I checked out of my New Jersey campground on November 30 but I still had a couple service issues to take care of before I could leave the state. I had a front tire that was wearing unevenly—a sure sign of an alignment problem so I needed to replace the two front tires and get a front end alignment. No easy feat because, as I found out, there aren’t many places that can handle a 31 foot motorhome. I don’t use Camping World for repairs, even though I bought it there, because they have a terrible reputation for their service departments.

I went back to the same tire place I used last summer. The guys at Wall Tire in Toms River are really terrific. It’s a small operation but they give great service and they’re nice, to boot. The owner remembered me and asked all about my travels while I waited and gave me a discount for buying two tires.

Getting new front tires.

After several phone calls to find an alignment place, I found R&H Spring & Truck Repair through another business that couldn’t accommodate me but knew these guys could. Once again, great staff! They knew I needed to get on the road that day so they made sure to get the job done, although it took all day. The mechanics would be in and out of the motorhome all day and I couldn’t risk the cats escaping so I placed them in a small dog crate I have for just this sort of thing. It’s small enough to fit in the motorhome but large enough for two cats, a food dish, and litter box. (I wish I’d thought to take a picture.) I hit the road in the late afternoon and got as far as a Walmart in South Jersey.

My last trip from New Jersey to Florida was through the mountains of Western Virginia and North Carolina (see my previous post). This time I took the coastal route through Delaware, Maryland, North and South Carolina. Winter is a wonderful time to be in this area because there are no crowds and no traffic like there is in summer but the weather can be iffy and it’s also difficult to find open campgrounds in the northern states. My first five nights on the road were spent in Walmart parking lots.

My first stop was Middletown, DE. I planned to have dinner with Rick of DPC Emergency Equipment, my company’s ambulance dealer here. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out but I was also here to look at real estate. I had my eye on a house on the Delaware River that came on and off the market over the previous two years. It’s a cute two bedroom bungalow right on the river that seemed just right for me when I’m done with my little travel adventure.

I pulled into a Walmart, unhitched the Jeep and set out to find my future home. Well, the house may have been cute but the neighborhood was terrible. Every other house on the street was run down with junk cars in the yards. And the view across the river was of the Salem Nuclear Power Plant on the New Jersey side. Ugh! How disappointing.

Two bedroom bungalow on the Delaware River I had my eye on for two years proved to be a disappointment. Photo from Zillow.

The view from the house on the Delaware River. Internet photo.

But at least I got that house off my mind and can move on. So I went in search of a lighthouse I knew was in the area but it was in a park that was closed and gated. It wasn’t much to look at anyway so I moved on to Dunkirk, MD for the night, which put me in a good location to see a couple of lighthouses father south in Solomons, MD the next morning.

Cove Point Light in Lusby, MD was closed so I couldn’t get good shots.

Drum Point Light at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, MD.

Piney Point Light at sunrise.

From Maryland, I drove to Chesterfield, VA, just south of Richmond, to visit with business associates who have become friends. My friend, Jeff, and his family picked me up at the Walmart and we went to out for dinner. Jeff used to work for my company’s ambulance dealers both in Delaware and Virginia. He’s a great photographer and we hit it off right from the start. Jeff is the person who told me about Lerro Productions, the photography charter company I do a lot of my lighthouse trips with. I’m so grateful for that as my work as improved tremendously.

The Hawkins family joins me for dinner.

The next morning, I stopped in at Goodman Specialized Vehicles, the Virginia dealership, for a quick “Hello” before heading towards the Outer Banks. I stopped for the night in Suffolk, VA and was able to make an early morning venture into The Great Dismal Swamp. It’s mentioned in several books I’ve read, most notably, The Outlander series. To hike the entire swamp trail would have taken all day so I opted for a short walk in the woods then drove to my campground, Camp Hatteras RV Resort in Rodanthe, NC.

The Great Dismal Swamp. I didn’t walk far enough to find the actual swamp.

I’ve been to the Outer Banks a few times and have never been able to find the house from the Nicholas Sparks movie, “Nights in Rodanthe.” I’ve read that it was moved a short distance away from the shoreline on State Highway 12, but I still can’t find it. Oh well.

The Inn at Rodanthe before it was moved away from the surf.  Internet photo.

Since it was early December, the campground was nearly empty—maybe five RVs in the whole place. I was able to get an oceanfront site and could hear the waves crashing even with my windows closed. The weather had been mild but overcast all week but now the temperature dropped and it started raining and did so on and off for the three days I would be on the barrier islands. The only breaks in the rain came while I was at lighthouses. How fortuitous!

The nearly empty campground on the Outer Banks.

It rained every day that I was on the Outer Banks, except when I was at the lighthouses.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Ocracoke Lighthouse with a furry friend. Getting here requires a free, 60 minute ferry ride from Hatteras.

