Art, Birds And Automobiles

 Now why would I go all the way into the wilds of South Carolina? Well, for a rather unique experience of course. Way up in northwest South Carolina is a little town of Greer. It just so happens that it is the home to the Spartanburg BMW plant and …..they offer factory tours!!!!  

Glamping

Leaving the marshes and sea islands of southeastern South Carolina, it is time for sand, sun and the ocean. Surfside Beach is south of Myrtle Beach – in fact it is so close that it probably should be called South Myrtle Beach. I am staying at what is now called a 'Mega Resort' – Ocean Lakes Resort – a metropolis with 850 RV sites, grocery store, laundromat, wave pool and water park. One of those places where you never have to leave because all of your creature comforts are here.

It's Bew Fort Not Bow Fort

Beaufort South Carolina is located on Port Royal Island, one of the largest Sea Islands along the southeast Atlantic coast of the United States. It is one of only a handful of U.S. towns that has had its entire downtown designated a historic district by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Beaufort was one of the only Southern towns chosen to be occupied by Union troops, rather than destroyed. The story of how this came about is fascinating and even more impressive than the beautiful mansions that were built by the wealthy plantation owners before the Civil War.

Bugs

Today is a sad day. Lou and Davey are heading north and I am going south. We have been convoying for three weeks and it is time for each of us to move on.

Each year, after not using the RV for a few months, something is always bound to go wrong – something will not work. Davey has been my hero. He has that keen engineer's eye where he can just look at something and say – why aren't you doing this this way? – something that I would never have thought of. For example - I was having a lot of trouble with my tow bars – it was getting really hard to get my towed car disconnected. Davey says “Do this” and it is like a miracle – it is so easy now to disconnect my car. Sometimes I have some mechanical issue and Davey just walks into the RV and it is magically fixed. How does he do that?

Lou – she has special talents also – besides keeping me extremely well wined and dined, she pushed me onward. I probably would have chickened out on the zip line activity if she hadn't pushed me. She always made us walk the extra mile and made sure we knew what we were seeing as we wandered on.

Starting to sound sort of like a eulogy for these two folks so I will stop. It will be a big adjustment for me. It was great fun but as they say – Onward.

I headed south down I95 which is the main thoroughfare between Florida and New England. There are so many RVs heading north that I decided to count them. I took three samples – how many RVs would I pass in a three mile area. The answer – between 12 and 14. That is a huge number when you think about it.

I have been having a hard time finding places to stay. Every RV park has been full. Spring Break so that every park is full of families. And then there are the snowbirds who are starting their migration north. I wanted to hang out in Charleston for a bit, but every park I called was full until the middle of April. Ok, skip Charleston. Let's move on to Savannah. Same story there. No room at the inn.  I was a little bummed because even though I have been to both Charleston and Savannah in the past, they are beautiful cities and well worth spending a great deal of time in.

I got the very last spot in Colleton State Park in South Carolina. I could only stay there for one night because somebody else was coming in the next day. Nice park – it is right along the Edisto River and had some nice ( I think) trails – the trails I tried to walk were all under water and I really didn't feel like strolling through the muck.

I am now down on Blythe Island in Georgia. This is a regional park and the sites are amazing. My pull through site could easily fit three long RVs end to end. Lots of trees, lots of foliage. Each site is rather private. I have somebody from Minnetonka, Minnesota on my left side and somebody from Brainerd Minnesota on my right side. Beautiful trails and a beautiful park. Bad things are that it is super expensive and the Wi-Fi sucks. Oh well. I have wheels and will move on eventually.

I needed to go to Fort Frederica – on my list of National Places to visit. I also wanted to do another Junior Ranger – The National Park Service has unleashed a Junior Ranger monster, I tell you.

First, a little bit about the fort. This was a British fort that was built in the 1730s as protection against the Spanish. This particular part of now Georgia was a disputed region between the British and the Spanish. Since that time, the surrounding town and the fort has pretty much completely disappeared and has become a great favorite site for archaeologists.

This Junior Ranger program was pretty cool – they give you a haversack filled with articles that you need to complete all the Junior Ranger assignments. There was a spy glass, a old compass, a protractor and several maps. You had to figure out how far the cannons could fire on the river – deliver messages to various pretend town people and a whole series of other tasks. Whoever designed the Fort Frederica program really went out of their way to try to engage kids. I now have badge #2(I lost my Congaree National Park badge someplace – probably in the Congaree swamp) proudly displayed in the RV.

