Day 38 Sunday October 11, 2026
The group activities this morning were to go Patriots Point and tour the USS Yorktown Aircraft Carrier and the Vietnam Experience. We toured both of these about three years ago so we told the Wagonmasters that we weren’t going so they wouldn’t buy tickets for us.
We went to the old part of Charleston. We drove to Rainbow Row to see the homes there that are painted in different colors. Some of them date back to 1740. It was drizzling rain and we could not find a parking space anywhere in that area without the possibility of getting towed so we just rode through and Lena took some photos through the windshield.
We decided to check out the Charleston City Market again. We have been several times but it is always interesting to walk through.
We rode around that area trying to find a parking space and finally found the public paid parking deck and pulled in expecting to pay to park but they had waived the fee due to the inclement weather per the sign on the ticket dispenser.
We walked through the 4 busy market buildings and bought one Christmas present. Fantasy was providing our lunch today so we headed to the Shem Creek Crab House to met the rest of the group.
Lena and I both got she crab soup and fried shrimp with waffle fries. Fantasy was only paying for one entree but we both wanted to try the she crab soup so we paid extra for it. Lena had it in the Outer Banks but I had not tried it. It was very good. Different than clam chowder but still very good.
That was the last scheduled group activity for today so we returned to the campground to do laundry, etc.
Day 39 Monday October 12, 2026
Today is our free day so after breakfast we did some more housekeeping chores and then took a 1.2 mile hike on one of the campground trails through the woods behind the campground.
This campground is owned/operated by the fifth owners of Oaklawn Plantation. The plantation is not open to the public like some are in the area. The owner had planned to give our group a guided tour of the plantation yesterday after we had lunch but the roads into the plantation was too wet so he is planning it for today.
At 3:30 several in our group loaded up on the trailer pulled by a John Deere tractor for the tour of the plantation. The owner was out of town so one of the employees did the tour. This plantation was probably not as large as some in the area. A lot of the land has been put into a land trust so it can never be developed. There are two large lakes on the property, probably created when they sold dirt to the road construction of the nearby I-526 road development years ago. The lane leading up to the house was lined with very large oak trees which we have seen at other plantations in the area. The guide said that parts of several movies have been filmed on the property. The plantation house dates back to 1740 but a kitchen was later built onto one end after they quit cooking over a fireplace. Back in those days the kitchen was separate from the house in case of a fire getting out of control and to keep the heat out of the house.
There is a smaller house near the main house where the owner’s brother lives. Part of it was the original kitchen. The current owner’s father was a pilot in WWII and his plane was shot down but there weren’t enough parachutes for the crew and the pilots so the pilot gave the crew the parachutes and stayed with the plane until it crashed. His grandfather was the copilot and was injured but the pilot died in the crash. When he came home from the war he moved into the smaller house because he had trouble getting up the stairs in the plantation house.
There is a family cemetery on the land and also a slave cemetery. He pointed out the slave cemetery and there were a few tombstones visible. He said if they didn’t have a tombstone when a person died the family would place a piece of silverware or something similar as a marker. He said there were several pieces of silverware laying on the ground in the cemetery.
Now they use the plantation house for weddings, etc. We learned that a plantation house always faces the crops not the lane leading up to the house. The setting around the house was very peaceful, nice lawn, large lake and giant oak trees.
Part of the original plantation land is leased out to Walmart, Startbucks, and some other businesses in a shopping center nearby. So I would guess the owner of the plantation and the KOA campground has a rather healthy income to support his 9 children and wife.
This KOA is nicer than most that we have stayed at.
At 5:30 the group gathered at the Wagonmasters campsite to enjoy some Hobo Soup, biscuits and salad. They had announced this a few days ago and asked everyone to bring him a can of anything they wanted to buy to put in the soup. They provided the meat and the rest of us provided the beans, etc.
We had Hobo soup on our first Fantasy trip in 2019. It is very good. They also had a LARGE box of different chocolates as dessert. The weather today was great, not hot and not cool. Great to be outside. Denise from our group brought some Benny Crackers to share that she had bought in Charleston. They are a tradition in Charleston. Rather than me trying to explain the history of them, Google Benny Crackers.
