SATURDAY 9.21.19 SOUTH CAROLINA / NORTH CAROLINA

Today we left Charleston and made our way to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is one of our favorite places. It just screams BEACH and Walt and I love the beach, in fact we met at the beach all those years ago.

We really enjoy driving over the causeways, this is usually lined with seagulls but today we only saw one.

This is a great ride because we know we aren't too far from the beach now.

It was an interesting trip to say the least. Long, for sure, as it took us nearly 8 hours to get here. We had one section of road that a tractor trailer made very interesting. We don't know if he was drunk, on drugs, falling asleep at the wheel or exactly what was going on but he was all over the road. Both lanes and the shoulder! It was bad enough that cars and other trucks were doing their best to get around him and away from him! I even called 911 to give our location on I-95 and to let highway patrol know that this driver was on the road. After what seemed an eternity, we were able to get past him without incident.

We finally pulled into the campground after a B & P run. (Budweiser & Pepsi) Once parked we didn't want to have to go out again today.

We were able to get the very last spot available in this campground. We're in the Kitty Hawk RV park which is located right across the street from the beach/ocean.

We are crammed in here like sardines but we love it here! I'm sure a lot will be pulling out tomorrow, at least we are hoping so. There are a lot of kids here today and we're thinking they all have to go back to school and will be leaving, at least we are hoping so.

Walt is looking forward to getting some fishing in and I want to see ALL the lighthouses here. And Boss, well Boss wants to go anywhere we're going and do whatever it is we're doing.

The weatherman says we're going to have a beautiful week here on the Outer Banks. Let's just hope the fish are biting!

FRIDAY 9.20.19 SOUTH CAROLINA (Charleston) Part 2

We took a ride on a horse drawn carriage through the streets of downtown Charleston today.

 Same as with the trolley, the ride didn't lend itself to picture taking. I snapped a few but mostly of buildings because, I truly believe, I was an award winning architect in a previous life. I'm just so taken with these old buildings and the detail put into them. 

And wrought iron, we both just love the wrought iron work on the balconies. 

We passed this one set of buildings and the driver pointed out this tree.  Seems that when the land was sold the owner of one of the lots wouldn't see because of this tree.  He was promised the tree would live.  As you can see it is growing out between two buildings.

These two buildings have been for sale for a long time and the price dropped several times.  Seems as though because of building codes and for some reason these can't be updated, the owners can't sell them.  So year after year they pay the insurance, the property taxes and hope they always have tenants.

We did take the time to walk through the Market.  This is a long, one story building that is just vendor after vendor selling everything you can imagine.  We bought Eagles coasters and several "flowers" made from reeds.  And fudge.  We bought fudge.

If you visit Charleston, one of the have to see, can't leave without visiting, must do things is go to Rainbow Row. This is a group of 13 homes all painted bright pastel colors.

These homes were built around 1740 and were first places of business with the proprietors living in the upper floors.

After the Civil War the area was rundown and considered a slum area. This all changed when Judge Lionel Legge and his wife Dorothy bought a section of housing. Mrs. Legge had one of the houses painted a pretty shade of pink in hopes of making the area more attractive. Soon after other residents starting painting their homes pastel colors.

Many have speculated over the true reason for the color transformation of Rainbow Row. One theory is that the homes were painted various pastel colors so that drunk sailors might find their way home easier. Others believe that the various hues were the merchants’ way of indicating what types of items they sold there. One other theory is that the homes were painted lighter colors to keep them cooler during the hot Charleston summers. City ordinances are in place to insure the homes keep their pastel colors intact.

Charleston is a beautiful city and we wish had more time here. Next trip though here we'll spend more time for sure.

THURSDAY 9.19.19 GEORGIA / SOUTH CAROLINA

Today it took us all of two hours to move from Savannah to Charleston. The traffic! 

We found our Passport America campground and on the way we noticed all the trees that were down. Big trees!

We're now in Lake Aire RV Park in Hollywood, South Carolina. It's a small campground and it looks like there are a lot of permanent sites. Most are well kept and there is a nice pool area. There is a small lake here or at least a tributary of one and catch and release is allowed. 

Well, let me tell you, he no sooner finished setting up and he had fishing pole in hand. He caught a turtle by the leg and a good sized sunny.

The need to fish satisfied, it was time to do something. At first we thought we would go see something but the driving range won out.  We found that Shadowmoss Plantation Country Club was the closest to us.

We had the driving range to ourselves.  A fellow from the country club had just finished collecting the balls off the driving range and had buckets of balls on the back of his Gator.  He hit one bump and the bucket closest to the end fell off without him knowing it.  I went over to start collecting the balls up and putting them back in the bucket.  He came back within minutes and also started picking them up in his own bucket.  When we finished he thanked me for helping and told me to keep the ones in the bucket that I had collected.  So we had plenty of balls for the driving range.

When we got back to the campground we worked together to make dinner and enjoyed a good steak with all the trimmings.

We took Boss for a nice long walk around the campground and heard lots of comments about him.  Mostly, "Look at the size of that dog!".  Yep, we hear that all the time.

There are two families of ducks that live here.  Boss did not know what to make of them.  He just stood there and stared as they walked to the waters edge and jumped in for a swim.

Of course Walt found a little time to get more fishing it.  

This evening we had a campfire and went through brochures for sites to see for tomorrow.

Life is good. Very good.