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.

Travel Update 9

We started the week by heading down to see more coastline, this time in southern North Carolina. We found some free camping that we wanted to check out in the Croatan National Forest, but wanted to find a reasonably sized population center first to watch the Sounders win the MLS cup. We settled on Morehead city and asked around there for good activities to do in the morning.

Fort Macon State Park was recommended to us at the visitor center, and we're really glad we found it. We spent three hours there, but definitely could have spent more time if we had it. We started by doing a really nice walk around the park.

  

After that we had about an hour to check out the visitor center and the actual fort. They had a video, which is usually one of our favorite things but we didn't get a chance to watch it. Instead we attended a live demonstration of some WWII weapons that they were doing as park of their Veteran's Day weekend. Even though the fort was primarily a civil war fort, it was also used during WWII. They also like to say that the lost shot of the civil war happened here in 1942, when a cold soldier rolled a cannon ball into the fire where it exploded.

After leaving the park, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings, to watch the Sounders game. Which they did indeed win. It may have been a bye for Duck Football, but we did get to get our sports on.

Unfortunately we didn't have as good of luck with our free camping that night. The first place we tried to go was full. We thought we found a spot but then someone came back, telling us that they had in fact been there and just left to go to the store. It was a bummer. On the road up to the other free campsite in the area we ran into a big truck warning us he had gotten stuck in a huge mud pit in the road and had to have his buddy pull him out. He said we could probably make it around if we stuck to the side. Given our vehicle we were skeptical, but we thought we would check it out.

The mud pit that we found was indeed massive. There was no way we were going to make it past. In fact we passed a ranger on the way out who told us that the road was supposed to be closed because of the pit, but someone had taken down the barricade. We asked him for other places, and other than the full campground we tried first he didn't have any ideas. In the end we ended up at our default. Walmart.

The next night we had more luck in the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge. We found a really pretty spot, next to a fascinating marsh. 

 

Our big event during this time period was our trip to Congaree National Park, which absolutely beautiful. We spent a lot of time in Columbia, South Carolina because we were waiting for a new tire.  We finally decided it was time to replace the spare that fell off in West Virginia. Unfortunately, the wheel that we ordered didn't work out so this saga isn't over. We'll have to tell you the full story after we get it all worked out.

We spent a lot of time in the Columbia library, in part because the weather was wet and cold. In part because we had a lot of internet work to do. We've been looking into figuring out insurance and Kathleen is starting to work on fellowship applications for next year. And of course this blog. By the time Saturday rolled around we were very ready to get back on the road and try to move south out of the nights with below freezing temperatures.

Saturday night we ended up getting a room at the Travelodge in Walterboro. Partially because the football game was another late game that didn't start until 10:30 PM, and we didn't want to relay on the kindness of the local Applebees to stay open until the game ended. But we also calculated that we would actually be saving money on a $40 motel room compared to the food/drink costs of a game, plus showers for both of us. We also did some hand washing of laundry in the bathtub, and got to spend some time on the internet. Including watching a women's basketball game, in which Sabrina got her 19th triple double. Throw in the breakfast and it was a great deal.

The breakfast however was not quite up to Kathleen's "hotel breakfast" standards. The drink options were passable with coffee, black tea, water, lemonade, cranberry juice and a funny tasting orange juice. The food was a little strange though. They had Fruit Loops and Rice Krispies but no milk. They also had a yogurt machine. We made cereal parfaits and were satisfied, but it was definitely an odd breakfast.

Given that football season is almost over, we probably won't have another super late game, but maybe there will be a basketball game that will justify another motel.

Congaree National Park

Congaree National Park sits in the heart of South Carolina, within 30 minutes of the state's capital. It was protected because it is was one of the last places in the country to have a large hardwood forest on a flood plane.

The flood plane, which floods an average of 10 times a year, provides the trees with fresh nutrients from upstream allowing them to grow incredibly tall. The park features 25 "champion trees" - trees that are the tallest of their species in the country.

The most interesting of the trees to us was the Bald Cyprus, which features "knees" - roots that grow back up out of the ground. Scientist's best guess as to why they grow these is to provide stability during high wind, but that remains just a guess.

Because the park is on a flood plane, water sits around making the perfect spawning ground for mosquitoes. Luckily for us, the temperatures have been close to or below freezing, so we had the "All Clear".

