Magnus Takes a Short Sea Rim Break

 Magnus Takes a Short Sea Rim Break 

Thursday, July 9 2026

After a rather long hiatus from pleasure trips (and trips in general), we finally geared up the Magnus and headed to the ocean. We’ve been to Sea Rim several times, but I don’t recall ever going in the middle of summer. So this should be a surprise. And hopefully not too buggy.

We got a late start, partly on purpose because also because two tires needed air. And when Ed started airing the second one, it immediately started losing pressure. I don’t know why they weren’t checked on the previous day, according to our trip plan, but I guess it was more important to sit around watching TV reruns.

After a lot of sweat, tears, and a burned-out air compressor, he managed to get the tire up to an acceptable pressure. The theory is that the valve stem extender for the extra TPMS was leaking. We will see.

So we'd expected to leave at ten or ten-thirty but finally made it at eleven or so. But we were still in no hurry because we only had a 2-1/2 hour drive.  It ended up being a beastly hot drive, with no clouds at all. But that was expected.

We arrived at Atlanta State Park (near Texarkana) at maybe 2:30 or so. We had an easy access,  pull-thru spot reserved. In the lovely big pine trees.  Which made it seem impossible for the Starlink dish to get a clear shot of the sky—but with the dishy on the ground in between Magnus and the street it worked fine. It was just a little slow to get connected.

It was awfully hot, but just enough breeze was blowing to motivate me to get on with Molly’s long afternoon walk. I promise her one hour every day, plus the usual walks (before breakfast, after breakfast, and at sunset.)  We we went off around the campground and down to the day use area, but we soon found a trail called the Volksmarch Trail. I didn’t have a trail map with me, but the sign said .7 miles to connect with the other trail, so we did an out-and-back. 

Birds seen: Summer Tanager, Carolina Wren, Pine Warbler, American Crow, Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-eyed Vireo, Peewee, Acadian Flycatcher

Review Atlanta SP:  A little shade cleared out under the big pines
Asphalt, pull-thru, FHU. Site 22.

Although it’s a heavily wooded (and shady!) area, the tree branches were cleared back from the road so we didn’t have any scraping or brushing. It was pretty easy access for our 35' motorhome and toad, but I’m not sure I'd try it with a bigger rig.

Our pull-thru site 22 was a little unlevel and had a few spots where the asphalt was buckling. But not bad. It was full hookup and 50-amp electric. The sewer was way back at the back of the site but that wouldn’t have been a problem if we’d been unhooking the tow vehicle and parking it in front. As it was, we just barely reached the sewer with two hoses connected to each other.

The trees made it nicely shady and it didn’t have that “closed in” feeling that you get in some east Texas campgrounds.  Our Starlink dish was challenged, but it worked well enough on the ground in between the coach and the road.

The restroom was old but nicely clean.  There weren’t many other campers and the whole place was quiet and lovely. Lots of birds, too.

The most annoying thing about the campground was that getting there and getting away required a lot of twists and turns on little FM highways. There was nothing seriously narrow or rough, but we made pretty poor time for a half-hour or so after leaving Route 59. 

Review: Good Wives

 

Good Wives:

Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750

By Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

I didn’t finish this but I’m writing a review to say good things about what I did read. It was so very well researched and you could tell that a scholar knew her stuff and presented it winningly. She personalized history and dry dull fact in a charming way and made you really be interested in what was going on in the lives and minds of those women of long ago.

I quit reading (although I skimmed for the juicy bits) about halfway. It was simply not a subject that I had more than a passing interest in, sorry. But if you do, read this for sure! You won't be disappointed.

Review: What to Eat Now

What to Eat Now:

The Indispensable Guide to Good Food, How to Find It, and Why It Matters

By Marion Nestle

Wow. This is a lot of information. But all good and well-researched and sometimes horrifying to read but necessary to know.

Starting with Michael Pollan’s immortal words: “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” she goes off and explains what is food and what is not and when it is not, what is it?  For every basic food group she explains how it’s grown or manufactured or created in a test tube. Then, what the major adulterants are and what are the risks of consuming them, and other important information. About the only information I didn’t find, but wanted to, was a mention of how the selective breeding of vegetables for “good looks after hard travel” came at the expense of nutrition and taste. It’s mentioned but not explained.

Review: Fire Must Burn

 

Just another in the series, as good as ever but not as deep as some.  Other than Iris’ issues, the author seems to be putting other complex emotions on the back burner and just writing a great mystery. Which should be enough….

But it isn’t.

 

Review: An Excellent Thing in a Woman

By Allison Montclair

Addicted!!!! In the best way.  But this is #7 and I only have one more.  (I sob)

Can’t go into details without revealing too much, like the reviewer on GoodReads that I just checked did. But let me just say that I HATED the discontinuity between the last book and this one. In the last book we were left hanging on a couple of issues, and in this one, she just resolves them in a sentence or two and gets on with things. 

So after a brief moment of rage, I got into the plot and loved this one as much as usual. But I don’t feel like the whole “Sally” thing is getting fair play, nor do I fee
l like I understood fully what it took for Gwen to move on with her life. I just wish the transition had the deserved air time—she built up this whole complex emotional thing...and just dropped it.

 And I still like it. Darn.

 

Review: Stupid Stupid Stupid

Stupid Stupid Stupid: Even more tales of adventure, travel and life

By George Mahood

When you do as many wild and crazy things as George Mahood does, you can simply publish your daily diary and make a story of everyday life. Not that I don’t expect he needed to do a lot of editing, rearranging, and cleanup to turn it into a readable tale. But he did, and I enjoyed it.

Like pretty much everything of his that I’ve read, it’s not earth-shattering or deep or even hilarious. But it’s fun.