Jan. 25, 2014: Like everyone back home, we are just doing what we need to do. The weather here, although not as extreme as back in NH, has been cold. Each night since our first night here has been near the freezing mark. Temperatures in the nearby city of Brunswick have been at or below freezing, but the waters around the island have helped to keep us slightly above. It is times like this that we miss our wood stove.

During the time here on Jekyll Island, we have learned quite a bit about some of the "long term" campers that are "crowded" around us. [This campground is in a state park--actually I think the whole island is a state property--therefore, the maximum number of camp sites are put into a minimum amount of space, without removing trees.] For example, we had a problem with our TV cable connection on the first day. The office sent a man right out to look at it. He told us that he is a retired union electrician from Atlanta. He volunteers as a "camp host," which gets him a free stay here in the park for being available a few hours per week to work on simple maintenance calls--such as our cable connection. He told us that he stays here three months in the summer, and is now spending six months during the winter.

Other people we have talked to say they have been coming here for at least three months, during the winter, for a number of years, booking the same site  year after year. One couple, from Ontario who have been coming here for about ten years, has their site booked up to 2017. Another person we spoke with told us that she and her husband have been doing this for a number of years; first with a motor home and now with a smaller van-type camper. Both she and her husband have serious cancer conditions, but neither one of them want to give up the life-style and friends that they have come to know.

Friends of campers who come here have tried to book a space, but have not been able to because there are only so many spaces available to handle large motor home or fifth-wheelers. We were lucky with our rig to get in because we fit into one of the smaller sites. As a matter of fact, our cable repair was made by connecting to the box in the site next to ours which is even smaller. One of our "long term" neighbors said that the smaller site has never been rented out because it is so small--although, if someone with a small tent shows up...

B and I have been amazed at the number of people who do this type of residence camping in large motor homes and fifth-wheelers during the winter months. With our rig, we feel like a little tugboat sitting amongst a harbor full of yachts. Each campground that we have been to so far has had a large number of sites being used for three or more months. This campground has 206 sites and over 50% of the sites are being used for winter residence. Walking through the campground, we see license plates from Ontario, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, Vermont, and, New Hampshire. There may be other states, but we have not walked over all the camp's roads. This reminds me of the seasonal migrations that the Native Americans did before the white man came and stole the idea along with the land.

B & I have tried to do some walking each day. One of our first walks was out to the ocean side coast near the campground called Driftwood Beach. It is about one mile each way. The walk took us along a bike path, across a tidal marsh, through a short wooded section, onto the beach. Coming out of the woods, we were amazed to see the beach covered with the dead, wind and water shaped remains of trees. Some of the trees, still upright, were in the ocean. Some were on their sides, with their roots exposed, forming giant, twisted, massive circular sculptures. Others were partially buried in the sand with only twisted, gray branches reaching up. It looks like a battle ground between the ocean and the forest--with the ocean winning. 

B and I will stay here for an additional week; hoping to see some of the warm temperatures and sunshine that we expected when we migrated down here for our winter campground.