Wind up

As we were leaving Shelbyville for home, Gene mentioned that it was Friday and we could just as well take I-59 into Birmingham for the weekend as go to Atlanta. After a quick call to see if it would be ok with the kids, that is what we did, staying at Oak Mountain State Park. Liz said she knew it was not about her and her brother, I just wanted to meet Lucy, the new dog. Well, she is a dear. Smaller than she looks in photos, sweet, calm and lovable. She will be draped over your lap in no time. Once she nosed my wallet onto the floor to make room for her head. She is a rescue about a year old.
This stop made the trip a solid three weeks. We arrived home Sunday about 3 PM. Gene wanted to park the camper in the drive so we hopped right out and started trimming the oak tree. The humidity and heat hit us full on.
This is our second full day home, and we are pretty much back to normal. Most of the chores done or started. Trying to get parts to repair the camper.
Observations:
While we did not like the crowded campgrounds, we did like the people we met due to the closeness. We have now joined Big Sams Roadside Assistance program which is like AAA for campers and covers your cars also. They would have towed the camper after that blown tire. I did not expect to see the many casinos in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Now that Gene has pulled the camper those many miles, he has gotten over his reluctance and is ready to do it again. Me?  Hmmm, I am still mulling it over.

Copper Harbor

This tiny community of about 20 square blocks once supported the copper mining industry in this town. Now it is supported by tourism. The town has two campgrounds, several motels and rental cabins. That makes the permanent resident population even smaller. It has one gas station and no stop light.  It is very picturesque harbor surrounded by low mountains. There is an island National  park called Royal Isle which is closer to Canada than Michigan, which I have never heard of. It is mostly wild and has the largest moose herd in America. It does have a resort hotel there. A big business here is a ferry to that island. Folks can take kayaks with them on the boat. We were at the dock one evening when it came in. A local told us that a few weeks back it had run aground and the whole town went into a panic as it is a major draw to bring tourists.

We did some exploring to the south, then went up on one of the mountains to an over look and could see our camper down below. This is Art in the Park weekend, with the park just two blocks from our camper. So we walked around and looked at the wares being sold. These were true artisans and many had jewelry featuring locally found metals and minerals. There were also a lot of soap makers there.  The park had lush grass, shade trees and nice restrooms. We then explored the town shops which I found mostly of little interest. There was a mineral shop that sold other things but had a lot of info about copper mining in the area. They had some huge and heavy pieces of copper that had been found in the area.

Copper harbor from atop mountain

We also hiked through the woods to Horseshoe Bay where there was a pebble beach. It was beautiful and secluded. The water is very cold so it is rare you see anyone swimming. A lot of those pebbles were agate and other metal or minerals.
We pulled out of Copper Harbor, headed south, on Monday. We had really good roads that were mostly deserted and made good time down to Mosinee, Wisconsin. The campground has a lot of permanent residents but they were mostly neat. There was another section across the entrance road that was on a lake. Those spots were more spacious. Both sides were wooded. We were down at one end, and would have been crammed in elbow to toenail, except there was no one else in a three block area. This made us quite happy.

Boulder showing mineral veins.

We had talked about stopping in Oshkosh so Gene could see the EAA museum, but he is out of the mood. He is smelling the hay and headed for the barn. He said if it was going to be hot, we might as well go home. It was in the mid  80's in Copper Harbor. So on Tuesday night we are just north of Bloomington, IL. Again the campground has a lot of permanent residents but we are on a grassy pull through with no nearby neighbors.
Today we have seen a lot of interesting old barns of a style not seen in the south. I might need to paint some of them. And grain silos galore. And corn, corn, corn, as far as the eye can see. Gosh, folks, there is a lot of corn grown in America. We saw a lot of it on the way up also. We saw some wind farms today also.
Tomorrow night it is Paducah, KY and on Thursday to Shelbyville to stay with Blake and then home.

