Easter in the Tennessee Mountains April 2023

We spent the week of Easter at Anchor Downs RV Resort in Dandridge Tennessee, and visited Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Cade’s Cove and Douglas Reservoir and Dam. We love these Smokey Mountains and had great weather to explore the area.

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Located on the Douglas Lake reservoir near Dandridge Tennessee. We had a lake view site, with a great view of the Smoky Mountains Ridge.

From our site.

170 full hook-up sites, concrete pads with either a fire pit or fireplace. They have a lot of amenities, activities for children and lake access with a boat ramp. Check out there website for a complete listing of all the things they offer to do at the campground.

If you are ever visiting the area, be sure to visit downtown Dandridge. It’s a nice little historic town. The main attraction is Tinsley-Bible Drugstore located on Gay St.

This is a classic soda parlor and drug store that has been operating since 1911. It’s like stepping back in time. Their most popular food items are the “Bible Burger” and delicious milk shakes. Lunch was a blast there, the staff was very “laid back”, treated us like family and made it a pleasurable time.

We took a leisurely ride though Cade’s Cove, which is a 11 mile one way loop located in a broad, verdant valley surrounded by mountains and one of the most popular destinations in the Great Smokey mountains.

Europeans settled in the area between 1818 – 1821. There are historic buildings including 3 churches, log homes, cantilevered barns and a working mill.

Go early mornings or late afternoon, evening for the best chance at seeing the local wildlife including bear, deer and others.

Hours are Sunset to Sunrise and it’s located on Cades Cove Loop Rd., Townsend, TN. 865-448-9034.

The campground was on the banks of the Douglas Lake, so we visited the dam. Douglas Dam is located about 32 miles above the mouth of the French Broad River and was built in record time to meet emergency energy demands at the height of WWII. It impounds 28,420 acres of water.

Construction of the dam was completed in record time and was a high priority to supply power to plants in the local areas making items for the war.

On Friday…all good things come to a end, we broke camp to start our journey home. We decided to follow our friends south on I-26 and stop at the Cracker Barrel in Spartanburg SC for the night to break up our 7 hour drive home. It was nice to chill some after driving through the I-26 construction zone and heavy rains. We got up refreshed, had a great breakfast, told our friends bye and continued on home.

Thanks for visiting our site and please check back often for more updates of our travels seeking fun and sun. <><

Myrtle Beach State Park

We took advantage of a beautiful and warm March weekend to go camping and de-winterize our motorhome in preparation of a Easter week trip to Dandridge Tennessee.

We left on Friday morning and arrived at the state park around noon. Smooth traveling south on Hwy 17 out of Wilmington. Easy trip, no mechanical problems and checked in at the Ranger Station who directed us to our camp site (311).

Didn’t take long for jacks down, slide out and flag up! Our house batteries are weak and need to be replaced and that is what supplies power to our slide. The slide was very slow to come completely out…..

The house batteries were charging for an hour and half while we were on the road (I just read, that it takes about two days of charging to bring these batteries up to full charge) so I was kinda surprised at the slow rate it came out. On Sunday the slide came back in ok I will change out the batteries before we go to Tennessee.

I also installed a Maxx Aire vent cover on the roof over the bathroom vent. This will allow us to open the vent for circulation when it’s raining. While I was on the roof, I put some vinly repair tape on the corner of the awning. Some areas have become brittle over the years from sun exposure.

We started checking the systems after I hooked to shore power and Tammy checked the air conditioner, lights, etc. making sure we had power through out the camper. Next I hooked up the city water and this is where the fun started.

I went inside to help Tammy get the air out of all the lines and clear out the anitfreeze that we had pumped in the system. In a couple minutes Tammy found water coming out from under the kitchen cabinets.

To make long story short we found that where the city water connection came into the camper, the connection had come loose. I just tighten it up and it was good to go! It took longer to remove the outside shower box to get access to the connection then it did to fix the leak.

We took a break from the tinkering and we walked around the campground checking things out. There are 278 sites with 138 of them being full hookups. The park opened in 1936 and was the first South Carolina State Park

This is a popular state park for the locals, they have about one mile of beach access with a fishing pier and gift shop. There is a large area with grilles and covered shelters for family events. There is a fee for daily entrance to the park.

The weather was beautiful over the weekend and we were able to get out and walk on the beach and check the park out. Saturday afternoon we went out and had supper and checked the local area out before returning to the campground.

And before we knew it, it was time to go back home. We had a nice time, got the camper de-winterized and ready to roll to Tennesse

Thanks for visiting our site and please check back often for more updates of our travels seeking fun and sun. <><

Tubing on the Edisto River in SC.

Just a little update on a recent three night trip to Givhans Ferry State Park on the Edisto River near Ridgeville South Carolina. The park is located about 35 miles west of Charleston S.C.

Nice little state park with access to the river. It has tent and RV sites, picnic areas for families and larger groups and also a hiking trail and small gift shop.

We used Edisto River Adventures for our tubes and shuttle service. They have a little shop there at the State Park. Best to make reservations online in advance. We went on Saturday at 10:00am and they said they had over 300 tubes rentals going out that afternoon. Saturday and Sunday the park’s visitor parking lot was full.

We hit the river there at the state park access. The river level was down, so the float down to the exit point was about 3 hours. Just a nice easy cruise down the river.

We exited the river at Edisto River Adventures, where they had sandy beaches, recreation area and a Food Truck on site. There were shuttle buses standing by to take us back to the state park.

Probably next time we come, we’ll bring our own tubes and park a vehicle at a public boat ramp down below Edisto River Adventures to transport us back to the state park. It appears that a lot of folks are doing this to save expense on the rental equipment.

The weather was ok, hot days and we had a couple evenings of showers. Most of the RV sites are full hook ups and spacious sites. Bathhouse was nearby and clean. Park hosts and park staff were nice.

As a side note, if you are ever in the Ridgeville area be sure to check out Christina’s Pizza and Subs. Just a small pizza restaurant beside the railroad. Probably the best pizza I have ever had and Christina is very pleasant to talk with! She is closed on Sunday and Monday.

We enjoyed our stay and plan to come back for the tubing and pizza!

Thanks for visiting our site and please check back soon for more updates of our travels seeking fun and sun!

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Edisto State Park, Nov. 7-11 2019

Tammy and I met friends and family at Edisto State Park over Veteran’s Day weekend. The park is located on Edisto Island, which is south of Charleston S. C. It is one of four SC State Parks located on the ocean. 

The park contains 1255 acres, 4 miles of ADA accessible hiking and biking trails and 1.5 miles of beach access. 

There are 2 campgrounds in the state park. They have  one on the oceanfront and the other near the salt marsh. A total of 112 RV campsites with water and electric with 20/30/50 service. Spacious sites with hard packed sand, fire pit and picnic table. They have several sites that will accommodate rigs up to 40 feet. 

We camped in the oceanfront area. The bathhouse was in good condition and kept clean by the volunteer staff everyday. I love camping in state parks, you always see a variety of people and campers.  There were Tiffin motorhomes, 5th wheels, travel trailers and a bunch of small teardrop trailers. We camped on site 71, which was located in the shady area. If we come back again in the fall, we will go to the other end of the campground which had no trees.  It would have been warmer there in the direct sun. 

On Friday we explored the local area before our friends arrived.  Edisto Island is not very commercial, there is only one grocery store, a couple beach shops, and a ABC Store. These were located on the main road at the oceanfront area. At the other end of the island they do have a golf course and resort hotel.  I really liked the laid back community feel. Most of the homes on the island are rentals.  

We also visited Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area.  I will have pictures and write up in the future!

The rest of the  weekend was filled with good food and good times with family and friends, walking on the beach looking for shells. Tammy and Tina spent time gathering small oyster shells to make christmas (shell) trees. Besides the regular variety of shells, we found some Lettered Olive shells, which is the South Carolina State Shell  They are pretty cool looking.  

We live in a beach town in N.C. and when we are not on a road trip, we are on the beach enjoying the fun and sun. We are able to drive out on a section of Carolina Beach and really enjoy the convenience of it, but it is really crowded with people. And when we camp at other beaches that are kind of out of the way of the main stream, it sure is fun!

