Heading back to the coast

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When we leave to head on down the road it is usually a sad day. We have stayed in some pretty nice places the last month or so. But we are also excided to move on. This time I am especially sad because I have enjoyed Free Wireless Internet for the last 4 days.
The above photo is an example of the kind of roads we have been taking. We have tried to stay off the interstates and travel the back roads. It might take a little longer but when you have to drive on these type of roads, you want it to last longer. Tomorrow we are heading for Washington NC. This is just going to be an overnighter so we are going to check out the Wal-Mart first. If it looks scary we will head for a campground. We will need to go to the Wal_Mart anyway because the nearest store from our next stop is 30 miles. We also have a pile of laundry that needs tending to. At least we will get all the chores done before settling in at The Outer Banks. I hope we will have cell coverage on The Outer Banks so I can get my internet fix.

Averasboro

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We have visited Fort Sumter where the first shot in the Civil War was fired and today we visited the Averasboro Battlefield where the last big battle was fought. During this battle which took place over two days, 1200 were wounded and at least 350 killed. We drove up the road where the battle advanced which is now lined with wheat and corn farms. Some of the homes along the road which were used as headquarters and hospitals are still standing and some have been restored and are used as private residents today. We found out that what is considered today by most as the Confederate flag (all red with a blue X with stars inside) is in reality the battle flag. There were actually 3 Confederate flags. The first looked much like the Union flag with 7 stars in a circle on a blue background with 2 red and 1 white stripe. This was confused with the Stars and Strips of the Union flag so it was changed. The second was the familiar Confederate blue X with white stars but was located in the upper left corner much like the Union flag. The rest of the flag was all white. They abandoned this flag because when hanging limp all you might see was the white and confuse it as a surrender flag. On the third flag they added a vertical red stripe at the end so as not to confuse it with a surrender flag when limp. Ironically enough, no one complains about the real Confederate flag, Only what they think is the Confederate flag which is in reality the battle flag.

Wade North Carolina

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We are in a little town called Wade North Carolina. The drive here was scenic. We took all the back roads and some of them were barely wide enough to pass another car with the motorhome, but what a nice drive. The pace was slow and the view was great. It seems that every house we passed had a front porch with porch swings or rocking chairs. You can tell life around here is slow paced. The traffic was light by California standards but there were a lot more vehicles on the small country roads than I expected. It could have something to do with the holiday weekend. We ended up in a KOA park. Usually we stay from the KOAs because most we have seen are run down or way over priced for what they are. This one came highly recommended and is really nice. As you can see in the picture, the sites are huge. They gave me a KOA discount card so maybe we will be staying at a few more down the road. The charge for the card was $14 but then they gave me a $14 discount on my site because I had the card so it was basically free.
It looks like we are going to have a fairly quiet Memorial Weekend, doesn't seem to be too much to do around here. We will just have to sit back and relax, what else is new huh? Last night we sat out by our faux gas fire pit listening to the guy a few sites over plunking on his banjo and enjoyed the evening.

Last day in Myrtle Beach

This morning we took a drive into town to check out the bikers. As I mentioned, this weekend is Black Biker weekend. It is still early but a lot have already arrived. This proved to be pretty entertaining. I was a little disappointed though because I expected to see a lot of custom choppers. Instead what we saw was a lot of Ninja style bikes.

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We spent the early afternoon walking the beach. The beaches around here don’t have much in the way of waves which makes it nice for the kids. The water was very clear. But what really caught our eye was the amount of shells on the beach. This place is shell collectors haven.

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After the beach we just sat by the lake and watched the alligator as he made his way around the lake. Also what we found comical is the turtle heads that pop up in the lake. I don’t know what makes this so comical but we laugh every time one pops up. They just look so funny.

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Tomorrow is another travel day. We will be heading inland Just for the weekend then back to the coast. We figured we had a better chance to get a site for the holiday weekend by heading inland.

There’s a gator in the lake

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Susan and I were walking around the lake this evening when we spotted this guy floating in the lake. He is only about a 4 footer but a gator nun the less. I saw a sign that said not to feed the alligator but didn't expect to see one. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Looks like I got the leak in the motorhome roof fixed. We had a really good soaking again yesterday and there was no leaking. Good thing it was a simple fix. The motorhome is shinny again. It is difficult to keep this thing clean since most parks don't allow washing of vehicles. This park does so I took advantage of the situation and washed the car and motorhome.