Day 40 Tuesday October 13, 2026
We have a 135 mile trip to Savannah Georgia this morning. This is next to the last travel day as a group. We had a fairly easy drive to Creekfire RV Resort other than some road construction. We stopped at the Georgia Welcome Center to delay our arrival since checkin is not until 2pm. There were 7-8 of our group at the Welcome Center also waiting.
We arrived a few minutes after 2 and were escorted to our site by the Tailgunners. The Wagonmaster and Tailgunners switched roles this morning so the Tailgunners arrived first and the Wagonmasters came in last. That is something that Fantasy does to give the Tailgunners more experience leading a tour they may be the Wagonmasters on in the future.
We setup in site 119, a concrete pad with a patio. But it is too hot to set outside on the patio because the high temperature this afternoon is predicted to be 87. What a change from yesterday in Charleston. Finally at 6pm it had cooled down enough we got out and did a short walk and stopped and talked to some of our fellow campers on this tour.
Day 41 Wednesday October 14, 2026
We had a lite breakfast because we knew we would be having a large lunch in Savannah at 12:30 at The Pirate House.
At 10:30 two Old Town Trolleys came from Savannah and picked us up and took us to Old Town Savannah. The driver of the trolley was also our guide. She wore a headset and gave a running commentary about the old houses, buildings and the town squares. The streets are laid out in squares with a public square every few streets. There are 22 squares now, originally there were 24. James Oglethorpe laid out the city squares in 1733.
Parts of numerous movies have been filmed in Savannah. The scene from Forrest Gump where he is setting on a park bench telling passersby his life story was filmed at one of the public squares and also a restaurant scene featuring Jenny in Forrest Gump was filmed at a restaurant near that square.
There are numerous old beautiful houses in Savannah. The guide pointed out one small red house that probably was no bigger than what is called a Tiny Home today. She said it recently sold for $500,000 and is used as an AirBnB.
After we completed the Trolley tour the driver dropped us off at The Pirate House for our Buffet Lunch at 12:30. The building has a long storied history, with parts of it dating back to 1734. There must have been a dozen rooms in the restaurant. The food was very good, especially the southern fried chicken.
The trolley picked us up at 2:30 and took us back to the campground. It is hot again this afternoon so we stayed in and relaxed.
Day 42 Thursday October 15, 2026
Today was our free day to do as we pleased (no group planned activities) so we slept in a little, had a good breakfast of fruit, eggs and bacon and my almost famous lattes. Then about 10:30 we headed to Tybee Island about 40 miles from the campground. Several in our group were going back to Savannah to tour the city in a little more detail.
It was a nice drive with part of it on streets with massive old live oak trees with huge limbs hanging over the streets. It was almost like driving through a tunnel.
Our first stop was to visit Fort Pulaski National Monument. We used our Senior National Parks pass for admission. We can get in all the US National Parks free with this pass. We bought it soon after we turned 62 and at that time it cost $10, now it is $80 which is still a good deal if you are going to visit the National Parks. It has saved us a lot of money in the last 16 years.
The fort was built beginning in 1829 and took 18 years to build. There were several similar forts built along the East Coat of the United States during that time. It is different than Fort Macon near Morehead City NC but similar in some ways. It is a brick structure with most of the walls 7 feet thick. Numerous wood pilings were driven 7 feet deep into the marshy ground to support the heavy brick fort. I wonder how they drove those pilings that deep back in the early 1800’s.
General Robert E. Lee was stationed here when he was Lieutenant and helped with the drainage around the fort. It was believed the fort could withstand any kind of cannon fire but the North had developed a cannon with a “rifled” barrel and “rifled” projectiles that travel further and with more speed and force that standard round cannon balls so when the Northern Army attached the new weapons broke through the thick brick walls and the General in charge of the fort knew if one of them were to hit the power magazine the fort would be destroyed and all his men would be killed so he surrendered the fort after 30 hours.
Later the fort was used as a prison for Confederate Officers during the Civil War. In later years the fort fell into disrepair but when the CCC was created during FDR’s administration they came in an restored the fort. Now it is in good condition and there are a lot of information on plaques around the fort.
It was beginning to get hot so we rode into Tybee Island. The shoreline along the beach on the island is the Eastern most point in Georgia. The island looked like most beach towns.
