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Sunday 7 November Charleston Weather: Mild, cloudless day Today's bird: House finch Mouse or mice very active during night, in the morning we find that they have been into our cereals and sorted them out into their own caches; also a portion of the bait had been tucked under the driver's side carpet. Sunrise over misty lake with many birds, finches, woodpecker, doves about the old barn. Drive down the pine and evergreen oak lined I-26 into The Lowcountry and to Charleston where we manage the interchange and drive through Spanish moss-draped live oaks to The Campground at James Island County Park (installations well under way for the Holiday Festival of Lights ). Set up on in flat grassy area with a border of palms, shrubs and low trees; many birds, esp. warblers, vultures thermaling overhead. Huge military transports using the local AFB. Take the bikes along the bike trails through pruned live oak around the lakes and by the extensive salt marsh and river. After lunch, ride into the shopping zone for interim supplies. No footpaths here, let alone bike trails, and as the traffic is three lanes wide we return promptly. Internet session, then BBQ under cool, clear sky; Jupiter still dominant. Discussion of Cold Mountain on NPR. Set some traps with almond bait before bed. Monday 8 November Charleston Weather: Mild, cloudless day Today's bird: American oystercatcher Two dead mice this morning. Took the campground's shuttle bus Downtown, walked through the markets, around Waterfront Park then through the historic district to the City Marina. The land is flat and the rivers wide and muddy; oysters grow on the seawalls and piles, rusty blackbirds, grackles, egrets and herons are in the salt marsh that borders the rivers and the ocean; gulls, pelican, sandpipers and oystercatchers out to sea. Dolphins cruise the placid Atlantic. We took the cruise/tour to Fort Sumter (where the first action of the Civil War resulted in a small Union force surrendering without loss of life). It was constructed on an artificial island as a consequence of the 1812 war with England; destroyed by Union forces during the Civil War, rebuilt for the Spanish-American War in 1898, modernised for WWII and eventually became a National Monument in 1948. Lunch on the ferry (Bud and hotdog (G), cornchips (S)). Return and walk back through the historic area again, via White Point Gardens, with avenues of live oak, and Church St. with its single house _style_ architecture. Back at camp we find that the light installations are being tested; when dark we cycle around the roads and paths for private showing! Tuesday 9 November Savannah Weather: Mild, virtually cloudless day Today's bird: Macaw (J ) Drive south on US 17 through the outskirts of Charleston, then as two lane through tall pine with occasional marsh and river; eventually meet the I-95 and into Georgia. No problem finding Biltmore Gardens, just a bit nonplussed at the decrepitude here and in the neighborhood. Set up on a concrete pad under an evergreen oak tree. Gray squirrels about. I go to find the bus ti_meta_ble, one of the women here asks me if there is a problem - I am walking so fast. I ask three times about the bus - first they cannot understand what I am saying, and then they only know that there is a bus. We decide to wait and watch. Lunch, then catch the CAT into town. Visit the Savannah History Museum in the old locomotive sheds. Walk down to river past some big launches and paddle steamers and by the refurbished waterfront buildings along Factor's Walk. We then ramble through the Historic Center past the 1800s buildings of a functioning city (but things are very quiet on the downtown sidewalks) and through the squares with their live oaks and neighbouring residences. Back at the river, we have a Guinness outside (so plastic cups) while opposite a guy tries to interest tourists in his three parrots. Tug and container-laden barge goes downstream. Bus back at sunset; only a few commuters. Wednesday 10 November Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Weather: Warm, sunny day with some cloud build up mid-afternoon Today's bird: Great egret Acorns dropped on van all night. Drove a short distance down the US 17 past numerous dead raccoon and a dead armadillo to the I-95. The Interstate takes us over flat terrain through the now the usual corridor of trees - mostly tall pine, with evergreen oak and some patches of red and brown. Dead dogs, raccoon and a deer by the road. Many vacationers from the north now on the road, also many logging trucks with loads of long slash pine. Crossed several marsh-lined rivers and an area of swamp. Turned off at Brunswick and drove through commercial pine forests to Waycross, where we took on supplies from Wal-Mart (charged us twice for the same carton of beer (L ). Then looped around through extensive forestry to the Stephen C. Foster State Park (on the Suwannee River of course!), right in the centre of the swamp. The campground is on a pine island with tall pines