The gator's that weren't

A cool day in Port Wentworth, GA, and our last full day this far north of latitude  for a long time.  FROG has had her tubes tied, finally (not THOSE tubes, her turbocharger tubes.  She’s a bus, not a breeder) and she’s ready to roll. Sadly, not at no additional cost.  The custom made part cost $812.00 or so.  But Dewayne, the General Manager of the shop did assume all of his considerable labor and the towing charge, so TY Dewayne for that!

Mona has beat me again at scrabble (nothing new there) but I am ahead this game! Prayers appreciated, if you think God cares which of us gets to go first in our next contest of vocabularial spellboundedness.

The temp got up into the mid fifties this afternoon so we headed 5 miles north into the Savannah Wildlife Preserve over the state line in South Carolina.  Terrance, the fisherperson of yesterday, had told Mona there might still be alligators not yet in hibernation there.

Unfortunately with the cold coming in today we saw nary a gator nor a tortoise.  But never mind, the fall colors which were present in the grasses and taller vegetation, and the streaks of blue in an otherwise gray sky made for some interesting photography.

And there were ducks…

…and herons everywhere.

And we got to see our current coach's home.  She’s parked just beyond those right-hand container cranes which lie on the far side of the Savannah River several miles beyond the marsh in the foreground.  ‘Straight over there’, as they say,

  

There was also a bit of history to discover. This preserve was built out of several antebellum rice plantations. There was even one natural hammock (island-like mound in the wetland) which had been a slave quarter.  All that remains of about 40 slaves existence here is the circular brick cistern where fresh water was stored and foods kept cool.

We drove north past Sun City to Port Royal where Devin and Sarah O’Rourke live. Sarah works for her father-in-laws custom kitchen design software company online from home and Devin is a Marine Military Policeman at the nearby Marine Air Base.

They took us to a BBQ restaurant called simply Q in downtown Beaufort. We had a great evening telling stories of retired life in a motor coach, Marine life for husbands and wives, and a couple of tales out of school on Devin’s dad.  Not too bad, Brian!!

Home by 10:00pm for blogging and a good nights sleep before driving south to Brunswick, Georgia.

Thar be forts down there, matey.

-Ken