 

That moss can make anything look creepily majestic

 

This is all that is left of the fort and it is just the arms magazine

But they had a nice view of the river - that is a cannon in the lower right

All that is left of the town - the trees were not there though

Since I am so close to the ocean, Miko and I went over to Jekyll Island. You have to pay $6 to even get on the island and the we drove around the whole island. I was looking for Driftwood Beach which was listed on various websites as one of the most beautiful places on the island. It is also a dog friendly beach. We arrive just about sunset, the wind has died and the biting gnats have come out in droves. I am walking with one hand on the leash with a wave-crazed dog on the other end, talking to Tony on the phone and had absolutely no hands free to try to stay bug free. My ankles and wrists, my neck and hairline are all covered in itchy red welts.

The worst part is that Miko, in her wave mania, swallowed a ton of salt water. I had no idea that this was rather toxic to dogs. I pull her out of the water after about fifteen minutes, get in the car and start home. Me with a zillion bites and Miko throwing up half the Atlantic Ocean in the back seat. When we get home, I read up on what to do with dogs who have ingested salt water and they say that you should give her as much fresh water as she can drink because the salt has now made her severely dehydrated. Well, once she drinks a ton of water, that needs to be thrown up also. It was a long night but Miko seems to have recovered and is back to her old self.  Myself - I'm still scratching.

I am now not fond of the ocean in any shape or form. I'm leaving this place and heading inland. Enough of this sea to shining sea crap. I shall admire all future oceans from afar.

 

  

The beach

 

 

Besides this, there was only one other piece of driftwood at Driftwood Beach....well,Ok, then.

 

Boll Weevils and Topiary

We seem to move pretty fast. Again, we need to slow it down but circumstances just seem to keep us “movin on”. We move on to a small little town called Bishopville. There must be something in the water because this town has quite a few rather “different” sights to see.

We started off with the South Carolina Cotton Museum. You could touch cotton, all the way from the seed cotton to bales of cotton to cotton yarn. The museum explained the growing process – showing planting tools through the centuries; the harvesting process – weighing the cotton, bills of sale; carding and weaving the cotton. I was especially interesting in the looms that were there – everything from an old barn loom to looms that were used in the mills to produce thousands of yards of cotton in a single day.

 

 

 

Of course they needed mules to plant and harvest cotton

 

Of course we all know what Guano is - who knew it was used as a fertilizer

And of course the dreaded boll weevil - the cotton scourge.  The actual size of a boll weevil is only 1/4 inch

Of course the highlight of the museum was the Lizard Man. Back in the 1980s, a young man was driving along the backroads outside of Bishopville. He got a flat tire and stopped in a rather deserted area to change the tire. While changing the tire, he was attacked by a seven foot tall Lizard Man with glowing red eyes. He lived to tell his tale and local law enforcement officials took his story very seriously. They had casts of Lizard Man's footprints to look at and also Lizard Man t-shirts to sell.

We also tried to go to the Button King Museum. Again, back in the eighties, this man had a terrible case of insomnia. To pass the late night hours he started sewing buttons on things. Then he started gluing buttons. He glued buttons on his casket and also glued buttons on a hearse so he would be ready to go when the time came. Alas, after driving way out in the country and finally finding a metal Quonset Hut , there was nobody home to let us into the Button Museum. A missed opportunity.

I think something strange happened in Bishopville in the eighties. We have Lizard Man and the Button Museum happening. 1980 is also when Pearl Fryar bought a cornfield and after a three minute topiary demonstration in a garden center started going nuts with topiary. I walked into this garden and was awed, amazed and just filled with joy. Everywhere you looked was something to make you smile.