Marquette

Today we are on the move again, first to the next town west, Marquette, about an hour away. It has a super Walmart and we need to replenish supplies and will also eat breakfast. This is where the biker rally is so we are a little unsure. We have continued to see tons of Harley's going toward Marquette and away.
As we pull into the town the first thing I see is Kohls, then Target, Michaels, and Pier 1. This is civilization! We found a Perkins for breakfast and then on to shopping. There were lots of biker dudes and chicks in the restaurant and walking along the roads, bikes parked everywhere but they are not adding to the traffic.
I will say again how friendly the people are up here. I was getting a trash  can off the shelf  to get a better look at it and a man passing offered to help. Though I declined, he insisted, putting his purchases down to do so. There does not seem to be a price and he helped me look, then helped me find the right garbage bag for it. He suggests I go to the paint counter and ask about price and on the way I encountered Gene so I stopped. The man came along and told Gene about our adventure and I told him I was still on the way to find help. He moved on but as I came to the end of the row, there he was with an employee who he showed the can to, then showed her where to find them. I followed and sure enough a price is established. Thankfully he did not go to checkout with us.
After going west for awhile along Lake Superior with stunning views, we turned north to the upper peninsula of the upper peninsula. Again, we skirted the lake for awhile, then climbed into mountains. Who knew? We passed some interesting towns and then get into dense forest. The thermometer in the car reads 88 and Gene is saying we might as well be at home if it going to be that hot. Then we start descending and curving and all at once there is a stop sign and the lake is a block in front of it.
We are in Copper Harbor which is just about the end of the road, literally. Our campground is clean and neat with good showers and frontage on a lake. There are a whole series of lakes with just a narrow strip of land between them and Superior. The sites are mostly grass but they are quite narrow, sort of like being in a parking lot. We are growing somewhat accustomed to this. It will not be as dusty as the last place.  Unfortunately they are having a heat wave and it will be in the 80s while we are here. With no haze, the sun really beats on you. The forecast calls for it to cool off the day we leave.
A good surprise is we have WiFi, due to  being parked just across from the bathhouse where it emanates from.  Our new friends, Rick and Pam, had stayed at the State Park and had no connection. We do not have cellular, though we had it most of the way up.
We will spend the next two days exploring. This was a copper and iron ore mining area. You can tour a couple of mines, actually going down in them. We say thanks but no thanks!

Pictured rocks

Though we have really enjoyed this setting on Huron, there are other lakes to see and it is time to move on. Today we headed a little south, then west along the shore of Lake Michigan. This view is more dramatic as there are no islands and the water stretches to the horizon. Every restaurant we passed all day offered whitefish and pasties which are like a large empanadas with various meat and veggie fillings. We have yet to try either. We stopped for lunch and had great turkey sandwiches on wonderful bread. Saved half of them for supper.  We overheard the woman behind the counter talking and it seems all her family makes its living from fishing.
 After awhile we turned north, the goal being the Pictured Rocks along Lake Superior at Munising. We had really good two lane roads today with  an occasional passing lane. Most of the time it was just evergreen forests lining the road.

Photo of photo of icicles in cave in winter

We saw some places that would be good moose habitat, but no moose. The trip was less than 150 miles.
This campground has dirt spaces which is fine until you get rain. They are pull through sites with full hook ups but there is no standardization as to where they will be. There are trees between the sites but because the utilities are shared, there are pairs of trailers facing one another. Like sitting on front porches facing that are about 15 ft from each other. We won't be sitting out tonight anyway as the high today was 69. However, the prediction for Thursday is 84!!
Another bump in the road. Last night we noticed the bottom panel of the jalousie window in the bedroom was loose and Gene said he put it back in place. After our arrival here, we noticed it was completely missing! Thank goodness for the cardboard box and duct tape we had to keep the cold wind out tonight .

Gene came from the shower house still unwashed and mad as a wet hen because there were only two showers and a long line. Actually there are two for men and two for women, but the campground is large. He showered in the trailer and says he will again the next two mornings. Our shower is a tight fit fir him.

1800's lighthouse

There will be a Harley Davidson Rally Thursday and Friday in Marquette about an hour west and we have large rigs here pulling the bikes in trailers from as far as Mississippi. We have also seen many groups on the roads in the past few days. We will go through Marquette Friday, which should be interesting.
Today we went on a cruise to the pictured rocks. It was a gorgeous day, perfect temp in the high 70's. Water was smooth. The pictures do not tell the whole story as the rocks were in shadow and I cannot capture the true colors. We saw a pair of bald eagles but could not get a good picture.  Minerals seeping through the limestone make the colors.Quite enjoyable.
Folks seem really friendly up here. Gene went for a walk last night and some men from near Oshkosh

noticed his Flagship shirt and invited him to sit by the fire and chat awhile, which he did.
I went to the showers at 7:30 this morning and still had to wait.I was second in line.
Cannot figure out what folks were doing as they spent a looooonngg time in there after the water went off. When I left there was no line.

