Travel Update 10

Even though we don't spend a lot of time in cities, we started this week of with a trip to Charleston, South Carolina. We felt like it had been a long time since Aiden really got to run around and interact with other dogs so we looked up dog parks in the area and found a perfect one downtown. While there we also got a chance to talk to other owners, one of whom recommended walking along the water front nearby. It was a great recommendation, complete with a beautiful park.

 

Confederate statues seem to be alive and well in Charleston, which as we talked about in our Gettysburg post, is a phenomenon we don't understand.

We were planning on taking off and heading south that night but had a very strange noise coming from our back tires as we drove. After getting to a parking lot and having Andreas watch as Kathleen slowly drove around we discovered that the lug nuts were loose on the back passenger wheels. We tightened them by hand and went to a shop in the morning which tightened them properly. We're still not sure what caused them to loosen. They haven't been touched since Fairbanks. We'll be keeping a close eye on the for the time being.

The next morning we did finally move on from Charleston and headed South in Georgia. We once again struck out on our free camping, when google tried to send us down a road that didn't exist. We found a camp site in the area that we thought might have been where it was trying to send us, but that one was $30 a night. We decided to pass it up, and keep moving on to a Walmart. At recommendation from Andreas's step father, who went to school at Georgia Tech, we did want to see Vidalia and see if we could get any onions. Unfortunately the onions that the Vidalia Walmart was selling were imported from Washington...

From Vidalia, we headed down to Big Mike's RV park. A wonderful experience that justifies it's own post. 

We left Big Mike's on Saturday, in large part because we needed to find a place to watch the football game. We went to our fall back: Buffalo Wild Wings. As heart breaking as it was to watch our team completely self implode, at least the other people at the bar were rooting for us. There was even another duck there that we were talking to. The bartender was totally pulling for the come back with us. Overall it was a crushing defeat, but a good reminder that a successful season is one in which we beat the Huskies and the Beavers. We already got one, and get our shot at the second next weekend. 

Big Mike's Horse Ranch and RV Park

After finishing up in Columbia, SC, we decided it was time to start heading south. It had been below freezing at night for a few nights in a row. We were ready for some t-shirt weather.

After a stop in Charleston and Vidalia (see Travel Update 10), we stumbled upon Big Mike's Horse Ranch and RV Park on Allstays. It was listed as a private campground that was free, which was an oddity, but it did have highly positive reviews on Allstays as well as Google. So, we decided to go check it out!

Mike is a retired veteran who owns a ranch, with his wife Alice, just outside of Homerville, GA. He keeps all sorts of animals including horses, donkeys, goats and chickens. He decided to open up an RV park in his grazing field. He pays for any upkeep by renting out a few spots with full hookups for $20 / night and has the rest of the field open, for free, to boondockers like us. We got there on Tuesday and liked it so much that we stayed until Saturday!

 

The horses and donkeys would come graze on the field where we were staying from early morning to late afternoon. During that time we had to keep a close eye on the kids because the donkeys did not like unfamiliar dogs on their turf. So, a lot of the times, we had to keep the kids inside until the afternoon.

  

On Thursday, we decided finally use our bikes and head into the small town of Homerville to do some internet related things at the library. We made it back just in time for sunset.

It was warm enough in southern Georgia that we even decided to set up our solar shower on Friday. We had been looking for an opportunity to use it but it had been too cold. The water was a nice comfortable temperature after a few hours in the sunshine.

On Friday we also decided to get out of our comfort zone and make some friends. We decided to make a big fire in a fire pit that Big Mike had made in the middle of all of the camp sites. We were inspired when a new guest, Christopher arrived in the morning and came to start conversation. We chatted with him for a while and he asked about the other guests. We realized that we had only met one of them, a lady with three german shepherds but whose name we didn't know.

We were a little nervous initiating the fire, but it was nice because since it was in a neutral zone in the middle, other guest could choose whether to attend or not. Most people did end up coming out and we met some cool people living the RV life style.

Dog Lady came, but we still don't know her name. She is in her late 50s or early 60s, Originally from the New York. She is divorced and has two kids, 28 and 31. She travels in a midsize class A motorhome with three dogs and three cats. She had some ideas that we thought were a little crazy (she starting telling us about chem-trails) but she was nice enough. She had been staying there for two weeks and was still there when we left.

Ross had been stay with Big Mike for three weeks, and was also still there when we left. He had been on the road for several years in a trailer that he built and was closer to our age, maybe in his 30s? He was also very quite, listening to the conversation, but not adding much.

Glen pulled in his large class A motorhome earlier in the day with his wife, who didn't come to the fire. They are snowbirds from Ontario who live up there in the Summer but are staying with family in Florida all winter. Glen is a retired truck driver in his 70s and he had all sorts of stories.

We got to know Christopher the best, he is in his late 50s, early 60s. He told us he decided to live this life style because people in his family die young and everyone in his family was dead, which was depressing. He lives in the back of his pick up truck, which is quite small. But the perk is that he blends in perfectly and can park almost anywhere. He loves kids and was telling us all about several kids that he watches when their parents are in trouble. He is also hoping to write a book some day about all the people he has met on his travels, which is definitely a book we would love to read.

We got some great recommendations from all of these people, since we they had all been living this life style longer than we have. It was fun swapping stories and hearing about their lives, both currently and before their trips. In the end we were very glad that we had broken out of our shells and had the fire. The next morning Christopher thanked us for it as well.

Before leaving on Saturday, we went with Christopher over to see the goats and chickens. Alice was kind enough to show us around and introduce us to Daisy, a kid that she had to take care of personally because her mother did not want her.

Alice with Daisy

Kathleen with Daisy and Christopher 

To top it all off, Alice offered us some farm fresh eggs that her hens had laid!

It was an amazing place to stay. We all had a ton of fun. We would definitely recommend checking this place out if you're passing through Southern Georgia. Just be prepared to be self sufficient. Big Mike is super friendly expects a certain level of competence and common sense from his guests. He is a special ops vet after all.