Faver-Dykes SP (Nov 24-30)

We are in, set up, and showered. We are hoping we can actually spend seven nites here and not get kicked out due to storms like last year. After dinner, we walked down to the boat and enjoyed a fantastic sunset.

Friday - About noon we launched the kayaks at the boat launch. We headed out towards the flats, and because the tides were coming in, we figured we would not have to paddle against the tide coming back. We saw a lot of baitfish action, where they were swimming here, there, and everywhere. John started things out with a redfish, that was about 13 inches long. Not big enough to keep, but still fun to catch. John won the numbers game, but Joan came up with a redfish of her own, which was about 15 inches. Still not big enough to keep, they need to be 18 inches, but she really had a good time landing it. It was very windy out there today, making it tricky to fish, but we still did quite well. In the evening we attended a program on owls that was put on by the Rangers here. It was quite good. The highlight was a live eastern screech owl that they had brought with them.

Saturday- We usually don't try to launch the kayaks on Saturdays, but we made an exception today, because we didn't think it would be too crowded on the water. We were correct, unfortunately the tides were not as good as yesterday, so the fishing was very slow. John did manage one inch trout, but that was it. It was rather windy again, which makes it hard to stay in position to fish.

Sunday - We attended a really special contemporary service at Palm Coast United Methodist Church. This was the first time that a guest speaker really impressed us. She talked about the fact that someone is always watching us. The folks there were very welcoming and friendly. The area is very nice and even has an upscale Walmart. It seemed as though every street was a boulevard, with low signs on precisely manicured lawns for all of the stores. When we got back to the campground, the sites that were nearly all filled when we left, were almost all vacant. 

Monday - Put kayaks in here. No tide, no fish. 

Tuesday - We drove over to Green Cove Springs which is halfway between us and our Trackrock friends, to meet them for pizza. We had a great time getting caught up with them, and the pizza was great too. After pizza, we walked down to a pretty little park that is on the St. Johns River.

Wednesday - According to our tide table, this morning would have a high tide, so the tide would be going out when we launched about 9:30. We planned on heading up creek (with paddles) and letting the tide move us back down, and fishing on the way. The wind was not supposed to be a factor until afternoon, but came early. As a result, we were not able to fish the way we wanted. Even though, Joan managed to catch a sheepshead, which is a species we have never caught before. Sadly, it was about 3"  too small to keep. John lost one fish, and that was all we were able to do. It was a disappointing outing again. We will be glad to get back to the west coast, and hopefully will have better success in places we know better. We will be back in our place tomorrow, with a lot of work ahead of us. 

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Skidaway Island State Park (Oct 17-23)

Thursday - We traveled the 185 miles here without incident. We got here about 1:30PM and were set up by about two. This is a nice place, very shady and quite a few people here. Georgia state parks are a little daunting, because you are not allowed to reserve a particular site. You have to come in and find an empty site. This can be tricky when you don't know the park. I think we did quite well, and were able to find a nice site.

Friday – After checking out the interpretive center, which was very nice, we checked out a place to launch the kayaks and place to pier fish. We might use the kayak launch, but probably not the pier. We then went into town to Bass Pro Shop. There were some fly tying materials that John wanted to pick up, and we just want to look around. We then did a Walmart run, took the food back to the motorhome, then went out for pizza at the Village Bar and Grill. The pizza was okay, but nothing to rave about.
Saturday - One of the main activities in this park is biking, so we decided to follow the trend and bike the local trails. We were glad we have mountain bikes with shock absorbers, because of the many roots on the trail. It was a nice 3.25 mile trail, with some interesting stops, including a lookout tower.

Sunday – Early, we went for a guided bird walk with one of the hosts here. It was a nice hike, but we didn't see anything new. We hiked in the salt marsh, and the tide was high, so there was water all around us. Later, we drove towards Tybee Island, and visited Fort Polaski. It was very interesting and quite impressive. The fort is located in the mouth of the Savannah River, so it was quite important during the civil war. When we returned here, we went on another hike because we thought we could get to the Savannah river and fish. However the water was low and we could not get all the way to the river due to the mud. 
Monday - We wanted to check out Fort McAlllister State Historic Park, so we drove over there with hopes of launching the kayaks and doing a little fishing. The campground looks very nice, and is similar to where we are currently. It was high tide when we got there, so we decided to go up the creek and let the outgoing tide push us back when we were done. We saw very little action and had no hits in two hours of fishing. Others that were fishing headed out into bigger water. We saw no one fishing where we were. Probably says something.