Mackinac island

Rick told us that it is hard to get reservations in the UP this time of year, especially in popular spots. Since our next two destinations are just that, I spent the entire morning arranging accommodations. It is an arduous process as you have to identify campgrounds, then study amenities, then read reviews, then see if they have a vacancy. The amenities are different than in the South. Running water is a luxury and there is a lot of primitive camping. Sometimes the showers are coin operated. I did get us set through next Sunday. After that we start our descent through Wisconsin.
We then drove over to Hessel where the boat show had been with the hope that some would still be there and were rewarded to see about ten classic wooden boats from the 30's to the 50's.

If all the bikes were rented, the streets would be impassable.

The next day, Monday, we went to Mackinac Island, a tourist attraction island  where no automobiles are allowed. About a 30 minute drive down to St. Ignace and about 20-25 minute ride on the ferry. Really charming and a lot of neat houses and old hotels still in business. Interesting to see goods being delivered in horse drawn wagons, the equivalent of  Fed Ex. Smaller items are moved in carts with bicycle type wheels or in large bicycle baskets. Tourists can rent bikes and ride them around and the natives all use them also. The "downtown" strip was very congested so we spent most of our time away from that. There is a fort from the 1700s, and several beautiful old

100 lb. bags of sugar for the fudge store

churches. We saw a miniature golf course with real grass ( see photo). The flowers were everywhere and stunning. This place becomes mostly a ghost town in the winter as the lake freezes over. There are some winter activities and people come over in snowmobiles. There is also an airport on the island. The big deal here is supposed to be the best fudge what am. Of course we bought some, but I do not detect specialness.
After supper we sat on the dock with Rick and Pam. Just before dark one of the minks came out and cavorted among the rocks along the shore. It would have been too dark to try to take a photo but he sure was cute.

Destination Reached

On Friday we were up and out fairly early with another long day ahead. As we got farther north, we noticed two things. One, there were almost no tractor trailers. We wondered how goods get to the UP. The second was that almost every vehicle was towing a trailer or had kayaks or bicycles attached to it and the roads became crowded with this. Around the Saginaw area, suddenly they were all gone and the traffic cleared again. The roads were better today and the oil problem gone. We crossed the bridge into the UP around 5 and were to our campground by 6.
We are staying east of I-75 about 17 miles in Cedarville. The campground is on a small peninsula jutting into Lake Huron. This area is known as Les Cheneaux (The
 Channels) for the group of islands lying just off shore. Our campground faces the largest of these Big LaSalle.
This campground has only 55 spaces and all but 28 are individually owned. In the south, we find that where there are long term campers, it looks like a slum. Not here. They have either covered their lots in gravel or nice grass, planted flowers and have nice decks. There are also four "mobile homes" which look like tiny homes. They have front porches with columns. The first section is really crowded but our spot is down on the end where you have water all around. These spaces are larger, designed for motor homes to nose into. So our hookups are on the wrong side, but we coped. There is a big rig on one side and a pull behind on the other, both with their backs to us so it feels so much more private. There are groups of people about our age gathered here and there and some start talking to us while we are still setting up....its the Georgia tag. Before we set up in earnest we had to go get jackets and that, folks, is why we are here.
Just across from us are two docks where campers can rent a place to tie a boat. Gene walked down there and saw a mink scurrying about. We slept soundly with blankets on and no sound whatsoever.
On Saturday there was a large antique boat show in Hessel, the next town over, but we did not try to go due to the crowds. Instead we went to the two local museums, one maritime, the other history. The maritime had a lot of canoes and a few sailboats and boat models. They also had a nice maritime library and a workshop where the volunteers build one kayak or canoe each year and sell it to help support the museum. The one last ye

