Georgia Lingers In Our Minds

After wrapping up our bus maintenance in Chattanooga, it was time for some fun in Georgia!

Atlanta

We made a late night arrival to our friend’s Dale & Miri’s place nearish downtown Atlanta who we had parked our Oliver with previously. Based on our memories, we were pretty sure the bus would fit.

His property involves crossing a narrow bridge with a slight turn before and after it. Manueving onto and off it was quite a challenge, but we did it with some very slow inch by inch moving .. all with about a 1/2 inch to spare!

Aside from the tight crossing, their location is wonderful.

It’s always a favorite type of setup to be temporary neighbors with awesome people, in a peaceful location and close to where we want to be.  Not to mention, Atlanta has very limited RV options to begin with, so driveway surfing is just about the only way to go without staying on the outskirts of town.

Calling this a perfect spot, would be an understatement.

Just about 2 miles from a MARTA station, we had easy access to public transportation to access our reason for heading to Atlanta – Dragon*Con!

This is a huge sci-fi, fantasy and gamer convention which was my go-to event over Labor Day weekend before I met Chris.

It’s grown substantially since my last visit, and it was huge then. It’s now spread over 5 gigantic downtown Atlanta hotels and features over 30 tracks – ranging from Star Trek, Joss Whedon (the ‘Whedonverse’), Classic Sci-Fi, Tolkien and actual science. There’s floors of gaming set up, art displays, expos and vendors and unlimited ogling at amazing costuming.

I think I was able to give Chris a good survey of the event by taking him to a variety of panels, wandering around, playing a game of Star Trek Settlers of Catan with friends and attending a shindig.

While he enjoyed it, he kept comparing everything to Burning Man – “The costuming is great, except most folks are dressed as characters’, ‘There’s no dust!’, ‘You mean I have to pay for this drink??’.

We only managed to muster up the energy to attend two days of the con.  We discovered that there’s a lot to be said about staying onsite, where it’s easier to pop in for a panel and lunch, and then retreat for a nap and costume change. Staying a few miles away and having to navigate public transit, we just had to make everyday a full day.

We ended up staying a few days after the con to get more time with our gracious hosts, which conveniently helped to delay our attempt of crossing that narrow bridge again! We’re proud to say, we managed the cross twice without a scratch to the bus or their bridge!

We also really wanted to visit the Georgia Aquarium, which had opened not too long before we hit the road. It’s something we had always wanted to see on previous visits to Atlanta. As our host was able to get us discounted tickets, there was nothing stopping us this time.

And it was definitely worth the effort! At 6.3 billion gallons of water, it’s the largest artificial aquarium on the planet right now. It was designed to house 6 whale sharks – and there are currently 4 on display.  We arrived right at feeding time, and it was amazing. We could have stood there for hours starring in amazement at these baby beasts and all their marine frends.

The rest of the aquarium was really well done, and far more interactive than others we’ve visited.

And also while we were in Atlanta, fellow RVing nomad Ayo was passing through town giving a series of presentations on her documentary, ‘Faces of Israel’.

She invited us, and our hosts, along to one of the presentations, and it was good to see her in professional mode and catch up. A lot has been up for her, and her (now) ex Yair, since we last saw them in Austin earlier this year.

Coastal Rendezvous

While we were up in Michigan attending a bus rally, we posted a picture of our swap table of stuff we had out for sale. Included was our Honda 2000 propane converted generator, which we had decided was time to find a new home for.  Our dear friends near Savannah, Elliott & Ann, wrote telling us they’d be interested as it would be perfect for powering their small Le’Sharo motorhome.  Considering this was the memorable temporary home-on-wheels we borrowed inbetween the Oliver and finding our bus (which inspired an epic tale), we couldn’t think of a more perfect home.

So thus a plan had been set that we’d head towards Savannah after Dragon*Con to catch up with friends. They arranged for us to courtesy park at their neighbor’s place, which gave us amazing sunrise views!

At the same time, my parents had planned their first road trip since my dad’s chemo started at the first of the year, and would put them passing by. When our friends found out, they very graciously suggested that our family rendezvous should happen at their place and offered to host us all. It was a fantastic couple of nights for us, and it’s safe to say – everyone got along fabulously! There might have been a bottle or two of wine shared, and lots of laughter.

Since that rendezvous would be happening right over my dad’s birthday, it was also a perfect opportunity to present him a very special present – which was actually a big part of our summer routing. A secret mission we managed to keep under wraps for months.  We’ll do a separate post soon sharing the surprise.

But Ann & Elliott also had a special present waiting for us, that completely stunned us!  Ann handmade a custom quilt for us as a bus warming present. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and so totally us!  She had brought us fabric samples when they visited us this past spring in Cedar Key, but it was still a delightful surprise to see this functional artwork completed.

As the bedroom is in clear view inside the bus, it’s an integral part of our decor – and we are honored to have something with so much love put into it. She even used a stitch pattern for the quilting that looks like our back-to-back ‘C’ that is also designed into our Technomadia logo and commitment rings.

When we set off on the road, we never fully anticipated the special friendships we’d be able to forge as a result. The past couple weeks have been a wonderful reminder of this.

What’s Next?

Desiring a bit of vacation time themselves, Ann & Elliott decided to join us on our journey south.. so all six of us left out yesterday morning. My folks back to their home in Melbourne, and the four of us stopping in St. Augustine for an evening of camping out together on the beach.

Having now said our ‘until next times’, we’ll be continuing south tomorrow with a weekend stopover in Cape Canaveral – where we have plans to meet up with our dear fellow nomadic friends, Sean & Louise. They’re in the area recuperating after an extended Red Cross deployment.

After that, we’ll be scoping out a couple of RV Parks closer to my parents in Melbourne – where we’ll select a site to become our home for a month or more. We’re really looking forward to plopping down for a bit. There’s a lot of work stuff to focus on, it’ll be good to establish some routines and of course, be near my folks. At present time, we have intentions of being in Florida through at least the beginning of next year.