 

In the park, we went on a 7-mile loop hike. There are only a few hikes in the forest, most of them loops that expand on each other, a 2-mile boardwalk trail, a 4-mile loop follows the boardwalk then branches out. The hike we did  branched out from that 4-mile loop, all of them ending on the boardwalk again. The boardwalk is nice because there are 20 sign posts referencing you to the boardwalk tour where they tell you facts about the history and biology of the park.  Pets are also allowed in this park, so Aiden was able to join us again!

 
  

All-in-all it was a  unique park that we're super glad we visited. There just wasn't too much to do to warrant more than a day or two without going fully into their designated wilderness.

For our science nerds out there - good news! The amphibians of Congaree have not been hit very hard by Chytrid. We asked the ranger and the front desk who had no idea what we were talking about. But he kindly called their wildlife biologist who said that they have not been hit very hard. We were pleasantly surprised. 

Here's a bonus picture of Declan contemplating a beverage.

Travel Update 8

Our big event this week was Shenandoah National Park, which we absolutely loved. It of course has it's own post. As does our visit to the Wright Brothers National Memorial.

Outside of those destinations, the week was a pretty slow one. We spent a total of three nights at a Brayley Pond, a camp ground in the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. It was a great free camp ground that gave us a chance to rest and recharge. We did a short hike around the pond on Wednesday.

Other than that, we just took some to hang out and let this kids explore.

 

Unfortunately it started to get pretty cold, so it was quickly time to move on. From there we continued south to Durham, North Carolina where one of our friends from Eugene is currently living. She kindly invited us out to drinks with her work friends, which was a lot of fun. It's always great interacting with other people.

We are also excited to finally be getting into basketball season. On Saturday, the Oregon Women's Basketball team took down team USA in a historic victory. Unfortunately we couldn't find the game televised anywhere (it was an exhibition game, so strictly speaking it didn't count). Instead we parked close enough to a Walmart to get internet and constantly check for updates from Oregon Live. Having seen highlights afterwards, our suspicions are confirmed - This is the team to watch this year!

Kitty Hawk

North Carolina license plates proclaim them as "First in Flight." Which seems a little like cheating the first people to fly were boys from New York, living in Ohio, who happened to chose Kitty Hawk, North Carolina as the place for their flight. None the less, we wanted to see the place where that first flight happened.

There is now a National Monument at the site of the first flight. It also includes a rail like the one the Wright Brothers used to take off, and other rocks marking how long each flight they took was.

Because it was once sand dunes the hill that they flew off of has migrated back about 500 feet. But grass has been planted on the hill so it now stays in place, complete with another monument on it.

Inside the visitor center they have a recreation of the first plane (the original is in DC at the Air and Space Museum) as well as lots of information about the state of knowledge at the time when the brothers flew.

It was a pretty fascinating museum with some cool information. Not a ton here, but a very interesting way to spend the afternoon.

We wanted to spend more time on the Outer Banks, including checking out the a light house and wildlife preserve further north on the island. Unfortunately, the area was not very RV friendly and we couldn't find anywhere to stay. We decided that Kitty Hawk was really what we had come to see, and moved on.

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park gets a lot of visitors every year, in large part due to the fact that it is only 70 miles away from DC and the large population centers around there. This is especially seen in their weekend visitors, since it's a pretty easy weekend trip down. Even though we were there off season, when we arrived on Sunday evening the park was swamped.

The main "attraction" in the park is Skyline Drive, a beautiful winding 105 mile road down a ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We had always thought that the Blue Ridge Mountains were a specific mountain range, but it is, in fact, an entire region of Appalachia. Or as wikipedia terms it: a physiographic province. Also - John Denver led us astray, they are predominantly in Virginia, not West Virginia. As is the Shenandoah River.

Nicerthannew.com

The views down Skyline Drive is stunning and there are tons of look out along the road to take in the sprawling views in either direction.

There are over 75 overlooks down the length of the road to stop and take in the view, which is amazing in both directions. 

There were also more hikes than we could possibly do, but we did do a sampling of the variety. The Appalachian Trail runs the entire length of the hike so we did a few miles on that. There were also tons of great hikes up to peaks with great 360 degree views. 

We also did a really nice hike down to look at some waterfalls. The waterfalls were not the most impressive that we've seen but it was a really nice hike through the woods and along a stream. 

 

Our main constraint on this park was where to stay. There are a lot of lodging options within the park, but unfortunately most of the camp grounds were closed for the season, leaving the more expensive lodge as the main option. The one campground that was open was a fairly reasonable $20 a night, but we decided to pass and drive out of the park for a free spot. We did Make use of their coin ops showers and laundry though. They were great facilities that apparently often used by AT through-hikers. So far this has been one of our favorite parks, largely because of the variety of things to do and see here.