We enjoyed our stay at Edisto Beach and look forward to returning sometime.  This is a campground that I would recommend to fellow RV’s that enjoy camping near the beach. 

The state park is located at 8377 State Cabin Rd., Edisto Island, S.C.  843-869-2156

Thanks for visiting our site and please check back soon for more updates of our travels seeking fun and sun!

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North Carolina Zoo, Asheboro NC March 29-31, 2019

Tammy and I met family and friends at the Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Ashboro, N.C. to visit the Zoo. Our first camping trip of the season and the 3 hour drive from Wilmington was uneventful and we arrived around 6:30pm. Setup was easy and we had no water leaks from the past cold weather season of storage!

This Jellystone Campground is new and the bathhouse and pool are still being built. Full-Thur gravel sites, full hookups and good WiFi. No cable as of yet. They have a nice ranger station and playground for the younger ones at the front section of campground and fishing pond and cabins for rent at the back. They also rent golf carts and paddle boats

This will be a nice campground when they complete everything. My only complaint for the weekend was the dust from vehicles driving into the campground.

I would recommend this campground if you are coming to the zoo and it is less then a 5 minute drive and they give you one FREE adult pass per site.

Weekend weather was great, nice sunshine and a warm Saturday for our visit to the zoo. It rained for a short period before daybreak Sunday morning. Thankful for no rain during pack up time and our noon departure back to the Port City.

There address is 964 Crestview Church Road, Asheboro, N.C. 27205  336-964-0813

Be sure to tell Yogi hello!

The Zoo!

Some fun facts about our zoo.  It is centrally located in the heart of N.C. and is the world’s largest natural habitat zoo and one of only two state-supported zoos in the US.   It contains 2,600 wooded acres, with 500 of those developed.  It has over 1800 animals from more then 250 species primarily representing Africa and North America.

We arrived around 11:00am and the first parking lot was full, so we continued to the next which was really closer to the entrance. It was filling up and they parked us on the grass.

Being that it was mid-morning the lines at the front gate were long. We had our NC Aquarium passes and they are accepted for entry, so luckily we’re directed to a shorter line and got in pretty quickly. If you go to the Zoo, I would highly recommend that you by your tickets online. The long lines are for buying your tickets on site.

Plan to spend the day at the zoo, it will probably be crowded so it takes time to get up to the places to see the animals in their natural habitat. The place is huge, so it takes awhile to see everything and take advantage of the trams.

The food is expensive, and the day we were there the service and wait time for your was terrible. Part of our group had to wait 45 minutes to get there order. Luckily Tammy and I got popcorn and a pretzel and didn’t have the long wait. Hopefully it was because of springtime and they hadn’t planned on the large crowd. I spoke with a volunteer who said they had over 9000 visitors the Saturday before. Someone said that the website advises that no food is allowed to be brought in. However I did see folks having picnics with home grown snacks.

The zoo is neat, I enjoyed seeing all the animals and exhibits and the open ranges where the animals we able to roam freely. My favorites were the giraffes, polar bear and harbor seals, they were cool. It was so crowded at the seals that I couldn’t get any pictures and didn’t get any good ones of the polar bear. He was so cool.

Time ran short and we moved faster though the last 1/3 of the animals where we could get back to the campground and take care of our fur babies.

We had “happy hour” before supper where we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for the group and enjoyed more time with friends and family.

We really enjoyed the nice weekend and visit to the North Carolina Zoo and seeking fun and sun!

Thanks for visiting our site and check back often!!

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Cape Fear Kite Festival at Fort Fisher State Recreation Area

Tammy and I went to the annual Kite Festival at Ft Fisher today and we enjoyed a beautiful morning watching grown folks fly kites. The weather was great, sunny with a good breeze blowing off the beach. This was organized as a “fun fly” without competitions or rules other than safety to unofficially wrap up the kite-flying year.

This year we were able to walk among the flyers and had the chance to talk with a couple  from Maryland that had come in for the weekend to fly their kites.  They travel up and down the east coast attending numerous kite festivals during the year.

