After all the rains on Monday, Tuesday turned out to be a cloudy and overcast and misty day. Not a day for drying things out but the water level of the fields and roads went down some. Wednesday we were back to moderately heavy rains, off and on thru the night and day but easing off in the afternoon.
The good news is the tent floor stayed dry. I paid particular attention to rolling the tarp at the corner of the tent under. I had noticed the tent corners seemed wetter than the rest and I suppose that's a natural channel for water that doesn't drip off the edges of the rain fly.
The bad news is I got my first minor introduction to southern fire ants. I had on a pair of sandals and walked on a small anthill. I felt a burning on my bare instep. Looking down I saw a dozen or so of the little buggers running around on my foot and reached down and brushed them away. I was on my way to the shower and felt a burning in my hand and there were a couple more. When I got to the shower room I shook everything out as I took it off. The next day, I had tiny little pimple like infections on my instep and hand. I don't know if that's normal or if I'm allergic to the little critters.
Later that day I started hearing weather forecasts saying Christmas Eve would be in the 30's and Christmas night in the 20's. I was enjoying myself in Charleston but I don't want any more of those kinds of temperatures so I was outta there.
I wanted to hang out around Savannah, Georgia but they were forecasting pretty much the same thing, but a couple of degrees higher. I kept on going and stopped at Brunswick, GA. The forecasts are similar here too but hopefully a few degrees higher. The roads were pretty crowded so I'll stick it out here instead of becoming a holiday statistic.
Could it be possible the palm trees I was seeing in South Carolina and northern Georgia are not native? I see them in developed areas but not along long stretches of highways. Inquiring minds want to know. Am I having a fraud perpetuated on me and hot things don't grow in the south after all?
The night of the 23rd was another cold one in the 20's. The 24th I drove around looking for put ins that might look interesting. I can't find a Delorme's Atlas for Georgia and was reluctant to buy something else. I ended up buying a county map to help get around. I guess I really am pretty dependant on the boating (and other) information in DeLorme's. I felt as though I was in a foreign country without one.
I drove towards Jekyll Island. The drive out was along a peninsula with grassy bays at high tide on both sides. It seems there were lots of egrets on one side of the road and lots of blue herons on the other but they didn't seem to mix together at all. They wanted to charge a fee for actual access to the island so I turned around and left.
I worked my way down the coast, found a couple of unattractive put ins and ended up at Crooked Creek State Park, adjacent to Cumberland Island, part of the National Sea Shore System. I found the park boat ramp. Looking at a state map, it was a 5-7 mile run from where I was to Cumberland Island. Judging the tides, I would have to paddle against them both ways. I got to talking to one of the locals and he wanted to know how I was going to get back against the wind. And oh, by the way, there's some big 'gators out there on the island. Gulp!
Christmas Eve was another night in the 20's. A 15-20 knot wind greeted me in the morning. With the tides flowing in the wrong direction, temperatures in the low 50's with a strong wind blowing and the possibilities of alligators, I decided to skip Cumberland Island.
Instead, I headed for Okfenokee Swamp 60 miles away. And of course it was closed for Christmas day. I drove back through the entrance road anyway and came across a sign saying "Alligator Crossing Next 3 Miles". I've seen plenty of Deer and Moose Crossing signs but this was a new one to me. Maybe it was just as well the park was closed.
Christmas night was another 20 degree night. In the morning, I broke camp as quickly as possible with numb fingers and got the hell out of Georgia.