags and back into the truck. There are laundry facilities back at the Park but there is only one washer and one dryer and I thought it would be easier since I had at least 3 or 4 loads to just go to a Laundromat and get it all done at once...bad decision. We ended up taking all the wet laundry back to the park and I did the 3 loads one at a time. After 10 million trips back and forth to the bath house (where the laundry is), it was well after 6:00 p.m. by the time it was all done.

While sitting by the fire Steve noticed that Rocky Racoon was back. The fitting to our secondary filter drips a bit so the racoons have been showing up for a drink. Steve thought that if he sprayed the fitting with bleach and opened the other tap a bit that that would keep everyone happy. Nope...coons like bleach it seems!  Unfortunately, the picture didn't turn out very good...

Needless to say, we had a later dinner...then it was movie time...and that was our day! Hopefully, we will make Tybee Island tomorrow...

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