Winter Excursion 8, Day 30

Check out time from Buck Hall is 1100. We stretched that to the limit and that was our plan. We got up around 0800 and took our good ole' time packing up. We left the site at 1045..LOL. Said goodbye to Ted (Camp Host) and headed out to Branwell State Park.

We took the back roads and saw lots of South Carolina Backcountry. It was a nice ride on very nice roads,

We pulled into Barnwell State Park at 1400. The place was empty! We joked about being in our only campground ever that no other camper there there.

Here's our view from the campsite.

Our pic of the campsite.

Now our view up from the campsite. You can see our Host.

I'm sure it will be very peaceful tonight!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 29

I was up with the sunrise and ready for some fishing with my friend Tony. We left the boat ramp at 0715 in a super high tide. We were greeted by this sunrise!

The boat ride out to Bulls Bay was a cold one as temps were in the low 30s. The wind had been forecast to be light, but it was anything but. We fought the wind all morning.

I got this pic of the lone Palmetto Tree on Bull Island.

I got lucky and caught the first fish, a barely legal sea trout. That would be the last legal sea trout of the day.

I also got lucky and caught the only red fish of the day.

We fished all over the area and had no luck. All in all we caught 5 fish of which only 2 were legal.

After eight hours on the water we went back to camp.

Another group of fisherman at camp had gone out around noon for just two hours and caught over 30 fish (ten legals)!

Even thought we had a bad fishing day we had a good time and the conversation and story swapping with Tony was fun. Except for the wind the weather was perfect, but maybe a little chilly.

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 28

Cath and I slept in for the second day! I think we are finally caught up on our sleep.

After breakfast we drove to Foster Creek to check out the PX and Commissary and pick up a few supplies.

On the way home we stopped at Wally World to get a few things including some "blue tabs" for the RV black tank. Not only did they not have any, but they don't even carry them. Amazingly there are no RV stores in the area, so we ended up at West Marine. They have a liquid form that does the same thing at $20 for a four pack. Typical West Marine!

Back at camp we got everything put away and I walked up to my friend Tony's camp. We are going fishing tomorrow. We leave at high tide/sun-up (0700) and plan on fishing all day. With any luck there will be some sea trout and reds in our freezer tomorrow evening.

All is well in the Boss Camp as long as I get fish tomorrow...LOL!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 27

We did not even get up until after 0800. We both slept like logs last night. Breakfast was at 1030..LOL.

We did a few camp chores, dumped the tanks (using the tote), and just relaxed.

I took an e-bike ride and got a few pics. This is the fishing pier at the campground.

Just off to the right of this pic you can see a pelican on the post. I tried to zoom in a little, but it's still hard to see him/her.

Later a new neighbor occupied the site next to us. They are from NY near Rochester. We talked with them for awhile and exchanged cards. They are on the way home after a RT66 trip.

Maybe a movie tonight, but I'm thinking sleep will come early again. This camping life is rough!

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 26

After last night I didn't even want to crawl out of bed this morning, but crawl out we did! A few cups of coffee and a nice breakfast of pancakes and sausage and let the day begin!

Brian & I got the rest of the Roast remains cleaned up and put away. Cleaned up the Oyster Table, Rosater, and the driveway. We took the shells to the Oyster Shell Recycle Center and drove back to the house. We only had one small bag of garbage with almost no waste of food!

I was ready to head back to the camper but Brian had other ideas. We needed to start getting the Christmas Lights up!

We got all the "high work" (2 story stuff) finished before the rain started. That only took 3 hours!

We figured we deserved a few beers and Nicole made a nice late lunch for us.

Once the rain got going Cath and I headed home in case Brian had more for me to do.

Cath & I will sleep really well tonight and maybe even through tomorrow..LOL.

The Kiddos go back to school tomorrow. Cath and I are going to OD on arthritis meds and have a few quiet days.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 25

Annual Oyster Roast Day!

We had a quick breakfast with the Kiddos, cleaned up the camper, and headed to the seafood market in McClellanville. We picked up a few pounds of shrimp, and some clam and shrimp dips for the Oyster Roast tonight at the Kids. The shrimp is for my world famous peel n' eat shrimp. Here's a pic of the Kiddos at the seafood market.

From the market we drove to the Kid's house and started getting set up for the Roast this evening.

First order of business was setting up the inflatable big screen. It's Saturday in the south and watching college football is a must. If we has not showed the games many folks would not have showed up. Brian did "split screen" and could show two games a once! Many of the folks were "glued" to the screens. Here's the screen. Think it's big enough?

We got the oyster table all set up. The holes are to dump the shells after you shuck the oyster clusters into trash cans below. By the end of the evening it will look like we'd been cleaning fish on it..LOL

Here's the food table. Every guest brought a dish, desert, munchie, or veggie platter. It was totally full by 1800.

