Rolling Hills 2 (the Sequel) is soon to be online.

Day 120

All good things come to an end, but what about great ones?

Our journey has far exceeded our wildest dreams and hopes about what we would see and do.

Forget the exotic trips abroad, travel this country and see the world!

We have driven over 16000 miles, visited 26 states and three provinces in Canada, met some fascinating people, made some wonderful friends, and seen the most stunning wildlife and scenery imaginable.

We have been educated far more than we could have thought possible, and fallen in love with Alaska.

We drove the last 400 miles back to Houston today, and got pulled over by the police, the first time in four months, back in Texas! I was told that I was stopping too close to other vehicles when I pulled up at stop lights. How far away am I supposed to be, we wondered? Anyway, no ticket, just a friendly chat, so we survived to complete our journey.

We had an uneventful trip back, along the rest of highway 82, then south on 59 in Texas.

It was interesting to see how many little mom and pop RV places there are, scattered along the roadside like so much confetti. Pretty full as well, most of them.

We did see a herd of buffalo (bison) in Arkansas, if you can believe it.

We hope you all enjoyed our travel log as much as we did writing it, and also that some of you get the travel bug!

America really is a big, gorgeous, exciting, fun packed, country.

The End.

Day 119

Despite going to bed late-ish, we did get a reasonably early start, on the road by 8 of the clock.

Then the Kudzu started.

It seems that the whole of this part of the country is infested with this stuff.

For the uninitiated, Kudzu is a prolific weed, which takes over everything. It covers trees, houses, bushes, cars, anything.

It was introduced to the country in 1876, farmers were told to plant it to prevent soil erosion, became a gardener’s pet sort of plant, and of course then took over. In the mid fifties it was declared an illegal immigrant, but by then it was too late. This stuff grows at a rate of about one foot per day, and although it is technically a vine member of the pea family, it has multiple stems, some 6 inches thick, from each root system, and is bloody difficult to get rid of. Miles and miles of both sides of the roadways are covered with it, big green leaves smothering everything.

If you get no daily report tomorrow, look under the kudzu, we may have been got in the middle of the night!!

We traveled nearly 600 miles today, through Georgia, all across Alabama, all across Mississippi, and into Arkansas. We stayed on highway 82 the whole way, and we were very impressed with the quality of the road, especially in Mississippi. We expected a relatively poor State to have badly maintained back roads, but this road is as good as some, and better than most freeways we have been on. Compliments to the Mississippi highway department.

We saw some beautiful old southern towns, with magnificent mansions, with two story columns, and acres and acres of land.

We saw some really skuzzy towns as well!!

We have passed miles and miles of cotton fields, as well as lots of rice paddies.

Tomorrow, sadly, will be our last day on the road for a few months.

Wildlife watch today was a deer, some cows and horses, pretty boring really, but a change from mooses, Karen!!

Day 118

Baked bugs.

That’s what we had today.

Thousands of them, squished all over the windshield, and baked by the relentless, unyielding, burning sun.

350 miles and fifty bugs for every mile!

In case you hadn’t guessed, it is love bug season in Georgia, and we have had every single one in the state splattered on the windshield, mirrors and all across the front of the Magic Bus.

Yes, finally a new name for the coach, one that is fitting coz it’s been a magic trip. Many apologies to The Who.

We enjoyed the campsite in Charleston, very clean and quiet, and left 30 minutes past our checkout time, being the rebels we are.

The sad news is that our odyssey is nearing an inevitable break, and we are heading back to the three H’s.

Hot, Humid, Houston.

We have small details to attend to, like earning some money for next year’s adventures, and major and minor maintenance to the Magic Bus.

It might be magic, but it is not miraculous, and won’t go on forever.

So, we headed west on highway 82, which for those geographic buffs, runs parallel to Interstate 10, but lots of miles further norther.

The road is four lanes, has very little traffic, and winds through some very pretty countryside. All the verges for miles and miles were freshly mowed, and well maintained. They must have known that The Hill Royalty was on the way!!

Every little town has its reduced speed limits, hoping to catch unwary travelers.

The signs right by the speed limits read “Speed checked by detection devices”

We wondered what else they could use to check speed, other than detection devices.

All answers on a post card to…………

Anyway, a very relaxing day.

We had a discussion on the pronunciation of one town name.

It was Ty Ty. How would you pronounce it?

As you can imagine, my guess was different from Marlipops, and wrong.

We stopped for the night 6 miles south of the town of Albany, Georgia, and hope to be on the road early.

Wildlife watch today was twenty million squished insects.

Day 116

We got wet!!

We had a thunderstorm!!

How dare they!!

It was a toss up whether to go to Charleston or Magnolia Plantation first, and the plantation won.

Magnolia Plantation was built originally in 1676 by the Drayton family, and is believed to be the only plantation in the state to be under the same family ownership as when it was first built.

The plantation house was burned to the ground by the Union Army in the Civil War, and the present house was built around 1870.