Tuesday - Rainy day today. 

Wednesday - Clear, dry, and cool. Wind gusts to 25mph, so no kayaking today. We found a good spot too. Fishing reported to be excellent. Instead, we hiked a very nice trail at Priest Landing that ran alongside the Wilmington River. 

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Petersburg COE (Oct 10-16)

Thursday - We had a good trip here and were all set up by 1:45 PM.

This is the view from our site (#44)

It is a beautiful day, but quite breezy. We will be here for one week.

Friday – We are able to put the kayaks in right here from our site. We did that today and fished for a couple of hours. We have never been very successful here, and this time was no different. We can't seem to find where the fish live. We have more days here this time than usual, so maybe we will figure it out before we leave. The weather continues to be just about perfect, with cool nights and warm days.

Saturday – We checked out Wildwood County Park and Mistletoe State Park. Both were very nice and would provide a backup place to stay if something should happen to Petersburg COE. We also made a Walmart run.

Sunday – We went to church with Barbara, I lady we met here three years ago. It was a very nice service, and then head dinner with her at her place. She fixed and excellent roast with all the fixings. We then had a nice conversation with her on her screened in porch that overlooks a nice yard with trees in the background. On the way back, we stopped at Spring Lake COE day use Park and fished for a while and talked to a Korean couple that were there. They caught one Pickerel but, we came up empty again. 

Monday -  awe had hopes of putting the kayaks in this morning, but again it was too windy. Instead we took our cane poles over to the fishing pier with small plastic worms to try there. Again nothing. We then went to a small pond where we have had some success before. Finally Joan caught a bass that was around keeper sized and John had one break off and lost another. We had no way to measure Joan's, so we returned it unharmed. 

Wednesday – The Wind finally quit long enough for us to get out and fish from the Kayaks. We went back to an area that John liked, however, the results were less than spectacular. Joan caught three bream and one small bass, while John came up empty. We certainly don't have this lake figured out. We are starting to get things packed up so we can leave in the morning.

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Sadlers Creek SP (Oct 4-9)

We had a very scenic, pleasant drive here and arrived about 1:30 PM. It was about 100 miles, and uneventful. We are here because of the closing of Twin Lakes Army Corps of Engineers Campground by our government. We have a very nice site, and can see Lake through the trees. The weather is supposed to deteriorate at the end of the weekend. We should be fine here, however.

Saturday - We had to go over to the office this morning, so we got out on the water a little late. The fishing was rather slow and it took almost until we were ready to quit before John finally caught a bass. They have to be 12 inches to keep, and this one was 11 3/4 inches long. How do they know? John talked to the supervisor at Twin Lakes and found out that they mistakenly put on their web sight that they were closed. She said they would try to get most of our money refunded, but John replied that it was their mistake and we should get a full refund. We later got an email that showed that we in fact got a full refund. Petersburg is open, so that will still be our next stop.

Sunday – This morning we went to church with our friends Tom and Jane. It was an excellent service especially a ladies trio that sang. Afterwords we went out to lunch with them and other friends to a Mexican restaurant. We also made plans to meet with them on Tuesday for a fishing outing. After making a Walmart stop we returned to a nearly empty campground. We went back over to the pavilion area and fished for awhile. We each caught a few bream and redeye bass. We then went back to the RV and watched the Bear's game that we had recorded earlier. Unfortunately the Bears couldn't pull this one out. Very heavy rain and some thunder game in the night, but thankfully nothing severe.

Monday – We had heavy rains in the night, but it turned out to be a very pleasant day. We went on an explore, and checked out a few recreation areas. We fished a few areas and caught some bream. 

Tuesday - We had our plans interrupted by high winds. We had made arrangements with Tom and Jane to go out fishing on their boat, but the high winds came up. We had a wonderful grilled pork tenderloin dinner with them at their place in the evening.

Wednesday - Still too windy to go out on the boat, so we met Tom and Jane at one if their favorite places, The Chicken Basket, and had an excellent lunch. The conversation was also excellent. We stopped at a boat launch on the way back and fished for awhile. John caught a nice hand-sized bream on a chartreuse wooly bugger. When we got back to our campsite , we got a few things ready to leave in the morning. 

Thursday - Moving day. 

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