Charleston, South Carolina

On Thursday we finally left Savannah after being there for almost 7 weeks and headed north to Charleston.  It was a short trip, only 120 miles, so we arrived just after noon.  Originally this was where I had picked for us to spend the past few weeks, instead of Savannah, but since I did not know the parks I had concerns of not being able to use our satellite dish based on what I was reading in the reviews.  There are only a few RV parks in the area and, from the descriptions, are very wooded.  However, as we begin our trek north we did want to stop in Charleston so I picked the park that got the best reviews and we were not disappointed.  We are at the James Island County Park Campground.  It is on James Island just outside of Charleston.  The park is huge and just beautiful.  What a great place for the residents of Charleston to come.  It has walking/biking trails, a huge dog park, huge kids playground, RV park, picnic areas and buildings you can rent out for events. 

The RV park is a little pricey but the sites are huge and well spaced with full hookups.  The description was right, there are a lot of trees.  I did not think we would be able to use our roof mounted satellite dish and I would have to try and find an open area to use our portable dish.  However, to my amazement, after we backed into our site I turned on the roof dish and after 15 minutes of searching it found 2 out of the 3 satellites needed.  This means we do not get some channels in high definition but still get all channels in at least standard definition (oh how we have to suffer!).  It is amazing how the dish can find a signal through the trees. 

Here is our site

On Friday our first task was to go to Trader Joe’s market.  We love this store and it has been a few months since we have been in an area where there is a store.  This was followed by grocery shopping at Wal-Mart.

On Saturday we ventured out to visit a plantation, Boone Hall.  The property dates back a couple of hundred years and was a working plantation.  The original house had been replaced a few times and the one currently standing dates back to the 1930’s but was built to look like homes of the plantation era.  A third of the original slave quarters are standing and have exhibits about the life of slaves.

This is the road (driveway) to the house.  A very beautiful drive through oaks that are hundreds of years old. 

The current house.

The original slave quarters.

It was a very nice day at the plantation and very informative.

Today, Sunday, we took a bike ride around the park and came across a group of men racing radio controlled sailboats on the little pond.  It was fun to watch.

Radio controlled sailboats.

The men that control them.  You can see the worn path near the shoreline where they walk as they follow the boats on the course. 

This is my fourth trip to Charleston and Fran’s second.  We have never been out to Fort Sumter, so that is on the agenda this week.

Ready to move on

Time to get caught up.  We had to stay another week in Savannah to wait for the slide motor to come in (more on this later in this post).  Once it had arrived and our service appointment was scheduled we were able to begin planning our trip up the east coast.  As many spots we will be going to are tourist spots and some will be during holidays we wanted to make reservations at some parks.  We have our tentative route which is to basically follow Interstate 95 north and then into New Brunswick, Canada going as far north as Hopewell Cape.  We will then go west to Quebec City, Montreal and enter back into the United States in New York or Vermont.

We will be stopping in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Washington D.C. area, New York City area,  Jersey shore and Cape Cod, plus many other places.  It is interesting to see that RV parks are much more expensive in the east, generally older which means it can be hard to find 50 amp electrical service.  Our trailer can run on 30 amp but can be a problem when the big main A/C kicks on and you want to use the microwave or some other power hungry appliance.  With 30 amp you cannot run both A/C’s at the same time.  When it is hot you need both A/C’s to cool the rig.  There is so much to see so planning our stops is difficult.  The nice thing is that the states are smaller and everything is fairly close.  Unlike the west and south where we were traveling 250 miles between stops, this trip our stops may only be 75 to 100 miles between one another.  Our plan is to stay at least one night in each state so we can get closer to our goal of staying in 49 states with this RV.  We are up to 25 states presently and 2 Canadian provinces.

Now to the repair.  I was told it would take 7 to 14 days for the slide motor to come in (I guess they have not heard of a company called FedEx).  I followed up after 7 days and was told it was not in and they could not provide any other information.  At 14 days I went into the store and the service adviser tells me “oh yes, the part is in”.  Hmmm, nobody called me!  I did not pursue the issue as it would not matter at this point, but did set up an appointment to have the motor installed and the wheel bearings repacked.  The appointment was for yesterday, Friday.  We packed up the trailer at 8am and drove it over to Camping World.  I was told it would take until afternoon to complete the repairs.  We decided to go to the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum which is just down the street (more on that below).

We came back to Camping World at 1pm and I went out to our rig and nobody was working on it.  It was clear that the slide had been fixed but I could not tell about the wheels.  I ran into the service adviser who told me the repair guy had to go get some heavy duty jacks to jack up the trailer.  Huh!  An RV repair shop that does not have jacks to raise a fifth wheel???

