Jekyll Island - Sea Turtle Center

Last week after we left Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island, we went over to the Georgia Sea Turtle Museum.  We learned from our time in Key West that sea turtles used to be a big cash crop and the fishing industry almost wiped them out in the early 1900s.

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center was recently opened in 2007.  It is a facility dedicated to the preservation and education of turtles, the emergency care of sick sea turtles with activities in long term care and research.  It appears well funded, well organized and very much worth the time to visit.

The museum is geared to the younger folks which makes it more understandable and easy to follow for guys like me.  They have a self guided tour of six areas with interactive videos and displays.

It takes about two months for a sea turtle egg to hatch. After they hatch, they move toward the bright lights.  So coming upon hatchlings at night (if you are on a turtle walk or hunting turtles) with a flash light throws them off.

They migrate out to the Atlantic and take long trips but eventually return to the same areas if they survive.

Some of the kinds of turtles in the region are:

• Hawksbill Turtle
• Kemp's Ridley
• Loggerhead
• Leatherback
• Green Turtle
• Diamondback Turtle

From the displays, we went outside and over to the hospital tanks.

The center gets all kinds of turtles with injuries or sicknesses.  Often times the turtles are covered with barnacles which are detached after spending time in regular water.

I find turtles very interesting.  They are such strange lovable creatures.  For more information no them, you might want to visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center web site.

Thanks again for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  We appreciate you stopping by.  Until next time...

Roadrunner Financials - March 2013

Roadrunner Recap
During March, stayed at campgrounds in:

• Lake Griffin State Park 
• Falling Waters State Park  
• Pensacola Naval Air Station 
• Hurlburt Field FL FamCamp (Fort Walton Beach)
• Destin FL Army Recreation Area Campground 
• Tyndall AFB FL FamCamp (Panama City)
• Tallahassee (Tallahassee RV Park)
• Kings Bay Submarine Base GA

We were able to see a lot of Florida and check out some great historical places.  It has been a fun month.  The bonus is that we were able to see friends in a number of places including DeBary, Pensacola, Destin and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget
Nothing real big in this area as we ended up $262.62 under.  We did best in three areas:

• RV and Car Maintenance. I keep a placeholder here and used $342 to pay for a battery solenoid.
• Campgrounds. We were still under our budget though we didn't stay anywhere for very long.
• Groceries.  For just the two of us for the month, we were please with this number.
• Household Items.  We saw a good deal on a sturdy beach umbrella and bought a new coffee pot that was leaking.  

Biggest Expenses
Our biggest expenses continue to be eating out.  But we saw a lot of friends and decided it was worth it and were glad we did.

• Diesel.  We obviously moved around a lot during the month.  I didn't keep track of mileage but we hovered around 7 mpg.
• Eating Out.  Need to add this to the budget for year 5.
• Misc (Entertainment).  Biggest drivers here were 5 rounds of golf, a boat tour and we bought some hats and a new pair of shoes.
• 1 Time Costs - Got our income taxes done and owed a little.  That plus preparation fees accounted for that number.

Large One Time Cost Items
Income taxes and fees were the biggest item, followed by the solenoid.

Monthly Average
We are happy to be under budget this month.  That makes the tenth month in a row for Year 3 (two more months left) that we have been under budget.  Our cumulative monthly average shows us $840 under budget.

That is a recap of where our money went last month.  Thanks for taking a look at the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Jekyll Island - Driftwood Beach

We went to see Jekyll Island and took a drive around the perimeter before we stopped at Driftwood Beach for lunch.  What an interesting place.  Of all the beaches we have been to, we've never seen driftwood like this.

After a quiet picnic we walked over the foot bridge to the beach.

It wasn't a real big beach but it had lots of twisted, contorted trees and wood.

 It was a little coolish so we wore our coats.

 Fishing pier not far from the parking lot.

It is really worth the stop to see this.

After the Driftwood Beach, we drove through the Jekyll Island Campground.

 It has a canopy of trees through out the campground and is very convenient to everything on the island.

There is lots to see and do here.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Feel free to leave a comment - we always love those!  Until next time...

More Okefenokee NWR (In Pictures)

Judy was on duty at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, so we returned.  And are glad we did.  We got to spend some time with her and she took us on a tour out to the Chesser Homestead. We also took a guided boat tour of the old Suwanee Canal and Chesser Prairie.

It was a great day to be in the swamp!  Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Chesser Homestead

While we were are Okefenokee National Wildlife Preserve, we took the Swamp Island Drive and stopped at the Chesser Homestead.

In the late 1880's W.T. Chesser and his family settled in the eastern area of the Okefenokee Swamp.  Over time, they had seven children, two of which stayed in the area.  In 1927, Tom Chesser built a homestead which is one display today.

It gives some insight into what life was like in the days before the Depression in a place a long way from the nearest town.  The house is quite impressive as are the grounds with many different facets.

Seems to me that this was a big house after all the additions.

There was a small living room, two bedrooms, one with a sewing table set up.

The kitchen had a nice stove and a large table.  Looked like they had a fair amount of room.
Outside, they built a number of functional areas:

Smoke House and Storage Shed; Work Area and Syrup Making Vat; Mounted Hand Crank Drill Press

Sugar Cane Mill, Hog Pen, Chicken Yard and Coop, Vegetable Garden

I took one last photo of the back side of the house before we departed.  The Chesser Homestead is one of the more well done displays we have seen of how life once was.

Thanks for checking out the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Day Trip - Okenfenokee National Wildlife Refuge

We are staying at the King's Bay Naval (Submarine) Base near St. Mary's Georgia.  The campground here is great (Eagle Hammock RV Park).  Since we are going to be here a few days, we started exploring the area and took a day trip to Okenfenokee NWR.

Okefenokee ("Land of the Trembling Earth") NWR was established in 1937 and spans 402,000 acres of swamp, lakes, rivers is one of the largest and best preserved fresh water systems in America.

Over the years, the area has been intended for a number of different uses.  Back in 1891, the Suwannee Canal Company bought the land from Georgia and intended to drain the swamp, harvest the Cypress trees and turn the area into farm land.  That company went bankrupt, sold it to another who built a railroad nearby and logged over 431 million feet of lumber before the Depression hit and operations ceased.

A few years later it became a National Wildlife Refuge.

As we drove on to the property, it seemed as if it is well maintained and well funded which is nice to see.  The NWR is a great place to do a lot of different things including, hiking, fishing, hunting, nature photography and wilderness canoeing.

The Visitor's Center is situated near a training building, gift shop and canoe/pontoon boat guide area.  Near one of the buildings, there was some new construction and additions to the facility.  Large and small groups come to the NWR and take advantage of the educational and nature opportunities.

 The Visitor's Center has a number of interactive displays and informational stations along with a short video and a story telling kiosk.  It is very well done.

Out behind the facility is a canal and boat launch.  

Some hardy souls were off on a guided boat tour of the grounds.  We opted for a picnic lunch and walked around the grounds.

A fellow RVer and blogger Judy of "Travels with Emma" fame, got in touch with us and said to come on over for a tour.  We didn't know she was here until after we returned, but we hope to connect with her in a few days and do just that.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...