A surprise fast photo! We lounge about at Daddy Cate’s Coffeehouse in downtown Brunswick

You might have noticed how sunny the day was on Thursday while we wasted away inside one building after another. Well, that was about the last of any sun worth mentioning for our entire stay. Can you say “dense fog”? How about “cold front”? No matter; have car can travel… into town…. to shops… to forts …. and to visit boat friends also in Brunswick.

We checked out downtown historic Brunswick (a bit disappointing) and Brunswick Landing Marina where we found a plethora of catamarans. Guess this is a popular and reasonably priced spot for cruisers to leave their boats over the summer, then get it ready for a quick southward zooming.

We heard that Santa’s first stop is at Jekyll Island

Over to Jekyll Island where we drove around (just because we could) then over to the marina where Traveling Soul was spending a few days. We’d met Mike and Ann last November at Marineland Marina and shared Thanksgiving with them at Vero. Was great to see them and catch up, each telling as many cruising stories as we could fit in and especially enjoying those that involved others we both knew. Lunch at the Jekyll Island Club’s Cove Cottage, then back aboard for a special treat; Ann’s homemade elixir tonic water and vodka. Not like that clear stuff in a bottle, but a tweaked recipe that included ingredients such as lavender and cardamom. Add a splash of fizz from a SodaStream and vodka (or gin) and you will never feel the same about ordinary tonic water. What a treat!
Saturday the fog blanketed the coastline and even by noon when we headed up and over to St Simon’s Island it still covered the river as we crossed the Sidney Lanier Bridge affording zilch in the way of checking out the ICW. Fort Frederica was our first stop and even a Saturday didn’t bring out the visitors thanks to the unseasonably cool day, although more people were shopping in the village on Mallery St.

Best guess drawing of how the fort and town looked

I’ve never counted how many forts we’ve visited but this one must put us over ten. Built under the visionary direction of James E Oglethorpe around 1736, the ruins of old Frederica recall the struggle for empire in the Southeast in the 1700s. Spain and Great Britain both claimed the land between St Augustine and Charleston (two great places today!) but Spain’s power was waning in these parts while Great Britain was building a vast empire from Maine to Carolina. As a southern frontier buffer, Georgia was founded in the territory below Carolina. An experiment in idealism, Georgia became the promised land to the “worthy poor”, as prominent English citizens, among them James Oglethorpe, a soldier and politician concerned with the welfare of both the poor and the empire, petitioned the Crown for a land grant south of the Savannah River. A perfect example of one stone, two birds, this was a way to hold the Spanish in check and relieve social distress at home.
Oglethorpe was a man of great energy and vision. He founded and led the Georgia colony for its first decade and under his guidance the colony welcomed immigrants of diverse religious views and national origins, banned slavery and rum, and successfully resisted Spanish attack. In 1734 he sailed down the coast to find strategic points to fortify. He found one on a sea island just below the mouth of the Altamaha River on St Simons.
A military town named for Frederick, the king’s only son, was laid out on a bluff overlooking a sharp bend in the inland passage up the coast. First up was to build a fort; with a quadrangle rampart, four bastions, earthen walls, palisade and surrounded on three sides by a moat, Frederica was well protected. Inside sat 84 lots, most 60 by 90 feet. Each family received a building lot and 50 acres for crops. Residents included a blacksmith, wheelwright, baker, candlestick maker (yep the butcher too!), doctor and tavern keeper. By mid-1740s the population reached about 500 and prospered; growing crops was way easier than in the cold, rocky north and abundant wildlife kept meat on every table.

This site was a key find- the Tavernkeeper and Doctor’s homes shared a wall

Two units of troops defended Frederica; Oglethorpe’s own 42d Regiment of Foot and the Highland Independent Company stationed at a Scottish settlement, Darien on the Altamaha River and later at Fort St Simons on the island’s southern tip. Fortunately for the British, Oglethorpe successfully drove back the Spanish from Georgia. But a town born of war was not likely to thrive in peace and Oglethorpe’s regiment was disbanded in 1749. Without the several hundred soldiers’ money, the town could not prosper and by 1755 Frederica was a town without inhabitants, and streets overgrown with weeds. Having outlived its purpose and the final blow, a 1758 fire, Frederica fell into ruin.
We visited the Maritime Museum housed in an old Coast Guard station on the island’s ocean shore. The fog rolled in again, squashing any thought of venturing to the beach.

Georgia rarely gets a direct hurricane hit, but boy when they do!

Lovin’ these prices!

Our site at Coastal Georgia RV Resort

I’ll bet everyone has experienced this situation with their vehicle: something looks, feels or sounds wrong but when you have it checked out, it’s behaving like a little angel. The crew at Tidewater Hydraulic were great; here we just pull in and within minutes we are in a bay and the mechanic is underneath doing his detective work. No appointment and it wasn’t like they didn’t have other jobs in the works. Slides out and in several times. Jacks down. No leaking seen. Round two and still nothing. Finally after about an hour has passed the manager says that they don’t see any leak and they could replace the hose but why? The mechanic tightens the fitting a bit and the manager says “no charge.” We insist on paying something and settle on $50. I love the south. We’d driven both vehicles just in case Annie had to stay for a lengthy repair.
By this time it’s 11am and we head a few miles away to a Speedco (an ExpressLube for trucks and RVs). While waiting our turn Russ says that we should warm up the generator which promptly quits within seconds of firing up. Ou,ou I know why- the generator is designed not to run when the diesel level is below a quarter full and we probably were that after 500 miles since the last fill-up- only two days prior.
Ok then. We lose our turn, head next door to Love’s for diesel. Thank goodness the pumps are fast-fill and the trucks move up when they are done. The process is time-consuming because you have to go in to pay no matter by which method. Pumps don’t accept credit cards. If you want a receipt then you pull ahead to let the guy behind you move up and go back in. These truck fueling places, Love’s, FlyingJ, Pilot and others are pretty much all alike. They have parking for the truckers, showers, fast food and we RVer’s just have to manage around all that. Some places have RV lanes but we’ve yet to experience that. Many regular gas stations offer diesel and we can carefully fuel up if there’s enough maneuvering room; this is more likely to occur away from the northeast.
Back to Speedco and after only a 15 minute wait we are directed in.

I kill time by starting on this post.

Inside at Speedco where Annie gets fresh engine and genset oil

By 2pm we are done; just glad we didn’t go to Slowco! The process moved along, the only hitch was the generator’s oil drain plug was majorly stuck. Worse case was we’d have to drive off and buy a replacement plug if it was ruined during extraction.  Nearly every time we’ve stopped for fuel or during these maintenance stops today, Russ gets to engage in conversation with a trucker. The pieces of info are priceless and enlightening, and we are reassured by how friendly and courteous they are to us and each other- well, so far anyway- and on the roads too.

Hub cap gone AWOL

As soon as we returned to our site, Russ jumps out and says that the driver side hub cap fell off, he might have run over it and we have to go back and look for it! That piece need to be removed to check the tire pressure and must not have gotten back on properly. This should be fun- scouting the grassy road edges and median with 3 lanes of traffic whizzing by! Needless to say, that shiny disc remained elusive and I am in jeopardy of losing my “finder” title. Speedco told us to send them the bill after we purchased a replacement from a Freightliner dealer in Jacksonville on our way to St Augustine Monday.