Going South (7^th -9^th March)

The night at the Walmart Parking lot (yes, that’s right…. Most Walmarts allow RV campers to stay overnight at their parking lot) in Lumperton, NC, was an adventure. By 2am the CO Alarm went off, as batteries had run low. That was not a good start. Robert could not even start the generator. We started the truck, which should charge the battery… but nothing happened. The screws for that alarm are security screws and we don’t have a tool for that (something else on the to buy list) so I I tried to cover it with jackets, towels, etc to lower the noice. Didn’t help too much… What a night…. What a start?! About an hour later or so, Robert had the idea to take the complete power off, so we could get at least a nap before the night was over

In the morning we got power from the Walmart Gas station, so we could at least slide in our side extention of the camper, as this Walmart was not a Superstore and did not carry batteries….

Next stop buy 2 new batteries for the camper… with installation … wait.. Camper didn’t fit in the bay so Robert had to do it himself… so the morning was over.

By the way our Bank canceled both of our credit cards because of unusual behavior. I guess buying 2 maritime batteries at the same time was very unusual for people like us….  

We hit the road escaping from the cold weather in VA. We thought, once we hit South Carolina we would be enjoying nice weather.

It all seemed to be this way… In North Carolina, in Clarkton we had about 25C and we already were planning a fire and BBQ at Myrtle Beach. We had this nice campground in Mrytle Beach, with nice wood around. http://southcarolinaparks.com/myrtlebeach/introduction.aspx

Robert at his former host families house

By the time we reached Myrtle Beach temperatures had dropped to 10C and it was windy and cloudy. How could that be? So we decided to have something to eat and found a nice place for Seafood and had the best Oysters for our lives plus 2$ Happy Hour Beers which kept us there for awhile. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g54371-d1818263-Reviews-Flying_Fish_Public_Market_Grill-North_Myrtle_Beach_South_Carolina.html

 

Impressions from Myrtle Beach State Park at 2C

 

 

Next day we had a nice walk on the beach…. But it was soooo cold that we decided to go to Savannah.

The campground we wanted to go in Savannah was full for that night so we took some backroads and ended up in a small RV park close to Hilton Head, NC. This area is famous for luxary golf camps as weather is normally nice during winter time. This was actually booked out as well, but the owner gave us a spot in his backyard. For us the nicest place there. Shaded by big trees with Spanish moose hanging down, with our own fireplace. So we had our first campfire and a couple of tea with rum to fight the cold (by then it was 0C). Wondering why all campgrounds are so busy, the owner said, because of the cold climate on the East coast further north this winter. They had been so busy since Christmas…

Next morning the sun woke us up! What a difference. Even though it was still chilly every camper came outside to enjoy the sun.

So we packed up and went downtown Savannah. One of my favorite cities in the US. The historic district is like a European town built in the 18^th/19^th century, with little coffee places, and people strolling around. Combined with 17C ….. a perfect day!!

Savannah historical district:

In the afternoon we got to our campground about 10km outside Savannah. A little Island called Skidaway Island where they have a nice State Park.  http://www.gastateparks.org/SkidawayIsland

After exploring the trails with saltwater marsh land we bought some fire wood to get some steaks cooked. This turned out to be a nightmare as the firewood (for 6 USD the bundle) was wet as hell and after 3 hours we did the steaks in the pan… what a pitty.

Next day we got our bikes and went to the park bike trail through the marshland. It was really nice and you could walk on the marsh out to the waterinlets. The day was beautiful so we decided to explore the area and went to an landing pier in the area which had a nice bike trail through the woods. That day we collected some wood there and took it back to the state park to get the fire started early and 30 min later we had a nice glow with good sausages, salmon and veggies.

Biking in the marshland of Savannah:

That was our first nearly perfect day on the trip J