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| Georgia |
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| Georgia |
Our first official night spent on Summer Dreams was in the parking lot of Lamb's Marina. Lamb's Marina in Jacksonville, FL is where we are storing Day Dreams while we travel north then west in the RV. Bright & early, the morning of July 6 we turned the key on Summer Dreams, waved Good-bye to Day Dreams and got on the road. Remember, we are not used to being on a road with lines, lights, signs and traffic. I have become a terrible passenger, there is no brake on a boat but I wish the passenger seat of our RV had one. Doug & I fight over driving. The RV drives like a dream, I guess one should expect that from a Mercedes chassis.
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| our first campfire (wet wood) |
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| Armadillo hiding |
Our first stop was in Georgia at Mistletoe State Park, a lovely campground where we camped right on the shore of a pretty lake. It was very scenic and relatively quiet. We hiked and saw our first live Armadillo. Until now, we've only seen them as road kill while riding our bikes. The Armadillo was quick and hid under some leaves so I couldn't get his picture. We also had our first encounter with ants. Doug hung a clothes line between a nearby tree and the side mirror on the RV to dry our bath towels. The next morning, I started taking them down and before I touched a thing, it looked like the clothes line was moving. There was a full congo line of small ants from the tree, across the top of the clothes line, around the mirror and up the side of the RV. They were marching head to butt-I screamed like a girl and Doug came running. Luckily we were armed with spray which worked magically but we were afraid to spray the RV so Doug tried to hose them off but they liked the water and kept marching one by one across the RV. We began hand to hand combat and decided to take off and go buy some ant traps before they made their way inside the RV. We didn't see any other interesting wildlife but we did see our share of domestic animals: horses, goats and cows.
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| Some of Steve's art |
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| Steve & Amado |
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| The bros & soon to be bro-in-la |
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| Steve & Amado's cabin |
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| what a beautiful peaceful setting |
Doug's brother, Steven and his partner Amado have lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia for over 20 years and we've never been to visit until now. And boy are we glad we finally made it. The drive through the mountains and especially the stretch between Cleveland and Blairesville, GA on Route 129 was beautiful. There was a lot of twisting, turning, up and down through lush green trees, wild flowers and mountainous views.
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| Steve's art exhibit |
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| The Gartrell Gallery |
That was just the beginning of a truly wonderful, memorable visit. Being newbie's with the RV, we didn't feel comfortable driving it to Steve & Amado's cabin in the mountains, so we drove to the town of Blue Ridge and pulled into Steve's studio. Steven was there to greet us and gave us a quick peek of his studio, some of his wonderful original art pieces and then a partial tour of the town of Blue Ridge. The town was bustling with people and we saw some very unique shops and fun bars/restaurants. We were then treated to a relaxing evening at Steve & Amado's cabin in the woods. The landscaping, decks and view are awesome. The meal cooked by Steve and then the cake compliments of Amado were delicious, I ate till I was stuffed because it was too good to leave a crumb. The next day, we did a bit of sight seeing, lunched at the local marina and then toured the rest of the town of Blue Ridge. The Gartrell Gallery in town is displaying Steve's art. It is an impressive exhibit. We love hearing what inspires Steve and the research behind his work. He truly is a very talented artist.
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| One of Steve's Graphic designs |
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The artist giving us a full appreciation
of what goes into his work |
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| A very special reunion for me |
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| Love the Blue Ridge Mountains |
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| Wow, may I stay forever? |
One of my close High School buddies: Fro & his wife Jane have a vacation home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, so I let them know we were going to be in the area. Luckily for us, they were up for the weekend & we were able to visit their beautiful cabin. This cabin should be on the cover of Architectural Digest, it is amazing and so is their view. It was a treat to catch up and Jane made us a delicious breakfast. We hope we don't wait another 30 years to see each other again. High School friends need to be treasured and remembered.
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| Doug loved their sink in the half bath |
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A floating bed next to a Hot tub
think I've died & gone to heaven! |
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| Best view so far! |
We are off to a fantastic start, can't imagine anything topping off these visits, but stay tuned... a lot more beauty on the way!!
From Maumee Bay State Park we continued to head east along Lake Erie until we hit Catawba Island, Ohio. There we loaded Summer Dreams onto The Miller Ferry to Middle Bass Island. 
Our visit was non stop partying & fun on the island, lots of people to see and things to do. We started with a Tandem Crawl, hosted by some of the islanders, then a sunset Booze Cruise on the Miller Ferry. We golfed, boated, swam, biked, played games and laughed a lot! 
Nearing the end of the Reunion tour phase of our land based adventure, we headed a bit farther north into Michigan to visit Doug's brother David and his wife Susan at their lovely home & big yard. We were able to tour their huge Motor Home, which makes ours look like a doll house. We were even able to plug Summer Dreams in at their place. 
