Washington, North Carolina

We have moved further north to Washington, North Carolina.  This is about the half way point to our next stop of Hatteras, North Carolina.  The RV park is acceptable for the low off season weekly rate.  The park mainly consists of park model (permanent) type RV’s that people use as a vacation home or weekend get away.  They do have a strip of sites on the outer edge for transient RV’ers (like us).  We are here for a week.

Let me get you caught up on our sightseeing day while we were in Tabor City, North Carolina, our last stop.  We started out by visiting two beaches that were about 15 miles away.  The first was Sunset Beach.  What a beautiful long beach.  The sand was just perfect and the beach was so clean.  Here is a picture I found of it on the web.

Next we drove up the coast just a few miles to the next beach, Ocean Isle.  Again it is a long beautiful beach but this one has shells everywhere.  Amazing how two beaches next to each other can be so different.  Here is a picture of Ocean Isle beach.

Next up was the small coastal town of Southport.  Here we had lunch at the Fishy Fishy Café.  You have got to love the name. The restaurant is right on the docks of the marina.

Next we drove to Wilmington, North Carolina.  I did not know it was such a large city and right on the coast.  The battleship USS North Carolina is berthed here as a tourist attraction (we did not go see it).  We took a walk around the historic downtown and then along the riverwalk.  Seems like a very nice city.

Here is a picture of the battleship.

It was a nice sightseeing day.  A little cold but did get better as the day progressed.  Coastal Carolina is very beautiful. I am anxious to see what the Outer Banks look like, especially since last years hurricane.

Tabor City, North Carolina

What a great idea, have an RV park as part of a winery! 

In planning our trip along the east coast I came across an ad in our directory for this RV park in Tabor City.  It is part of a local North Carolina winery owned by two sisters.  In addition to the RV park they have a small inn and wine shop.  It is about 40 miles north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and just over the state line.  They have done a very nice job in making this a place to stop for a night or two. 

The RV park is just great.  The spaces are all pull through, very long and well spaced so you are not crowded.  They have thinned out the trees so there are just enough to give you some shade and the rustic feeling but not so many that it causes problems for the trailers, or getting a satellite signal. 

The wine was OK.  All their wines are made from the Muscadine grape, which, from what they tell us, is the only grape native to the United States.  One of the owners, who handles the tasting duties, gave us a full lesson on the grape and it was very informative.  Here is a link to for the winery and RV park http://www.grapefullsistersvineyard.com/Home.html.

And now the pictures

Looking from the back of the RV park towards the front.  Our rig is off to the left (you cannot miss the red truck!).

Looking from the front of the park to the back.

The entrance road with the wine shop and Inn in the distance.

Gotta love the street names, the corner of Endless Circle and Sheilas Way.

We are here until Thursday when we move further north into North Carolina.

Charleston Sightseeing

We did some sightseeing the last few days so let me catch you up.

First we went to see the Angel Oak Tree that is located on John’s Island, very near our RV park.  Here is the link to explain the tree (very old) www.angeloaktree.com.

The best I could do to get the whole tree in the picture.

The trunk of the tree.

Fran saw this white squirrel on a nearby tree.

On Thursday we walked around downtown Charleston to see the historic homes, Battery Park, City Market and have lunch.  Lunch was at one of the popular restaurants, Jestine’s Kitchen (sorry, no website).

Here are some pictures from our walking around.

Courtroom in the historic old courthouse.  The courtroom is still in use.  This dates back to the 1700’s.

The law library in the old courthouse.

Pineapple fountain in the park by the bay.

Famous historic painted houses.

Battery Park.

It was cold on the walk and there was a breeze to make it feel colder but it was nice to see the historic buildings and the magnificent architecture in the city. 

Fort Sumter

For some reason we had not visited this historical site on our past visits to this city so it was at the top of our list on this visit.  For those of you who may not be up on your history this is where the first shot was fired to start the civil war.  The Union army was holding the fort and South Carolina had seceded from the United States and wanted all federal property turned over to them.  The Union commanding officer refused so the Confederate forces shelled the fort until the Union army surrendered.  An interesting point learned is that the fort was built to protect against an enemy coming into the harbor via the sea, not from an “inside” attack.  The walls on the sides of the fort that face land were less fortified and is exactly where the Confederate forces were shelling since they were doing it from land on either side. 

The fort sits out in the middle of the harbor opening and is only reachable by a boat service provided by a vendor to the National Park Service at $18 per person.  Because of these set tours and the smallness of the fort you are only allowed 1 hour on the island, but it was more than enough.  There is really not much to see.  Over the course of the Civil War, and other wars since, the fort was reduced to rubble.  What stands is one level of brick wall around the place and a new structure that was built for World War II.  It is still something to see from a historical perspective and the boat ride out and back is very nice.

Here is the Yorktown aircraft carrier that is on display at Patriot’s Point.

Fort Sumter as we approach it.

Closer view.

View of the parade ground from the “new structure” that was added.

In the distance is one of the spots where Confederate forces fired on the fort.

The original flag that was flying over the fort when it was held by the Union army.

The original flag that Confederate forces raised over the fort when they took it.

The tour boat.

View of Charleston from the fort.

Truck to the Rescue

Last night, Monday, we were watching TV around 9:15pm and hear this engine running out front.  We figure it is probably a motorhome pulling into a space.  The noise continues so I go to explore and see a huge tow truck on the road in front of our space (the type of tow truck that tows semis) and behind it a 1 ton pickup pulling a fifth wheel.  The tow truck has disconnected the truck/trailer and the owner of the truck/trailer is trying to figure out how to get his truck started.  This process entails firing up a very loud generator so he can power a battery charger.  Meanwhile the tow truck has every bright light on shining on the truck.  Front what I can tell the tow truck is done and is about ready to leave this guy in the roadway with the hope he can somehow get his truck started and get his trailer into his spot.  I do not see this as a viable resolution from what I am observing, so I intervene.  I ask the owner what the issue is and am told his engine has seized up.  I told him that I have a 1 ton pickup and offered to hook up his trailer and put it into his space if the tow truck can get his truck out of the way.  All parties see this as a great option, the tow truck driver gets to work to tow the truck out of the way and I move in with our truck and hook up.  I let the owner of the trailer drive my truck to back his rig into the space and all is done in 15 minutes and quiet returns!

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.