Laura S. Walker State Park & Okefenokee Swamp Park
Sunday, February 2, 2020
When we arrived at Laura S. Walker, they told us somehow our reservation for a campsite had been canceled. No worries, they had plenty of space and offered us what looked to be the best site they had—a beautiful lakefront pull-through parking space. Whew! No backing the RV into a campsite on this stop. (Craig is a good driver of the RV, but backing into a campsite space is a skill he has not mastered and doesn't look forward to. At nearly all the stops scheduled for the next six weeks, we don't know until we arrive if he will have to face this challenge.) So we're at a pull-through overlooking the lake, and all is well. For the most part, anyway…the leveling system doesn't seem to be doing what it should. When I open the pantry door, all the drawers fly open toward me. It's sort of like if the camper were a person and is standing on all its left legs and all the right legs are kind of relaxed. Craig plans to do some troubleshooting by the time we get to our next destination, and we will hope for a more level home in a couple of days.
Beautiful nature trails here, and Clay seems to love the road so far. He doesn't wander from the site, and this morning I found him outside basking in the sun. Today the high was 75 degrees, amazing for February!
What We Learned: Laura S. Walker, for whom this State park is named, spent much effort in land conservation interests and forestry welfare around the Okefenokee area. She also contributed many efforts toward mitigating obstacles for African Americans. She was quite progressive for the 1920s and basically was a tree hugger before it was so cool to be one. • Laura S. Walker Park is the first state park in Georgia to be named for a woman, and the state park was the first ever to be named for someone still living. This happened in the 1930s.
Monday, February 3, 2020
Craig took Clay for a morning run, and then we headed to Okefenokee Swamp Park about 12 miles away. While this park gets mixed reviews, we had a lovely day. The pace of life in southern Georgia is much slower than what we've been living, and at the swamp—it's slower yet. The employees there are so hospitable and informative regarding the largest freshwater and black water swamp in America. Our boat tour guide had grown up on the swamp and even survived a bite by a Cottonmouth snake. His name was Tom Music. Oh, and he happens to be Alan Jackson's 5th cousin. 😊 On the hour-long boat ride, Tom Music happily rattled off non-stop information about the swamp. He said the black swamp water is 90 percent pure and is completely drinkable as is. Upon that statement, he scooped up a jug-full of swamp water and chugged it and offered a swig to Craig. Craig politely declined.
During the swamp train ride, the conductor said something we didn't understand and told us all to hop off the train and look down in the ditch. When we got there, we were all standing 10-12 feet from a 7-foot mother alligator and her baby! I guess he wanted to make sure we got a good look. We all snapped our pictures and re-boarded with a pep in our step.
Since our RV park was only 45 miles from Sidney's and Mom's house, they came and had dinner with us. We had a great dinner of chicken and deer meat fajitas and roasted marshmallows.
What We Learned: You can travel to the Atlantic Ocean by boat from the Okefenokee swamp, "If you know how," as the sign says. • The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge was established by Executive Order in 1936, by FDR . • The first auto recall was when Henry Ford had to recall automobile seats that were stuffed with Spanish moss that contained red bugs • A 250-pound turtle was found in the swamp a few years ago and an x-ray revealed the turtle had a 100-year-old Indian spearhead inside his body where it appeared it had broken off when an Indian tried to hunt it • This park also features a section called "Back in Time" that honors the Wilde family, who were victims of the last Indian massacre in Georgia, a few miles from the swamp.
