Eastern Florida to Charleston, SC

After departing the beloved Everglades, we needed to see the source of all the water, the great Lake Okechobee.  Vast!!

North of the lake we stopped at the Kissimee River Prairie, a unique habitat that used to have Spanish cattle and wild horses running about.

Next Destination:  Kennedy Space Center.  Stayed at a campground on the jetty of the Port of Canavral, with cruise ships sailing past our RV!

Groovy!

Spent most of a day at Kennedy Space Center with special interest in the SpaceShuttle Atlantis exhibit whose building was designed by Jon Havlak and his architecture firm!

Standards are a little different in space!

Then back to nature at Wekiwa Springs, one of the very many 72 degree springs in Florida.  Fortunately, we hit this one on a sunny day and were able to canoe, sunbath, and go for a swim.

From underwater, one can see the deep crevasse from which the springs flow....about 15 feet down.  Four million gallons flow out of here a day.....enough to feed a significant sized river.....all crystal clear and beautiful!

Needed to see manatees one more time....at Blue Springs. This orphaned four year old female named Pixie is so friendly that she is resting on the steps of a swimming area in the river hoping for some human company. She has a float attached to her for monitoring.  You can see her two nostrils just under the water.

And then our history lessons begin with a trip to the old town of St. Augustine, started in the 1600's.  Here is Dixie at the old City gates.

And here is Dirk on the Castille of San Marcos, and old, old, old Spanish fortress.

Since it was cold and rainy in St. Augustine, we amused ourselves 

at the original Ripley's Odditorium.

Believe it.....or not!

A quick side trip to Okefenokee yielded this full moon over the cypress picture.  Missed the turkeys, white tailed deer, and prolific robins who reside there.

Our ranger boat trip helped us to appreciate these "gator tators!"  Pond weed roots.

This swamp is very different from Everglades, as it is floating beds of peat.  It was once filled with railroad lines on elevated tracks that pulled out all the cypress trees.

Hit Savannah, Georgia, for the Irish festival and learned some Irish dancing.  Were surprised that it worked out to spontaneously camp on the streets of the historic district for two nights.

En route to Charleston we stopped at Hilton Head.  Instead of elite white culture, we ran into a Gullah celebration and took a Gullah driving tour.  Gullahs are the ex slaves that came from Angola who lived isolated lives after liveration on the island of Hilton Head.  Here we are getting Jesus from the Zion Baptist Choir.

Apparently no trip to Charleston is complete without Shrimp and Grits.  And it was GOOD!

Charlston is all about fancy wrought iron.

And it is fancy!

and lovely.

Historic Charleston is incredibly opulent.  These 1700's homes line the waterfront.

The reason for the opulence.  Charleston was the center of slave importation and then trade in American slaves.  The wealth here was all from marketing plantation grown rice, indigo, and cotton grown with slave labor. 

The weatlh was enormous.  Charleston trailor trash lived in these "singlewides."  (one room wide homes)

Here is a double wide.

Had to scrape the dirt off our feet from being here----using this 200 year old boot scraper.

We will climb our carriage steps and ride on out of this town.  Next stop....Congaree National Park in South Carolina  (have you heard of it???