JOURNEY TO THE DEEP SOUTH - September 4 -19, 2010

Labour Day weekend, 2010, would be the start of our most ambitious trip since buying the trailer just over a year ago. To avoid the worst of the holiday traffic we were on the road by 6am, Saturday morning, but still got delayed for twenty minutes at the border. However, after one more significant stop in Perry, NY, near Letchworth State Park for a nice breakfast at John & Sarah's Restaurant and to pick up some groceries, it was clear sailing to our first layover at Harrisburg East Campground (HEC) in Harrisburg, PA.

.

While not exactly a destination resort, HEC has a pool and very friendly staff so we'd say this campground is fine for overnighters who don't mind a bit of traffic noise and the occasional low pass from landing aircraft.

Harrisburg is about an hour north of Gettysburg, PA, a town well-known for the famous Civil War battle. We would check that out on our return trip home. However, as we hit the road after a Cracker Barrel breakfast in nearby Mechanicsburg, my navigator managed to steer us directly to the Boyds Bear Museum.

 ...

For those who collect teddy bears and related figurines, this place is Mecca. I managed to drag Gail out of there after two hours but not without her taking a couple of hostages. Then, guided by our GPS, we continued our southward journey to our next overnighter - Smithfield KOA in Four Oaks, NC - arriving at 6:50pm just as they were closing up the office.

This is another nice private campground that we would recommend. Somewhat quieter than Harrisburg it also had a pool, laundry facilities, and free WiFi. On leaving, the next morning, we would book the same site (#4) for our homeward-bound trip.

On Monday, with only a four hour drive to our main destination, we had a leisurely trip to the coast under mostly sunny skies. As we got close to Myrtle Beach, however, the sky became ominously dark and the long line-ups of RV's going the other way made us wonder if Hurricane Fiona hadn't changed direction. But, no, it was just the exodus of vacationers heading home on Labour Day from one of the most popular vacation spots on the Eastern Seaboard.

This will be last "campsite" picture for a bit but here we are in Huntington Beach State Park, Murrell's Inlet, SC (site 109). Look carefully and you will see our resident bunny in the driveway.

Huntington Beach State Park is not an overly large campsite, having only 133 reserve-able spots, but with a fabulous beach, excellent wildlife viewing areas and close proximity to Myrtle Beach, this is a five-star State Park in our book.

The beach is just a five-minute walk from the furthest campsite. Five minutes in the other direction will bring you to a causeway that crosses a marsh/lagoon that has fresh water on one side and saltwater on the other. This is an excellent place to see many species of shore birds.

Another neat thing to see along the causeway was one of the resident alligators.

Although this fellow seemed fairly passive, and quite content to munch on clams and crabs, make no mistake that in the park he (or she) is the top of the food chain. The birds, though, didn't seem to mind the presence of an alligator in their midst - but birds aren't all that bright.

The Myrtle Beach area has a lot of attractions and when we weren't gorging ourselves on fresh seafood or shopping (bargains galore and lower sales tax than home) we managed to visit Ripley's Aquarium, and the Gullah Museum.

The Gullah Museum, which Gail had read about, seeks to preserve the history of the Gullah (or Geechee) culture that is unique to the slaves that were brought to South Carolina and neighboring States. The Gullah language evolved out of necessity as slaves from diverse tribes sought a common form of communication. Though the language was considered a poor form of English and the culture shunned, even among Gullah descendants, both are now being recognized as a unique heritage. The museum founder, Vermelle "Bunny" Rodrigues, is a very entertaining and informative host and a visit is well worth the donation.

After a week of sun, surf, sand and seafood (and, yeah, more shopping) it was time to move on to our next destination - Savannah, GA.

It was another half-day's drive to Fort McAllister State Park, just outside of Savannah. Passing Charleston, SC, and again over the Savannah river we came across these interesting suspension bridges.

The state park is situated on the shore of the Ogeechee River. During the civil war, Fort McAllister was an earthworks fort that resisted several naval bombardments by Union forces. It has been restored and there is a small museum within the park office.

The campground is within a forest of tall trees draped with Spanish moss. Our site (#15) was on the edge of the park beside a saltwater marsh. This afforded a little more light and was purportedly less buggy (?). When we were there, the park was 95% empty which made the deer less shy and a small herd wandered through our site as we ate supper.

Unfortunately, the surrounding foliage gave the park a somewhat oppressive atmosphere that was only heightened by the hundreds of little black hermit crabs that scoured our site and the surrounding areas.

Though harmless, and actually kind of cute when viewed up close, at first glance the ground appeared to be covered with scurrying black spiders (think Harry Potter) which was kind of creepy. Still, we wouldn't be spending much time at the trailer because Savannah was waiting to be explored.

Old town Savannah is laid out in a grid pattern with several parks, or squares, interspersed throughout. Midweek traffic for the most part is surprisingly sparse and a pedestrian can cross the town diagonally in about 30 minutes. This makes getting around and taking pictures, like the above photo of the Mercer Mansion, an easy task. Originally the home of composer Johnny Mercer, this house later became famous for being owned by Jim Williams, the central figure of "Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil".

