Welcome to RemarkableJourneys.net
A voyage of inspiration and observationsThese are my travel stories. Journeys you might say. Incidents that make travel more than just memorable, remarkable is my word. ~ Bill Ahearn
The incredibly Beautiful Okefenokee Swamp
Southeastern, GA: Alligators, turtles, white-tailed deer, raccoons, pileated woodpeckers, resident water fowl, water lilies, swamp grasses and miles and miles of quiet, deep, dark-black brackish water in a wonderfully quiet remote natural area. A wild, woolly, alligator infested swamp, a-way-out in a vast section of Georgia; that is the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Management Area. The swamp itself accessible mostly by small boats, canoes, kayaks (depends how close you want to get to them gators; an inner tube, for...
How to REALLY Catch an Alligator!
As told from the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. You’ll need some implements: —A Good Pair of Binoculars —A Pair of Tweezers —A Matchbox —A Green Spot First you find a pleasant spot down by the edge of a swamp where the afternoon sun is good for sun bathing. Alligators love to sun bathe; a spot with a tall tree you can lean up against. Pick a nice warm afternoon and bring a friend if you wish. First thing you do when you get there is take out your green spot and set it down on a convenient place to reach, but not too close so the...
How Not to Catch an Alligator!
A True Story as told from the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. There are some people who are fools. No other way to explain actions people sometimes take—I mean foolish risks they take, inexplicably. Not the acts of older teenage boys that are based on growth hormones—”Betcha 100 bucks I’ll cannonball that alligator!” Nope. We are speaking here of the acts of grown men and women who should know better, like the ranger told me about. Four grown adults with a raw chicken on a rope standing on a picnic bench with an alligator chasing...
Eventide: Botany Bay Plantation Wildlife Management Area
Edisto Island, South Carolina The rays of the setting sun tint everything in sight with a warm orange glow as I meander northeast on Botany Bay Road into the Botany Bay Plantation. Colors intensify as the long shadows fall and tree trunks become orange columns under the bright low sun. The arches created by the live oak branches over the roadway give a sense of natural gothic architecture tunneling us down the yellow sand and gravel to the entrance gate. Ahead are open fields decorated with loblolly pines, live oak, and bald cypress...
Follow Your Dream… with the Courage of Youth.
My new friends, Holly and Chris, a young couple traveling in Florida during a college break attempting to avoid the northern cold spells, happened in, late at night, to the campsite beside me at Huguenot Memorial County Park in Jacksonville last week. My little dog, Minna, and I, were returning from our evening walk before bedtime—we offered a quick hello and welcome—then scooted off to bed. Holly is a Psychology major at school and Chris is on a one semester break hoping to find his life path. Chris has multiple creative talents....
The Kindness of Strangers
Most people you meet are really helpful and kind, or want to be, especially people that enjoy camping. Some will go to great lengths to help you if they believe in what you are doing or if they see the tragedy or danger of your plight. Generosity can be easy for some people but kindness comes easy for many. Kindness also can be expressed as concern for someone's or some thing's welfare. I was hiking in the woods the other day and found along the trail the mostly stripped skeleton of a dead opossum. What journey brought this little...
INVASION of the Big BUGS
Edisto Beach Campground is a quiet little place 57 or so miles south of Charleston, SC. The community of Edisto Beach is comprised of locals, full-timers, part-timers and vacationers and residents. A friendly place with lots of history including plantations, slave trade, cotton trade, fishing, bird hunting, beach lodges, a variety of types of crop farming, moon-shining, pig farmers and oyster harvesters to name a few. About the time of the full moon, the tides rise and odd things sometimes can happen. For example out-of-the-blue...
What is the Difference Between a Palm Tree and a Palmetto Tree?
I was thinking about Southern trees again today, I realized I really don't know the difference between a palmetto tree and a palm tree. So I Googled it—Only one answer was definitive: "The palmetto tree has an "etto" at the end and the palm doesn't." With enthusiasm I dropped a quick email to my new Urban Forester, Danny Burbage, tree maintenance specialist at The City of Charleston, South Carolina. Danny’s Answer: “Palmettos are one variety of over two thousand palm varieties throughout the world. There are 5 species of palm native...
Visiting Charleston’s famous 300 to 400 year old: ANGEL OAK TREE.
By William Francis Ahearn Many cities across the world have startlingly beautiful individual trees. Charleston's Angel Oak Tree on Johns Island is easily among the trees at top of that list: The Angel Oak, is a wondrous Southern live oak (quercus virginiana), commonly found in the low country of South Carolina. A natural treasure preserved by its former owners over the years as best they knew how. Then a developer purchased the land and made the mistake of failing to pay county taxes for some years and the city took possession for...
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
South Dakota—Carved into the Black Hills of South Dakota are the iconic faces of four former presidents of the United States--George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. These men were chosen to represent the first 150 years of American history and America’s cultural heritage. The idea came from Doane Robinson to promote tourism in South Dakota and his idea was wildly successful--the park attracts almost 3 million park visitors every year. Gutzon Borglum designed the sculpture. Though he passed away...
