A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 214 miles from Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina.
Travel from Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina
We drove our coach 214 miles, about five hours of driving, from Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map:
Joining I-95 North:
Bridge:
Buc-ees under construction:
Rest area:
Paladin on the driver chair:
Rainy:
Having a snack while watching the map showing lightning nearby:
US Air Force plane outside an Air Force museum:
Heavy traffic:
Welcome to South Carolina:
Rest area:
Charleston exit:
Arriving at James Island County Park:
Check in:
Arriving at our site:
Override Tecma macerating toilet controller with this one weird trick
Last year I posted about replacing the controller in our Tecma macerating toilet. I concluded the post saying that it failed again even after replacing the controller, and I suspected the pump might be the fault.
To test this, I rearranged the wires, so the power wire to the toilet and the pump wire could be reached at the back of the toilet without having to dismount it again. Conveniently, they both have the same style plug, so it is possible to connect the pump directly to the power supply, bypassing the controller, so it runs continuously — obviously only briefly, before disconnecting again. That was enough to get the pump moving again. It has been working flawlessly since then. But if it were to ever stop again, I can easily repeat that process.
Fort Frederica National Monument
We visited Fort Frederica National Monument in Georgia. It was established in 1736 to help protect the British colonies from the Spanish in Florida.
An interactive map:
Visitor center:
Model of the fort and town:
Building foundations:
Ancient live oak tree:
Archaeology dig site:
Foundations of the fanciest house in town:
Remains of the fort:
The fort info sign:
Cannons:
Fort selfie:
What happened?
The barracks:
Reenactors:
He and Jenn chatted for a while, explaining about the hut, his uniform, his gun, and more:
A fascinating visit.
Driftwood Beach
We visited Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island in Georgia. When we think driftwood, we think logs, but this beach has whole trees.
An interactive map:
Driftwood Beach:
An interesting place.
Crooked River State Park trails
While staying in Crooked River State Park in Saint Marys, Georgia, we enjoyed frequent walks in the park.
Trail map:
Info sign:
Alligator country:
River:
Trail:
Tortoise:
Another trail:
Nature center:
Boardwalk trail without a boardwalk:
The trail was somewhat flooded, but we did it anyway:
Observation tower:
Swampy:
The boardwalk has been removed:
Pond:
A nice park.
Crooked River State Park
We stayed at Crooked River State Park in Saint Marys, Georgia. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A pleasant stop on our way north.
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-03-09
- Check out: 2025-03-16
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Partly sunny, some rain
- High temps 62-76°F, lows 48-62°F
- Some wind, gusts to 32 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train horn noise
- Little neighbor noise
Site:
- #62, back-in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Mostly level site; a little high on rear passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 20 feet wide
- 30 feet to neighbor on passenger side
- 75 feet to road on driver side
- Trees and shrubs between sites providing good privacy
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Lantern hooks
- Tall trees
- Clean site
- Elevation 20 feet, front facing due West
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
- 45 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 28-38 Mbps down, 9-10 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
- AT&T: 115-127 Mbps down, 13-20 Mbps up, 50-85 ms ping
- Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping (our SIM has 5 Mbps max)
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- River
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Lovely state park
Not all campsites here have full hookups, but we were lucky enough to get a reservation for one. Our back-in site was plenty long enough for our 40-foot motorhome and tow vehicle. All the connections were good, and the campground hosts were on the ball, cleaning sites as soon as they were vacated. The campground is peaceful, with lots of nice, easy trails to enjoy. Note that the boardwalk has been removed from the loop behind the nature center, and we had to hop around some very large puddles to get around. Despite signs warning of snakes and gators, we saw neither, but we did see an armadillo, which was exciting as I’d never seen one that wasn’t roadkill. We camped at Crooked River State Park in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Jekyll Island (Driftwood Beach) and Fort Frederica National Monument are both worth a daytrip. Locals Dockside had excellent seafood, and historic St Marys is a cute little town.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
Pollen on our truck:
Other sites:
Bathrooms:
The first time we’ve seen a live armadillo:
Venomous snake country:
Little library:
Mini golf:
Cabins and screened picnic area:
Shelter building:
Dangerous cliff:
A nice park; we’d be happy to stay here again.
Video: Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 273 miles from Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia.
Travel from Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia
We drove our coach 273 miles, about five hours of driving, from Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map:
A tight corner leaving the campground, made more tricky by vehicles parked close to the road, but we didn’t have any difficulties:
I-4 East:
Rest area:
Heavy traffic and an RV on the side of the freeway:
Traffic cams with our coach:
Passing downtown Orlando:
I-95 North; we appreciate road markings on lanes to make it very clear where we need to be:
Snuggly Paladin:
Handy rest area truck parking spaces available sign:
Rest area:
I suspect they don’t want anyone parking there:
Fuel stop:
$296.20 of diesel, before our discount:
Rainy:
The Napoleon Bonaparte Broward bridge aka Dames Point bridge in Jacksonville, lost in the clouds. Apparently some Floridians are scared of this bridge, because it’s so high (and Floridians aren’t used to high places, being such a flat state!):
Thank you for visiting Florida:
Welcome to Georgia, state of inconveniently-placed poles:
Sub outside Kings Bay Sub Base:
Crooked River State Park:
Our site:
Peeking behind the wet bay
As previously mentioned, I had my wet bay modified to integrate the water filters and water softener, plus add valves and connections so I could regenerate and backflush the softener without having to remove it. Very handy. But it wasn’t hooked up quite right, so I pulled apart the wet bay to investigate. I determined that the pipes were reversed from how I wanted them, but the good news is that I was able to flip the water softener around (so the input and output were reversed), and change the labels on the valves and connectors, and now the system works properly. Yay!
Anyway, I thought I’d share some pictures of the complex hoses back there:
Fascinating stuff.