The 'Edge of America'

There is a place in South Carolina nicknamed the 'Edge of America.' Without googling it, do you know where it is?

We've spent a few nice days in the Charleston area. This has been on my bucket list for a long time and it didn't disappoint. It reminds me somewhat of Savannah with maybe a little New Orleans thrown in. We visited all the things on our list that we wanted to including City Market, The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, Old Slave Mart, King Street and of course Fort Sumter. Thankfully these places were open but the restrictions were reasonable.

Sweetwater Baskets

Our visit to this area correlated with Juneteenth so how apropos .. the end of slavery celebrated in a city where slavery once thrived. Did you know that 40% of all slaves entered the U.S. at Charleston? That slaves were once sold in the streets until that was banned and it needed to be done indoors? I wouldn't say those museums were fun but necessary to fully understand that time period and how important it was to Charleston. 

Slave Mart

We enjoyed browsing at City Market and saw vendors making sweetwater baskets. I had no idea that they command $250 and up though they are pretty cool. (No I didn't get one). On a more cost effective note, I did purchase a package of benne wafers and thought they were pretty good. 

We had a beautiful day for a boat ride and visit to Fort Sumter. I think $24 per person is steep to visit a free National Park but we did it. You may recall I have a National Park passbook and collect the medallions. (You know ... all the kids do it). 

We had lunch at Hyman's on Meeting Street. Now truly .. what is not to like about hush puppies and crab cakes? Mango also had buffalo shrimp which was really good. 

Fort Sumter

The campground we stayed at was quiet and uneventful. It was a 25 minute drive from downtown and worked out well for adventuring. Probably wouldn't stay there again but that's another whole story. I've taken up writing reviews of campgrounds and restaurants. I have a collection in Yelp called Mango and June and am at 48 reviews written. I haven't been as faithful with campground reviews, 39 to date but we've been to 74. Yes, I'll get better at that.

So, the Edge of America? Folly Beach on Folly Island. It's a tourist trap not unlike Tybee Island. We had a really nice afternoon. We walked the beach for awhile til our paid parking expired. On the Mango and June beach scale it rates a 5.2. (You have to remember we live across the street from best beach in Florida so the grading scale is quite steep.)

Next, we're on to Columbia and another national park. 

And we're back.

Back out adventuring in Edna that is.

Brunswick, GA

Before you start talking about social distancing, mask wearing and all that other stuff - yes, we are careful and will head home if a serious second wave of illness strikes.

That said, this trip starts out all about the Carolinas. It will be much more than that but we plan to cover both South and North Carolina in depth. Lots of bucket list items here for me ... Charleston, the Biltmore, waterfalls and white water rafting. Yes - we are going to do a rafting trip.

So we are armed with cameras, day packs and lots of ideas of things to see and do. I saw that City Market in Charleston is reopening today, yay! There will still be things that are closed or have limitations but we will enjoy this trip despite those little blips. It's our third big trip and we both think we've mastered what works well for us. 

Now, if I can only remember to turn off the a/c when I turn on the new Cuisinart oven, we'll be golden!

-June

Voyage 3.0 (Non-Beta)

Hurry up and wait….hurry up and wait…..

That’s kind of what it has felt like in the last few weeks. We got back from the 3.0(beta) trip all charged up and ready to jump off on the real (3.0 non-beta) trip. Well, not so fast there skippy! There’s the small issue of the non-negotiable to-do list that needs to be completed. Damn….

Yeah, we came up with a list of stuff that needs to be completed before we can go. None of the items are anything huge, they just all need to get checked off the list. Stuff like:

-       Permanently mount the command center on the wall

-       Semi-permanently mount the sand dollar clock on the wall

-       Get Edna an oil change

-       Fix the very small crack in Edna’s windshield (no clue when that happened)

-       Sanitize the fresh-water tank/system, again

-       Clean out some outside storage bins

-       New curtains

-       Rethink the cabover storage setup

-       New serpentine belt for Edna (more on that in next entry)

-       Fix the jeep towing cable (more on that in next entry)

-       Etc, etc, etc……

You might be able to tell who came up with each item and many are not show stoppers. But a list is a list so we daily try to check off at least one thing off. In reality, dentist appointments are a priority so once those are done next week, we’ll be ready.

So, you might ask, ‘Mango and June, where are you headed on this trip?’. Well, that’s a very good question. And when we get there, we’ll be able to answer that for you. Yeah, even we don’t know for sure. We aren’t sure of where we’re headed or for how long. We have a vague idea to generally head in the direction of Atlanta for a while and then possibly back over towards the east coast. That is just about how much we have planned so far.

We spit-balled a little about maybe heading north up to probably Illinois, and maybe Wisconsin. After that we might go back up into the Michigan Upper Peninsula. