18 Miles north of Myrtle Beach

Up early last Thursday to drive a little over 400miles from Northern Georgia to a site just on the border of North and South Carolina. Here is a picture of the rig just before we set off

The trip was a little challenging for the first and last 75 miles as we were hauling the RV on some pretty small roads. Plenty of time to knit though, I had already finished knitting the bunny she just needs to be assembled and stuffed. So my latest efforts are a shrug for me. Here is the first sleeve and the start of the back.

Our campsite is right out in the countryside set in a small family run vineyard. They have a pond with a family of geese, who also seem to like walking around the vines and a frame with many gourds hanging of it and lots of baby birds housed in them.

 

On the Friday we drove to the town of Calabash, famous for its seafood eateries and then on into sunset beach. Unfortunately dogs are not allowed on the sand between 8 and 6 during the summer months so we just had a quick look and then headed off down to North Myrtle Beach. We will have to come back here in the off season.

 

The main road through the area is wall to wall food and shopping so we stopped at a local diner and i got my first taste of grits, I have to say I quite liked them much to Robs disgust. We had a quick walk on the Boardwalk at Myrtle Beach and then headed back to the campsite ahead of the crowds.

There is no cable connection at this campsite and so we had a nice evening listening to my ipod playing in shuffle mode.

Saturday we were up bright and breezy as usual and drove to a place called Murrel’s inlet, it is a small fishing harbor with a boardwalk and some nice pubs – so after a pleasant walk with the dogs we sat on the patio at the Dead Dog and got treated to some good food and a live band.  It was funny to see a small island opposite the pub that housed a family of goats.

 

By the way Rob has not shaved for about a week – so he could have passed for one of the local fishermen – What do you think ?

Saturday night was one of those times that you have to pinch yourself to believe your own eyes. When we checked in to this campsite they asked us if we would like to join them Saturday night as they were having live entertainment in the park. So there we were with about 24 other people being treated to a 2 hour performance of the local Elvis impersonator. He was actually very good and we had a really fun time – go figure!

 

He also wrapped his silk scarf around me as a gift and it was still a little wet with his sweat – we are thinking of getting it DNA tested just in case he was the real deal

 

Sunday we stayed around the campsite and just relaxed until about 5 then we drove back to Calabash to try the Seafood Hut which was listed in out travel guide. We had to queue outside in the sun for about 40minutes but everyone in the queue assured us it was worth the wait. It was a no frills place with about a dozen cafe style tables inside. The fried seafood was amazing sooo fresh and certainly worth the wait. We had flounder, scallops, oysters, shrimp and crab all deep fried and served with coleslaw, fries and something called hush puppies which are deep fried corn bread balls.

We walked on down to the shore – watched the crabs dancing on the mud at the waters edge and people starting to go out on the boats to see the 4th July Fireworks

 

There was a small public field just off the waters edge where a seven piece band was entertaining a large crowd of people for free. The Carolinas know how to celebrate  Independence Day in style

Tomorrow we start the trek back to Pine Bush – we will stop in a town called Petersburg just south of Richmond Virginia Monday night roughly about 250 miles away.

Dillard - Georgia

The park here is really nice and it is nestled in amongst a mountain range with fantastic scenery. We decided to go out for a scenic drive in the early evening – First stop was the Popcorn Overlook

Then a short stop at the edge of Lake Burton to admire some of the houses of the idle rich.

One last stop, we read that Tate City had good views, the bit they left out was that we had to drive through the forest on a dirt track to get there which in the truck was a bit like being in a dinghy coming down a river. To cap it all this road was nearly ten miles long and the views in Tate City were not as “spectacular” as the write up said they were.

We got up early on the Tuesday to go and hike the Tallulah Gorge – they only let 100 people in per day so we wanted to make sure we could do it. We ended up being the first there. You have to go down over 150 steps cross a rope bridge across the gorge then down another 230 steps and then the adventure begins!

The adventure begins with a trip back across the river by scrambling over boulders in the river ( which are very slippery when wet ).

Did we make it across dry ?…….. no we both ended up with one wet foot, luckily the weather is still so warm it was hardly noticeable. We then had a scramble down alongside the river past 4 waterfalls. The last of which is called the bridal veil and people slide down it into the pool below.

 

The way back was just as interesting with chances to stop and enjoy the views and also prepare ourselves for climbing back over the river.

So did we fare better on our return trip over the river ? ……….. well the plan was for Rob to go first, deposit the backpack with the cameras in and then come back to help me a bit. He did quite well, just the one wet foot. Me, not so good, slid down one to the rocks and was wet from the waist down. Rob grabbed my sun glasses then 2 mins later slipped again and dropped my glasses into the river. Ever the gentleman he then went back and tried to retrieve them, without success.