ar sold for $7000. They are partially supported also by the boat show.
Later that afternoon I noticed Gene in a long conversation with another man and when I went out to walk, he called me over. Turns out this was Rick. He and his wife, Pam, are Full Timers and have been for three years, living in their RV. They had just bought a "landing spot" cabin in, of all places, Blue Ridge, GA. He also had seen the Georgia tags. He was telling us about what to see and where to stay as they had come from where we were going. He invited us into his rig so he could refer to his notes on campgrounds.
Rick and Gene were sitting in the Captain's chairs in the front and suddenly Rick saw the mink, several of them, scurrying over the rocks and under the docks. One was in the water swimming and diving. Shortly after that the boat show ended and we began to see really interesting wooden boats coming by. That continued for the next several hours. The day was quite breezy and by 5PM a jacket was needed to be comfortable.
This is such a great place and the people are so friendly that it is going to be hard to leave.

The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village

The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village cover 96 acres so we were up and ready early. We had purchased discounted tickets from the campground which were still $30 each. We jumped in the truck, Gene turned the key.........and nothing happened. We just looked at each other. I was thinking, well do we just flush $60 or do we stay another night? When Gene opened the hood, Carol, sitting just right there in her RV, asked what the problem was. In a flash, Bill was out there with a battery booster he used in his work and they had it going. Still, we had to deal with the problem. Oh, no, they said, take it with you, go enjoy the museum and deal with the problem after that.WOW! Sometimes this close quarters stuff can pay off.
   We arrived just 30 minutes later than we intended to and did the Greenfield first since it is outdoors, while it was cooler. This museum does not honor Henry Ford, he built it and opened it in 1929. The Village is a collection of mostly authentic buildings he collected and had moved to the site. When not possible they are replicas. In other words, the millinery shop really belonged to a lady whose story is told by the docent inside. There is a steam powered railroad that runs around the perimeter, many horse drawn wagons, and vintage buses. Also people strolling around in 1800's garb, playing croquet on the lawn and such. Got a real cool vibe to it.

Two things we really wanted to see were the Wright Brothers Cycle Shop ( authentic) and Edison's Menlo Park laboratories (replica). Ford brought all he could from Menlo Park but it was in ruins, he even had rail car loads of New Jersey dirt shipped to the site.On the 50th anniversary of the light bulb, he invited Edison there and asked him how he had done. Edison said he got it 99.9%. Ford wanted to know what he did wrong and Edison replied that it had not been so clean.
We did not know that Ford had also experimented with soybeans but there was also a lab for that. Ford had car bodies made from soybeans and even a suit of clothes.
There was a whole lot to see, but we skipped whole sections to have time to see the museum. There was a lot more in there on the evolution of the automobile, including campers. One camper had been a gift from Ford to the Lindbergh's. Also a section on aviation and a DC-3 (hanging from the ceiling). Another on the evolution of power that Gene loved. We skipped furniture and evolution of houses as we have seen enough of that and we lived some of it. 
As we wearily made our way to the car, Gene reminded me that we still had to boost the battery. There was a man sitting in a van facing us two spaces over and one closer than our truck. As we passed he asked if we had jumper cables. We died laughing. Gene said, "I was just about to ask you the same thing." Luckily, ours started without a jump and Gene then jumped the other man with the booster.
It would have been a fairly early evening had we not had to go to four places before we finally got the battery. But we finally did get one. When we got back, Gene gave Bill some lightered wood (fat wood) as a thank you. Bill had never heard of it. Later, Bill came to our door with his contact info and wanted us to be sure and let him know how we were progressing since we had already had two "events."

