Of the Southern East Coast cities, Savannah is probably our favorite, and we try to put it on the route whenever we pass through Georgia.  We would cruise into town, park the rig at the downtown visitor center for $7 a night, and maybe treat ourselves to a hotel.  Either way we would be within walking distance of the river front area and several points of interest.  We would pay an additional $7 a day for Loki’s parking, but that gave us a pass good at any of the municipal lots in town.

As you can see, it is love bug season in Florida.

So that was the plan this year as well.  We pulled into the visitor center parking lot in the mid afternoon and headed inside to make payment, only to be told that they no longer allowed any overnight parking, that we needed to be out of the lot by 6 PM, and if we stayed more than an hour we would be charged $20.  The ladies running the lot were sympathetic and helpful, but there was nothing to be done about this new city policy.  We could drive across the bridge and park at the convention center for $30 a night (no services, just dry camping in the parking lot) or we could look elsewhere.

“Walking distance to the river front” is a bit deceptive: it has some pretty severe stairs.

So with less than an hour, we turned on our MiFi hotspot and urgently pulled up our go to RV campground websites:  Passport America (referrals available,)  All Stays, Campground Reviews, and US Military Campgrounds.  In the end, we backtracked a dozen miles to Lotts Island RV Campground on the Hunter Army Airfield base.  We arrived with no reservation, having been unable to get hold of anyone on the phone, and could find no camp host to ask about staying.

A nice site with concrete patio and fire circle.

Even after driving to the MWR Outdoor Recreation Office, which was closed, I could find no procedure for after hours check in.  Embracing the “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” nature of the situation, we pulled in and hooked up at an empty site and hoped for the best.  While it’s not exactly walking distance to downtown Savannah, it’s a decent park with spacious sites, plenty of trees, and full hook ups for $25 a night.  Big rigs should be warned that the turn into the entry gate is quite tight. 

By this point we were starving, and so we headed back into town for an excellent meal and craft beer at a the Crystal Beer Parlor.  Though we came this time purely based on Rose’s Trip Advisor research, it turns out we had visited this place during one of our previous visits with our friends Fred and Donna.  It did not disappoint. 

Speaking of Fred and Donna, the next day they drove in from Statesboro to hang out a bit with us.  We had lunch at a Texas Roadhouse before heading downtown to walk the river front tourist area.  It was great to catch up with these friends from our Miami Beach days, though we are sorry we missed Mark this year, and with him the best recovery possible. 

We closed out our stay with another Moose Lodge, I think we are up to about 28 now.  This one was quite welcoming, and it turns out they have RV hook ups, giving us one more option for future Savannah visits now that the visitor center is off the table.  Next up: Wilmington, and we are down to only three weeks behind on the blog.