Myrtle Beach Bound

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Monday was a travel day. We got started at around our usual 10:00a departure time from Charleston and arrived in Myrtle Beach about 1:00p. On the way here we were seeing the leftovers of the Bike Week that went on last week. Just before we got into Myrtle Beach we saw the "Girls Gone Wild" motorhome pass by heading south. I wish I had my camera handy.
The park we are in is top notch. You have your choice of beach, lake, or forest sites. With 1150 sites you have a good choice. We chose the lake and what a fine site it is. The site is probably 50 feet wide and plenty long to get the biggest rig into. Just down the row in front of us is the beach. We can either look out our front window and see the beach or out the back and see the lake. Just 3 sites down is a full laundry, fully stocked store, snack bar, restaurant, play ground, in door pool, large outdoor pool and a lazy river for just kicking back and tubing around and around. The weather is great but it did get a bit windy last night. I had to go out at 3:30a and roll the awnings in. In the evening we took a walk on the beach which is clean and loaded with shells. Then we sat by the lake until sunset watching the turtles popping their heads up and down. What a life, huh?
After we arrived in Myrtle Beach, we momentary lost contact with the world. Our cell phone would not call out or receive calls. I found a pay phone and called Verizon to see if it was us or them. After about an hour of try this and try that we determined it was them so they filled out a trouble call and said they would have it fixed in 24 to 48 hours. Well it only took about 2 hours and we were back on the air. The bad part however is that while trying this and that, one of the things they tried is to remove my account and rebuild it again. In doing this I lost my Verizon High Speed internet connectivity. On inquiring about it I found out that I had been receiving it illegally. It is a service that I should have been paying for. What happened is that when they originally setup my account, they had no way of blocking someone from just buying the "Office Kit" and logging on and also no way of limiting usage. And since I was able to do this, I thought it was included in my service. Now they can block someone from doing this but only on new accounts and, since they rebuilt my account now they can block me. No need to say I was rather upset. Now I have to pay $40 a month for limited access. I am going to do some research into other methods to access the internet but in the mean time I will give them my $40. I guess I could always look at it the other way and say I was getting something for free that I should have been paying for. It doesn't make the hurt go away though.

Touring Charleston

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The above photo is a magnolia blossom from one of the many blooming magnolia trees around here. Also the air everywhere around here has the sent of honeysuckle. It almost grows wild around here.
So far we have had 2 beautiful days here at Charleston. The weather has been clear with temperatures in the 80s and little humidity. We took the opportunity to do some sight seeing today. We went into Historic Charleston and took one of the tours around the town. Our tour guide was full of information. For instance, Did you know that the Charleston dance was invented right on the streets of Charleston, well where else. But I bet you didn't know it was black musicians and dancers that started it. We also learned that Charleston is a town that has been devastated by hurricanes fires and even a major earthquake. I wasn't aware that there were earthquakes in this area. I thought that was something us Californians only knew about.
Tomorrow we have to move. Originally there were no spaces available here at the park for the weekend but with the weather being so bad, I acquired at the office and they had a space available. We are only moving to the other side of the park so it shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully we can get it done early enough to do some more sight seeing. The weather is supposed to turn bad again starting tomorrow so we shall see what happens.
The people here are extremely friendly. Everyone we meet are eager to help and answer questions and offer suggestions. There was even one fellow that offered us his spare bedroom if we needed a place to stay. Tourist towns are fun because everyone wants to know where you are from. When we mention California, right away they are curious about what method of transportation we used to get here. When the find out we travel in a motorhome, they want to know all about it. We love to tell our stories. And of course most wish they could do the same.

As I sit here outside under my awning writing this I heard some rustling behind me. I turned to see a raccoon the size of a small dog 4 feet from me snatching food from my bird feeder. I love nature.

Must put it into perspective

I mentioned in the last post that I found a leak in the motorhome. I was feeling pretty down. I would rather be out touring than spending the day chasing down leaks and trying to figure out what to do about it. I then started thinking about my lifestyle. I realized that I could be sitting at a desk, dealing with the problems at work, then I get a call from Susan about a leaky roof on my house. But since I do not have a job, or a house made of sticks, and have no where to be, and lots of time, I can take some time out to deal with my leak. Today I stopped by the park office on my way to Wal-Mart and extended our stay 3 more days. At Wal-Mart I picked up a 3 dollar tube of Silicone and patched what I think is the problem. There is only one more place where the water can be getting in and tomorrow I will focus on that. It’s a maintenance item that should be attended to anyway and won’t cost me a cent. The rest of the day I spent sitting under my awning, with the rain falling, listening to my Sinatra CD, and watching the birds and squirrels eat from my feeder.
I feel better now…

It’s pouring

…And we are leaking. We set out to do some shopping this afternoon and just as we returned it down right poured. They say we had 4 inches an hour. Susan said, “If we have a leak, it will show now.” It showed. There was water dripping out of the light fixture. I removed the fixture, pulled the wires clear and proceeded to dry things out a bit. Suddenly is started dripping from the TV antenna crank. Since this is only 1 foot from the light I suspect they were coming from the same source. I did my best to keep things dry until the delude slowed enough to climb on the roof. After inspecting the antenna area I believe I discovered the breach. I had noticed a while back a spot in a rubber boot that the manufacturer punched a hole in to run some wires. I remember wondering how water never got in there. I applied a temporary patch until things dry out. It is supposed to rain for the next couple of days, so we will see. I sure hope that’s all it is.