Day Two And Three

Since it was a work day for Blake and we got up early to visit before he left, we were on the road at 8:30 Central time. Good thing. The oil pressure gauges were doing strange things. They had also done the same things the day before especially on hills. Gene thought the oil change place had put a lighter oil in it. He added STP which helped but that and a LOT of road construction made for driving slower and a long day. We arrived at Cedarbrook RV park in Lebanon,OH nine and a half hours later.
Lebanon is a cute town with a lot of cute small houses lining Main St. Most of them had been restored. Tha park was just half a mile from Main but had a real country feel with green grass and nice trees. The staff could not have been nicer. As in all these commercial parks, the spaces are close but we were on and end with only a camper on one side. They led us to the space, helped get us settled and they picked up garbage from your site all day. Sites were gravel and flat. There was a coolness in the air. Things were peachy until we tried to deploy the slide, which wouldn't. Gene looked underneath and found the blown tire had bent the hand crank shaft to the slide. It had also taken chunks out of the floor opening that to moisture probs. We will have to deal with these things at some point, but if Gene guides the shaft, we can make it work. We were happy to be in our home away from home again but due to the late hour did not cook but got a pizza.
Out again early on the 5th. When we stopped for lunch, it was in the 70's at noon.  Another day of slower driving mostly due to road conditions as the oil thing was doing better. We had a shorter trip though and arrived at our destination about 3 PM. We stayed in Ypsilanti, MI in order to visit The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. The park has about 300 spaces on one side of a small lake. They really have us packed in, but the fact that there are plenty of shade trees make it better.  The majority of the spaces have sewer and it appears that people stay for a long time, perhaps commuting back to where they work. There are a lot of children and they all seem to know each other and play in large groups.
We were sandwiched between a camper with a tent beside it and an older motor home. The motor home folks were sitting out and we could not help but interact with them as we were setting up just feet from where they were sitting. They turned out to be Bill and Carol Weaver.  After supper when we were out walking, we stopped to chat and sat for a bit. Turns out Bill had a transmission repair place but now mostly retired. Also a pilot with his own plane. What a coincidence!
Meanwhile on the other side there seemed to be a mother and father in separate cars, neither of which had a trailer hitch on them. And a large number of children from about 6 to teens. Not sure how many belonged there. Then began the saga of the tent. The father took down the existing tent and began putting up another, larger one. He then got on his phone complaining to someone that this tent was not right and that the directions were for another. Were we being nosy? No. This was going on about two feet from where our awning would have ended had we put it up and in the coolness, we had the windows open. Then I saw two boys hauling this tent down the road. When we came back from visiting the neighbors, yet another tent was going up, not very successfully. About 9 PM a car pulled up, parking directly behind our camper, like two feet from the bumper, leaving the motor running and lights on to illuminate the tent site. This person took charge and directed several boys toward the successful erection of the tent. I finally went to bed about 10:30, closing the bedroom window and hoping for the best. At 2:30 AM they were still talking and playing with a flashlight. I had closed the windows, so only heard them occasionally.

The U.P. Adventure

We have said that we were going to keep our camping trips closer to home. Not sure why. Then we started thinking of going somewhere with cooler weather in August. Having been to Maine three times, we decided on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Gene thought we should go by car and save on fuel, but when I looked at the cost of decent lodging, it was cheaper to take the camper. We would also save on meals and lodging, but spend on fuel.
So we made arrangements for mail and someone to water the plants and off we went on Monday, August 3rd. We left late morning as we were just going as far as Shelbyville, TN to stay with our Flagship friend, Blake Butler. We were just north of metro Atlanta when we blew a tire on the trailer. I guess there was some good to it in that it was on the side away from the interstate traffic and there was an exit lane as an additional buffer. The other good thing is it was on the same side where the previous owner had blown one and that damage to the aluminum skin was never repaired. It was difficult as the jack was not great for the task at hand but Gene is a great innovator. A very nice man stopped and offered to help and really would not take no for an answer and did help some. He said he started to blow by but thought that could be my parents out there. Did we look THAT old??
We stopped at the next town and bought two tires, a replacement for the blown one and its mate as being driven under inflated is the likely cause and whatever happened to one had happened to the other. This had to be before we owned it.
This delayed us four hours so the visit with Blake was cut short. Blake and the founder of the Flagship organization, George Dennis bought a piece of gorgeous land south of town, built a grass runway and subdivided it into lots which they sold. Blake built a wonderful home on a hill and George built a log home as a weekend place that the Flagship people call The Double Wide. Between the two houses they have eight bedrooms in which to put pilots when they are in town for training.
Blake met us down by the hanger where he so happened to have an RV plug in. Gene had to inspect his workshop where there were new metal working machines.
Blake had built an oil fired generator last year from a Diesel engine after seeing one another FSD pilot built in Jupiter, FL. This year he built another to run an air compressor.
Blake and Gene had a good visit, telling stories and laughing a lot.

