Alabama & Georgia, On The Edge

 Coming up out of Florida, our trajectory took us through Alabama and into Georgia again. We had a watchful eye on the Polar Vortex that was about to consume over half the country, and we lucked out that our travel day was clear, and our destination remained just on the edge of the dangerousness. Our Alabama stop this time was Gunter Hill COE, a place more than one of our friends has raved about but that we, oddly, found on our own when route planning and then ran into their reviews afterwards. 

 he full hook-up sites are huge — we paced one off that topped 50 yards! — and well-spaced. There were two camp loops, with one seasonally closed. There were restrooms, showers, and laundry facilities. What there wasn’t was any great hiking either in or nearby. Though the campground is situated on the edge of the Alabama River, it was too cold for us to consider kayaking. The dearth of activities was mostly okay with us. 

 

I set up my bird feeding station, which I haven’t done for awhile, and it didn’t take long for hungry birdies to show up. As always, the squirrels invited themselves to dinner, too.

TBG made another toilet repair, this time indoors and again with success (whew!) and we alternately walked, ran, and biked the ~4 miles of camp roads on a daily basis, sometimes twice. While all of that kept us occupied, it didn’t make for much blog fodder.

 

 Waving so long to Alabama, we headed into Georgia again, settling at Petersburg COE north of Augusta, another large park with a little more to offer.

 The above photos feature the morning view from our site on the edge of the lake and looking back across the water at our site in the afternoon. Not all of the camp loops were open, again making things very peaceful overall. While there are restroom/shower houses in all the loops (all open even if the loop wasn’t) we were pleased to be near the one that had the best shower and the park’s only laundry facility. Wouldn’t you know that laundry was free right now, and I didn’t need to do any! Observing the resident wildlife also incurred no extra charge.

 

 

A nice-sized gator held sway over the pond, and a couple beavers were busy ferrying wood products about the lake. There was also no shortage of birds with Canada geese, pie-billed grebes, loons, and great blue herons occupying the lake, and tufted titmice, cardinals, woodpeckers, and finches only a portion of the ones flitting amid the trees.

One of the features of this campground that drew TBG to it was that the 35+ mile Bartram Trail intersected it. We hiked three different ~6 mile sections of it during our stay.

 On our first hike, we stopped short when we heard a telltale rattling. Swiveling our eyes only, we spotted a black snake gulping a froggie lunch. It was shaking the tip of its tail in the dry leaves to create the warning sound of a rattle. Silly snake, though, because if it had not been trying to warn us, we never would have seen it. 

 On the edge of springtime, it’s not the most visually appealing time of year in these parts with all the trees bare, but weather- and bug-wise, it was a big hit. 

 TBG made a nice color-coded map showing all our outings including the ~4-mile campground “hike” we did on non-trail days. 

Coming up, we’re altering our plans just a tad to play the weather a bit better. I was a little ambitious with my route-planning and had us moving north more quickly than the spring season, so we nixed two of our four North Carolina stays. We’re keeping our next journey into South Carolina for a short stop at a National Park, but rather than continue right away into eastern North Carolina as originally planned, we’re coming back here to Petersburg and then another adjacent park before heading into western North Carolina. That should give us plenty of time to knock out a bunch more sections of the Bartram Trail, stay warm, and finish some business we started in the Augusta area. Are you on the edges of your seats?
 

**********COMMENTS**********

 

Julia Great pictures! I hope we will see you on the road sometime.

Chasing Dirt Thank you! It would be great to meet you out here on the road someday!

 Sue Most folks blogs aren’t “edge of the seat” exciting these days….but wonderful to read nonetheless. It’s calming to see that life goes on and that we’re all still enjoying living life even if it isn’t truly exciting. Flexibility is the key – bad weather is no fun when your house is only 300 square feet of poorly insulated living space. Sounds like you’ve found the best way to let the weather be your guide. It’s the name of the game sometimes!

Chasing Dirt It’s true. While we’re not really bored ourselves, our recent activities are either short in duration or same-old or both. We’ve definitely hit a few cold pockets so far, which are tolerable if they’re precip-free. With northern WI being our ultimate goal, heading up the east side in spring makes me wonder if it will be a long while before we’re truly warm for an extended period of time.

 chapter3travels OMG… you’ll never believe what Kevin did today! Replaced our toilet! SO fun – especially when I’m not the one who gets stuck doing that kind of work. Yikes. What’s with everyone’s toilet problems recently???

Anywho, glad you enjoyed Gunter Hill. Those FHU sites just blow me away. Like -who decided each site needed to be 50 yards long and surrounded by trees, and why can’t that guy design every other RV park??

You were fortunate to avoid the terrible weather and I hope your changed plans help you stay in a warm zone for the next several weeks. Spring is fickle over there and will break your heart again and again. Here’s to staying where it’s comfortable!

