The time has come to head south for the winter in search of blue skies, warm breezes, and margaritas on the beach. And also maybe alligators and humidity and endless flocks of people, but as of right now we still feel like we’re getting a bargain (mind you, we haven’t actually met any alligators yet, so this may change).
On our way south we made a quick stop in Savannah, GA, where we discovered southern charm (read: judgment overlaid with politeness), beautiful moss-laden droopy oaks, and interesting accents.
All that is well and good, but let’s be honest — the real reason we went to Savannah was for the food.
Mmmm, southern cooking. There’s an eclectic little eatery called Mrs. Wilkes that serves lunch family-style. It’s grown so popular there’s a daily line around the block, but we were prepared and got there early… just in time to engage in some awkward conversation with the folks in front of us who, upon discovering our Californian origin, proceeded to make jokes about Nancy Pelosi and “teh gayz.” Uhm…. really? Do we look like the type of people who would find those remarks funny? We sort of half-grimaced and ended the conversation, but of course we ended up getting seated at a table with this group of six.
But enough about that; let’s talk about the food! Each table had at least two dozen different dishes: okra, fried chicken, rutabaga, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, lima beans, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, stuffing, meatloaf, seasoned cucumbers, cabbage… and most of it was delicious! Except the lima beans – what the hell are those things? We passed the dishes around and helped ourselves to tiny servings of everything, then noshed on it all while sipping tea sweetened with (at least) a pound of sugar.
Best. Meal. Ever.
(forgive the poor picture quality; this was taken in haste with Kali’s iPhone)
The rest of Savannah was fun, if uneventful. The RV Park we stayed at gave us a private little spot on an alligator-infested pond, which Koa repeatedly tried to jump into while chasing birds. Silly dog, gators like to eat puppies and small children for dinner, didn’t you know that?
After Savannah, our goal was to boondock for awhile. We had a little over a week before we had to be in Tampa for our service appointment, and we wanted to spend that week off the grid. Wellllll, everyone else and their ten distant cousins had the same idea. All the campgrounds and boondock sites and obscure random parking areas are flooded with Thanksigiving vacationers.
Not ones to give up, however, we finally found this random little camping area chock full of hunters just itching to go out and shoot some fowl. We were mildly reassured by the “no shooting in the campground” sign, but the incessant gunshots made us a little wary. The real kicker was the realization that pets weren’t allowed, so off we went into the night, searching for another home.
Thus we have found ourselves nomads for the week, sleeping in Wal-Mart parking lots by night and beach parking by day.
Ah, Florida…
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving!!
