We did find warmer weather, eventually, as we drove south from Massachusetts to Virginia and on to Florida. You can read about the chilly start to our trip in Escaping the Snow. After leaving Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, we set our sights on North Carolina.

Last March, we took a similar route south and discovered The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park in Wilson, North Carolina. You can see some of the photos I took of the huge outdoor whirligigs in last year’s post, Homeward Bound. Last year, we visited the park on a Monday—the day the store/museum is closed. So, we thought we’d stop by this time on a Wednesday to get the complete experience.

The museum was small, but it held many small whirligig creations by Vollis Simpson. They made me want to go home and start tinkering with something! One sculpture was covered with pieces of old signs made of reflector material. When flash photography is used, it appears to light up in the photograph. You’ll see what I mean in the photos below.

Of course we had to visit Casitas Brewing again, which is adjacent to the park. They’re under new ownership and management. We met the new owners and Mark enjoyed one of their regular beers. The buildings nearby sport some very colorful murals, which is always fun to see.

That night, we landed at Old North State Food Hall in Selma, North Carolina, through our Harvest Hosts membership. The Food Hall was like a large food court you’d find in a mall, but without the mall. The place was clean and bright with nice bathrooms and good wifi. We parked overnight in the back lot where only a couple of other trucks and one RV were parked. They were opened late enough at night and early enough the next morning to make it a very convenient stopover.

The night was a little rainy and the next morning we stopped at the Dunn-Erwin Rail Trail in Dunn, North Carolina, for a muddy walk/run before driving farther south to Richmond Hill, Georgia. There, we stayed at the Savannah South KOA. We happened to park right next to some fellow van travelers, Lucy & Larry, who had also taken a trip to PEI last August. Small world. We exchanged Instagram IDs and they were gone early the next morning.

Before we left, we discovered a bit of wildlife at the KOA.

Since we were so close to Savannah, and this was our second time passing through the area without spending more than a few hours there, we thought a trolley tour of historic Savannah would be a nice idea. It was interesting. But because it was a bit chilly, our driver left the plastic barrier up over the open trolley sides, so we couldn’t take any photos. And his heavy southern accent, layered with slurring over an obviously practiced script, made it hard to understand much of what he said. Oh, well.

We were back on the road by lunchtime and heading into Florida. We stayed that night at a KOA in Fort McCoy, Florida. Beautifully peaceful scene behind our camp site.

The next morning we found the Florida Trail Land Bridge Trailhead—a popular place for biking and horseback riding, apparently.

After a great hike and a run on the trail, we hit the road again and arrived in Naples, Florida, in time for dinner with my Dad. Naples would be our southern-most destination on this trip and a welcome stretch of beautiful, warm, sunny days.