East Coast Travels

After a month long layoff from traveling, we hit the road again on Friday, November 4th.  Our visit in NJ was a good one.  We spent much time with family and friends, and continued to adapt to our new life with two kittens and an adult cat!  Needless to say, it has been entertaining and exhausting.  Kittens are like toddlers!  They are non-stop energy, entertainment, and troublemakers.  Nevelle didn't like the new intruders at first, but mostly things are better now.

We traveled through Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, into North and South Carolina and Georgia, arriving in Florida yesterday afternoon.

The weather was perfect for a road trip, sunny, clear, and cool-ish fall temps.  Once we hit GA it really began to be noticeably warmer and here in FL it is perfect.  We are in Melbourne to attend the Native Rhythms Festival, a festival celebrating the Native American culture and music, mostly the Native American flute and hand drums.  More about this weekend in a few days!

Since we had a bit of a deadline, we didn't make too many stops along the way.  One stop we made was to The Tuskeegee Memorial in Walterboro, South Carolina.  This is a tribute to the Tuskeegee Airmen of World War II.  These enlisted men became America's first black military airmen.  The Tuskeegee Airmen began training in 1941 in Tuskeegee, Alabama.

Another stop was at Jekyll Island in South Carolina.  Our focus was on visiting the turtle rescue center there.  Having worked with Mass Audubon rescuing stranded sea turtles on Cape Cod for several years, we were anxious to see the turtle center as many of "our" turtles went here for rehab after we rescued them.  At the visitors center we discovered a lot more about the island and all there is to see and do.  We decided to put our visit there on hold until we can come back for a couple of days to do the island justice.

We did get some beautiful views of wetlands and marshes at the discovery center.  And a nice bridge over the to the island.

This trip down we camped one night at an RV resort in Maryland, near the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay bridge.  We had access to the bay and watched a beautiful sunset.  Other nights we found Cracker Barrel restaurants that allow RV'ers to stay overnight.  The app called All Stays is great for finding campsites, including free ones.  Definitely worth he $9.99!

Our most harrowing experience to-date was in North Carolina when we stopped at a gas station along I 95.  Nevelled bolted from the car and ran.  When we caught up to him, he went across 95, followed by us.  We survived, happily.  He ran into the vegetation along the highway where we finally caught him.  Aged a few years after that experience!  

The kittens are traveling in the trailer and doing well with this.  Nevelle rides in the car with us, and we now ensure his leash is clipped in before we exit the car.  When they're together in the trailer they are getting along for the most part.  This separation while traveling is proving to keep things calmer.

See you in a few days!