RV Folly Adventure Freedom Ride

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Halleluiah, Sandra and I finally set sail south on November 8th from Pinehurst, NC. We headed out on US 1 at about 12:30 pm after
running errands to the post office, bank, grocery store and, of course…lol…the gas station! The weather was beautiful and even
good ol’ Folly, our 1974 Travco 270 Mahal 2+2, seemed to perk up after several years of short trips and solitary storage. We all feel
alive again. Why, you ask?

Well, for starters, along the trail of life I was diagnosed with two chronic active liver diseases in 1991 and was told by the doctors I
may have only 6 months to 2 ½ years to live. Ha! What do they know…lol. Instead, I was blessed to become Mr. Mom to our lovely
daughter Cassie for many of my continuing “bonus” years. Cassie, at 16, had almost five hours of extensive knee surgery in late
2002 with about a year of very challenging rehab. Presently, she will be a senior at NC State University and has happily found her
niche, she thinks, as an English major. Sandra was Mrs. Dad all these years supporting our family through thick and thin. However,
just before Thanksgiving of 2004, she was diagnosed with cancer and had to endure three surgeries and subsequent cobalt and
radiation treatments. Mrs. Dad is now over 2 years cancer free. My, at the time, 86-year-old father and 85-year-old stepmother started
divorce proceedings the summer of 2006 and my dad moved in with us during the divorce process. Now, 18 months later, dad is
single, happy, and finally living in an assisted living facility where he can get the care he needs that is beyond the capabilities or
training of Sandra and myself. Hooray! Can it be Sandra and I can finally start “our” healing processes and get “our” lives back?

So, after years of learning experiences, seeing the light of freedom, and not wanting to wait around for something else to befall us,
Sandra quit her very stressful job of 15 years. “Horrors!”, all who know us exclaimed. “Sandra quit her job on September 4 leaving her
with no health insurance and no income and a daughter in college that just moved into her own apartment? This is not acceptable.
This cannot be done. This is, this is, ah, ah … un-American!” What we do have though is my Social Security, a home in Pinehurst
with potential rental income, and a 1974 motor home that I had been working on for about 3 years to restore to good operating
condition. Since there is no trail to follow, we are aware that time is the only way to tell how things will work out for us. A simple plan
was made. Do what is necessary to move into RVing on the cheap full-time.

First up was giving Cassie what she wanted and then selling everything else we owned that wouldn’t be traveling with us in Folly.
This chore was a lot of work but also turned out to be a lot of fun. Moreover, quite a sum of cash was procured to keep us going for
quite some time while other income possibilities were discovered and tuned. After all our stuff was out of the house, the cleaning,
painting, fixing process was completed. During this time, we lived using Folly gear and supplies brought into the house. The last
items to go were our bed and a TV that went to Cassie and a few odds and ends that went to the dump. Believe you me, letting go of
years of accumulated stuff is very scary at first but then was like getting a gorilla off our backs. Freedom from our “stuff” was starting
to feel real good.

Next, was to go to NC State to have an amended FAFSA completed, the government form for parents with kids in college that is used
to figure scholarships, loans, grants, etc. Low and behold, after several years of parents and student taking out thousands in loans,
Cassie is now on the receiving end of grants and scholarships, and, parents or student will no longer need to take out any more
loans. Who’d of thunk. Hmmmmmmm. We wonder what other opportunities may open up for us.

Continuing with our freedom ride, thirty minutes down the road we came to Rockingham, NC, home of the famous, former NASCAR
racetrack and drag strip. About midway through town, an elderly lady in a black car turned left right in front of us necessitating my
slamming on the brakes and the start of a rather exasperating discussion with Sandra about how in the world this lady didn’t see our
“bus” coming. Let’s see, 30 miles = first narrow escape. We hoped this statistic would not continue to unfold before us.

Then we continued on to Cheraw and then Camden, SC. The road leading to Camden was great and the road beyond Camden was
great, but the roads in Camden were not so great. As I recall, the speed limit was 45 too. In any event, Folly broke her leg, actually the
upper shock absorber bracket on the drivers side, but was able to limp on. Just beyond Camden, in Lugoff, SC we picked up US 601
to skirt by Columbia and ended up at the once named Congaree Swamp National Monument that is now the Congaree National
Park. This relatively new National Park is about 30 miles southeast of Columbia. What a gorgeous and interesting place. However,
from reading the mosquito reports and seeing the mosquito meter in the park office located above the big clock when one enters, we
concluded very quickly November and the rest of the cold months are the time to visit…unless you are fond of mosquitoes of course.
Presently, next to the “after hours” parking lot, there are seven first come first serve tent campsites. Porta-Johns are found nearby. We
were allowed to boondock aka dry camp in the gravel parking lot, no charge.

