March 8,9,10,11

After being inactive for a while and not doing anything other than daily chores my friends from North Carolina stopped by this morning and asked if I would like to go to Saint Simons Island for lunch with them. I replied yes and off we went to do a little exploring over there. We had lunch at a little delicatessen in downtown and then walked over to the old lighthouse and took a few photos over there with all the other tourists. It was a beautiful day with the temperature in the high 70’s probably. We then went to see the old fort on the island and the Episcopal Church which was founded by the settler named James Ogelthorpe who was the founder of the State of Georgia in February of 1736. We also went to Fort Frederica which was laid out just about like the city of Brunswick is to this day with its exact grid of streets. The Episcopal Church on its present location was erected in 1820 and the congregation worshiped in it until the outbreak of the Civil War and during that war the church was burned to the ground. It was rebuilt with some of the original pieces in the church that is presently there today. In the cemetery surrounding the church the original settlers are buried. The oldest gravestone in the Yard dates back to 1703. They give quiet and reverent tours of the sanctuary during certain hours and we were there during the time they gave the talk of the history of the church. I also have a written history and I took some photos of the inside of the sanctuary and of the stained glass windows depicting the history of the church. The official name of the church is Christ Church, Frederica, Saint Simons Island, Georgia.

The breeze is softly blowing through the marina right now which is keeping the mosquitos and the no-see-ums at bay for the day. But as soon as the sun begins to set and the breeze stops for a moment here they come with a vengeance. The people on the catamaran across from me left for the snows of Canada this morning but as he said; not before giving one last transfusion to the no-see-ums of Georgia. On the screens on the boat as soon as the breeze comes up in the morning I spray them with raid and I have so many back there that I am going to have to wash the boat before I leave here. It looks like my date to leave here will be next Friday or Saturday morning but I will keep following the weather forecast north of here closer. My next stop I think will be around Darien, GA if I have calculated my charts right but that is all subject to change as I go. The temperature here is in the 80’s today and I now am not sleeping in everything I have. I also have to do laundry one more time and go grocery shopping again plus fuel up and then it’s off on the rest of the adventure. I am hoping that in the time it takes me to move north spring will be going the same direction. I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay here in Brunswick, the people have been fantastic and you are close to everything. This will probably be a little harder to come by as I move up. From others who have done the Loop the comments are usually loved it all except New Jersey and New York City area. So we shall see. I have gotten lots of advice from others here who have done the Loop at least once and some of them two or three times. If you get to New York State too early all of the spring flooding will not be over and the repairs made and you may have to switch directions so right now I am just playing it by ear.

A little while ago the wood duck family came through on there nightly fishing expedition or whatever it is they are diving for and there was a heron with them tonight trying to keep up so if they stirred up a fish he would be there to get it. They would try to chase him away by diving and going for his feet and he would jump out of the way and then hurry back toward them. It was just funny the way he was trying to use them to help him get his meal for the evening. This was going on while I was going up the ramp with my trash and before I got to the top I also gave the Georgia no-see-ums my daily transfusion of blood in return for the itch they give you. Nothing seems to stop them except Raid and I can’t spray myself with it. If I did I don’t think I would have anyone to talk to.

http://www.photogserver.net/file/larryhoth/Shorty's%20Photos/

The link above will from here on connect you to photos I am taking on the trip. I can not load them to the blog without it taking me sometimes two hours and up to eight one day to try to publish photos to the blog. If you go to the link you will find locations under this heading. Click on the location and more files will come on the screen, double click that individually numbered file and the photo will appear on the screen and then if you have read the blog you will know what it is that I have photographed in that location for the day. There may not be photos for each individual day but at least you will know where I am. I hope this works for every one and if you see duplicates that only means I took the photo twice to make sure I would have a good print. If the duplicates bother you I will sort them out and only post one of each photo. I have not yet figured out how to caption them but I think they are self explanatory. If the photo has writing or a historic fact on a plaque you can try enlarging the photo to more than 100 percent to read the print.