Paws and Friends

We have been work kamping while staying in Statesville, NC! We stopped by to visit Jed and Aria who had moved from the Gallup area (Vanderwagon, NM) to Statesville a few years ago. Lindy mowed the front lawn with their John Deere riding lawn mower...started the huge back yard but one jaunt down the hill in the back yard, even at a right angle per Jed's tutorial guidance, with the tractor rapidly picking up speed, discouraged Lindy from finishing that phase of work kamping! She knows when to throw in the towel! We helped replace the mail box post, installing a new mail box on the support arm, all eight hands helping to ensure that the box is level, resting on a level post, and that a proper amount of dirt is dumped in the hole tamped tightly against the post to ensure stability....At one point Mike said that we needed a picture:  "How many educators does it take to put in a mail box?!"  Three with MAs, one with a doctorate...?! Alas, we have no pictures. Did this reall...

View Larger Map Thursday, May 24, we departed beautiful Lake Greenwood for Statesville, NC. Weather was great, making travel smooth. We decided to avoid Charlotte and the preliminary NASCAR activities, so headed up to I-40 at Gastonia, then across that familiar road to the KOA east of Statesville. It was good to come in on Thursday, for we easily got into our site, and were set up. A few others came in, but Friday was when the park was really busy! We were glad to be already set up, and able to sit and watch the show! The park is full for the holiday weekend. We have a very nice site, with a patio, patio furniture and a bench. The patio needed cleaning, as it was obvious that they had had a hard rain earlier! Water had flowed down our site, across the patio, leaving good old North Carolina dirt across the patio! Lindy loosened the dirt so it could dry with the rake, then we swept it off the patio. We do not receive good satellite reception---ummm, could it be because of th...

We found a unique Fort at the Ninety Six National Historic Site to visit while in Cross Hill, SC! Not that we've visited any other forts on this trip....! This one IS special! The unusual name, Ninety Six, was given by early traders to the village in the 1700's because they mistakenly believed it was the estimated number of miles to the Cherokee village of Keowee in the upper South Carolina foothills. We drove over to it from Lake Greenwood Motorcoach Resort Tuesday, May 22. By the mid 1700's, European colonists found it a favorable place to settle. During Ninety Six's early days, troubles with local Indians increase. In 1760, Cherokees twice attacked Fort Ninety Si, built for the settlers' protection. By the early 1700's, Ninety Six village reached its peak with a growing population, 12 houses and a newly constructed courthouse and jail. Ninety Six also figured prominently in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution The first land battle south of N...

View Larger Map So, Friday, May 18, we headed inland to Lake Greenwood Motorcoach Resort, our free 6 days at this luxurious resort. We had some rain, but it was scattered. We chose to travel the Interstate, as our brushes with branches getting into and out of James Island raised our awareness in that sometimes traveling off the beaten path is NOT the route to take. This day of travel was just under 200 miles--at 196. Signs to the Resort were clearly posted, which helped as we followed our GPS, who we still do not completely trust! Upon arrival, we were very pleased! After dealing with sand for the past 3 weeks, it is nice to be on concrete, with grass (the dogs can play ball!), and a beautiful view of the lake! Mike worked on "de-sanding" the jeep and interior of the motor home yesterday, then washed the jeep. Today we washed the motor home. We enjoyed our time along the coast, in  campgrounds near these locations, but oh, it is nice to wash the sand ...

Thursday, May 17, we drove out to the Charleston Tea Plantation , home of American Classic Tea, billed as America's Tea Garden. What a treat! The Plantation is on picturesque Wadmalaw Island, which happens to be close to James Island where we were camped, about 17 miles from our park. It was a nice drive, one the dogs enjoyed! The sign indicates how far it is to the nearest tea plantation...well over 2,000 miles for each listed! We discovered that tea grows on bushes! The grounds include 127 acres, Camellia Sinensis tea plants, a working Tea Factory, and a Plantation Gift Shop! There was a trolley tour of the grounds which we did not take because of the dogs, but we did walk around some, and thoroughly enjoyed it! While visited the Plantation we met a couple who shared information with us about an oak tree over 400 years old located about 9 miles back toward James Island. We found this gem on our return to the campground! What stories might this old oak tree...

We seem to be drawn to forts and batteries! Wednesday, May 16, we took the 9:30 AM tour to Fort Sumter , where the Civil War "began" at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, as it can only be reached by boat. It took 30 minutes from Liberty Square, on the west side of Castle Pinckney, across the mouth of the Ashley River and the shore of James Island to the Fort--the "red" line. We had an hour to visit the small fort, then returned around the east, the "blue" line, past Fort Moultrie and past the USS Yorktown docked at Patriots Point. Lots of history! Fun! Check out the link above if interested! Fort Sumter just before docking Fort Sumter: From the Outside Looking In! Fort Sumter, towards the ocean Fort Sumter Row of canons facing the ocean The return trip back to Liberty Square took us by Fort Moultrie, across the mouth of the Cooper River near the town of Mount Pleasant where the USS Yorktown is docked, a museum of World ...