So we paid our entrance fee, parked the peril, and started our walking tour of the gardens. We saw our first alligator since Florida all those years ago, and then decided to go around the maze.

Halfway round, the heavens opened and a big old thunderstorm soaked us, coz we were lost!

After twenty minutes under a tree, very sensible in a thunderstorm, we ran, yes ran, to the plantation house and sheltered on the humungous wrap around porch/balcony.

The rain finally relented and we continued our tour.

The place is well laid out, but unfortunately there were not a lot of shrubs or bushes in bloom, so it was a sea of greens. Still, pleasant all the same.

The plantation house, is typical of the time, big doors, porches and lots of white painted columns.

There were also the original slave quarters still standing, but the rain started again so we left.

We drove to Charleston, which is a wonderful old city. The old historical downtown has a wonderful walkway market, a single story brick building with lots of openings, filled with iron grills and bars. These date back to the 1840’s when the building was built originally to hold and sell slaves as they came off the boats in Charleston Harbor.

There were quite a few women weaving and selling baskets, out of sweetgrass. These women were from the Gullah people, a group of Black Americans who live in South Carolina and Georgia, and who have managed to maintain their African heritage more than other black descendants. The Gullah speak a version of Sierra Leone Creole. The original slaves were brought in to tend the rice fields of the area, since the white plantation owners knew rice would grow in the moist conditions, but didn’t have a clue how to grow it!!

Charleston also boasts Fort Sumter, a military outpost on an island in the bay, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861.

We had a very enjoyable lunch/tea at an Irish type pub, and the draught Boddingtons went down without touching the sides!!

As we sat outside, we watched life go by, consisting mainly of bike taxis and horse and mule drawn carriages. All very slow and sedate.

It was hot and very humid after all the rain.

After our walk around the historic area, which does have some fabulous old buildings, we drove out of town, and over the east side of the bay on the magnificent Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, which is virtually identical to the Sunshine Skyway bridge of Tampa Bay. The bridge was named after a state legislator, who happened to be big in real estate and general contracting, and whose son was indicted for allegedly buying and distributing cocaine.

We took some pix of the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, but did not take the tour.

We got back early to the coach, as we want to make an early start tomorrow for another destination.

A very enjoyable day, despite the rain.

Wildlife watch today was a alligator, gooses, rooster, guinea fowl, and some peacocks.

Day 115

After a wonderful break at Karen and Larry’s place, we had to leave and move on to pastures new.

Thank you both very much for your crashing hospitality!! You too, Sally.

We left Clemmons and took back roads all the way south in North Carolina, and wiggled our way into South Carolina, east of Charlotte, without going on any freeways.

We passed miles and miles of cotton fields, white as snow in places, but we are not sure of the harvesting time, so we don’t know how ready the cotton was.

We also saw yet another rainbow, this one came from nowhere.

We were going to spend the night at a rest stop, near Charleston, but there are signs posted everywhere forbidding, under pain of death or something, any overnight camping, so we trogged on, past Charleston, and Marlipops did it again!!

She found a perfect campsite, 12 miles away from the big city of Charleston, and we have full hook ups for very cheap, and we are in some secluded woods, facing a lake, and with no neighbors.

Brill!!

We intend to stay for at least 3 nights, coz we want to investigate both Charleston and Savannah, Georgia, which is not a million miles away.

Wildlife watch today was nothing except the red cardinals in Karen’s backyard, and the dog.

Day 114

Another really laid back day, having a holiday from our vacation!

It started with a bang,……..and I promised to say no more about that!!!!

10 minutes after Larry left for school this morning, he called to let us know the bank he was at was being robbed!!

We later found out that a blue bath-robed robber got away with lots money, and Larry was almost in the thick of things. He was lucky not to get arrested as an accomplice, since he was dressed for his school, in his chef’s uniform! Luckily, he was not detained, and off to school he went.

We decided to go to Old Town Salem, which dates back to the late 1700’s. This place is touristy, but in a very well done manner. All the buildings are as they were originally, there are no gaudy signs or billboards or glitzy gift shops.

The town has a lot of residential properties, and the owners are not allowed to have any modern day items in the yards. So things like kids toys and barbecue grills are not allowed, and if they have vegetable gardens, they are required to grow only what was around when the place was first built.

So, lots of red brick and timber buildings, all with copper downspouts, red brick sidewalks and lots of shady trees. There were few people about, so, a thoroughly enjoyable morning, followed by a nice lunch, served by wait staff in period costume.

This evening, we went over to brother in law Larry’s culinary school. The class he attends for chef school had an evaluation evening, for food and beverage service, where first semester students waited on guests, and the whole menu was prepared by second semester students. We were charged the ridiculously inexpensive price of $ 7.50 each, for the three course meal. The food was excellently prepared and served, and the menu was very varied.

A very enjoyable evening.

Wildlife watch was a pigeon and a frog that Larry squished.