3. FROM KEY BISCAYNE, FL TO UNICOI STATE PARK - HELEN, GA
Thursday, April 29 - Day 5
Key Biscayne, FL to Stephen C. Foster State Park, GA
A day mostly devoted to getting from here to there. Left Key Biscayne at 9:15 AM, took I-95 North to the Florida Turnpike, the FL Turnpike to I-75, jumped off at exit 81 to take FL 47 and US 441 to Fargo, GA, and finally GA 177 to the state park. While the Florida Turnpike lays no claim to scenic distinction, it is a lot less strenuous than taking I-95 from Miami to Palm Beach. Costs a bundle in tolls, though. Nothing special about I-75, the few pretty sections through the rolling hills around Ocala - Florida's horse country - more often than not are spoiled by billboards.
FL 47 and US 441 are a lot prettier, but that doesn't say much. The best part of the trip was the 17 mile stretch on GA 177, from Fargo, GA to the Stephen B. Foster State Park. This park is located on 80-acre Jones Island inside the 396,000-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. It's an ideal starting place for getting to know the refuge (which has some 49 varieties of mammals, including black bears, 234 species of birds, 60 species of amphibians, and some 54 different species of reptiles that include an alligator population of 9,000 to 15,000 - depending on which guidebook you read.
The facilities are excellent. Clean bathhouses, water/electric/cable hook-ups, picnic tables and fire rings with grills. Friendly staff. The tent/van/camping trailer areas require navigating a fairly narrow and curvy road, not to be tried with a fifth wheel, long trailer, or class A. My cost for the night, after age adjustment was $16.60 for the two of us - an absolute bargain. The "big boys" have their own area with easy pull-throughs. The sites are well maintained, spotlessly clean, and surrounded by trees and brush to provide good privacy, even though they are fairly close to one another. A definite A- on the Dintel scale. Saw big deer and heard some pretty odd bird calls.
We left Key Biscayne with the sun shining and the temperature in the mid-seventies. 7 3/4 hours and 450 miles later it was cloudy with the temperature around 60F. Bought gas in Florida for $1.179/gal.
Friday, April 30 - Day 6
Stephen C. Foster State Park, GA to Unicoi State Park, GA
We slept later than usual, and Antje actually got up before I did. She took the dogs on their usual one hour morning walk and came back reporting that she had seen deer and alligators at the boat dock. We drove by there on our way out of the park at 10:15 - I did see several large deer, but no alligators. It was cloudly when we left, and started raining soon after. The rain stayed with us for most of the day as we made our way along various backroads alongside the Okefenokee Swamp to Lake Park, GA where we jumped on I-75 for the long and boring drive to the Atlanta area. Absolutely nothing of scenic value along the way. Worked our way around Atlanta on I-675 and I-285 and picked up I-85, the Northeast Expressway. Nothing much "express" about that one. Traffic improved (but not the weather) on I-985, and the sun started to come out when we jumped off for US 129. Made a small detour to take GA 284 (Clarks Bridge Road) for a while and started seeing some pretty country. Back on Us 129 (Cleveland Highway) we started seeing the mountains in sunlight and then switched to the Unicoi Turnpike (GA 75) for the short drive to Helen, GA.
Helen was a nearly deserted lumbermill town until 1969 when they decided to reinvent themselves as a Bavarian village. The "Bavarian" architecture is pure Disney, assuming that Disney didn't have the money to send someone to Bavaria to look at the real thing. Billboards on the way advertised a "Konditorei," and Antje and I were looking forward to some really good Bavarian pastry. However, the Konditorei was closed (Friday afternoon at 4 PM - which no real Konditorei worth its name would ever do) but the local Blimpies was open. Thanks, but no thanks.
We made it to the nearby Unicoi State Park by around 5 PM and got a site. Location and facilities are excellent, as we have come to expect from Georgia State Parks. However, the sites are close together and - I would imagine - quite noisy when they are all occupied.
To make up for this drawback, the park offers a really spotless and comfortable comfort station with great showers. The charge for my site was $14.60. Also, some beautiful scenery to hike around in.
We really didn't feel like driving back to Helen for some imitation German food, so Antje fixed some delicious appetizers and omelettes, and we stayed in the camper for the evening, reading and writing.
Drove 390 miles today, was on the road for 7 hours, and bought gas for $.989/gal. Most filling stations I saw later were selling for $.929/gal.