Most topiary gardens that you see are in the shapes of animals or teapots. Not Pearl's garden. His topiary is free flowing and surprising. He also branched out and started creating metal sculptures to add to his garden. As we were walking around the house and garden, Pearl himself came out and talked to us. He told us that he grew up in a sharecropper family where he would get beaten for being creative and making things out of found objects. He now gives lectures at universities and has a positive outlook on life. Bishopville is sort of out of the way – actually it is way out of the way, but Pearl's garden is something really worthwhile to see.  These pictures are just a small sample of what he has in his ex-cornfield.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And We Lived To Tell The Tale

The golf carts were too much for me – I just couldn't handle all that cruisin' going on. We moved farther northeast to a state park called Sesque-Centennial. It took me three days to figure out how to say the name of this park. Really a nice state park, lots of trees and space between the sites. I was in Site #36 (just in case I ever come back, it is good to note a good campsite)

The main reason to come here is to give Lou a chance to also become a Junior Ranger. She has the opportunity to do it big time because we aren't going to some little monument or historical park. We are going to a "National Park". Congaree is the only National Park in South Carolina. It was established in 2003.

Congaree is “the largest tract of old-growth hardwoods in North America. Located in the floodplain of the Congaree and Wateree rivers, the park is known for its outsized trees – loblolly pines, oaks, cypress, hickory, tupelo and bald cypress – that form one of the highest canopies in the world.”  from Chimani website.

Since this park is in a floodplain and floods all the time, the park has built a 2 ½ mile long boardwalk. Best part is that we got to take Miko along for a boardwalk walk. Before we started out though, we had to pick up our Junior Ranger workbooks and also had to watch the short movie on the park. Dogs are not allowed in the building so I was just going to wait outside while Davey and Lou watched the movie. All of a sudden, Davey is sneaking Miko and me into the back of the theater. Sometimes his philosophy of asking forgiveness instead of asking for permission pays off. Miko was cool and very inconspicuous, she lay down with her head under one of the chairs. As the end credits rolled, Miko and I snuck out under the cover of darkness.

 

After checking the Mosquito Meter, we headed out on the boardwalk. Lots of big trees, lots of cypress knees, lots of brackish looking water, lots of upturned ground where the wild pigs had dug up. Lou read to us from the informational brochure so we were well educated.

 

The Boardwalk and yes, it was as tilty as it looks

There are Water Tupelos - their bases swell with water when it floods - the moss shows how high the water gets

Swampy Stuff

Then the day turned on us. Part of the boardwalk was closed so we had to go across country. We missed the turnoff that we were supposed to take and ended up walking through some trails that seemed to go on and on forever and forever. Davey was calling it a death march. There were some other lost souls on the trail and there were other people on the trail who claimed to know where they were, but it was all lies. 

We eventually decided to turn around and retrace our steps back to familiar territory. We finally saw a couple of park rangers in their natural habitat who helped us get back to the visitor center. I think we were out there for about four hours when it should have only been an hour and half. All is well though - Lou got her first Junior Ranger badge. We rolled on home, put our feet up and celebrated the fact that we had survived.

 

Notice Lou's shiny badge

 

Ninety Six

Where to go? Where to Go? Ah – South Carolina – just a five minute drive away. Sounds good.

We head for a tiny little town called Ninety Six. Supposedly the town was called this because it is 96 miles from Charleston and also 96 miles from a major Cherokee village. It is also where the Ninety Six National Battlefield is. Great – another battlefield. Not my favorite place to visit but if one is a completist and needs to see all the National sites, one has no choice but to visit another (*^&%^% battlefield.

Ninety Six is one of the lesser National Sites in terms of visitation. Only about 65,000 people visit each year. It is a little bit out of the way, which might explain it. Also, it is a battlefield which in itself explains the lack of interest. Sorry, my prejudices are showing through.

Ok, I can admit when I'm wrong. This was really interesting. Revolutionary War – British have built a star shaped fort. Nathaniel Greene comes along and commences the longest siege of the Revolutionary War. It lasts for about a month. General Greene is not just sitting around though, waiting for the British to give up. Nope – he is busy having his men digging trenches. He starts out about 70 feet from the fort but that is too close so he backs up a bit. The first trench is parallel to the fort so I guess that is why they called them Parallels. Then they dig some zig-zag trenches called Saps to connect to the second closer Parallel. Sort of like little ants, building their tunnels creeping ever closer to the fort. One dark night, the Patriots built a thirty fort tall tower so they could shoot down into the Star Fort. So the British added more sandbags on the top of their fort walls. The Patriots tried to dig a tunnel to go under the fort walls but that proved unsuccessful. It goes on and on. It was like slow motion warfare. Eventually the Patriots gave up and left, then the British also left burning the fort and the town. It was a pleasant day and we could take Miko on the battlefield grounds which is always nice.