Abundance

Abundance means having an ample supply of something or more than you need. This year we have had an abundance of rain. Some folks, like my son and son-in-law whose livelihood in the construction business  depends on having dirt dry enough to move around and stay where you put it, might say we have had an over abundance. It has not been many years since we had drought here. Everything was so sad looking. The greens in the landscape were dusty looking and muted. Things drooped and some things died. Our beloved Red Maple just shriveled up and lost all its leaves one week when we were away. It came back the next spring but about a third of it had died. No amount of pruning and pampering could bring it back to anything resembling a healthy tree.
We finally took it down this year, partially to put it out of its misery and partially because it was in the path of a leaning hickory that was threatening the house.
The dividend of the abundance of rain is the happy plants and trees. We have had blooms more abundant that we ever remember and even see things we do not remember. Our lenten roses are spreading all over the yard it seems. A wild yellow rose has grown about 12 feet high and it covered in happy flowers.

Another beneficiary of the rain is the vegetable garden. We said we were giving up because we do not have enough sun for vegetables, but I just had to try. So I have resorted to container gardens on the driveway in front of the garage door. So far it is going well. I have tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, dill, cilantro, basil, parsley and onions. As of today, the peas have blossoms.

York, South Carolina

Early South Carolina was divided into two areas, the northern Back Country (later called the Up Country) and the Low Country. The government was controlled by the aristocratic rice planters in the Charleston area who gave no representation or local court systems to the Up Country. This resulted in a lawless frontier from 1740 until roughly 1800, when counties and local courts were established.
The city of York developed out of a busy crossroads and was first called Yorkville. It became a major cotton center and was known as "The Charleston of the Up-Country." Its population doubled in the 1850's and at that time it was home to a prestigious prep school for boys and a large prep school for girls. Many of the coastal English planter families established summer homes there. It was a mixture of cultures that led to a mixture of architectural styles in the homes, churches and commercial buildings. In 1976 the city center was nominated as a Historic District to the National Register. This resulted in the grant of one of the largest Historic Districts in South Carolina at the time, encompassing over 180 structures on 340 acres.
I apologize for not including photographs, but I was walking and reading a guide book and trying to avoid tripping and falling on the uneven walk. However, photos are available online at the National Register of Historic Places. There are many interesting structures with equally interesting histories. Many people pivotal to the development of South Carolina and our nation lived in York.
One interesting story is of the circus that chose York as its winter headquarters from 1929 through1945. During this time, Santa rode on the back of an elephant in the annual Christmas parade. Many of the circus performers chose to live in York after retirement. Some local folks were inspired to create a circus of their own that performed just in South Carolina. The larger circus helped them by loaning equipment and animals.
Although many of the downtown buildings are vacant, York remains viable today thanks to a manufacturing base and its proximity to Charlotte. York County is among the fastest growing counties in South Carolina.
Little known fact: they grow peaches here. I would have thought it was too far north.

The Battle of Kings Mountain

If you are at all interested in knowing more about why we are not subjects of the Queen, I highly recommend a trip to Kings Mountain Battle Field just off I-85, exit # 2 in North Carolina.
The park has a very well done museum telling the story of the battle as well as about the settlers who were in the area at the time with illustrations and sound. The gift shop has many books about this battle and the revolution in general. Several of them looked interesting including a reprint of an officer's journal of the day. There is a nice one and half mile paved trail with interpretive markers which skirts the front of the mountain and then goes along the top where there are two large towering markers, one paid for by the state and a Federal one which looks like the Washington Monument. 
The British came in at Charleston and were fighting their way northward winning battle after battle.They had had very few actual British soldiers, relying  mostly on picking up Loyalist fighters as they went along. They came to Kings Mountain and took up a position along the ridge top. American militia from Tennessee, Virginia, and both Carolinas surrounded the mountain and just waited. Finally the British got bored and started to advance down the steep slope. The British style of combat was to march in a straight line into battle shooting as they went. The Americans were mountain people, squirrel hunters and they fought "Indian style," which means hiding behind trees and picking them off one by one while uttering war whoops. Neither side had uniforms. The British put greenery in their hats and the Americans put something white in theirs to distinguish but visibility was bad due to all the black powder hovering in the damp air.The British commander covered his "Red Coat" with a plaid shirt but it did not save him as he lost his life and is buried on the mountain.  There was a high probability of friendly fire. Long story short, the Americans prevailed. Thomas Jefferson called it the turning point of the war. The thing that was new to me was this was like the Civil War, neighbor against neighbor.
About halfway through our trek around the mountain a man walking his dog passed and spoke to us while we were reading a marker. Gene noticed his Navy Seal cap and thanked him for his service. We continued to walk along together and he ended up telling us so much more of the story than is on the markers. More about the individual families in the fight, many of whose descendants still live in the area.
This battle was so famous in its day that it was commemorated five times with great crowds gathering at the site. President Hoover came and spoke at one of these occasions and there were between 75-80 thousand people there. They had a photo of the event. And I had no knowledge of it whatsoever!

