October 27, 2009
The Tall Tale Travelers R.V. group from OTOW recently camped at Jekyll Island Campground. Jekyll Island is one of several beautiful islands just off the southeastern Atlantic coast of Georgia. Mary Jo and Norm participated as the Wagon Masters and handled the reservations and planning for the eleven couples making the excursion.
Entrance to Jekyll Island
The thoughts of escaping the intense 92 degree temperatures of Ocala brought the campers to the breezy beach and shaded lots of the campground. The weather forecast promised a cool front would eventually bring the temperature down along with predicted showers. The travelers arrived on Monday to find it also was very hot but tolerable.
By design, dinner was "on your own" and everyone was pleased to be in their air-conditioned rigs. We did meet in the cool campground group room for the usual games of cards and marbles.
On Tuesday the campers took advantage of the cooler weather and enjoyed their favorite activities including games, cards, biking and kayaking. Some of the members even went to visit St. Simon's Island and suggested that the group plan a day trip for shopping and sight-seeing Later that afternoon it was time to show the skills and creativity of the cooks for the specialized soup supper planned by Mary Jo. The variety of soups and "fixin's" was as amazing as it was delicious. During the preparation, Joyce sent out a panic call for John as she thought that she "blew the breakers" of the motor home, when to her surprise the entire island had lost power. So, of course, the story began to circulate that Joyce was responsible for the complete power outage for the island.
The Tall Tale Travelers celebrated their second anniversary with a decorated cake and ice cream provided by Mary Jo and Jan.
Wednesday morning finally brought a break to the heat wave, but it also brought the splash 'n dash showers throughout the day. The ladies decided to travel to St. Simon's Island. Jackie and Rosie were the drivers and it appeared that the trip to the island seemed to take a lot longer than the return trip. Sometimes a turn can be missed even if there isn't a male in either car. The ladies enjoyed the time sight-seeing and browsing in the local shops. But everyone agreed that eating lunch at IGUANA'S was the high-light of the trip.
Meanwhile back at the campground, the men decided to take a bike ride in spite of the threatening weather. By the time they reached the pier the rain was pelting down and they took shelter in the pavilion. They met and talked with Dave, a previous meteorologist who appeared on TV's The Weather Channel. Of course the burning question of the day was, "When will the rain end?" As usual his immediate trained response was, "Eventually."
An all-time first occurred to John when he admitted that he was "out-talked" by a female neighbor and he had to actually break-off the conversation and make his get-away.
Mary Jo and Norm made dinner reservations for the group at the Latitude 31 restaurant on the waterfront. The group picture was the fastest ever as the bugs swarmed the group. We're not sure if Jackie has stopped running yet!
Thursday morning everyone awoke to the scintillating aroma of bacon, sausage, ham, pancake, eggs and coffee. The men were preparing breakfast.
Following breakfast, the artists gathered for the pumpkin carving/decorating activity.
Jan and Lucille, Bernadette, Rosie, Liz and Moe, Nick, Linda, Karen, Norm and Mary Jo created the fantastic display. The squirrels found the pumpkins to be irresistibly delectable.
Several couples took advantage of the limited sunshine and enjoyed an afternoon at the beach. Thursday's supper was leftovers, which still produced even more leftovers that were available for all who enjoyed the evening games.
The overnight rain made packing and breaking camp quite wet and muddy, but everyone enjoyed the week of fun and camaraderie!