By this time we were ready to eat and I had googled restaurants yesterday and found one that had Gumbo so we headed to Bubba Gumbo’s for lunch. We found it but had trouble finding a parking place but finally found one. To say the restaurant was not a 5 star restaurant would NOT be exaggerating but it was buzzing with customers so we figured it must have good food. It sat right on the banks of the water and a fishing boat dock.
I ordered Gumbo and Lena ordered fried shrimp. She wanted some more she crab soup but they didn’t serve it here. I guess it is a little upscale for this restaurant. The room we were seated in looked like an add on room and it tilted down to one side so much the windows on the end wall had a 2” gap on the left edge. The window by my chair was patched with a piece of cardboard. But the food was very good so that is what mattered to us.
We left the island and drove several miles out of our way to Peach World we had been told about but the peach season is over so all they had was peach lemonade, peach cider, nuts, jams, etc. so we drove back to the campground.
Day 43 Friday October 16, 2026
Today was a 160 mile travel day to St. Augustine FL to Stagecoach RV Park. Most of the trip was on I-95 which is always a busy road but today it was not too bad until we got near Jacksonville FL on the I-295 bypass it was rather congested.
We fueled up along the way, stopped at the Florida Welcome Center to get a snack and kill a few minutes so we wouldn’t get to the campground before 12 noon checkin.
We checked in with the Wagonmaster and were assigned to pull through site 34. This park has numerous oak trees for shade which is nice except when the acorns fall on the roof they make a lot of noise.
We had a group activity at 3 pm to tour the St Augustine lighthouse so Gregg and Judi rode with us to save parking spaces. Lena and I came here about three years ago but there were so many people here and we knew we weren’t going to climb the 207 steps to the top so we left.
Today a guide gave us a short talk and then we were free to tour the two stories, plus basement, of the Keepers House, the lighthouse and all the other buildings on the grounds. They have done a really good job of providing very informative displays in all of the buildings. The Keepers House was almost completely destroyed in 1970 when a suspicious fire broke out in the house. The plan was to bulldoze the house after that but a local preservation group was able to stop that and the house was restored. It is a really beautiful building.
We enjoyed the tour then Lena, Gregg, Judi and I went to Texas Roadhouse for steaks since we hadn’t had any lunch. Then we returned to the campground.
Day 44 Saturday October 17, 2026
We drove to Ripley’s Believe It or Not in Old Town St. Augustine to join the group for a one hour ride on The Red Tain for a tour of the Old Town area.
It is a lot cooler this morning, about 70 degrees and overcast so a lite jacket was nice to begin with. The guide was very informative and the open air train was nice except the seat was very hard, no cushion at all.
After the tour we were on our own and had to move our car or pay for parking where we were. We wanted to go to Castillo De San Marcos National Monument, which is an old fort that sets on the shore of the waterfront but there was no parking available there and Lena didn’t want to walk there and back so we decided to go to The Fountain of Youth where parking was with the entrance fee of $20+ per person for us seniors. Hey $20 is worth it if the water from the Fountain of Youth does its magic.
There were a lot of peacocks walking around the grounds. This is the original location of the founding of St. Augustine, where Juan Ponce de Leon was. They had a lot of information plaques and we got to see a canon fire demonstration and watch a blacksmith work.
Inside one of the buildings was “The Fountain of Youth “, they provided small cups so you could get a cup full of the water from the free flowing spring. We each got a cup and drank the water and amazing we were soon 15 minutes younger.🤣🤣
The water was supposed to have about 30 minerals in it. The water had kind of a sulphur taste, not very good but I guess to the people that landed here in their ships back in the 1500’s it probably tasted better than what they had on their ships after weeks of crossing the ocean.
We left there and drove to the fort again but still no available parking so we located a place to get some lunch but again no where to park. We did find a public parking garage but it cost $20 and we would of had a ways to walk back several blocks to the restaurant so we decided to go somewhere else for lunch. We found a pizza restaurant near our campground so we went there.
Then we stopped for a few groceries at the Publix grocery store before returning to the campground.
It is a little windy today. Our motorhome is setting under an oak tree and it sounds like we are being bombarded with marbles on the roof when the wind gusts up.