Reality Shift

Typical setup: 3 vehicles, trailer and golf cart.

Our anniversary is April 4 and for several years we have tried to take a camping trip around that date. For two years we spent it on the road with the Flagship which turns it into a REAL celebration as that group likes to party. Once it was Los Angeles and once somewhere in south Florida.
For this year's trip I had read in a magazine about York, SC which has 180 structures on the National Register of Historic Places. I found Kings Mountain State Park about 12 miles away, which had a Federal Park adjacent to it commemorating the Battle of Kings Mountain in the Revolutionary War. The Federal Park is in North Carolina and the state park is in South Carolina. It bothered me  that there were no online photos of the campground, only of a living history farm and the lake. I called the park and a very enthusiastic Ranger waxed eloquent about the wooded sites and even recommended several that were best for privacy. He also told me that due to Spring Break in NC, it was likely to be well booked.
It was also Easter Sunday as we headed up I-85 and were surprised at the volume of traffic that morning. We stopped at a truck stop for brunch and found the wait staff to be....well...different. They were all a little on the rough side and if  you weren't seated up near the counter, they really ignored you. We were right up there where the action was. There were two men in the booth across from us, you could say rough around the edges, but they were rough all through the middle too. Their waitress appeared to not have a lot to do, especially if you are ignoring some customers, and seemed to be trying to flirt with them. I guess it was flirting. Some of the lamest comments I have ever heard uttered came out of her mouth. The fish weren't biting, but that did not seem to discourage her. Then a woman came out of the kitchen, and came over to us and introduced herself as Beverly, our cook. She then asked if we enjoyed the food. Never had that happen before.
In good time we arrived at our destination, finding the park and campground quite crowded. Our first observation was that the entrance road was very narrow. We did not think two campers could pass on them. We arrived at the trading post for check in where there is really parking for only one long rig and a park ranger car was blocking part of it. Upon entering, we found the place to be a construction zone. There were three park employees in there and only room for about two other people to hover around the door. But everyone was pleasant and we were on our way.
A new first for us was to find the campground roads were unpaved. And the view down the road was like a third world ghetto. There were campers and people everywhere crammed upon one another like I have never seen. There were a lot of vehicles in most spots, many campers and vehicles almost encroaching on the road which had a lot of curves. We finally curved around to our site and found it to be private and only one other site near us occupied, a tent across the road whose occupant told us he had been there four weeks. What??

Making the rounds

Our spot was so out of level that the camper leaned one way and the truck the other. We had to raise one side of the truck to get enough strain off the hitch for it to let go. Nevertheless, in short time, we were settled in.
Then we started to notice the golf carts. Fully a third of the sites included a golf cart and the entertainment of the day seemed to be to load it up with a passel of kids and ride around and around the loop. Given the dirt road, they stirred up a cloud of dust each time. Another thing we noticed later is that a lot of working people seem to be here with work trailers and they all head out to work in the mornings, including our neighbors in the tent.
Late Sunday night another fifth wheel about the size of ours pulled in next to us. It had a truck pulling the camper which left early Monday with the father in it. Also a large van and a utility trailer. On Monday we became amazed as child after child appeared from within. It reminded me of those very small clown cars in the circus where they just keep getting out. We decided five, then late in the day, two teenagers appeared bringing the final count to 7 children ranging in age from about 15 down to 2. And Mama was very pregnant. Oh, and did I mention a Doberman like dog?  I cannot for the life of me figure out how 9 human beings are sleeping in that camper. License tags from North Dakota.
The bath houses looked clean and adequate so we had high hopes which were quickly dashed. The lights are on a short timer, the sensor is at the door, so you are not far into the shower when they turn off. Okay for us as it was daytime, but I don't know about after dark. Then there is the water which varies in intensity and temperature. It is going along fine, then ebbs and comes back either all cold or all hot. This makes for a lively shower as you jump out of the way when it slacks off. After one try, I decided to shower in the camper.
Then there was the weather, it rained the second and third nights turning everything to mud. The sites were once gravel but it has long ago been driven down into the dirt. Unfortunately we are also without an awning to create a dry zone near our door, as ours is under repair.