Here's few pics after the party got started. A fun time was had by all.

Neighbors started to arrive.

The crowd get bigger.

The oyster table.

The last folks left around 2300. We had a nice toddy by the fire pits and then hit the sack. We did some clean-up, but will finish in the morning.

It was the best "Roast" ever. There was over 50 folks there and a great time was had by all. There was very little food leftover, so almost no waste.

We were off to bed by 2330 will sleep like babies!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 24

As it was the day after Thanksgiving and we had lots of leftover pie we had pie for breakfast! After breakfast we relaxed and listened to Kennedy and her friend practice on their violas for the oyster roast tomorrow evening.

I did want to include a pic of my Granddaughter's room. I'm trying to figure out where she sleeps!

Cath and I played some cribbage and then we headed out to camp with the Kiddos

We had a nice spaghetti dinner and watched another movie.

By 2200 we were all in dreamland. 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 23

Happy Thanksgiving!

After a nice breakfast Brian left for work. He will be back in time for dinner. Nicole and the Kiddos left for the neighborhood "Turkey Trot". A 5K walk, run, or ride.

Cath & I spent the morning doing laundry, watching the Macy's Day Parade, and some meal prep for this evening.

The football games started at 1300 and lasted all day into the evening.

Got the bird on the Weber around 1430. It was done at 1730.

Cath and Nicole got all the fixins cooked and ready. The Kiddos set the table.

Brian got home just in time to carve the Turkey. We all sat down for dinner and stuffed ourselves. The meal was great.

Here's Wesley with his Turkey leg.

Brian carved up a nice Turkey.

And the meal was ready.

After dinner it was a little more football and just laying around holding our Bellies!

It's been another nice Thanksgiving Day.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 22

I woke up at 0700 and checked the weather. Rain was scheduled to start around 0800, so I went outside and put everything away. It was a good thing I did as the wind and rain started at 0800 and lasted until just past noon. It rained hard and the campground looked like a lake.

We had breakfast, watched the rain, and cleaned up the camper. Kennedy crocheted a hat, scarf, and headband for George.

Wesley had to try it also, but I think it looks better on George.

Just after noon we left camp and drove to the Kiddos house. We will be there for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving and attend a few oyster roasts.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 21

The day started early when Wesley's friends from the campsite across the street started rapping on our camper windows and door at 0700. They wanted to play football! So out the door Wesley went, in his PJs to play football at 0715! Wesley had not mentioned it the night before (after they played football until 2130), but he was expecting them in the morning.

We had some breakfast from the flat-top, cleaned up the camper, and started the day.

The girls played some Rummy and Wes and I watched the last half of the football game as he missed it due to exhaustion last night.

After lunch we played dominos. The Kiddos had never played and after a few rounds really got into it. Wesley made a record score. He had 339 points after Kennedy went out for the round! Granny ended up winning!

Cath made sticky chicken for dinner and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

After a Harry Potter movie we all hit the sack. It's been another crazy fun day.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 20

Wes, Cath, and I left camp around 1030. We dropped Cath off at the grocery store to to her Thanksgiving dinner shopping. Wes and I headed to his house, said Hi to Nicole, and had a bite to eat for lunch.

I left to pickup up Cath and we spent the rest of the afternoon chillin' at their house.

Nicole made a really nice German dinner (schnitzel and spatzle) after Brian got home. 

After dinner we packed up both Kiddos and headed back to the camper to watch Monday Night Football. Both the Kiddos fell asleep by halftime. I stayed up as it was a really good game.

The Kiddos will be at camp with us for the next two days. As rain is in the forecast it will be movies and board games.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 19

Today was a fun day, a good time was had by all!
The day started with breakfast on the flat top. Scrapple, eggs, and homefries was on the menu.

Brian & Wesley took a nice 5 mile hike on the Palmetto Trail. The trail starts here at the campground. Nicole and Kennedy arrived just as the boys were getting back.

The Kiddos were introduced to the Bug-A-Salt gun. It was a big hit. There must be hundreds of dead insects within a few feet of our camper and there is lots of salt on everything!

We had a snacky lunch of all the shrimp and dips we picked up yesterday.

Kennedy got introduced to the E-bike. I think she put ten miles on it just in the campground.

All afternoon it was NFL football games. At halftime Kennedy turned into our local hair dresser. Wesley and I were the victims.

Ringo (their Corgi) was finally worn out after the hike this morning and multiple walks.