 

Replica of the 30 foot tower that the Patriots built

 

More flowers

 

We stayed in Lake Greenwood State Park. We had a couple of wonderful sites overlooking the pines and the lake. Weather is beautiful. What was the problem with this place? Evidently South Carolina has it's Spring Break the week after Easter and Lake Greenwood was packed. The really unique feature of this park is that they allow golf carts. Every single camper seems to have a golf cart. Back in the late sixties, the big thing for teenagers to do in Minneapolis was to cruise Lake Street – up and down the street – checking out all the other teens cruising. Carloads of girls. Carloads of boys. Well, here at Lake Greenwood cruising is done by golf carts. Golf carts loaded with girls. Golf carts loaded with boys. There were golf cart traffic jams. It would be pretty funny if I weren't such a curmudgeon. At least golf carts are electric and quiet so that was a positive.

 

Local Dog Park - Miko loved hanging out up top

 

The Proverbial Catch Up Post...again

It is necessary now and then for a man to go away by himself and experience loneliness;
to sit on a rock in the forest and to ask himself
"Who am I, and where have I been and where am I going?"
                                            Carl Sandburg

Today was the finish of my Revolutionary War Trifecta. We had Guilford Courthouse yesterday and today was King's Mountain and Cowpens, all three tolling the bell of defeat for the British.

King's Mountain National Military Park, North Carolina – The Loyalist militias under Ferguson took the top of the hill, the Colonial militias surrounded the hill and crunched out a victory. Miko and I walked the mountain. According to the storyboards on the trail, the trees covering the mountain were huge and there was no underbrush. Then the giant trees were logged so now it doesn't look like it did during the battle.

 

Miko sitting in one of the old trees that the Colonials hid behind

 

Cowpens National Battlefield, South Carolina – Cowpens, named because this is where the frontier folk kept their cows before sending them to market. Colonial Daniel Morgan vs. British badboy Tarleton. Tarleton was the guy who several months previously had beat a bunch of Colonial militia and when the Colonials waved the white flag and tried to surrender, Tarleton slaughtered them all. Nice guy.

I think I'm done with the Revolutionary War for this trip.....finally. Interesting, but I think I need to space out this battle stuff a little bit more.

Headed north up toward the Asheville area.

 

South Carolina likes to make sure you stop when you should

 

 

 I had picked out a couple of campgrounds to stay at in the area. The first campground was sort of a mom/pop operation called Red Gates RV Park. In fact, as I checked in, I had quite a lengthy conversation about ham hocks and collard greens, neither of which I know anything about. Got myself a pull through site but when I tried to hook up the electricity, my surge protector went nuts and I couldn't get any power. Mr. Camp Host said “well gee, it works fine for everybody else”. Moved to a second back in site. Super narrow and very unlevel. When I put my leveling jacks down, three of the four tires were off of the ground. This would not do. So, I had to hook up my car again and try to find another RV park. It was getting late in the day and I was worried about finding a place and then having to get set up possibly in the dark. Ended up in Park Place RV Park in Flat Rock which although it had no charm, was very close to my next destination.

Carl Sandburg National Historic Site – this is where Carl Sandburg ( poet, Lincoln biographer, Pulitzer award winner and married to one of the premier goat breeders in the country) lived. Tied Miko up outside the visitor center, watched the movie and then we walked around the property. I could not tour the house because it was being renovated but we got to go into the goat barn and meet the goats and feel the space as Carl Sandburg must have felt. 

 

Carl Sandburg's House

Carl Sandburg's Pond

After getting a little culture with Carl, we headed up into Tennessee and I mean up. We had to cross a mountain range. I have a book called Eastern Mountain driving. It tells me what type of hills I am  going to encounter on a certain road. Well, in my giant RV, I seem to have lost it. How is it that in this small space I lose things? I don't get it. Anyway, there are nine miles of up, up, up followed by forever miles of down, down, down. I need to find that damn book.