The park literature claims one may find silence, quiet, serenity, and peace. We found this to be true to the point we stayed 3 nights.
During the days, we completed a temporary fix to Folly’s broken leg, the broken shock absorber bracket, rested our weary bones, and
hiked the trails…some of which were elevated to cross over areas of standing water. The biodiversity here is incredible. American
Beech, Bald Cypress, Loblolly Pine, and Tupelo trees abound amid the Dorovan Muck, a muck found to be essential for breaking
down pollutants into harmless ingredients. Switchcane and many hollow trees are also found. Look out skeeters, turns out the
hollow trees are bat hotels for the thousands of bats that inhabit each tree. Drooping Spanish moss from near the ground to the top
of the tree canopy and Bald Cypress “knees” jutting from the rich soil reminds one of stalactites and stalagmites found in caves. The
canopy in some places towers over 130 feet high and is thought to be the highest deciduous forest canopy on earth.

Next leg, we continued south on US 601 crossing over I 26 to Orangeburg, SC where we jumped on US 301. We traveled on through
Bamberg and Allendale, SC and on to Sylvania and Statesboro, Georgia. It is interesting to note all the factories in South Carolina
and Georgia. For whatever reasons, most factories have disappeared in North Carolina since we moved there in 1992. In addition,
we were a bit amazed to see the cotton industry is still very much alive and doing well.

We drove along beside acre after acre of cotton that was ready to be picked or that was actually in the process of being picked. From
what looked like fields of freshly fallen snow, huge cotton-picking machines loomed, roamed, and then deposited cotton bales here
and there that are about the size of railroad cars. Then flatbed trucks would drive into the fields and winch the bails up onto the beds
and proceed too take them to …..hmmmmm….. never did figure out where they ended up. It was fun to see mile after mile of cotton
lying along the side of the road that had somehow escaped a bail in contrast to escaped white chicken feathers that would line the
roads in North Carolina from trucks taking chickens to be processed.

We found Statesboro, GA to be a real jewel. This relatively small city of about 25,000 is very clean, roads are excellent, green areas
and recreation areas abound, and from the start presents a warm and fuzzy atmosphere. We discovered it was home to Georgia
Southern University. Just the kind of place Sandra and I may hang our hats someday.

From Statesboro, we crossed over I 16 and picked up US 280 and SR 30 to Reidsville, GA where we pulled up into Gordonia-
Alatamaha State Park. The park’s unusual name comes from the Gordonia tree, a member of the Bay family, and the original
spelling of the nearby Altamaha River. We stayed at a beautiful lake front site for a couple of nights. Took showers, did laundry, and
generally chilled out. Believe it or not, this park has a 9 hole golf course and is building a back 9. At least once a day a couple of
annoying white geese came by for handouts and got nasty when we refused their very verbal requests. A few more squawks and
hisses later, they would wobble away. A sign nearby said not to feed the alligators. With these cocky geese roaming about, I would
venture to bet there are no gators in the area at the time.

Next leg, we traveled west on SR 56 out of Reidsville and then south on US 1 to Baxley and Alma, GA. where we turned west on SR
32. After about 6 miles, we pulled into General Coffee State Park. This park has a living history farmstead that includes a blacksmith
shop, tobacco barn, corncrib, log cabins, cane mill, and many other buildings. We took a several mile hike and came upon a land
turtle.

Next day, we headed west from General Coffee on SR 32 to Douglass, GA where we turned south on US 221 and then south again
near Lakeland, Ga on US 129. We crossed into Florida and continued through Jasper, over I 75 and finally pulled into Pedro’s South
of the Border….lol. Anyone that has traveled I 95 at the North and South Carolina State line knows about Pedro’s, a theme park that
was built years ago that offers camping, dining, carnival rides, and Heaven only know what else. As the signs along the slab say,
“Everyone is a Wiener at Pedro’s.” In any event, the private campground we pulled into was called The Spirit of the Suwannee Music
Park. This 800 acre park, in addition to indoor and outdoor music concerts, offers bike, golf cart and canoe rentals, putt-putt golf,
horse stables, restaurant, cabins, trailers, a-frames, and well over 300 RV campsites. As the sing says, “This park has it all!” Only
problem is, like Pedro’s, everything is just about worn out….lol.