The best way for visitors to get acquainted with Savannah is to park at the visitor's center, and take one of the many reasonably-priced trolley tours. You can hop on and off at several locations and the driver/guides impart a lot of knowledge and anecdotes.

We planned our visit to South Carolina and Georgia in September in order to experience some of the typical "Deep South" climate. We got that with temperatures in the 90's. Regardless, the breeze from the Savannah River and shade from all of the trees in "old town" made walking even several blocks a pleasant stroll.

Many of the old residences had been restored and you could tell that they had been good investments by the fact that the real estate agents were from Sotheby's!

One of the more famous landmarks is Forsyth Park with its grand fountain. I had to stand by for several minutes until the promenade was clear of pedestrians and cyclists to take this picture, but I think you'll agree that it was worth the wait.

We couldn't leave Savannah without having a nice meal at one of the many fine restaurants. Our choice was the Pirate House of which the original part was built in 1733. It used to be an ale house frequented by Carolina seafarers, some of whom were indeed pirates, and Gail and I both agreed that we had the best meal, there, of our whole trip.

We had planned to stay four nights at Fort McAllister but having covered most of what we wanted to see in town we couldn't see the point of staying at a campground we were less than thrilled with. As we went to bed that night we made the decision to leave the creepy crabs and head back to Myrtle Beach for more surf, sand, seafood, and what was the other one? (Yeah - that too!)

The Fort's campground staff cheerfully refunded our two unused nights and, when we returned to Huntington Beach, we were lucky in that we got the only site they had available for two nights (#55).

It was more open and less buggy than our previous spot. We backed in, hooked up, then headed for the beach. We saw several schools of silver fish in the waves and small clumps of brown kelp floating by. The one thing I didn't see was the jellyfish.

As I floated in the warm water I felt something silky glide past my calf. Then, it seemed like some kelp with small thorns had brushed up against it. Finally thin strands of live wire crossed my lower leg and around my foot. The sensation was of a low-voltage electrical charge that zapped several times. I thrashed around and eventually got away from it. I yelled for Gail to get out of the water and headed to shore with my lower calf starting the throb with pain. It now felt like I'd just received a dozen wasp stings.

...

From what I have subsequently read, the assailant was probably a Portuguese Man 'O War. The treatment is to use vinegar or alcohol to neutralize the toxin then to use shaving cream and a plastic card to "shave" out any filaments of tentacle that may be embedded in the skin.

We didn't have any vinegar, or alcohol swabs, but we did have a bottle of Chardonnay in the trailer so I poured some on a paper towel and some in a glass and applied both liberally. It seemed to help. After anointing the wound with Polysporin and taking an antihistamine, a nice steak dinner and more wine at Applebee's helped to dull the last vestiges of pain.

We spent our last day in South Carolina at nearby Pawley's Island. There are several nice artisan's shops in that area and Gail got a quick lesson on how to weave sweetgrass baskets. At one time you could buy these fairly cheaply but now they can be hundreds of dollars.

The next day we headed North, stopping once more at the Smithfield KOA. Arriving about 3pm we had time for a dip in the pool and to do some laundry. Thursday saw us driving for several hours until we reached Gettysburg, PA.

We stayed at Gettysburg Campground (site 236). This is another private, high-density campground but it had security, friendly staff, plenty of amenities, and lots of activities like bingo, square-dancing, or a site decorating contest - the weekend we were there the Baltimore Ravens were playing the Washington Redskins in nearby Washington so the theme was football and some folks really went to town with the decorations. They even dressed up.

But the main reason most folks were there was to visit the famous battleground. The battle of Gettysburg marked the high-water mark for the Confederate Army of the South. Their defeat at Gettysburg is generally considered as the major turning point in a war that the Northern Union Army had been losing.

Friday evening we had a nice meal and a glass of the local beer at the Appalachian Brewing Co. then went to the Gettysburg Diorama which is a large scale model of the 1863 battle.

The next day we bought an excellent audio self-guided tour CD and drove to all of the points of interest. At one stop we came across a group of folks that re-enact the war and saw a demonstration of a Union cavalry corps.

Suddenly, one of them spotted a gray (Confederate) squirrel advancing through the woods. Dismounting, they fired a withering volley into the forest and their bushy-tailed foe took cover in the trees.

The soldiers fired again but the rodent began gathering walnuts for ammunition, and advanced. The cavalry had no option but to beat a hasty retreat. However, they put on a brave face and made it look like a charge.

And we did the same. After a nice meal at Dunlap's Restaurant (which used to be called Glenn's Diner) and a good night's sleep at the campground we charged back home.

What a fun trip! We'd been away for 16 days and towed the trailer over 3600 kilometers without mishap. We brought back a few bags of souvenirs, a camera full of pictures, and a jellyfish wound that still itches occasionally - we can't wait to do it again! 

< PREVIOUS - INDEX - NEXT >