With the good weather today, when we left about 11:30am the beach area was getting pretty crowed with spectators and parking had overflowed out of the parking lot.

I enjoyed being on the beach with Tammy and was able to take photos with my camera and take some videos with the go pro.  Hopefully I will get good enough with the editing process to post some stuff to YouTube!

The festival is in it’s 12th year and is always held on the first weekend of November, so mark your calendar and join Tammy and I next year.

Thanks for visiting our site, and come back again!

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July 4th week roadtrip. Cedar Island, Harkers Island, Beaufort and Cape Lookout National Seashore.

We arrived at Cedar Island RV Resort on Tuesday, July 3rd and explored the southern Outer Banks and surrounding islands for the next 5 days.  Cedar Island is on Hwy 12, on the mainland side where you take the ferry to Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks.  The ferry takes about 2.5 hours one way to Ocracoke. You can check out the NC ferry system at NCferry.org. This is a very rural and beautiful area of North Carolina.  We had a great time exploring Harkers Island, downtown Beaufort and a day trip by ferry to Cape Lookout.

 

Cedar Island RV Resort-the Gateway to the Outer Banks

The campground is located beside the state ferry facility and was purchased by a family from Ohio about a year ago.  There is also a motel and restaurant that is connected to the campground and some remodeling is being. The restaurant (Sharky’s) is open and busy nightly.

 

No pool, WiFi (only at Sharky’s), no cable.  We had a back-in full hook up site on the bay side.  Sites are small, but ours (54) was level . Verizon service was poor at campground, I understand that US Cellular works good in the area.  They offered golf carts and kayak rentals and have a small boat ramp in the campground.  There is also a state wildlife boat ramp beside the campground.  They have horses and have beach rides for a fee. This was a great home base to work from to go to all the areas that we explored for the week.  The owners are making an effort to improve the campground and there long range plans sounds exciting.

One plus for the campground is that they had access to a beach area on the sound that was just beautiful!  We were able to drive the jeep out and park on the beach and just about had the whole area to ourselves!  We saw alot of the wild horses while we were there.

Wild horses on beach near campground.

They are located at 3557 Cedar Island Rd, Cedar Island NC 28520.           (252)515-0201.

Harkers Island NC and Beaufort Water Front

To take a break from all the fun and sun on the beach, we decided to take a day and visit Harkers Island and Beaufort.

It has been a long time since I have been to Harkers Island, and all I really remember about the trip was that it rainy and cold.  I was a young teenager and attended the  christening of a 84 foot boat that was build there on Harkers Island by the Rose Brothers.   The boat belonged to Ray (Red) Nabors from Fayetteville that my Mom worked for. It was a big event and even had the Governor of North Carolina attend.

We checked out the  island and stopped at a gift shop that I failed to get the name of.  There was an older lady working the cash register and being that the island is not very big, I figured she probably lived their her whole life.  I asked her if she remembered Red and his boat, the Atlas.  She said that it sounded familiar, but that her husband knew a lot about the boats that were built on the island and most folks that had lived there.  I found him outside in his workshop making duck decoys.  Small world we live in, he remembered the Atlas and that Red lived beside them on the island.  Red has been dead probably over 30 years ago and he said that Red’s lady friend still owned the land.

Harkers Island is located northeast of Morehead City, Atlantic Beach area off Hwy 70.  The island’s land mass covers about 3.9 square miles. Their industries have been fishing, boat building, waterfowl decoy carving and tourism.  Originally name Davers Lie and Craney Island, it was occupied by Native Americans of the Coree Tribe when the first European explorers arrived in the 16th century

The island was named after Ebenezer Harker who purchased it in 1730 and moved there with his family and built a plantation and boat yard.

Separated from the mainland for centuries, many Harker Island residents speak a distinct dialect of English, earning them the nickname “Hoi tolkers” High Tider.  A lot of “Down East” folk speak this dialect today.

The island saw an influx of new residents after the hurricanes in 1896 and 1899 devastated the communities on the nearby Core Banks and Shackleford Banks.

