Moving south once again we toured the Savannah River National Wildlife Refuge from our motor home with auto in tow. We seldom attempt to bird this way. There are risks. Low hanging trees can force a turn around, and the double rig needs a large radius. Backing up is impossible. Still, worst case is to unhitch, turn around, and then have to reconnect. A nuisance certainly, but not the end of the world. In this case there were no problems, we just had to skirt a few low-branching live oaks. Spring has definitely arrived here. The willows are leafing out and the oaks are flowering. The maples are bright red with samara fruits. Flocks of blue-winged teal greeted us in the ponds. This is the duck that migrates the farthest south in winter, and we found it here for the first time this year. We parked and cooked lunch in the motor home before continuing south. Our intention had been to camp near the Okeefenokee Swamp, but the campground never answered the phone. So, we came to this campground in the “Golden Isles” area of Georgia. We made a mistake. A private campground it offered a discount, but the sites are small and the highway too near. A few miles away is a lovely county campground in the woods next to the marsh. It would have cost no more, but we did not find it until after we had registered here for a week. Good news is that the Wi-fi service is very good. I bought Turbotax and have made good progress. Still I find it increasingly irritating to have to spend some twenty to thirty hours at this business. When we were making more money there seemed to be some sport in the effort. We also had an accountant to complete the forms. Now, we pay $40 for the software. I don’t know how we would fill out the forms without it. Still, the process is a tedium and each year is more complicated. The good news is that all of the w-2’s, 1099’s, and various other numbered documents seem to have arrived in proper order this year. Last year we had to file an amended return to address items that came later in the year. The system has become so complicated that businesses need until April to get us the forms, and then we are supposed to file by April 15. Congress should be ashamed not only of the amount of money they demand from taxpayers but what trouble they make us go through to file. Our taxes are further complicated by the fact that we have income from two states with very different tax systems. This adds another six hours of work to the process. At least today the Internet lets us readily obtain the various esoteric forms needed to make the joint filings made necessary by this. In years past one had to check off a list of forms needed, request them by mail, and wait for them to arrive. But in years past one needed many fewer forms. The current madness would have been impossible. Technology has made it easier to deal with a stupidly complex tax system that is made possible only by the technology. Here we are near the beach and also not far from the great Okeefenokee Swamp. A primary objective was to run our canoe in this inland wetland. We selected a fabulously beautiful day and paddled about. The preserve is without roads. We drove to the eastern entrance and put our boat in the Suwannee Canal. This was dug in an effort to drain the marsh to allow logging and farming of the land. Our good luck is that a combination of technical errors and a failing economy caused collapse of the project. Still the land was logged, and the ivory-billed woodpecker was lost. Then the land was abandoned to the government. The CCC completed excavation of a string of shallow channels that allow easy transit by small boats throughout the refuge. The Okeefenokee includes cypress and hardwood stands, pine flats, reed beds, and shall lakes. Most of the land is soggy and many of the so-called islands are really floating masses of peat that can be induced to shake and wobble by jumping. This “land of the quaking earth” is thus wonderfully unsuited for development. In early March the golden-club plants are in full bloom. Their yellow phallic spadices fill the marshes. A bull alligator roared and shook near the landing where we ate lunch. Florida cooters struggled through the weeds to dive into the soup as we approached. Egrets called. A breeze required only a sweater, and sunscreen protected us from the brilliant light. What a fine day in the wilderness. Yesterday a cyclone passed by and brought a day of rain and thunder showers. This morning brightened clear and windy. The air should quiet and chill tonight. Will this be the last blast of winter? Tomorrow we will return to Okeefenokee, this time for a hike through the pinewoods in search of red-cockaded woodpeckers and spring flowers. On Monday we drive on to Cape Canaveral just in time for the shuttle launch that night. We will definitely stay up to see the night turn to day.