SOME DAYS ARE DIAMONDS—SOME DAYS ARE STONES
On Wednesday afternoon, my dog Minna and I, took a brisk walk on Edisto (e-DIS-toe) beach. Off to the west high faint, wispy, fast-moving clouds were a unique sight because nothing really moves very fast in South Carolina. “Ceptin’ mebbe a white-tailed deer, or feral cat on the prowl”. My eyes were drawn to the phenomena just the same. Although the sky was mostly clear blue, the clouds slid along like gossamer on the wind, strange I thought. We returned from our walk and Minna settled down for a nap in her viewing spot by the...
Let me tell you the story of our days.
Traveling is a wonderful adventure peppered with tiny unimportant inconveniences. Each journey I have been on in my life has always included someone for me to look after. Now I am by myself—on my own. My dog Minna not excluded but how much trouble can she be? Yet each day rushes by—then meanders—then rushes again. The freedom is spellbinding but it is very hard to let go of the old ways. From first light my eyes open and I am warm and comfortable in my cozy bed. Minna beside me moans and stretches then lapses into second...
Read All About IT.
Some folks have emailed and twittered asking how I am managing in a little trailer with my right hand in a brace, quarters 3 feet by six feet = 36 square feet of floor space and no cabinets. No one ever promised this would be easy only that it would be an adventure and believe me—a journey. One must be adaptable. One must know some cuss words. One must believe in the journey. One must be ambidextrous. All of these are at my fingertips and in my heart. Arise with the sun (that is park your trailer so the windows face mostly west). Be...
An Old Literary Friend Re-visited.
Today Minna and I have settled in at Edisto Island Beach State Park—a palmetto-lined beach famed for its sea shelling, long soft-sandy beach, maritime forest and proximity to Toogoodoo Creek. Only an hour from Charleston SC, the park is divided: Section I—campsites deep in the maritime forest of live oaks, with some of the South Carolina’s tallest palmetto trees and a front-row view of miles of pristine marshland. Section II is comprised of beachfront campsites protected from ocean winds by a huge long dune. Boasting a beach covered...
Sticking Out Like a Sore Thumb!
ON THE ROAD!. February 1, 2010 Proud to say I am finally on the road following a delay that had me sticking out like a sore thumb. On December 28 I accidentally cut my thumb on a piece of framing glass lacerating a tendon. Fool that I am I bandaged it up and drove off into the sunset on New Year’s Day as planned. It was not long before I discovered that my thumb wasn’t functioning properly. A trip to Urgent Care revealed not only the truth but worse—that surgery was obligatory. So hurry up and wait—Minna and I “holed-up”—had the...
Sea Trout Papaya with Stuffed Zucchini a la Hatteras.
ON THE ROAD Last week I wandered about a bit in the Hatteras area. Despite the arctic cold wind, the sun was warming to my bones. Meandering through many small towns I observed the emergency actions taken by homeowners to defray the cold. Blankets on car engines with a night light, clear plastic stapled over windows, and hay bales around red brick foundations. A house banner—you know, those little flags people hang out on small flag poles to charm passersby— simply announced the arctic weather with a graphic of an old pair of ice...
Riding A Magic Carpet with Armel
In the olden days of Aladdin's Lamp there were magic carpets to help us find our way and comfort us on our journey. Carpets that would fly and carpets on which you could ride, nap, read a book, or just relax with your dog. Last month I unexpectedly found the perfect carpet for my little, 1958 camper trailer: Luciee. A hand-knotted, imported (from the middle east) llama wool carpet captured my imagination—I just had to have it. There was a small problem though, it was simply too large for my trailer floor space and needed to be cut...
Tales of Christmases-Past, Hawaiian Style—Part II "ME and the OCTOPUS!"
Susan inflated her raft, then leapt aboard to do what she likes best: sun bathing and riding the waves. I sat down in the sandy shallows, slipped on my flippers and backed into deeper water. Applying spit to the inside of my goggles for haze proofing, I straightened my snorkel, popped it on and plunged. The water was crystal clear and happily warm that day as I got my bearings, swimming and adjusting my gear and eyes. I set my mental compass to northwest, toward the exposed black coral rising from the sand at the end of the beach,...
Pebble Mountain Campground Tornado
April 28, 2011, Chuckey, TN - Down the road from Pebble Mountain Campground, I watched the owners of this tornado-tipped mobile home walk on the ceiling trying to salvage their property the morning after.
Milestones
MILESTONES. I have always been fascinated by obituaries. The first place I go in Time Magazine. Not for obvious reasons though, mostly because I want to see who I missed. People who led interesting lives and I never had a chance to know them. Wish I had. I try to meet...
Camping in Stillwater PA
Camping at Whispering Pines Camping Estates in Stillwater PA near the lovely village of Benton
