HEADING SOUTH TO GEORGIA AND FLORIDA

Hello....this is John at the keyboard. 

I just wanted to take this opportunity to share a few thoughts with everyone. As you know, if you have been following my blog for any length of time, lots of things changed drastically last summer for me and Dexter after losing the love of our life three years ago.  When I say changed, I mean for the good change....lifestyle change....necessary change...life saving change.

While running around the country in my RV for three years looking for some since of direction, purpose and meaning, I met a lady through a mutual friend last year.  Her name is Cathryn McDevitt and she is a beautiful soul that hails from Kalispell, Montana. She is a retired educator and high school principal. It didn't take us long to realize we have much in common and we quickly became very close friends. Close enough to take this chance on building our relationship by spending a year together in my 5th wheel traveling around our beautiful country.  We have been on the road together, living in under 200 square feet,  for almost six months now. I must share that the past six months have been some of the happiest times I have enjoyed in a very long time.....all because of sharing them with Cathryn and her amazing Golden Retriever, Annie.  Dexter feels the same way too!

I am not trying to be mushy here but I think this is an important part of the story this blog is attempting to tell.  I don't want to write just about our travels but about our building a relationship while traveling in our golden years that will hopefully continue forward for many years to come.

Having shared this information with those of you who care, I will get back to sharing our travels with you also.  We both wish everyone a very Happy and safe New Year!  


Savannah, Georgia

After spending almost a month in the beautiful city of Charleston visiting with friends and enjoying true southern hospitality, we headed south a short distance to historic Savannah, Georgia.  The weather was not very good during our visit which resulted in some darker pictures than usual.

Savanna is a very unique small city that is overflowing with history.  The city was first established in 1733 by the English to be known as the 13th Colony and is known as America's first planned city.  The streets are laid out in a series of grids that allowed for wide open streets intertwined with shady public squares that were centers for public meetings and shopping.  Twenty two of the original twenty four squares till exist today.  The waterfront is very charming with cobblestone streets and small shops and eclectic eating places.

We had lunch at this famous family's restaurant.

St. Augustine, Florida

We really enjoyed visiting St. Augustine, Florida. This very crowded tourist destination is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement within the contiguous United States.  It was settled in 1565 by the Spanish and later occupied by the English.

Panama City, Florida

We headed west from St. Augustine and decided to settle down for a month or more at Tyndall AFB near Panama City, Florida.  The Air Force base has an RV park for active duty or retired military that we stayed at and it is located off the main base right on the water by the bay.  What I didn't know is that each and every day, starting at seven in the morning, we would wake to the sound of F-22 Raptors taking off and flying directly overhead.  Very loud!  They also fly F-15 and F-16 fighter jets in addition to older aircraft that have been converted to drones.  We hear and see lots of action daily here.

The best part of this area of Florida is the white, fine-powdered sand of the beaches, which are considered the best of the top 100 in the world.  The "sand" is actually made up of quartz crystals that flushed down through the rivers and streams of the Appalachian Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico during the last ice Age, nearly 20,000 years ago.  The crystals actually squeak when walked on and do not get hot.  Cool!

Panama Beach

Mexico Beach

We had lunch at Toucan's on Mexico Beach

Our camp site

Great little town where 80% of Florida's oysters are harvested!

Oyster's Rockefeller.  Ummmmm good!!

Cathryn had Fried Grouper....very good.

We made our own Charleston style Shrimp & Grits.  Super!!

F-22 Raptor directly overhead

F-22 Raptor in flight....beautiful!

Well, that is about all there is to share.  We certainly enjoyed many other times here in Panama Beach but there isn't enough room to share all things.  We hope you have enjoyed traveling with us again and hope to share more with you as we move into Louisiana and Texas for awhile in the coming months.  The weather this year has been very different and makes it a little difficult to just go as I like to do.  We are being very careful and watching the forecast continuously.

Until next time.....Happy Trails!!

             John, Cathryn, Annie and Dexter