The first public road to extend the length of the island, Harkers Island Dr. was built in 1926 and paved by the county in 1936.  The road and post office were connected to the mainland by ferry service until the Earl C Davis Memorial Bridge was built in 1941.  This bridge ran from the small town of Straits to the northwestern end of the island.

Harkers Island Visitor Center is located at the end of the island, a good place to learn more of the history of the island and area.  Also this is where the passenger ferry is located for going over to Cape Lookout Lighthouse and Shackleford Banks to see the wild horses. There is also the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center.  You can learn about the areas waterfowl decoy carvings, exhibits of work boats and commercial fishing industry.

The island is a beautiful, laid back place, off the beaten path to visit, sorry I didn’t take no pictures of the area.

Thanks for visiting our site, and please check back for our posting on our trip to Cape Lookout National Seashore.

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We Have Snow In Wilmington NC

Fort Fisher rocks

I understand that we have not had snow in Wilmington since 2002.

Weather man has talked about a winter mix for the last week.  A system coming up from the south, running right along the coastline.  Forecasting for bad weather east of I-95. This is our 2nd winter in Wilmington and last year’s was pretty mild, which we really enjoyed.

This winter has been colder, we have had lows at night in the 20’s and a couple days of only high’s in the 30’s.  Historically all our bad winter storms come from the south.  When the weatherman says it’s coming the the south, we all perk up and buy the milk and bread! Oh, have you ever ate a milk sandwich?

Tammy checking out the fresh snow

The system was to be in our area on Wednesday afternoon starting as rain/freezing rain and sleet.  All this was to turn to snow after temps dipped back down Wednesday night.  This is a fast moving system and was forecasted to be finished after midnight.

I work at the Federal Courthouse downtown Wilmington and we got the word to shut it down at 2:30pm  It was cold and cloudy all morning, looking like it was gonna snow any minute.  When I left the building at 2:35pm it had started raining. About 4 PM it turned to sleet and then freezing rain and windy. Checked outside at 10PM and it was snowing!

Woke up on Thursday to sunshine and about 3 inches of snow on the ground. Tammy and I got out and walked around the neighborhood, it sure was pretty.  I cleaned the snow off the Jeep and we took off for the beach!  Went down to Kure Beach and Fort Fisher checking out the sights. Sure don’t see ice and snow around the beach much here.  A lot of folks out enjoying the sunshine.

So with the cold temps, it gonna take a few days for the stuff to clear out, usually our snows fall one day and gone the next.  Don’t think this one is gonna leave that quick.

We are ready for warmer weather.  Thanks for visiting our site and please come back!

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2018 A New Beginning

As we approach a new year we usually reflect on the past and set goals for the future.  I have been slack in my posting and sharing, so one of my resolutions is to be more active in posting what we are up too.

2017 was a good year and I thank God for all the blessings that my family and I have received.  We all have had good health, no issues, and have been able to hit the road in the motorhome for a good number of trips this past camping season. Some of the places we visited were the usual Myrtle Beach trips.  We also traveled to Roanoke Rapids NC, Sylvia NC, Savannah GA, Charleston SC, Statesville NC.

Dry Camped at the Statesville Airport for Balloon fest

We visited downtown Savannah, floated down the Tuskagee River in the NC mountains, attended the NC Balloonfest in Statesville and checked out the Christmas lights in Charleston SC. The rest of the trips were in the Myrtle Beach area for some sun and fun.

We have cabin fever, the weather here in Wilmington has been cold last week and the forecast for the first week of January to only be in the mid 30’s and drops to the teens a couple of nights. This is not normal for our area and it keeps me close to a heater.

Yesterday it did warm up to the lower 50’s and i was able to get out in the motorhome and run down to Fort Fisher to charge up the chassis battery and roll the tires a bit.  Doesn’t do the motorhome good to sit up and not be used.  Can’t wait for out Easter trip to  Lexington VA area for a few days with friends and family.

The days are getting longer now, and I have a few minutes when I get home to get some sunset shots.  The cloud formation has really be wild the last couple of days and I was able to get a couple good shots.  I wanted to get down to the waterfront this pass weekend, but didn’t make it. Hopefully next week I’ll make it.

