published 21st of may 2022
After our trip to the city (Charleston) we were drawn to the lonely “steppe” or something like that the next day. I had found a list of the 50 best free campsites in the USA on the internet. In Georgia - which was the next state on our route - Barrington County Park (in Townsend) was listed on Harper Lake. The pictures looked super idyllic, but nobody mentioned the adventurous drive there. It was a sand track (with hard grooves formed by the wind?), the whole bus rattled when driving over it, my handlebars “jumped” up and down in my hands. To top it off, there were deep holes of loose sand every now and then. The chassis squeaked, creaked and squeaked when one side of the bus fought its way through one of the deep holes and threatened to tip over. But I bravely continued at a snail's pace, at least until I got stuck in one of the sand holes. In order to escape the bubbling and know-it-all behavior of the passenger - I don't want to name any names 😉 - I left the wheel to someone who knew and could do it better! And so shortly afterwards we actually saw a great natural place that in no way resembled a campsite or parking space. We were also almost alone although at least 50 other campers would have fit here. We parked under the scenic Live Oak Trees right on the river. Very beautiful! ... that there was no telephone or internet reception here, less so! But at least I got around to unpacking another envelope from Paddy, appropriately titled "Open when you're bored."
It included a letter with suggestions on how to get rid of boredom, but some of them - for example: writing or calling Paddy - were of little help in this case. But there was also a "Games Against Boredom" booklet in the cover to save me. With that and with an extensive photo session and cooking dinner, we had a nice afternoon and evening even without internet.
After a quiet night and another adventurous ride on the "dirt road" we went on paved roads to the 23 square km small island of Jekyll Island. After we strolled along the beach promenade, had lunch and shopped a bit, I really wanted to go to the beach... really with sand under my wheels. The sand mats that were laid out helped over the first few meters, then came the exciting part over the loose sand and then it was actually totally easy, the sand was wet and hard and I was able to zip along the beach on the Segway. These are the moments when I feel free and carefree!
Then we continued to Amelia Island. There the A1A (State Route) begins, which sometimes more or less with sea views, from Amelia to Key West runs close to the coast through Florida. We drove a tiny part of the A1A to Talbot Island that day. We found a super nice, free place to stay under a bridge, right on the water. We enjoyed the evening hours with a great view.
And in the morning the view provided a good start to the day.
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