Sometimes it feels like the members of our family are at war with each other. In the confines of the RV, these tendencies toward insult, offense, anger, tirade, and tears are painfully magnified. Reading a book together is often a salve to our hurt feelings. We get still and quiet, and we call a truce for the sake of a story.

One of our favorite series is The Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers. We knew Jonathan when we lived in Nashville, and we enjoyed his large family and his attachment to our common homeland. (He grew up in Warner Robins, Georgia.) Back then, the older kids eagerly awaited each new installment of Aidan’s adventures on an imaginary island, whose landscape resembles South Georgia. Since the younger kids didn’t remember the stories so well and we were visiting the Okefenokee Swamp, which figures significantly in Secret of the Swamp King, we began reading through the trilogy again. We drove into the swamp, just as Aidan, a character modeled loosely on the Bible’s David, began his swampy sojourn. From then on, our eyes were peeled for feechies. (I can’t tell you what a feechie is, you’ll have to read the books!)

   On a guided tour, we took turns “poking the peat.” Peat is grassy refuse that is carried along in the water until it piles together enough to form the “land” in the swamp. It’s not always very stable. This is how Okefenokee got its name, which means “land of trembling earth.”

 We learned that the scales on an alligator’s back are called “scoots,” and they act like solar panels. They also have an extra set of clear eyelids, like built-in goggles, for seeing underwater.

There were water birds than we could come up with names for.

Swinging through the woods feechie-style

Completely unbothered by the five-hour trek, our friends, the Brownes, drove down from Monroe to join us for a day in the swamp. We met the Brownes through Lifeshape, a group within Chick-fil-A that matches employees with ministries around the world. Brandon has traveled to Russia several times teaching leadership and business seminars to equip local orphanage mentors and help connect them with job opportunities in their communities. A couple of summers ago, our family was invited to participate in summer camp in Belarus along with kids from a nearby orphanage and the church members in their town that mentor them. That’s when the Browne and Mulkey kids cemented their friendships.  

Our swamp time was no less exciting. We rented boats and wandered through the watery wilderness all day.

   Checking out the fire damage at Billy’s Island (named for Seminole Chief Billy Bowlegs). The last big fire burned for almost one year.

Not only is there a very cute captain driving this boat, but in the pic you can see how yellow the water is. The ranger claimed tannins kill 98% of the bacteria, so it’s safe to drink. My kids drank a lot; no diarrhea, yet…

On our way out of the swamp, two friends from my school days in Jesup met me for breakfast. For a few hours Becky, Shellie, and I were transformed into the chattering, giggling girls we used to be. And we were a little surprised, I think, that we had changed so quickly into grown-ups, with children of our own, who are the age we were at the height of our friendships. My kids ate breakfast at an adjoining table, eyebrows raised at the sudden increase in my twang and the rapid rate of our conversation, some of which was completely incomprehensible to them!