Not related to blog entry but just too good not to include.

All and all things are really not so bad, just a shift from our normal reality. We did was we came to do, but we would not come back here. And I really wonder why that Hyndai Sonata like mine has just made its fourth circuit of the loop?

The Taj

It is hard for me to believe that I wrote about our trip last April without mentioning the most important change in our camping....a new (to us) camper. We had planned for a truck and fifth wheel camper in 2015, but fate choose otherwise. Driving down a country road in spring 2014 to gather some firewood from a friend when we saw a nice looking fifth wheel for sale in some one's yard and stopped to take a look. Long story short, it was the camper of my dreams. It had a slide out which made the main living space about 12 by 12, a nice cushy sofa that looked new, a rear kitchen with a nice large fridge and the stove had an oven, an actual table and four chairs instead of a dinette. And best of all, a real queen bed so you did not have to break down the bedroom each time you move as with the old one. There were cabinets everywhere. The decor was aqua, instead of dark greens and greys and the counter tops were neutral. Great shape for its 17 years. The seller had put it up for sale in November, terrible time to sell and by now was disgusted. We made a low offer based on what could go wrong in the near future and he took it. We had to leave it where it was for a week or so as we then had to rush out and buy a pickup truck and install a fifth wheel hitch.  After selling the old camper we were out only $2500 for what to me looks like the Taj Mahal.
We have had to do some repairs: new brakes, a new valve for water heater, repair a leak under the kitchen sink and most of all a new awning which is still in the works. Nothing that would be unexpected.

We took it out several times last fall. Twice to Mistletoe State Park near Augusta and another time to the same lake but a Federal park. We also went to Lloyd Shoals on Lake Oconee and entertained friends for a cook out there. The last trip of the season was to Eufala where we were also right on the lake.
We are enjoying the extra space, and the extra storage.

Augusta

This was written in April 2014 but not finished. I have a new promise to myself to do a better job on this blog going forward and not just when we travel.

The headquarters of the Augusta Canal Authority is housed in the old Enterprise Mill. They have a nice museum which is interactive enough to amuse the children (a passel of home schoolers were on tour) but informative enough to satisfy adults. There was also a ten minute film telling more about the history of the canal. It was started in 1845 but proved not to provide enough water power to run many factories and so was expanded in 1875. It was later abandoned but brought back to life through a movement of the citizens in the late 90's and now provides recreation in an urban setting.
To our great delight, we found ourselves to be the only passengers on our boat tour. These boats, built just for this purpose are the largest electric boats in the US. The captain is Coast Guard certified. At one point our 13ft. wide craft went through a 15ft gate designed to control water flow. We passed under the very ornate Butt's bridge dedicated to a man who had been on President Taft;s staff and who perished on the Titanic. Survivors told stories of his bravery and dedication to saving lives and Taft had the federal government fund this memorial. Our guide told us we might like to go see the head gates of the canal where the water is channeled from the river into the canal which was several miles north.
We enjoyed a nice lunch at Fat Man's restaurant right there on the grounds. They serve sandwiches, salads and full meals. They were friendly and the food was good. We then checked out the river walk area where a brick wall shows the levels of the varying floods over the years. The beautiful cotton exchange building is now a bank with the gorgeous original wood doors and entryway. The far wall of the lobby is a museum of sorts featuring the old blackboard with commodity prices on it that was found intact behind a wall during renovation.
We drove around looking at old houses for awhile and then headed north to the head gates where there is a nice park, picnic pavilion and jogging trails. You can see the old gates, now on dry land and the current ones with water rushing through. People had put locks on the gates across the walkways, many with dates and some with names and sentiments written on them. The dam was beyond the gates with rapids below. These rapids were one reason for the canal because a lot of cotton was grown north of here and it was a lot easier to get it down to the mills in Augusta with the canal.