This year we made plans to winter in Savannah. We’ve been twice before. Once during our first year of full-time RVing and once two years ago on our return to the East Coast.

It’s an easy choice to make. We have family here and, in the winter, the mild weather makes for a comfortable place to drop anchor. You can count on rain, sometimes a lot, but the sunny days are either crisp and cool or warm enough for short sleeves.

Plus the city is steeped in history. It figured prominently in both the Revolutionary and Civil War and its founding stretches back to pre-Colonial days. Despite those wars (and a particularly grueling battle during the Revolution), many of the original buildings are still intact along with the city’s iconic squares.

The design makes it unique with twenty-two public squares spread out around the tightly knit downtown area. In the past few decades the river walk has been rehabilitated too as a tourist mecca. And, if we’re being honest, an epic pub crawl.

Out West, the scenery is incomparable. But here, on the East Coast, the history is rich and roots run deep. The brick Colonials are gorgeous homes. The antebellum mansions that ring many of the squares stand testament not only to the grandeur of the Southern elite but the darker history that built the very foundations and walls.

For book five in the Fort Black series, I’ve taken some liberties with the layout of the city. I’ve added a railroad roundhouse on the East side. The current roundhouse is a must-see Railroad and Children’s Museum. I needed one with fewer tourists. Where I’ve placed it there’s an old footprint of a railyard of some kind. Not a full roundhouse but I’ve used the historic one as a template.

So I’m going with Roundhouse for the working title. I’ve always enjoyed titles with multiple meanings and this one’s history with a kick. I’m currently approaching the halfway mark for the first draft at 38,000 words with a target around 85,000. That’s right in line with the rest of the books in the series.

In Roundhouse, Kade comes face to face with a demon from his past. He’d given himself some mental distance from Fort Black, but it’s going to come back to haunt him in a big way. He’ll be on his own again too (at the beginning…) and find his efforts being managed by a problematic handler and a reluctant safe house operator. But by the end, he’ll have cracked the case wide open and will know precisely who’s behind the complex conspiracy Sergei dragged him into.

I can’t wait to share it with you! Look for it in March!

As for our travels, we’ve left Savannah behind for the Francis Marion National Forest outside of Charleston. Buried in the woods, I gotta say, I feel more at home. As much as I enjoy wandering the streets of Savannah, there’s nothing like leaving civilization behind and striking off on a trail.

Previously, our stays in Savannah included Skidaway and Fort McAllister State Parks. Those allowed for a little exposure to nature. This time we landed closer to the beach at Tybee. And while it’s hard to object when it comes to being near the beach, the RV parks in those locations always have space at a premium – tight spaces for lots of money.

The cost is one reason we prefer state and federal parks. But even though you can often find good off-season winter deals on the coast (at least outside of Florida), slightly more inland gets you more space and closer to what I consider camping as opposed to parking.

This move signals our slow migration north. After a bit of time spent at the new home base, we plan to head West this fall for a bucket list trip. Weather, timing, fires, and pandemics altered our previous route and we need to grab sites we missed our first two years out that direction.

Long before then, I’ll have wrapped up this first six book installment for the Fort Black series. I’ll need to see what’s next for Kade and I imagine, I’ll find him out West once his current crisis calms down. Not that he won’t be looking for trouble. Or that it won’t come looking for him.

Thanks for coming along on the journey,

Russ

Haven’t read the series yet? Get caught up before the white-knuckle ending in book six, scheduled for June of this year!

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Tags: author, east coast, fiction, fort black, georgia, history, nomad, novel, photography, savannah, self publishing, thriller, travel, Writing