On Our Way To Charleston, SC
So as you know, we left our sticks and bricks home in Rochester, NY on Wednesday. We had a routine maintenance appointment in Gaffney, SC on Friday at the Freightliner Service Center. Which by the way, if you are on a Freightliner chassis and you need repairs done, this is the place. We always stop here. They know what they are doing and always seem to do it correctly. I can’t say that for some other places we’ve stopped at.
Anyway…
So the next question was, where to now. We looked at the atlas (yes we still have an atlas) and Charleston, SC seemed like a nice spot.
Side note: We certainly are up to date and use the latest and greatest GPS made for RVers. Not to mention we always have internet so we have Google maps too. We still find use for an atlas though. I carry two. One is the FMCA atlas that lists Walmarts, Sam’s Clubs, all types of parks and Big Rig Campgrounds. I also highlight all the roads we’ve taken and make notes on where is a good stopping area or where not to go to again. It comes in handy and we like to look and see where we’ve been and where we’d like to go.
Our other atlas is a trucker atlas. This has come in handy a few times because it highlights routes that are safe for truckers. Once you get onto back roads, you never know if you are going to run into a low bridge or weight restricted bridge. And turning one of these rigs around may not always be an easy option. Especially if you, like us, are towing four wheels down. You can’t just back up and go somewhere else. Plus, some small towns do not want and are not “big rig” friendly. The roads may be old and to narrow and such. So the trucker atlas will alert you to all of that and route you around such things. I find this atlas a comfort to know I can always look in there and see if my route is safe.
So on to Charleston!
We have never been there before, always driving past it, and their seemed to be lots to do. Plus the weather looked decent enough. So off we went.
The route there is pretty enough. Old growth trees with moss hanging off them. Long stretches of highway that was nice and smooth. And blue sky and sunshine. What more could one ask for?
When we woke up this morning, before we left Gaffney, we decided to check our cameras at home to see what the snow storm had done overnight.
This is what we found.
Our Home In Rochester, NY After The Snowstorm "Nemo"
Lots and lots of snow. To give you an idea of how much snow you are looking at, on the right side of the picture is an Amish built swing. The snow is coming up to the bench of the swing! That’s alotta snow.
Yup…We left at the right time.
Here’s what our home looks like today…in Charleston, SC.
Yup…We left at the right time.
Here’s what our home looks like today…in Charleston, SC.
Our Site At The James Island County Park Campground
Note the door is open, the windows are open and we are sitting outside, or will be at least.
The temperature was a nice 67 degrees. The sun was out. The water pressure when we hooked up was a wonderful 70 pounds of pressure. You rvers can appreciate that I’m sure.
We’re here for a week to explore the area.
So stay tuned for more on the area later. I have to go give David some burgers now to cook on the grill.
Yup, we can cook on the grill now that it’s that warm.
Sorry family back home.
Sending photos and weather reports “Back Home” to the north makes it that much sweeter to have the nice weather in the south. This is our first year as snowbirds / winter Texans. We’ve been fulltimers since 2009 and learned how to survive and even enjoy winters in Iowa while living in our RV. But it is so much nicer to be in the sunshine and bright blue skies of Texas this year. I just hope that the friends that I’ve been sending those weather reports to, are still my friends when we get back there in the spring.
Tom, I agree. It’s like rubbing salt in their already cold wounds. Good thing family can’t disown you.
We’re going to snowbird in Texas next winter. Where are you staying? We like the hill country and want to spend more time there. However we haven’t been south of Houston yet.
“We still find use for an atlas though.”
I use Microsoft “Streets and Tips with GPS “ Very useful program to find all what you need
You can get all information without access to the internet
Trial version
http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=30173
To buy with GPS
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2408728,00.asp
P.S Anyway we have in my rig 3 GPS as well :-))
Yes, I’ve heard many people use Streets and Tips and like it. We like the paper atlas because it’s a quick and easy way to see where we’ve been and what we want to hit later.
We use our phones for when you get to your destination and want to find some local attractions. Our phones act as a GPS to. Comes in handy because we always have our phones on us.
Hi, I saw David’s home theater geek interview via AVS forum, and thought I would check out this site. Low and behold you guys are in Charleston, SC…one of my favorite places. Growing up my family would go on vacation to Edisto Beach, which is about a 50-60 minutes south of Charleston. Now that I am grown I still go there on vacation. I love leaving the Island to go tour Charleston. Love the food in Charleston. Used to really like Hymans http://www.hymanseafood.com/ but I haven’t been there in a while, but it used to be my favorite. This past fall I had the pleasure of eating at Hank’s Seafood Restaurant http://hanksseafoodrestaurant.com/ and it was very good. Both of those are right near the market, within a block or two. I’m sure someone local would know best.
Nothing like fresh shrimp off of the boat though. I should research it some more, but I thought someone told me shrimp are in season, fully matured twice a year…July and January. Not sure if that is true but nevertheless you can’t beat South Carolina shrimp.
Edisto Beach has a very cool state park campsite for RV’s. It’s literally right on the beach, like on the sand. Not sure if that would work for you guys, whatwith the AV gear, guess you wouldn’t want sand everywhere. But I always thought it would be very cool to stay at that campsite. (We always shared a house with friends though.) Of course your site is all about getting out of your comfort zone…some maybe that would be right up your alley…lol!
Well, just thought it was cool that you were in Charleston and felt like I had to write how much I like it too! Have fun!
Sure appreciate the updates. Those of us still tethered to the job can at least dream.
Sure would like to get some data on the camera system you use at the abode. Obviously it is something I’d like to mimic.
Thank you again.
Austin