View To James Island County Park, Charleston, SC in a larger map We left Savannah Oaks in sunshine, and made the 120 miles successfully (before thunder and rain!) and were set up and relaxing before our phones began ringing with weather-call alerts regarding lightening strikes within a 6 mile radius...! It finally did rain, but not a lot. Most of the storms were where we had been...! Another lucky break for us in our journeys!!!  James Island County Park is very nice. Roads are paved, however the sites are gravel/dirt, but are large. Trees prevent satellite reception, but the antenna is working nicely! We goofed when we made reservations as the phone number is listed incorrectly in the Road Trip Navigator 2012. By the time I figured it out, we could only get 4 nights here. It is a Good Sam Park, but has the feel of a very nice state park! We shall return! There is much to see and do here in Charleston! Fort Sumter is a must: we have tickets fo...

Friday morning, we drove downtown to visit Historic Savannah. We parked and walked along the river:  can you see the cobblestones? We ate at Dockside Seafood, oldest stone and masonry building in the state, built in 1792 by a shipbuilder. Inside we found a rustic atmosphere with stone walls and exposed beams and posts. We ate outside overlooking the river as the weather was cool with lower humidity...nice for us "drylanders" accustomed to near zero humidity!  Dockside Seafood:  Oldest Stone and Masonry Building in GA You can see here the distance up to the next street from River Street--and the steps were steep! There were several areas similar to this, and other back-alley type like you'd find in Philadelphia; or what we saw in Whiskey Row in Prescott, AZ. Nice replica of ships of old on a fountain by the river. Our trip to Savannah would not have been complete had we not visited the famous Squares of Savannah! ...

  View Larger Map We left Carrabelle Beach RV Resort Monday, May 7 about 9 AM, arriving in Tallahassee at the jeep dealer about 10:30. Lindy related the song and dance....then we drove on up to the RV Park to wait it out....We laughed when they called with the problem....a note from late March...our check list for things to do before we left Destiny RV Resort in Goodyear for our new lot in North Ranch--had somehow gotten into the fan, and was making the noise we heard! They saved the note for us....! View Larger Map So, Tuesday we were on the road again for Savannah, GA! It is so great to be moving on down the road!  We saw trees with Spanish Moss in Tallahassee, but Savannah...! Wow! Check out our site! Savannah Oaks RV Resort, Savannah, GA  Wednesday it rained on and off most of the day, so we "rested" and cleaned house. Today we drove out to Fort Pulaski National Monument, at the mouth of the Savannah River, part of an extensive chain of coastal forts bui...

View Drive to St. George Island; then Biking in a larger map Riding bikes is what we love, and we found a nice dedicated bike trail on St. George Island in an earlier visit to the Island riding around in the jeep. So yesterday we got up and got ready to go--early we thought, arriving at St. George Island at 9 AM to unload bikes and get ready to go. It was partly cloudy, so clouds covered the sun and riding from the lighthouse out to Dr. Julian G. Bruce Saint George Island State Park would be okay....and we had shade on the 4 mile bike trail to the park entrance. If you zoom in on the ride from the park entrance to the end, another 4 miles or so, you'll see that there are no trees to shade the ride....! We found out the hard way! We should have started MUCH earlier! And those pesky clouds went away! We stopped every 2 miles or so, finding shade under buildings along the park which also had vending machines for cold drinks! We bought 2 additional bottles of water to add to our su...

We discovered an interesting piece of history! Our RV park is across from the beach that was used by the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division to train for the Normandy Invasion. Camp Gordon Johnston, an Army Amphibious Training Center, had been officially established in 1942 as a training base for WW II troops. The Center was closed, re-purposed, then re-opened and staffed for training for the Normandy Invasion. Although the troops had trained for over three years, the amphibious training conducted here was the last step before shipping out to England for the invasion. On D-Day, the first amphibian infantry assault teams to arrive on French soil were from the 4th Infantry Division at Utah Beach. Camp Gordon Johnston once was over 159,000 aces, with more than 30,000 troops during the later months of the War. The Camp also housed German and Italian Prisoners of War, the second largest POW base camp in Florida. McClelland Air Field in Sacramento--servicing the planes of the Pacific Theater...

As we continue to enjoy the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle, we've been able to address some warranty issues with our coach at a terrific RV Dealer for Tiffin motorhomes:   RV Connections in Panama City, Florida. We gave the service writer our list of items upon our arrival yesterday afternoon, we spent last night in their lot with electricity and water, and this morning they were able to address all but one item on our list! The one item needs to be ordered, and the tech told us we could install it. So, we'll contact Tiffin, get the part ordered, and follow up! We highly recommend RV Connections, 3926 E. 15th St., Panama City, FL! We explored Panama City this morning, and found this nice memorial of the Twin Towers: We were heading on down the road at 1:30 this afternoon, arriving at Carrabelle Beach RV Resort in Carrabelle, FL at 4:45 pm CDT--but really 5:45, as we finally entered the Eastern Time Zone. The beaches so far have not been dog friendly; but ...