Yemassee, SC - Jan 9

We left Wilson and drove 300 miles to the Charleston area today. We came East to avoid a snow storm which is crippling this area today, from Alabama to South Carolina. We are in Yemassee, SC. It started icing after we awoke today. The temperature has been below 32 degrees all day, but now, around 2pm, it is slightly above 32 degrees. The ice on the steps of the RV is gone.

All of the tree limbs and the spanish moss (hanging from the trees here) were glazed over with a coat of ice today. We had a loud crash on the roof this mid-morning and I went out to find a 2inch branch had crashed from the trees to our roof. I haven't been able to go up there yet due to the ice. We hope no holes were punched into our rubber roof. No drips so far inside, so maybe no holes, eh? We'll see soon enough. It has been pouring rain here all day since it changed over from sleet.

Anne made turkey burgers for lunch. Much appreciated, as are all of the fantastic things she planned and brought along with us to eat. We've been gone now for 5 days so soon reality will set in when it comes time to do laundry, go shopping, etc, etc..

Today we could do nothing with all of the rain, so so far we have watched Marcus Welby MD, Leave It To Beaver, and the Rifleman. Let me tell ya, these kinds of things will cause you to stop and relax. I wouldn't think of tuning into these shows at home, too many other distractions to get concerned about. Feels good.

We are spending another night here due to this storm in the SouthEast. It is going to last all day, and expected to stop raining around 6pm. Tomorrow we plan to head to the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area to visit an old friend of Anne's, and mine.

Wilson, NC - Jan 8

We arrived today around 4:30pm in Wilson, NC. We pulled in and guess what? Level again. We will relax here, for the night only, without disconnecting the truck from the RV as usual. It's freezing here in NC too, and it looks like winter with all the leaves down and grass dormant. The evergreen trees are big and beautiful. Tomorrow the plan is to head down to Charleston, SC.

Anne is first to hit the shower. She comes back and emphatically announces "It's primitive,,, but it works". In the bathroom here there are small heat making devices hanging on the wall which have 3 available settings, 0(off), 1(pilot), and 2(on). I don't know what kind of fuel they use. When you get in there it is set to one, and you notice the pilot light is on when you get there. You move the setting from 1 to 2 and the flame ignites. This ignites like a 3x5 inch piece of what looks like a piece of gause pasted to the middle of the device. Somehow that keeps you warm while you are in there. You've got to be careful not to lean up against it. The shower is everything you need, it's clean, has paper towels, hand soap dispenser, hot shower, etc.. I agree with Anne's assessment.

By 7pm we are showered, in our jammies, in our LazyBoys. We have wireless internet, and 'over the air' local TV stations which our antenna will pull in after I crank it up from inside the RV. No intentions of going out into the cold tonight except to let Dixie out to do her thing. She won't want to stay out there long either.

Sid, the new owner of this park, came up to me when I was outside and introduced himself. He asked if we were just staying the night, and asked us to come back again sometime. He said next time the park would be paved, or in process of same. Made me feel welcome. I wished him luck here. This place may be primitive, and only $15/night, but it feels like a million bucks, you know, because of the way of the people. So nice !!

Woodbine, Maryland - Jan 6-7

We blew right past Winter Haven PA and headed for Woodbine, MD (suburban Baltimore) in order to avoid the worst part of the snowy forecast. We lost 2 hours as we got off track in Harrisburg PA area this day. We arrived at Ramblin Pines RV Park in Woodbine and settle in for the night. We park level again, so no need to detach from the truck. Not to many winter campers, but we are not alone here. There's a large motor home aside from us which is here from Key West.

We stay here so that tomorrow we can visit with my big sister, Ginny, who lives 17 miles away in Ellicott City, MD. She picks us up here around noonish, and entertains us for the entire day, including dinner at her place with my nephew/neice and all of their children. Ginny put this visit together, what a good lady and family leader. She knocked herself out.

George (our nephew-in-law) brought us back to Woodbine around 9pm. In the morning there was an inch of snow of the ground, and 2 inches by the time we pulled out of here. A snow plow is making laps around the park roads (which are paved) as we prepare to drive away. We slide down the snow covered camp road to the Highway 97 which is wet. They treat the roads with 'brine' for these conditions. I guess it sounds better than 'salt'. Excuse me, but 'Welcome to MD'. That's what the camp owner said to me when I gently commented on the $45 nightly rates.

We'll travel smaller roads for about an hour as we go towards suburban Washington DC where we'll get on the 495 beltway and then 95 South once again. We are heading to Wilson, NC for our next overnight stay. It's 290 miles away.

Overnight stays have cost between $19 and $45/night so far. We'll manage this to be closer to the $19 end of things fron now on as best we can. We are members of 2 RV clubs and enjoy preferred rates much of the time, and we hope to find that RV parks don't resent us for that. I doubt it. Mom would say campers are nice people, so let's think positive.

Oh, the diesel fuel cost has been from $3.55/gal at home to as low as $3.19/gal as we move south. Will be nice if we can keep that trend going.