The road to Charleston

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Isn't this terrible? This is what we have had to put up with since we left Florida. Oak covered roads through Georgia and now South Carolina. Sometimes I can actually hear the twang of my CB antenna as we pass under the trees. Some roads I am glad we went down with the car and not the motorhome. The campgrounds have been just as nice. In Georgia we had as many as 8 squirrels and 3 blue jays hanging outside our window at one time.

They would actually run up the tree just outside our dinning room window and peek in the window at us. Here in Charleston we spotted a BIG old raccoon rummaging through the dumpster (in the middle of the day) as we sat under our awning.
We could only reserve our site until Friday. This place is full for the weekend. Normally this would be no problem, we would just move on. Unfortunately this poses a problem. The next stop is Myrtle Beach. This week just happens to be Bike Week in Myrtle Beach. All campgrounds are full. At this point I am not sure what we are going to do. I am going to check the other campgrounds around here and possibly stay through the weekend.

Too much History

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I am sure glad I will not be tested on all this. Yesterday we spent the day in Historic Savannah. We drove around aimlessly as usual and decided we needed to take a narrated tour. There was just so much that we wanted too know. We hopped aboard one of the many tour trolleys for a 90 minute guided tour. This was the best thing we could have done. We left with a much better understanding of the history of Savannah. Savannah played a big part in the Civil War and Slavery.




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Today we visited Fort Pulaski which is located on Cockspur Island. This is where the Union Army thought they were protected from the Confederate Army until the Confederate staged an attack from Tybee Island. The confederates fire power was too much for the fort and destroyed the outer wall leaving the forts gunpowder magazine variable. At this point the Union surrendered. You can see the many scars left by cannon fire in the walls and some even still contain the cannon shot imbedded in the wall.




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Over on Tybee Island we toured the Tybee Island Lighthouse which was constructed to guide ships into the Savannah River. This is actually the forth lighthouse after the first 2 were destroyed by storms and the third was set fire by the Union Army to keep the Confederate from spying of them at Fort Pulaski. There are 178 steps to the top of the light. I climbed every one of them. The Light keepers houses are still there and beautifully restored.

Error corrected

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After realizing my mistake in going to the wrong campground, I went to the office this morning and explained my miss calculation to the girl at the desk. "No problem", she said. She gladly refunded one nights fee and we were on our way. It was a short drive but nearly took us an hour to get here (all back roads). These State Parks are nestled in a forest of trees and are quite an obstacle course to drive the motorhome with car in tow around them. We are now 10 miles from Savannah instead of 26 miles. The park is nicer too. We even have cable TV, although I was able to setup the satellite dish here. Also we have 50 amp power instead of the 30 amps we had at Fort McAllister State Historic Park. The flying bugs are a little over the edge so I set up our screen room for the first time and we spent the afternoon and evening bug free. Tomorrow we are going to attempt to spend some time in Savannah as long as my back holds out. There are a couple of restaurants that are owned by a cooking host that Susan watches and she wants to check them out. One boasts good down home southern cooking and the other is seafood. I'll go for the southern cooking myself. We may also seek out a good southern BBQ while here.

I can’t see the Satellite

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We are at Fort McAllister State Historic Park near Savannah Georgia. The woods are so thick here that my satellite dish can not see the satellite. I found a very small opening in the trees and tried for about an hour before giving up. We get about 5 channels on the Antenna so that will do for now. It turns out I messed up anyway. We ended up at the wrong state park although this is a park is nice. Actually this was our second choice. The first one, although Woodall's RV park guide gave it 4 out of 5 stars, ended up being small, cramped, right on a major road, and a bit scary looking. We are about 26 miles from Savannah and the park we want to be in is about 10 miles from Savannah. Don't ask me how that happened, I have no idea. It's not like we have to be anywhere at anytime. We paid for two nights so tomorrow we are going to see if we can get one night back or transferred it to the other state park and we will move. The drive here was nice. We were going to stay off the interstate and take the back roads but I messed up my back and thought a 2 hour drive would be better on my back than a 3 hour drive. Don't worry, I'll be OK in a couple of days.
Well my new weather radio works. We were sitting today relaxing when an alert went off. Seems there is a severe thunder storm heading through the county northwest from here. It should not effect us at all except for a little lightning. I narrowed the alerts by programming in the county we are in and the county nearby instead of the default "any". Now the only alerts we should get will be a real concern.