Click here to see this cat follow me around. I think he wanted to live in a motorhome.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

Currituck Beach Light Station at the north end of the Outer Banks.

My next campground stay would be in Savannah, GA and I took three days to get there, stopping in New Bern, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC. AllStays-ONP Walmart is an app for the iPhone/iPad (not available for Android) that shows all the Walmarts and whether they allow overnight parking along with info posted by other travelers about their experience at any given location. The protocol is to always go inside to ask permission and buy something. When I got to the Walmart in North Myrtle Beach that my app said allowed overnight parking, there were signs posted everywhere saying, “No overnight parking.” I went in and asked about it and sure enough, they had recently changed their parking policy and no longer allowed it. Damn. Now I needed to find another place to park for the night.

I remembered passing a Cracker Barrel up the road so I returned there and had no problem. I have always found Cracker Barrel managers to be extremely pleasant and happy to help a traveler. Their only words of caution are that you park at your own risk and the store is not responsible for your safety. Well, that’s pretty much the case anywhere you go, so I ate dinner in the restaurant as payment for my overnight accommodations and in the morning, I took off for Savannah.

I have visited Savannah twice before without actually being able to tour the city. On those occasions, the forces of nature—otherwise known as traffic on I-95 in South Carolina—caused me to get to town too late in the day and I’d only scheduled one day. This time, I planned a longer stay to ensure I could enjoy this beautiful southern gem.

I stayed three nights at Biltmore Gardens RV Park, just outside the historic district. I took the Old Town Trolley tour that allows you to get off at any stop to explore different parts of town on foot then get back on at another location. For $30, it’s a great way to sight-see and they’re located in 7 cities around the country.

Biltmore Gardens RV Park just outside Savannah.

The old cotton warehouses on River Street are now unique shops and restaurants.

Stairs leading down from street level to the waterfront.

Cobblestone road leading down to the waterfront.

The famous Forsyth Park Fountain.

Spanish Moss in Forsyth Park. I recently learned it is neither Spanish, nor moss.

Some scenes in the movie Forrest Gump were filmed in Savannah. This is the location of the bench Forrest sat on to tell his story to anyone who would sit and listen. “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

In the opening credits of Forrest Gump, a feather slowly floats through the sky and passes this church steeple.

Also on my agenda were a couple lighthouses. I’d been to Tybee Island Lighthouse on a previous trip to Savannah, photographing it at night because of my aforementioned travel delays. This time I got to see it in the daylight and also to see Cockspur Lighthouse. Cockspur is accessible from Fort Pulaski National Monument, a Union-held fort during the Civil War that housed Confederate prisoners on Cockspur Island in the Savannah River. As part of the National Park Service, admission was free with my Lifetime Senior Pass.

Tybee Island Lighthouse at sunset.

Fort Pulaski on Cockspur Island in the Savannah River.

Exterior damaged caused by cannonballs. There are still a few cannonballs embedded in the brick.

The Port of Savannah, located just a little farther up river from the city of Savannah, is the fourth busiest seaport in the U.S. For all my Florida friends and family familiar with the ships that come into the Port of Palm Beach, these ships are three to four times as large.

Cockspur Lighthouse is located on an islet just off the larger island and, unfortunately, was inaccessible to me on this day. Last Fall’s Hurricane Irma damaged the walkways through the salt marsh and they were closed to the public. My only view of the lighthouse was from atop the fort with a 300mm lens.

Cockspur Lighthouse as viewed from the top of Fort Pulaski with a long lens.

Back in town, Old Harbor Light stands 25 feet tall along the riverfront, looking more like a giant street light than a lighthouse but it was a useful aid to navigation on the Savannah River in the 19th century.

Old Harbor Light near the riverfront in Savannah’s historic district.

I don’t like to drive the motorhome more than four or five hours so I planned to take two days to drive from Savannah to my father’s house on Singer Island in Palm Beach County, FL. Although not part of my original travel itinerary, I had decided to return to Florida to help my sister Barbara care for our 93 year-old father and give her a break so she could go to New Jersey for Christmas. She called to tell me Dad was back in the hospital for his congestive heart failure so I drove straight through and was able to visit him that afternoon.

My two-week route from New Jersey to Florida.

Upcoming post:

A heartbreaking winter in Florida.

My name is Lindsay Reed and I’m a photographer and retired graphic artist with a passion for both lighthouses and road trips. I am living as a full-time solo RVer in my 31 foot Coachmen motorhome and plan to spend the next few years traveling the U.S. and Canada photographing not only lighthouses, but everything else there is to see in this wonderful land. I hope you enjoy my blog and will follow my adventures in the months and years ahead.