 

We all enjoyed a nice steak dinner. Then Brian, Nicole, and Kennedy left for home. Wesley stayed with us. We watched the end of the second Sunday NFL game, but we all fell asleep during the Sunday night game. We will sleep good tonight.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 18

Cath and I hung out in camp waiting for Brian & Wesley to show up later this afternoon. We finished our site set up and relaxed. We did take the short ride to McClellanville to the seafood market. Picked up some local shrimp and crab and shrimp dip for munchies tomorrow. 

I'm still nursing that damn ankle, but it is slowly getting better. If I could just stay off of it for a few days it would be fine, but that's a little hard while camping.

The boys arrived around 1500.

They played some football, took a walk, and a good time was had by all. On Wes's request we did tacos. His idea of a taco is plain ground beef and a little cheese on a flour tortilla. No lettuce, onion, tomato, or salsa. YUK! Oh yea, he would not eat Cath's homemade refried beans either.

We were supposed to watch a movie, but everyone fell asleep by 2000 and we were all in bed by 2030.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 17

We both slept like bears last night. A long drive, seeing the Kids and Kiddos, and a big fried seafood dinner did us in.

The rain started last night around 0100 and lasted on and off till 0500.

We did a little camp maintenance and got the place for the most part all set up. It did rain on and off most of the day, but the forecast is for better weather for the next few days.

Here's a couple pics of the site.

This is the first time we've been in SIte #10. I think we've been in every other site in this CG. There is only 14 sites!

We did run into town to do a little food shopping for the weekend. Brian and Wes will be here tomorrow for the night and Nicole and Kennedy will join us on Sunday for some relaxation and a good steak dinner at camp.

We are looking forward to the weekend, spending time with the Kids and Kiddos, and getting ready for Thanksgiving.

 

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 16

We pulled out of our site at 0745, dumped, and were on the road a 0800! We met our goal!

The ride was all Interstate as we are driving 325 miles today and we are anxious to see the Kiddos. We saw this truck on the way and got a kick out of it. If you know our last name you will chuckle also.

Around 1300 we pulled of the interstate to get some gas. I figured we were lucky as there was no one at the pumps. As luck would have it they were out of gas! We drove down the road a ways and finally found some gas. Paid $2.59! We were thrilled.

We arrived at Buck Hall Recreation Area and Campground just north of Mt Pleasant, SC. around 1500. This is one of our favorite campgrounds.

Brian and the Kiddos came to camp around 1630 and we all left a little later for SeeWee Restaurant where we met Nicole.This little restaurant is a great place to get your fried seafood fix.

After dinner the Kids and Kiddos headed home and Cath & I headed back to camp. It's been a long day, but we are happy to be here. We will be in this area for 6 weeks. I'll post some pics tomorrow of the camp site.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 15

Our plan worked! We did almost nothing today.

Relaxed, packed up what we could, and had a nice dinner.

We hope to be on the road by 0800 tomorrow.

It has been really nice at Stone Mountain SP in NC. We highly recommend this park if you are ever traveling this way.

Looking forward to seeing the Kids and Kiddos tomorrow. We will sleep lightly tonight. 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 14

We ventured back down the park road to the trailhead to the old Homestead and parking lot. The Homestead dates back to the 1700s. The settlers and their descendants owned it (and occupied it) until 1960, then gave it to the State Park. Here's a few pics.

This last pic is Stone Mountain, taken from the Visitor Center. The homestead is at the base of this stone mountain. This is really an old historic area that is worth visiting.

Our plan is to do nothing tomorrow and just relax. LOL

  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 13

After breakfast we drove to Elkin, NC. We needed a few groceries and Elkin had the closest store. We were excited to see gas below $3.00! Picked up our groceries and then headed north on GA Rt 21 to Sparta, NC. It was an interesting drive and reminded us of the windy, twisting, switch-back roads in Tennessee. 

Headed back to camp we drove NC Rt 18 and headed back down the mountain on a different set of windy, twisting, switch-back roads. The entire round trip was interesting. Lots of Christmas tree farms, abandon homes, and old camps, and lots of poor folks. Here's pic of a Christmas Tree farm on a hillside. We saw hundreds of these and lots of trucks hauling cut Christmas Trees.

On the way back into the park we snapped this pic of Garden Creek Baptist Church. They still hold services here.

Back at camp we just relaxed and enjoyed our 72 deg, sunny, weather. Tomorrow is forecast to be just like today, so a little more exploring is on the agenda. 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 12

We left camp this morning at checkout time,1000. We only had 90 miles to our new campground and arrived around 1200. I was worried that we would be to early and could not occupy our site, but the host said it had just been vacated and we could occupy early. I think it helped that I mentioned that we host also. LOL!

We had not been to Stone Mountain SP, NC since our first year as Snow Birds. I managed to book the same site we had back then. It was as we remembered, but we both thought the site was steeper (uphill a little) than we remembered. Here's a few pics of site #44.

