2014-8 Savannah Georgia continued and Augusta Georgia/South Carolina

2014-8

Savannah Georgia… Continued
Augusta Georgia
South Carolina (just over the border)

Campground:  Modoc Campground, 3296 Modoc Camp Rd., Modoc, SC 29838, an Army Corp. Lake/reservoir site.  (one of 7 Corps campgrounds on the lake not counting State parks and County parks).  Senior Rate:  $11.00, regular rate $22.  Electric 30/50 amp, water, pull-thru sites available.  Note:  sites are not level, requiring quite a few blocks to raise tires up on one side.  Sites 20-43 appear to be much more level and are 50 amp service. Gorgeous water views.

Did you know that this web blog gets over 4,000 hits each month?  Thanks for stopping by and checking out my travel blog.  Hoping it encourages others to get out there and explore our countries back roads and hidden gems.  It’s easy to search the blog, just put in the name of a state in the search box and you’ll get all the reports I’ve posted about that state.

Savannah Continued: 

You probably figured it out already, I had more touring to do in Savannah.

Telfair Academy

On Monday, I decided to tour a few of Savannah’s top art museums.  The Telfair Museums.  It’s a three building complex, two of which are in historic homes.  One, The Owens-Thomas House is a historic house tour.  The second, the Telfair Academy is housed in the original mansion owned by the Telfair family.  I took a docent led tour, well worth the time spent.  The mansion with a large expanded addition contains mainly American and Impressionist paintings and a collection of statues, only a small percentage of which are currently on display.  At one time over 70 sculptures were on display in one of the large rooms and the docent had no idea where they were currently being stored.  A few of the original rooms in the mansion have been preserved and give a glimpse into the rich lifestyle of the wealthy land owners of the era.  Though the original owner didn’t want to spend money on bathrooms in the house so they were never included.  The mansion was only used a few months out of the year when all of the wealthy plantation owners would come into town during the high season.  The Telfair family became rich by using over 600 slaves on their plantations.  A display on the Jepson African American slaves is over at the Jepson Center.  Great tour and history of the family, the house and many of the paintings on display.

Jepson Center

most all galleries are on the third floor

very stark galleries behind closed doors

yes those are cheap plastic flowers hanging down

The contemporary Jepson Center with it’s large three story high windows and sweeping staircase looking out onto a public square contains modern exhibits and rotating traveling exhibits.  Note:  none of these museums permitted photography.  Except for a few Lichtenstein paintings which I really enjoyed and one painting done in his style, the Jepson center had substandard and poorly executed exhibits.  The galleries as well as all spaces in the museum were painted white.  Making for a very sterile viewing environment.  Most of the galleries had the windows shaded from the brutal Savannah sun, with all other open areas very light and airy.  An artist in residence was using lots of recycled materials and I’m not sure but if she had anything to do with placing cheap plastic flowers in, around and above the main three story entry, but it added nothing to the space and though it did bring color to an otherwise white backdrop, looked both cheap and plasticee.

downtown coffee shop, very popular place

older buildings being renovated

one of many ways to tour the city

Savannah Georgia

historic home tours, Savannah GA

Walking around the downtown area, with tourist map in hand, and I might add of little use, I found a wonderful local coffee shop as well as The Lady and Sons, Paula Deens restaurant.  Close enough to lunch time, I was able to get in without reservations.  The restaurant is on three floors and I took the elevator up to the third floor dining room.  A mix of African American and white hostesses, servers and clean up crew were all very attentive.  Apparently the brew ha ha over her “racist” remarks made years ago had no effect on her staff or the patrons eating at her restaurant.   I Probably should have ordered something special off of the menu, but did what most were doing and that was to do the buffet.  Fried chicken, baked chicken, and a beef main dish.  Lots of collard greens, black eyed bean, green beans, rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.  Really all basic fare and nothing very exceptional.  I started out with a basic make your own salad but topped it off with the thickest richest blue cheese dressing imaginable.  Dessert was included and I had a peach cobbler.  The ice tea and desert were heavily sweetened, too much for my taste anyway.  Cost $21.00

Distance Traveled:  147 miles South Carolina, over border from Augusta Georgia

Great to be traveling the back roads once again.  I took hwy 25 through northern Georgia and enjoyed a wonderful drive along 4 lane roads as they went over rolling hills, heading towards Augusta Georgia.  Actually going through Augusta and on into South Carolina to the Strom Thurmond lake created by the Army Corp of engineers.  A huge lake on the border of Georgia and South Carolina, it was created to control flooding along the Savannah River.  The dam is over a mile in length holding back all that water.

Like diamond encrusted jewels, the lake sparkles with the late afternoon sun. Sunlight dancing through the leaves and trees bordering the lake creates a glistening kaleidoscope of summers joy.  My chair and side table are set up overlooking the lake as I watch life happening on the lake.  Fishing boats slowly glide on by searching for the catch of the day. Some of the anglers stand in their drifting boats casting their lines in long arcs over the water.  Others let their lines drag behind their slow moving boats.  The occasional boater gets boarded and speeds across the lake, enjoying the sun and breeze created by the fast acceleration.  Minutes later, waves crash against the shoreline.

There’s not much to tour in this area, unless I go back into Augusta Georgia.  I’ll have to do some web searching for interesting things to see and do in town.  And I will more than likely spend much of the week enjoying the lake, catching up on my reading and maybe a little afternoon siesta if the mood strikes me.

Strom Thurmond Lake

MODOC Campground

While on the road I periodically have my mail sent general delivery to a post office nearby.  I’ll pick up my mail on Monday.  I also use Walgreens where I can go into any Walgreens across the country and get my prescriptions filled.  Much more convenient than using Wal-Mart.

RV Tips  

New Web site:  I recently learned of a new web site to help Rv-ers find “Public land”  campgrounds.  National Parks, COE, National Forests, State, County and Municipal campgrounds included.  The site is:  The Ultimate US Public Campgrounds Project.   You may need to do a second search on the (campgrounds name) using your web browser to get to the campgrounds website, but at least it lists the basic info and provides a good map showing the campground locations.  It appears to be very comprehensive.

Poo report:  As I mentioned in the last blog report, I started using Pine Sol in the black water holding tank.  It appears to be working quite well.  No poo smell billowing up when flushing the toilet.  I'm currently using one of their other designer fragrant Pine Sol's which doesn't have the strong pine scent of the original but does seem to be just as effective in controlling odors.  It is septic safe from what I can tell and contains no phosphates.

how's that for framing a pictures?

Till next time, have a great day.
more photos:  PICASA