It’s definitely worth touching on traveling the back roads, so to speak, which has proven to be an enjoyable experience. All of the two
and four lane highways we traversed are in excellent condition and traffic is very light. It is strange to be traveling on these highways,
usually without any cars in sight and only an occasional truck. Just about the time we thought the world must have come to an end,
we are assured all is well upon crossing the Interstates, where zooming and in ant like formation, wall-to-wall traffic can be observed
as far as the eye can see in either direction. In addition, all the cities, little towns, and villages we drove through are able to offer up to
all that ventured their way what they and their residents are all about. Granted, Interstates get you from point A to point B much faster,
but travelers get no idea of what the countryside and the people that live along the way are like. We are so very pleased to have the
opportunity to experience back road travel on our freedom ride.

We left the “have it all” music park as early as was possible the next day, continuing south on US 129 to Trenton, Fl where we picked
up CR 339 to US ALT 27 and on to Williston, Fl. where we picked up US 41 south. We continued on US 41 through Dunnellon,
Hernando, Inverness, and finally Floral City, Fl. Floral City is where Sandra’s Aunt Marge has a beautiful, several acre ranchette.

The trip today through some pretty laid back rural Florida land, quite the contrast to the hustle and bustle of most Florida coastal
environments, was scenic and inviting to those wanting a bit of space around them. Floral City reminds us a bit of Ocala, FL about 20
years ago. Aunt Marge, the gracious host that she is, immediately provided us with a spot to park Folly, sort of between Marge’s
house and storage shed carport combination, and hook up to her water and electric supply.

Feeling very much at home here, we have enjoyed about 2 weeks of Marge’s company, beautiful sunsets, balmy days, a visible
“dark” night sky, and wonderful meals, including a Thanksgiving Holiday feast. Aunt Marge’s boyfriend and fellow sailor, Captain Carl,
came up from Marathon in the Florida Keys for about a week to partake in the festivities, do a few chores for Marge, and help me
perform a permanent repair to Folly’s aforementioned broken leg. Also, Sandra and I have taken several bike rides to explore what
the people and places in Floral City have to offer.

Floral City has a large, beautiful city park with picnic areas, tennis courts, par 3 nine hole golf course, bank, post office, library, a
couple of convenience stores, and produce stands…yummy. The curvy, sometimes shaded by huge Live Oak trees covered with
Spanish moss, back roads leading in and out are lightly traveled and populated with mostly ranchettes and pasture for horses,
goats, and a few cows. The people here are very nice, easy to talk with, and, as it always seems to be anywhere in Florida, are from
somewhere else in the country.

Our freedom ride continues east on CR 48 to Center Hill, Fl, then south on CR 469 to east on SR 50 to south US 27. At one point, we
saw a sign for Howey in the Hills said to be about 15 miles away. This, I think, is the town my brother and his wife stayed at over a
few winters while Jim was working and moving bees between Michigan and Florida. After skirting Orlando and Disney World to the
east and Winter Haven and Lakeland to the west, we headed east off US 27 to south on US 17 to Lake Wales. After wandering
around for a while looking for the road to the state park, I called the park for directions ….lol… proof I ask for directions occasionally….
ha! About 10 miles later, we entered the Lake Kissimmee State Park. Lake Kissimmee is about 40 miles southeast of the city of
Kissimmee and is the third largest freshwater lake in Florida.

This park really does “have it all.” Nice campgrounds and RV sites, several interesting and diverse hiking or biking trails, all kinds of
animal and bird life, an observation tower with fantastic views using ones eyeballs or a pair of binoculars, and an 1876 period “cow
camp” that included a live “cow hunter” aka “cow cracker.”

The cow cracker told us the cow camps were built along cattle drive routes. Cow camps were used to brand and hold “scrub cows”
found and rounded up by the cow hunters, later called cow crackers. Then, the cows were held in pens for pick up for a trail drive that
would start at St. Augustine and end in Punta Rassa near Fort Meyers. The trail dives took about 21 days in dry weather when the
herd could move as much as 20 miles a day. Wet weather was another story.

Once at Punta Rassa, the scrub cows were sold, loaded aboard ships, and sent to Cuba. Deals were completed with payment in
Spanish doubloons, the common currency of the south Florida frontier. The cow hunter on site explained the term cow cracker
evolved due to their use of whips instead of guns. Story goes that after the Civil War, black powder, gun powder, wasn’t allowed in the
hands of possible rebels in the south, including the cow hunters. Hence, the cow hunters had to start using whips instead of their
guns. The cow hunter turned cow cracker would loudly “crack” the whip to signal other cow crackers, the dogs the cow crackers
used, and, to move the cattle.

Also of interest to us, every time one would look up, huge webs spun by Golden Orbs were hung between trees over the roads and
all through the woods. Some of the Orb spiders looked to be about 6 inches in diameter. The ranger told us the Orb webs are very
strong, almost like heavy sewing string. Sure glad the Orb and their nests were up so high and not a bit of concern for us land
lubbers.