Chasing Dirt I’m with you in the So Glad It Ain’t Me Club, especially after listening to TBG recount his toilet repair tale to a friend yesterday. Yuck.

Gunter was definitely roomy, but a couple of the turns in made us wonder if a rig that could use a 50-yard long site could get in the entrance area. Then again, they’re mostly for boaters, but still.

We’re looking forward to a little spring warmth before we head into more spring cool, though it will probably mean more snakes, and you know how much they like us!

Laurel Two more beautiful COE parks! You’re right that late winter isn’t the most lush time to travel in the northern part of the southeast, but it is generally bug free! And that is a BIG bonus. We’re trying to get all of our major yard work done here before the bugs and the snakes decide to come out. So far, so good…thanks for finding and killing that tick before you left! We haven’t yet seen another so you sent a good warning, LOL.

I’m glad you were able to mostly avoid the Polar Vortex. I hope spring will be glorious for you soon…springtime in the south is pretty sweet when the dogwood and redbud and wildflowers appear in profusion.

Chasing Dirt I can’t complain — well, I could, but I won’t — about the bug-free environment. The one day it neared 80 and was a bit humid was already too much. I’m so spoiled! No problem on the tick, nasty little killers!! This is another reason you need chickens.

I am looking forward to some wildflowers, and we seem to be migrating with the birds, which is always a delight. If only they’d sit still and let me get their pictures, I could prove it!

 Shannon I think you made the right call on delaying your entry into the mountains. We visited the Smokies in early April a few years ago and were treated to snow/sleet and fairly cold temps. Plus, we were a tad too early to see the spring blooms. Here’s hoping your change of plans puts you right in the sweet spot.

I was a little confused about your location when you mentioned the Bartram Trail. You see, we hiked a Bartram Trail in Tuskegee National Forest in Alabama. Turns out that Bartram fellow really got around. Pretty impressive for an 18th century dude!

Chasing Dirt The birds we seem to be migrating with agree! The bareness of the landscape isn’t the best, but you’re right — snow and ice would be an absolute nightmare. We’re still hitting some chilly temps, but as long as things stay relatively clear, we should be able to maintain a happy outlook. Probably. Ha! Spring blooms would definitely frost that cake, though.

Yeah, that Bartram fellow was quite the wanderer, huh? Folks like him keep me in check when I want to complain about a twig scratch or a bug bite. I still will, though, but I bet he didn’t!

 Lowe's Travels We liked Gunter Hill so much that we camped there twice on our way north and south. That was our first COE where the sites are so long and wide and FHU that we thought all COE would be like that. In a way you are also right in heading up north fast, because we had our nastiest and scariest spring storm in Alabama in April, which you might still get while you are in SC/GA/NC area. If you like check out our 2014 route since we were in that area that year. You will not be disappointed with the hiking trails in the Blue Ridge Mountains area if you pass through there. Also Congaree NP in South Carolina could be under water when you get there with all the rain this winter, it was when we were there in November. But still worth a visit!

Chasing Dirt Even though all COEs don’t measure up to Gunter, we still find almost all of them to be really great places to park it. I know we’re in for possible (probable?) tumultuous spring weather. Believe me, this is NOT our first choice of seasons to be making our eastern voyage. Your blog is my first go-to when researching and planning, then again when preparing to travel  We're not hitting any of the other bigger NPs (i.e. Shenandoah & Smoky) but we'll still be in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and you bet yer butt we're hoping to get our boots dirty! Our day in Congaree is coming up in the next post!

 Sharron @onlytherocks Nice photos as usual. I’ll taken barren trees and vegetation any day over hot, humid, buggy days of summer. We have vacationed a couple time in NC pre RV life and always enjoyed our time in the mountains there. It’s a pretty state I think. We are looking forward to spring too. It’s been extra rainy here in the PNW this year. But it’s what makes everything so green and lush too. Definitely trade offs for sure. But I think the PNW must be in my blood somewhere.
Looking forward to reading about your eastern travels. So pretty ver there too just a long way from the west coast. We are debating about heading to that side in 2022. We’ll just have to see what life throws at us this year. Our “new” toad just isn’t the Honda and we are having a few issues we are still working out. But it wouldn’t be RV life without them right!?
We replaced our toilet a couple years ago too. The flapper  broke and decided to just replace the whole thing instead of just that part. Just figured what piece of plastic might be braking next.
Are you staying inland or going to do a coastal eastern tour?

Chasing Dirt Yes! If given the choice, we’ll opt for no bugs and humidity, too. We’re looking forward to exploring NC a bit as a possible future homestead. We know it gets humid & buggy there, so who knows where we’ll ever end up? At least we have a long while before deciding!
Sorry to hear you’re having toad troubles. It’s always something!!
We’ll be staying inland as we travel since our only coastal stop got scrubbed in the last re-route. We really wanted to hit the coast, but life had other plans as it so often does.