I ended up in Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park in Tennessee. Yes, it is that Davy Crockett – the Alamo Davy Crockett. The campground is laid out like an RV park – we are all lined up, row after row. But, we are right on the Nolichucky River and the sound of the rapids really made me want to keep my windows open. Unfortunately, it got down into the thirties at night – I get the feeling that there will be no more open window sleeping.  I'm thinking I am going to need electric hookups for the rest of the trip just so I can run my space heater and not use up my propane.
 

Nolichucky River cascades right outside my door

Morning

We got a couple of good little hikes in before we headed over to my friends in Knoxville.

Anytime I am in the Knoxville area, I have to stop in and see two of my most favorite peeps ever – Bill and Kathy. We checked out some real estate in the mountains, I rode my first Paso Fino and my old favorite Icelandic Logi, went out for our traditional Mexican dinner and ate a whole lot of junk food. I really enjoyed my weekend in Knoxville.

Kathy and Tux

Bill

Virginia, North Carolina and a little dip into South Carolina

Lots of catchup since I've been off of the mountain.

 

Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia– I always thought that this is where the Civil War ended when General Lee surrendered to General Grant. Wrong – Lee only surrendered the Northern Army of Virginia. Yes, it was the start of all of the other Confederate armies surrendering, but I was always taught in school that this particular surrender was the very end. I was surprised. I actually found being in this spot where this happened to be very moving. Both sides treated each other with respect and civility and brought an end to the most horrific time in American history.

 

Museum of the Confederacy - I was rather disappointed in this museum. It was a well done museum, but I think I was expecting more of a overview of the Civil War. This museum was mostly pictures of combatants along with their personal letters and diaries. A lot of reading. Too much for me at the end of the day. One cool thing was that they had General Lee's uniform and his sword so you could really get a feel of the stature of the man

 

Stayed at Parkview Mobile Home and RV park in Appomattox. I had electricity, water, Wi-Fi, TV – I felt absolutely decadent having all these services. Although, it was no where as nice an atmosphere as Shenandoah. It was basically a big parking lot.

 

Booker T. Washington Birthplace, Virginia – Everybody has heard Booker T. Washington's name, but I'm sure that most people really have no idea what this man accomplished in his short life. He was born a slave, once freed he walked 500 miles to put himself though school and at the tender age of 25, established Tuskegee Institute and became recognized as the nation's foremost black educator. I watched the movie and then Miko and I wandered around the grounds. A lovely day meandering along a creek.

 

The Evil Tobacco Plant

Replica of the cabin Booker lived in with his mother, brother and sister until he was nine years old.  It was very very small inside

Miko had fun with the farm animals - ducks, turkeys - but the pigs really intrigued her - their grunts drove her nuts because she wasn't tall enough to look over the fence and see what was making that noise

 

 

Stayed at Owl Hollow Campground in High Point, North Carolina. Four sections in this campground, two of which are in woods butted up to a beautiful, tranquil lake. Guess which one I was in? The gravel parking lot section (although with blazing fast wifi). Turns out that twice a year, in this area of North Carolina, it is Furniture Mart time. This is when all the furniture buyers come to the furniture capital of America for their giant furniture convergence.

 

Guilford Courthouse Military Park, North Carolina – There are lots of national sites that commemorate battles. What was unique about this one is that this commemorates a battle that the British actually won. What's up with that? Cornwallis and Greene. Greene was known for fighting guerilla style warfare. Cornwallis had been chasing Greene all around the south. Cornwallis won this particular battle, but he lost a fourth of his troops and it directly led to his surrender seven months later at Yorktown, thus ending the Revolutionary War. Again, I watched the movie – it was a little different than the normal – it was like a Hollywood movie. This park was an urban park – in the middle of Greensboro – lots of woods, lots of monuments and lots of people walking, biking and enjoying the park.

Nathaniel Greene, commander extraordinaire.....and Miko

 

 

The night was spent in Blacksburg, South Carolina. Full Hookups, great Wifi. I was able to get my propane filled – bring on those cold spells. I'm ready. Mostly seasonal people here – not transients like me. A lot of trailers here are all displaying the American flag, along with the Confederate flag right next to it. I would love to talk to these people and listen to what they have to say about this, but I think I am just going to keep my head low. It is a quiet park as long as you don't count the train that seems to run right next to the campground. Oh, and the coyotes are going crazy tonight also.