 

Now deep joy, we just have those 350 odd steps to climb ! on the way back we passed a shop called Goats on the Roof – and that's exactly what they had. The roof was covered with grass and they had small goats wandering around up there.

I also found perfect T-shirts for us in there but the old goat  Rob would not let me get them

Wednesday started with a slightly overcast day and no internet or cell coverage to the site. So we changed our plans and went for a hike on Dicks Creek it was a gentle mile down to the Chattooga river. They must have had some severe weather last week as we could not join the river trail ( bridge was out ) or the Bartrum trail ( trees down ).

On the way back to the camp we stopped at a great farmers market. We went swimming in the camp pool and then a nice BBQ outside before packing up as much as possible ahead of our next journey. Tomorrow we head for Tabor City NC, 20 miles from Myrtle Beach and a RV park within a working vineyard.

Allatoona Lake - Georgia

We got up early and were ready to leave the RV park in Virginia by 7 am. We had only got 2 miles down the road when we stopped at the traffic lights only to fine the brakes on the RV had locked on and we could not budge.

Luckily Rob was able to reboot the system ( see even in the world of RV – if you have a problem, reboot ) and we were on our way. This is the longest journey we have done together in one day in the RV. We stopped three times but still made very good time and pulled into the camp at Allatoona just after 5. Honey Bunny did not get a sister but she did get ears, arms, pants, bobtail and a dress.

We have been here for 10 days and have had a really great time – we are about 30 miles from Paul, Robyn and the girls. We were sorry not to miss Blake, who is currently cruising the Med. Lucky Boy!

We have had a great time relaxing at the camp walking the dogs around the lake interspersed with trips over to the Pinto household where we got to swim in the pool (yes dogs as well!) trips out for some retail therapy with Robyn, incredible food ( with care packages for the RV for the days we were not visiting ) even a trip to Church on Sunday. Needless to say we were made to feel like part of the family and had a great time.

There have been some strong thunderstorms here but they have been a welcome relief as the weather has hit the high 90’s on a few of the days.

 

We are looking at maybe buying a piece of land on the brow of lookout mountain in NE Georgia – so we also went up there to have another look and see in in the summer months. Rob and Paul went up there on Sunday and took some great views which minus a few tree tops will be the view we would get out of the windows. There is a ledge about 100ft back from the brow so we would look to build the house on that and have it as a architectural feature of the basement.

They also found the remnants of an old homestead on the land – it will be great to keep it and use the chimney as an outdoor fireplace. We should get a metal detector up there, I bet we would fine some interesting things.

 

Today Monday 28th we are going to move the RV to a camp park near Dillard NE Georgia.

Below just a few of the animals we saw and also motor biking for dogs !

Shenandoah Valley and Skyline Drive

Monday we packed up our RV and left Lancaster county to drive down to Waynesboro Virginia, Some 260miles. We stopped at a truck stop to get some lunch (They are the only places big enough to haul in our 55ft of body length) its really funny to see us in amongst all the Lorries and to realize we are the same length- Must take a picture next time. We arrived at the campsite running on diesel fumes as Rob had insisted we did not need to fill up at the truck stop, that made his heart race a bit :-)

It meant I got to do a lot more of my knitting, here is Honey Bunny’s current status. That’s her legs body and head done

Last night we took a trip to the local Walmart – they had a RV section so we were able to stock up on a few things  then off to Mickey D’s to use the free wifi. Rob takes me to all the best places !

This morning the weather is hot humid and very cloudy but we are only here for one day so we took off for Skyline drive and the Shenandoah National Park. It was really beautiful and I can only imagine how much more spectacular it would have been if the weather had played nice for us.

On the way up to the Byrd information centre we spotted a hiker looking for a lift to the next highway. He had been walking the Appalachian trail since March and had arranged for a fresh lot of supplies to be delivered to Elkton before he continues on his way up to Maine (another 3 months of hiking). The trail is over 2100 miles long and runs from Georgia through to Maine. It has long been an ambition of Rob’s for us both to walk this at some point. Me, not so keen ! but we may do it some day. It is not the distance or the time, although they are not making me super enthusiastic. Its the fact that you have to sleep out overnight and carry your tent and food with you – there are stretches where you spend days not passing any form of civilization.  I took a picture of Rob on the trail just in case it was his only chance

Tomorrow we have to be up and out very early as we are planning to drive 550 miles down to Georgia. That is our longest trip to date and there is a strong chance honey bunny could end up with sister after probably 12 hours of driving !!