The repair guy returns around 2pm and tells me all the shop jacks are being used so he went home to get his own.  He now struggles for 45 minutes to jack up the trailer and make sure it is properly supported.  The story goes on but let me jump to the finish when the repair is completed at 4:45pm.  It then takes the adviser 20 minutes to prepare the invoice only to overcharge me and have to redo it.  We finally leave at 5:30pm.  This is my third repair experience with Camping World and two of them have not been pleasant.  I do not think I will be using Camping World for any future repair needs.

Ok, now the Mighty Eighth.  What a nice museum.  The Mighty Eighth was set up in World War II solely as an offensive unit to defeat the Germans.  It was established in Savannah and that is why the museum is here.  The gentlemen who provide information throughout the museum are all World War II veterans.  The museum is fairly large and has numerous exhibits taking you through WW II.  In the back they have a beautiful memorial garden with many plaques and memorials for individuals and units of the Mighty Eighth.  They also have a very nice restaurant inside the museum.  I would highly recommend this museum.

Here are some pictures (borrowed from the web)

Front of the museum

The museum is restoring this WW II bomber

Rotunda as you enter

Memorial chapel in the back

We leave on Thursday for Charleston, South Carolina.

Savannah Update

Still in Savannah.  Our scheduled departure date was February 21st but that is going to be delayed by at least a week as we get our trailer issue resolved.  In my last posting I mentioned about the problem with one of the slide motors.  The motor would run but the gears would not engage with the drive so the slide did not move.  This meant the slide was fully extended but we had to get it in so the trailer could be brought into the shop.  Getting the slide out when we first came back from the shop was not that difficult as it could be pushed out since the gears were not engaged.  However to get the slide back in it must jump up an inch or so to clear the floor and then glide over it.  This meant pushing it in was not possible due to the weight of the slide.  I had always thought there was a manual override that involved a crank, but I was wrong.  It took awhile for me to figure it out but I discovered that I could manually move the slide by attaching vise grip pliers to the drive shaft and turning it.  It then moved the slide very easily.  The hassle was that I had to take off a panel underneath the trailer and then move the slide while laying on my back under the trailer.  Some engineer was not thinking this through when they designed this slide mechanism (note to self: check for manual override on next rig!).

Ok, I got the slide in but with no gears engaged the slide could come back out and we had to drive 6 miles to the repair shop.  Needless to say we drove very cautiously and kept a keen eye on the slide.  At the shop they did another diagnosis, now that the slide was not actually moving, and determined that a whole new motor assembly was needed.  This needed to be ordered, so no repair today.  The repair tech was nice enough to cut a piece of wood to brace the slide from the top so it would not move on the drive back.  The good news is that our extended warranty is covering the repair and the repair shop is handling all the paperwork for the claim.  We now have to wait for the part to come in.

As for sightseeing we went into Savannah and took the trolley tour.  This was nice tour of the historical district, Victorian district and a stop at the river area.  We had a nice lunch, with ice cream, at a famous ice cream parlor, Leopold’s.

Leopold’s Ice Cream Shop

What is so cool about Savannah is the architecture and the trees with the Spanish moss.

Down by the river

One of the many squares

Fran posing with Johnny Mercer

Hanging Out

It has been a couple of weeks so I will get you caught up.  We are still in Savannah where the weather has been nice.  It has gotten cold, close to freezing, on some nights but during the day it is generally warm and sunny.

As for activities, we have found a very nice, challenging, par 3 golf course near the airport and have been playing that each week.  We did visit Fort Pulaski near Tybee Island.  Fascinating story in that the fort was built prior to the Civil War to defend the coastline, but when it actually was needed during the war the newer weapons, longer firing cannons, made the fort obsolete and it was quickly over taken by the Union forces.  It took something like 6 years to build and was surrendered within two weeks.

We had lunch at a famous local eatery, The Pirates House.  The structure dates back to the 1700’s.  Good food and an interesting place with costumed pirates walking around.

We have had an issue come up with the RV that we are in the process of getting resolved.  Since the weather is nice here we started our annual cleaning and maintenance of the rig.  During this process the slide on the door side was sticking and the motor was not turning off.  Fortunately there is a local Jayco dealer, which is also a Camping World, just 6 miles away.  I brought it in for a diagnosis and they believe it just needs to be adjusted but they were not able to get to it that day so we have to bring it back next week.  When we came back to the RV park the slide would not go in or out with the motor, we had to physically push it to get it to extend.  So I am thinking there is more going on here than just an adjustment.  We will see. 

If its more than an adjustment this will be our first claim on the mechanical portion of our extended warranty, so hopefully it all goes smoothly!

Warmer Weather???

 

In our search for warmer weather we have moved to Savannah, Georgia where it was near 70 degrees when we arrived but it is forecasted to get much colder over the next few days.  I guess this cold weather has hitched a ride with us. 

Let’s get caught up.