I under estimated our stay

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We had to extend our stay here at Jacksonville because I under estimated our time here. We were running out of time to do the things we want to do. I think the rain Thursday is what threw me off. Well that's what this lifestyle is all about. We don't have to be anywhere at any anytime so we will stay another day. We are having a ball ( so what's new) here visiting more of Susan's cousins. Today was a combination Mother's day and birthday brunch. Lots of good food! We were entertained by Tina's bird all afternoon. This bird has a vocabulary you wouldn't believe. It not only blurts out words but also sound effects and more. For instance, it will make the sound of a phone ringing, answer it with "hello", hold a conversation and hang up at the end. What a riot!
After the rain ended Thursday the weather has been great. It has been a comfortable high 70 to low 80 with little humidity. In the mornings and evenings we sit outside the motorhome and get entertained by the squirrels that scamper around the trees next to our patio. They run up and down the trees peeking around the branches at us. We put out our "bird feeder" and the squirrels have come up and rummaged through and picked out all the sunflower seeds and left nothing but empty shells. Then we watched as a couple of ducks came up from the lake, headed right for the feeder, had a snack then back into the lake they went. How did they know it was there? So far this feeder has been shared by birds, squirrels, ducks, raccoons and who know what else while we are sleeping.
I almost forgot. We have been features as RVers of the month at www.rvresources.com. Check it out.

Jacksonville

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We have made our way to Jacksonville Florida today. When we woke this morning in St. Augustine there was thunder, lightning and rain. We took the coast route and the drive was good except portions of the road were rough. It could be due to storm damage. We got about half way to Jacksonville and suddenly, as if we went through a invisible wall, the rain suddenly stopped. I mean the road wasn't even wet. How weird. It's a good thing we took advantage of our time in St. Augustine because there doesn't seem to be much going on in Jacksonville. The campground we are at is great. We got a spot right on the lake. I wish they would design the sites so we could drive straight in instead of back in only. That way we would have a great view of the lake out our front window. Instead we have a great view out our bedroom window. It is raining tonight. I love the sound of the rain falling on the roof of the motorhome.
The motorhome has been running good since I replaced the burnt plug wire again. I am glad that is all in was. Fortunately replacing the wire was a since. I simply raised the front of the motorhome with the levelers, turned the wheels all the way to the right and sat in the wheel well while replacing the wire. It wasn't even as hot as I thought since I just shut it down from driving a while.

St Augustine

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St. Augustine was fun. We spent the day visiting the sights. We thought the day was going to be a bust. We started by visiting the Whetstone Chocolate Factory and found they were no longer conducting tours. Then it was off to Tom's Fruit and Produce Stand, they no longer have fruits and produce. It is now a tourist gift stand. We then headed over to the Alligator Farm and found they wanted $18.00 each to view the gators, we passed on that one. One that is real impressive is the Castillo De San Marcos. This is a fort that was built from 1672 to 1695. The walls are 18 feet thick and 30 feet high. It is part of the National Park systems and we got to use our National Park Pass to see it. It is a must see if in the area. There are also other historic sights to see in the city. Being the Oldest city in America, the whole place is full of history.

We moved

We are in St. Augustine Florida right now. We will be here for 2 days while we visit the oldest city in America. That’s what they call it.
Well I blew another spark plug wire. The symptoms were a bit different this time so it confused me for a while. I pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot with the thought that if I didn’t figure it out right a way we could spend the night and get help in the morning. I figured I would start with the plug wire and go from there. That was it! Good thing I had 7 spares. I will be giving Workhorse a call tomorrow and see if they have come up with any more ideas. I am about ready to foot the bill and go for some race wires.

Traveling at last

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Tomorrow morning we will be back on the road. We were supposed to leave today but we don't like traveling on the weekends and it was supposed to be raining all day. Even though it is only about 2 ½ hours to Jacksonville from here I figures it will take us about 5 hours. That is because we are going to stay off the interstate and take the coast route. Since I don't drive for more than 3 hours at a time, we will be stopping over for a couple of nights between here and there. I hope to make it to St. Augustine. I would like to spend a couple of days there.

Our stay here at Orlando Florida was just great. We got to spend time with family that live in the area and Susan's parents flew out from California also. There is so much to do in this area that a month just isn't enough. But I just have to get back on the road. There is always next time. I think the next time through we will limit our stay to 1 to 2 weeks and head on down to the keys. I found a campground right at the end of the keys. That would be cool. The campground we are at is very nice. I was undecided over 2 in the area but with some advice from friends on the internet I chose Orlando Winter Gardens. Good choice.