Our view from the site.

Had an issue with the pedestal and the sockets for the 30 and particularly the 50 amp plug. You can see from the pic that "bending" the 50 amp cord was tough. The 30 amp would have been easier as the cord is smaller in diameter. We made it work, but it would have been nice if that lower box was a few inches lower. I noticed this throughout the rest of the sites also. Not sure if there was some sort of adapter that I could have used.

I'm not a CG engineer, but I would have caught this before it happened.

  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 11

At 0200 this morning, Kaylee decided she needed to go out! She finally did eat last evening and I guess her PS (poop schedule) is messed up. So I got up, dressed, and took her out in 30 deg temps. After that she decided to bug us for an hour or so. Cath finally got her to calm down and go to sleep.

After all the night time escapades we slept in a little. Left camp around 1100 to get some propane and a few things at the grocery. On the way we went through Newbern again and got this pic of the town well. Zoom in to read the plaques. 

Back at camp Kaylee decided to go surfing in her bed.

Cath and I played cards and just chilled. She lost!😛

My ankle is doing much better.😂

Takeout pizza tonight as we are leaving tomorrow, but not to early as the drive is less than 100 miles.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 10

We laid around the camper this morning putting off our favorite camping event. At 1030 we could not wait any more so we loaded up and headed to the Laundromat. We've been looking forward to this since we left home. Actually the laundromat was not crowded. It was clean and the machines were reasonably priced. By 1200 we were done and headed back to camp.

I forgot to mention it's been raining all morning!

On the way back we drove through the little village of Newbern, VA. It's super old and really small. Blink and you'll miss it. There were two POIs that we saw. Got a pic of this one and will try to get a pic of the other tomorrow.

Here's the 1839 Pulaski County Courthouse. If you blow up the pic you can read about it.

So Kaylee has been on another hunger strike. She went 48 hours without food last week, then decided to eat. As of today she is on track for another 48 hours without eating. These hunger strikes save on poop bags! Here's a pic of her in her Thundershirt trying to decide if she wants to be in bed or just act like a nut. She stayed like this for a few minutes. LOL.

The rain stopped early this afternoon, but the temps are dropping. Forecast is for a few nights right around freezing, but sunny during the daytime.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 9

After trooping the food store yesterday afternoon, my ankle hurt like HEXX most of the night. All I could think about was "I gotta pack up in the morning and can't hardly walk"! I slept on and off and finally got up at 0630. Surprisingly my ankle felt better and the swelling had gone down. Packing up and changing the tire back from the spare was no big deal. We left camp at 0845 just in time to get a sprinkle of the forecasted rain. 

The drive to Claytor Lake SP, VA was uneventful. We've had enough events this trip so far. LOL Here is a pic of a Semi we passed along the way. We got a chuckle out of this:

We got to the park around 1430. The campground is almost empty. We are in site #D21 and were all set up by 1530. The forecast is for rain tonight and tomorrow so we did minimal set up and will make tomorrow a "laundry day". YUK!

Here's a few pics of the site:

And our view out the front door.

It's nice to have reliable cell service again. You really don't miss it till you don't have it!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 8

We hung out a camp this morning as I'm still nursing my ankle. It's getting better, but it's a slow process.

We left camp around 1500 to do some shopping at Sailors' (our favorite southern Pennsylvania food store). Picked up pickled eggs, sweet lebanon bologna, apple butter, Snow's clam chowder, scrapple, and Tastykake stuff. I gotta get my hometown food fix!

As we are leaving tomorrow morning for points south we got some KFC for dinner.

All else is doing well. We will be at the Kiddos area in 8 days! 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 7

We left camp mid morning and headed to a tire shop to get the camper tire repaired. Got gas on the way and then arrived at Barrick's Tires and Toys. When I googled tire shops this one came up as a tire shop and gift store. We had never heard of such a place so we had to check it out. It is just north of Newville, PA, just about 15 miles from the campground. They repaired the tire for $8 and the toy store was amazing!

This pic does not do it justice. There are isles and isles of toys, old and new, clothing, hardware, and almost anything else you can think of!

Outside there is this bench, look close, it's a PIG!

If you are ever just south of Carlisle, PA on I-81 you have to check this place out! It's like 10 minutes off the interstate.

Back at camp I continued to nurse my ankle. Hopefully in a few day it is back to normal.

Our friends, Ron & Shirley (hosts from the Chenango Rally) stopped by for a while to say Hi and catch up on happenings and friends. We will see them again in Jul 24 at the Chenango FROG Rally.

Ankle is doing better, but not great yet. Tomorrow is another relaxing day. 

Weather was in the 70s, sunny, and forecast to remain the same.