This past weekend we stopped in Pinehurst, North Carolina.  Fran’s boss from her last job sold his dental practice and has semi-retired to Pinehurst.  He and his wife hosted us for the weekend and we had a great time.  We toured the towns of Pinehurst and Southern Pines, drove the Pottery Highway, went to a Styx concert and ended the weekend with lunch and wine tasting at the Richard Childress Winery. 

It did get a little cold in Pinehurst with some sticking to our truck.

The famous Pinehurst clubhouse at course #2

A little “hamming” it up at the Payne Stewart statue.

The plan is to spend the next month here in Savannah, where hopefully it will be warmer, then, depending on the weather, start moving north.  We are coming up on our two year anniversary of starting our Life on the Road.  Since we will be here for the next month I will post our updated travel map which brings us to our two year mark.

NASCAR

 

As I mentioned in my previous post I am a big NASCAR fan and have been for close to 20 years.  We are in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is the hub for the race shops involved in NASCAR.  In addition, the recently opened NASCAR Hall of Fame is in downtown Charlotte.  I had been to Charlotte back in 1999, for business, and was able to do some sightseeing.  At that time I visited 3 race shops (Gibbs, Hendricks and DEI).  Fran had not been on this previous visit so I thought we would visit  a few so she could see the operations.

When Toyota wanted to come into NASCAR they hooked up with retiring driver Michael Waltrip to create a team for their cars.  As a result of this partnership he was fairly well funded to enter a very expensive sport.  With this he created a fan experience race shop and, I believe, is the only that actually charges an admission.  We were not disappointed and did not mind paying the $8, per person, for the visit.  You get to see the entire shop via a second story walkway with viewing areas.  You are then taken on a guided tour of the hauler bay and pit crew training area.  This is by far the best race shop visit I have done.

Shop area where completed cars are worked on

This is where the pit crews train

Fran trying out a race seat.  VERY difficult to get out of.

Down the road a few minutes was the Penske Racing shop.  One of Penske’s drivers is the current NASCAR champion.  This shop also gave you an elevated view of the shop area with the hauler bay off to one side. 

Hauler bay

Shop area

Lastly, I decided to go back to Hendricks Motorsports as this company is the elite of NASCAR so I wanted to see what has happened since I was here in 1999.  I was blown away!  When I came in 1999 the shop was one large building.  Now it takes up hundreds and hundreds of acres with many buildings.  You do not get to really see much of the operations but they do have a nice little museum that is free.

This was the original building when I came in 1999

From where I was standing to take the first picture I took this picture of the race shops for the 4 Sprint Cup teams.  They are the buildings in the background.  They are massive.  There are additional buildings for the museum and his engine building operation.  You can tell where the money is in NASCAR.

Today we drove to downtown Charlotte to see the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  We spent about 2 hours at the hall and both agreed it was worth the admission.  The nice thing is that it will appeal to those that are not into the sport or do not know much about it.  It is very nicely presented.

An interesting exhibit involves displaying cars throughout NASCAR’s history on a simulated track which demonstrates the degrees of banking found at various tracks.  In addition there are descriptions of all the various tracks as well as samples of the track surface. 

A continuation of the “track”

Fran at the 33 degree banking walk.  It is very difficult to walk up that steep of a track

They had a new exhibit involving some horrific wrecks of race cars over the years with the actual cars and the video showing the wreck.  In each case the driver walked away from the crash with minor injuries.  The above car wrecked at Bristol Speedway.  The entire driver compartment is exposed.  The driver walked away and ended up in another car to complete the race.  The above picture is a view from the passenger side so the front of the car is to the right and drivers seat is towards the center of the picture.  Parts that had flown off the car (including engine) are what you see in the foreground of the picture.

Charlotte, North Carolina

 

The new year is upon us and we have moved from Nashville, Tennessee to a town just outside Charlotte, North Carolina.  We are in search of warmer weather.  For most of the 3 weeks we were in Nashville it barely go into the 40’s and was freezing or below freezing each night.  Our plan is to get to Charleston, South Carolina in the next couple of weeks and see how it is there.  If it works out we will spend the winter there before starting our trip up the east coast.

We are stopping in the Charlotte area for two reasons.  It is generally on the way to Charleston and we have some friends in the area that we want to visit.  Another reason is that this is NASCAR mecca.  I have been a NASCAR fan for about 20 years and have been to Charlotte before to see a race and to visit the race shops.  This time the NASCAR Hall of Fame is open and I want to add that Hall of Fame to my list.  Fran has not been to Charlotte so it gives her the chance to see the center of NASCAR plus all the other sights of the city.

We found an RV park that is just outside the Charlotte Speedway.  In fact one of the parking lots (grass field) is right next to the park.  It is not much of a park but it does offer full hookups for only $25 per night, so it is a decent place for a week or so.

Here is a picture of the speedway as seen from the entrance to the park

Here is the park we are staying at, basically a gravel parking lot

The weather is a little warmer here during the day, which is a change, but still below freezing during the night.