Day 45 Sunday October 18, 2026
We had the morning free but we decided to be lazy until it was time to join the group for our Farewell Lunch at the Columbia Spanish Restaurant in old town St. Augustine at 1pm. We were told that the restaurant has been in the same family for 5 generations.
Parking is scarce anywhere in St. Augustine so everyone was encouraged to share ride to save parking spaces. We rode with Gregg and Judi.
This is another restaurant that has lots more seating than it looks like from the outside. We were taken upstairs to a fairly large room. The servers brought out a tray of appetizers which included fried shrimp, stuffed mushrooms and some black bean patties. I called them patties because I don’t know what else to call them.
Then a large bowl of salad was brought out and one of the servers tossed it around with two large tongs before serving everyone a large portion. It was a really good salad.
Then they took our entree order from a small version of what is on the main menu. Lena chose Boliche “Criollo” which is roasted eye of round beef stuffed with chorizo but the server made a mistake and brought her the same thing I ordered which was Lechon Asado “1905”. This is Compart Family Farms pork shoulder marinated in a delicious garlic-citrus sauce, slowly roasted until tender and served with black beans, white rice, yuca and platanos.
The waiter offered to switch Lena to what she ordered but she decided to keep what she got. It was very good but large serving especially since we had already had a large salad and some really good bread. And no I didn’t remember all the description above, I saved the the menu they gave us. For dessert we chose Key Lime Pie. I had to get a carry out box for part of mine and Lena’s. I was stuffed and still had enough with part of Lena’s for another meal on the way home in a couple of days.
We waddled out and returned to the campground. Then at 6:30 the Wagonmasters/Tailgunners invited us to a get together for some snacks in the meeting room at the office of the campground. Four or five couples have left the tour early due to family commitments, etc.
Day 46 Monday October 19, 2026
We wrapped up the tour this morning with breakfast provide by Fantasy in the meeting room. We have not lacked for food on this trip. 😃😃 This has been a great group of people, everyone got along great and like someone said “no drama”. Everyone was very cooperative on travel mornings getting out/in the campgrounds without any issues.
We have really enjoyed the trip but are ready to get home. We pulled out at 9am and headed to an overnight stop in Walterboro SC at New Green Acres Campground. We checked in at 1pm and setup in site 25. A long pull through so we will not need to unhook the Jeep so we can just drive out in the morning. We stayed here once before when we came through this area.
A few minutes later our friends Gregg and Judi pulled in and set up on site 27. We both reserved sites here a few days ago but neither one knew the other had done the same thing.
Later they came over to our motorhome and we chatted for a while. We will not see them again until March 2027 when we are traveling on another Fantasy RV Tour with them again. They live in the Western end of North Carolina.
Several motorhome came in after we got here. This is an easy campground to access from interstate I-95 and they have several long pull through sites so it is a convenient place to stay overnight. They do need to grade the parking pad on the sites to get the lumps out of them but otherwise a good overnight place.
Day 47 Tuesday October 20, 2026
It was 49 degrees when we got up this morning but should warm up nicely by mid day. We only have about 150 miles to drive today so we planned to leave at 11am but the maintenance crew started mowing grass near us and we didn’t want to take a chance that the mower would throw a rock at the motorhome or Jeep so we got ready and departed about 10:40.
We stopped at a rest stop to take a break and have a small snack and delay our arrival a few minutes. We arrived at Camp Pedro Campground at South of The Border at 2 pm, checked in and setup in site 161. This will be our last night on the road for this trip. We have stopped here several times as our last stop so we can dump/clean our holding tanks before we get home. It is an easy off/on near I-95 and they have a row of nice level pull through sites that they assign over night campers to.
The weather today was really nice so we set outside some after having some leftovers for lunch.
Day 48 Wednesday October 21, 2026
We had breakfast, dumped and cleaned the holding tanks really good and departed at 10am and headed for home. We stopped to fill up with fuel in Rocky Point and got home about 1pm. We were glad to be safely home after a 3,000+ mile trip. We didn’t have any issues with our motorhome which is always a concern on a long trip.
Now the Jeep and the motorhome needs a good washing after 48 days on the road.
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