and shrubby understory with dwarf palmetto and cane. Red fox at the entrance, white-tailed deer about the Visitor Center, gray squirrels active around the campsite and a large golden-silk spider in her web by our path. After a late lunch we walked around the nature trail, mostly regrowth following logging of the baldcypress. Very few visitors or campers. We are in bear country, and, while they are reputed to be very shy, there is a smallish black turd containing many berry seeds on the edge of our campsite (raccoon?). Sitting outside after sunset in our shorts for the first time for months, we enjoy some oysters with our sundowners, listen to the insect sounds from the bush and remark on the nearby persistent chomping sound. Turns out that the noise is coming from inside the large dead pine with sawdust around its _base_ that is next to our van - paying close attention we can hear the bark splitting in several places up the trunk; I decide to move to another site in the morning. Cook salmon for supper then pack the BBQ away. Thursday 11 November, Lest we forget Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Weather: Warm, sunny day with little cloud or wind Today's bird: Great horned owl Rented a canoe for the day and paddled about 20-mile on narrow lakes of tannin-coloured water bordered with baldcypress. These outlandish trees rise from the water on a buttress and the tall trunks are capped with russet brown leaves deployed on horizontal branches that are be-decked with pale grey/green Spanish moss. The area has been logged so we presume that these are relatively young trees. We see one tree with a fairly thick trunk that almost matches the buttress, so we have some idea of the potential. The landscape is weird enough for us and we pass these trees lining the banks, through extensive stands of them and bump into them in the narrow connecting channels. Short walk through pines on Billy's Island; originally an Indian settlement (Billy Bowlegs) (two old mounds from earlier times are still visible), it was then a homestead before becoming a large logging camp (plan shows former building sites; whites' quarters, blacks' quarters and so on). It has been a reserve since the 1930s, and trees are reclaiming the island. A couple of palmettos on the island - bear turd with many palm seeds nearby, being demolished by dung beetles. Plenty of wildlife today - deer, river otter, painted turtle and many small to tiny American alligator, and abundant birds - flocks of white ibis, flocks of egret, great blue heron (including a pair who briefly challenged an alligator), little blue heron, wood stork, darter, kingfisher, coot, grebe, flycatcher, chickadee, warbler, vulture, owl, red-shouldered hawk, catbird and thrush. Evening chorus of owls as I light the barby, then a raccoon invited itself to the table (to be impolitely told to leave). Friday 12 November St. Augustine, FL Weather: Mild day, mist at first, lifted to low cloud; windy on coast Today's bird: Canary-winged parakeet Two green treefrogs in the washroom this morning. Drove back out of park through mist. At Fargo we stop for fuel; the pickups have cages for/with dogs on the back, one has a shooting seat, the men wear tattered orange squares over their flannelette shirts. Then to the I-10 and the Interstate system to St. Augustine. Mostly pine forest, some cleared land with cattle. Terrain is flat, only hills are bridges and there are two big ones over St Johns River and the Intracoastal Waterway. Wide loads on highway, previously earth-moving equipment and pre-built houses, now include motor boats. Arrive at nearly full St. Augustine Beach KOA Kampground Resort and set up on exposed site next to an end of then narrow Turtle Pond (turtles, mallard, grebe, coot and darter). After lunch, take bikes along bike trail past section of littoral forest to beach and county pier (50 cents each to look). Very windy, waves dashing against battered sea wall (gulls, pelicans, and plovers). State Park beach is being restored. Cycle south (parrots!) past motels and apartments, looking a bit rundown in the grey gritty light, along street lined with closely pruned palm trees, to public access Crescent Beach and cycle along firm sand (tide out a fair way). Great with wind behind us, past a few cars and pickups, past plovers, terns, sandpipers and sanderlings. Bit of a grunt coming back against the wind. Trip took just over an hour. Saturday 13 November St. Augustine Weather: Mild day, cloud lifting briefly in afternoon, with moderate wind Today's bird: White peacock Took shuttle bus into the town, founded by the Spanish in 1565, but burnt in 1702. Rambled through narrow streets (private houses and lodgings), past flamboyant Spanish Renaissance Revival hotels built in the late nineteenth century, and visited two city museums. Along Matanzas Bay, we visited the site of the first Mass and the private museum enclosing the Fountain of Youth with the
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Scott
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