05-09 Charleston, SC

From 05-09 Oak Plantation Campground

May 9th we left Lexington and moved to the Oak Plantation Campground near Charleston, SC. This is a very nice campground and is probably the closest to downtown Charleston. I highly recommend it.

We went there to meet our son Ward who came down from Chicago. Ward is considering a move from Chicago and Charleston is one place he is considering. He did some job search while he was there, but nothing much turned up in his areas of interest or expertise. We enjoyed a great visit with him. The only downside was all the rain we experienced during our time in Charleston. That limited some of the touring we wanted to do. Still we visited the SC Aquarium, Fort Sumter, the Confederate submarine Hunley, and Patriots Point.

Here are a few pictures from the Aquarium:

From 05-09 SC Aquarium

From 05-09 SC Aquarium

From 05-09 SC Aquarium

Here are a few pictures from the boat ride out to Fort Sumter and the fort itself. Click here for more information about Fort Sumter.

From 05-09 Fort Sumter

From 05-09 Fort Sumter

From 05-09 Fort Sumter

From 05-09 Fort Sumter

From 05-09 Fort Sumter

From 05-09 Fort Sumter

From 05-09 Fort Sumter

From 05-09 Fort Sumter

Ward and I toured the Hunley conservation project. This confederate submarine was the first to successfully sink another war ship. Afterward the sub disappeared. Many searches were made over the years. It was finally found in 2000 by a team funded by Clive Cussler, author of many adventure books and an avid searcher of sunken ships. It was recovered and has been in a conservation lab ever since. It is kept in a tank of cold water that is only drained a few days a week to allow examination of the sub. Click here for a recent article about the investigation of the Hunley. We could not take pictures of the Hunley but I did take a few including a replica of the first model built in New Orleans and then sunk just before Union troops captured the city.

From 05-09 Hunley

From 05-09 Hunley

Our final visit was to Patriots Point where four ships are on display – the aircraft carrier Yorktown,

From 05-09 Yorktown

the diesel submarine Clamagore,

From 05-09 Clamagore Submarine

Destroyer Laffey, and Coast Guard Cutter Ingram.

From 05-09 Yorktown

We had toured the Yorktown when Ward was a young boy and wanted to go back. We spent about 1/2 day there and could easily have spent a full day or more. It was especially interesting to tour the submarine having last year toured a captured German U-Boat at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

Here are a few pictures from our tour of the Yorktown:

From 05-09 Yorktown

From 05-09 Yorktown

From 05-09 Yorktown

From 05-09 Yorktown

NC/SC Joint Newmar Kountry Klub Rally

April 30th we traveled from Lexington, SC to Crooked Creek Campground near Seneca, SC in the upstate near Clemson University. We went to attend a joint NC/SC Newmar Kountry Klub state rally. We traveled with our friends John and Dede Fisher from Chapin, SC.

From 04-09 NC-SC Newmar Rally

Almost 30 couples attended in their Newmar RVs. What a great bunch of people. Everyone was very welcoming. We enjoyed getting to know several couples and hope to be able to join them again for another rally. We had great food

From 04-09 NC-SC Newmar Rally

and fellowship.

From 04-09 NC-SC Newmar Rally

We even learned a fun new game called "Joker" (At least I think that is the correct name. Or perhaps that is what they were calling John)

From 04-09 NC-SC Newmar Rally

Crooked Creek sits on a low hillside above an inlet to Lake Keowee. We had a beautiful view down the hill to the lake waters and surrounding countryside.

From 04-09 NC-SC Newmar Rally

We enjoyed a pleasant Saturday touring an art gallery, antique shop and several other stores in downtown Seneca with John and Dede. (John and I also enjoyed wondering down to a local fudge shop to sample some wonderful fudge while the ladies shopped without us.)

From 04-09 NC-SC Newmar Rally

While at the rally I helped John finish programming his new Duran 360 Tire Pressure Monitoring System. It has small transmitters that screw onto the tire valve stems. These transmit to a receiver mounted on the dash. The system immediately proved its worth when it reported that one of John’s rear tires was at 70 lbs, about 20 lbs too low.

Later going home, it alarmed and reported high pressure in the rear tires. At the same time John and Dede were hearing some strange noises. We all pulled over to investigate. Standing back from the motor homes, Dede noticed that the rear of their coach was too low. John realized their rear air bags had deflated. John let the engine idle for a long time, and the pressure slowly built back up to a safe driving height. We drove another 10 miles or so when the noise returned. We pulled over again and John spent several hours on the phone with Spartan Chassis and then his extended warranty company who also provides emergency road side assistance. Meanwhile I was talking to Coach Net who I had recently selected as my emergency roadside assistance company. Coach Net was much more helpful and quicker to respond with information. John eventually got a tow truck sent out by his provider. (I think he now plans to join Coach Net)

From 04-09 NC-SC Newmar Rally

The tow truck guys were great (they were recommended by Coach Net). They could not tow the coach without the air bags being filled. The guys figured out how to raise the coach using the leveling jacks and insert wooded blocks under the frame to keep the coach high enough off the tires. Then John was able to slowly drive the coach back to Greenville to the local CAT dealer who also services Spartan Chassis. At that point it was around 6pm, and we continued back to Lexington.

Sunday had been a long and difficult day for John and Dede, but early Monday morning John drove back to Greenville. The CAT folks were great. They got his coach right in and discovered a malfunctioning air valve. They located a replacement and had the repairs complete by early afternoon. We were delighted to hear that the problem had been solved and done so quickly. We were also glad the problem had happened on this trip rather than a few weeks later when John and Dede were headed to Colorado to visit their son’s family.

We told John and Dede this is just another RV story to add to their list. We all have some. As you have probably heard us say before, ours are more of the “don’t do that again” variety. But we have had our share of breakdowns. Fortunately so far all have been in our prior coach and not the Dutch Star.

04-09 Columbia, SC

We are back in Columbia continuing with annual Doctor appointments and look forward to continuing to visit with family and friends. I am seeing an eye specialist because both tear ducts in my left eye are closed. I often look like I am crying because my eye fills with tears since the tears have no place to go. The Doctor had me stop using an eye drop I have taken for several years to reduce the pressure in my eye. It turns out those drops were causing me to tear excessively. I am about to start a new prescription that hopefully will not cause the same problem. He is also recommending that I have two outpatient procedures to open or build new ducts for the tears to drain. I will likely have the less complicated one done in the next few weeks and the other in November when we come back through on our way to Florida for the winter.

Monique will finish having a new crown installed next week after the dentist found problems with the original one. I also have to have my annual stress test this week, and I need to schedule a colonoscopy since it has been 7 or 8 years since my last one. So we will probably be around Columbia for another 2-4 weeks.

Our son Ward would like to relocate to Charleston. So we are going to move down there for a week or two so he can come stay with us and look around Charleston a bit. We like Charleston and the SC “Low Country” so are looking forward to that trip.

It now looks like it will be late May or early June before we start north. We are still planning to head to upstate NY for the summer months hoping to find cool weather for July and August.

We recently enjoyed an overnight visit by our 7 year old great niece Whitley Mattox. She enjoyed camping out with us. Here is a picture of Whitley and a few of the azalea blossoms in front of her house.

From 03-09 Spring in Columbia

From 03-09 Spring in Columbia

We also enjoyed seeing one of Whitley's soccer games. This was only her 3rd game, but she was right in the mix of things and having a great time.

From 04-09 Whitley Soccer