As we move into the new year, one of my goals is to get back on track of visiting the state parks in North Carolina and take advantage of what the state offers in great places to hike and explore the great outdoors. I want to stay off the couch and exercise more this year.

Got a couple of projects that I am working on and will share them with you in the near future.

Until next time, thanks for visiting our site and please come back.

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Myrtle Beach Travel Park June 9-11 2017

One of my bad habits is procrastination and it got me in trouble this weekend. I stopped by the storage lot Friday morning on the way to work to start  up (LP) the refrigerator for our road trip this weekend and  I noticed that the chassis battery was dead.   I have been jumping it the last couple of trips.  Usually when I get it started, and then drive some it would charge up enough to start the rest of the weekend.

When we were ready to leave the campground Sunday, it wouldn’t start, so I jumped it with my little jump box and everything was ok.  I even bragged to Ricky how good the box was working and had used it a couple of times and hadn’t needed to recharge

Well we stopped and unloaded at the house before I took it back to the storage lot and I shut the engine off thinking it would start back up.  Well that’s what I get for thinking.  It took about 10 minutes to unload and I gave Tammy a quick kiss and went out to the motorhome and it wouldn’t start.  It was so dead it wouldn’t even click.  So being the Boy Scout I am, I grabbed my trusty little jump box and hooked it up and went back inside to start it up.  I turned the key and all I got was a couple of clicks. Went back out to recheck the connections and saw that the jump box was under low power.

Well I got the charge cable for jump box, went inside to put it on charge while the motorhome sits in front of house blocking half the street.  Neighbors really love me now.   Everyone that could help was out of place so I called AAA for a jump. I was worried that they wouldn’t respond because I don’t have the RV on it. I didn’t think I would need them being that we had Good Sam Road Assistance.  I figured that AAA would be quicker for a jump.  I called them and they would jump the RV but my plan does not cover tire change or towing. Will look into adding the RV plan to our account being that 95 percent of our travels are in NC.

Within 30 mins Keith with AAA arrived and give me a jump and I got rolling to the storage lot and cleared the street. Now as a side note, when we moved from Fayetteville to Wilmington, during the downsizing I got rid of my jumper cables.  When you are downsizing you have to be careful and be particular about what you get rid of.  And if I had kept my jump box charged I wouldn’t have needed jumper cables.

We left Wilmington after work on Friday, had no problems crossing the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge and taking Highway 17 south to Myrtle Beach SC.  The campground is located at 10108 Kings Rd, and convenient to Walmart, Tanger Outlets and Bass Pro Shop. Google maps puts it 69 miles away and taking 1 hour 23 mins.  Traffic was not bad for a Friday evening and we made it in to the campground before dark and got set up for the weekend.

We met Ricky and Tina at the campground and enjoyed a nice easy weekend, and didn’t leave the campground till Sunday when we came home. The weather was beautiful and we spent most of Saturday on the beach enjoying the fun and sun. There was a nice breeze that kept the temperature very pleasant. This was good because Myrtle Beach does not allow canopies on the beach like we use in NC and a umbrella doesn’t work to good sometimes when the wind picks up.

This campground is on the beach and our favorite in the Myrtle Beach area, it’s on the north end and easy to get in and out of.  The sites are all pull thru, full hooks with cable and have a covered picnic table. The sites are on the small side and if you have big rigs beside you sometimes it’s tight getting into it. If we had taken the jeep, we would have filled up the site from street to street.  They have a bunch of bathhouses and are always very clean.  This is one of the few places we go that I use campground showers.

Tina and Ricky cooking Saturday night supper

Campground Office

There is a lot to do at the campground and they always have activities going on.  They have a large pool with a lazy river, kiddy pool and hot tub.  They even have a smaller enclosed pool which is nice in the winter.   This campground is very popular for the snowbirds. They have a nice camp store, arcade and food grille.  They also have a small lake in the middle of the campground. There is something for everyone to do, young or old.    They have a guard shack at the entrance greeting everyone that enters and security that patrols at night.

As always time goes by quickly when you are having fun, and before we knew it, we had to raise the jacks and come back home.  We had a great weekend seeking fun and sun!   Thanks for visiting our site and please stop by again!
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