St. Simons, Sailors, Fire, and Magnolia Springs

29,028 miles 9:45 AM 73°F Leave Sun-N-Fun
29,334 miles 4:34 PM 64°F Arrive Coastal RV Park

The drive from Sarasota, FL to Brunswick, GA was uneventful. We joined the Good Sam RV Club through a special offer that includes a one night $25 rebate, so we decided to use it at the Coastal RV Resort. At $39.69 a night, it is designed for big rigs with full hookups and pull through, paved sites. Despite being sandwiched between the freeway and an airport, there was very little noise. The facilities are modern, convenient, and clean. We could have easily fit another camper, or two, in our site.

29,334 10:05AM 55°F Leave Coastal RV Park
29,352 11:10AM 55°F Arrive St. Simons Park

The city park in St. Simons Island has a perfect back-in parking spot for us within view of the lighthouse.

The St. Simons lighthouse has been in continuous operation since 1872, when it replaced a lighthouse destroyed in the Civil War.
The light keeper’s home is part of a museum on the grounds.

The waterfront walkway showed signs of recent flooding. Stairways lead to a beach where we wouldn’t recommend swimming due to the strong tidal currents.

Old oaks grace the town park along the waterfront.

Only a few fisherman were out on the town pier. Proximity to shops and restraints probably make this a very popular area during tourist season.

While in St. Simons, we caught up with fellow Pleasure-Way owners Jack and Linda. We felt privileged to tour Silver Girl, their brand-new Catalina sailboat. It was great fun peeking into the numerous nooks and crannies to discover perfectly clean and neatly installed systems. We wish them many years of adventures in their beautiful floating home. If you want to follow along, their blog is at https://silvergirl2.wordpress.com.

29,450 4:05 PM Claxton, GA
We stopped for 18 minutes while fire crews extinguished a car fire on the opposite side of the road. The flames raged with thick black smoke for at least ten minutes.

Firefighters put out the fire and cleaned up the road before allowing traffic to resume. We were impressed with how quickly they had the highway safely ready to reopen.

It appeared that everyone got out okay, but the car was a total loss.

29,505 5:32 PM 57°
Magnolia Springs State Park

Paddle boats and kayaks were available to rent. I’d go for the aluminum paddle boats as they had higher freeboard and were tied to the “Alligators Present” sign.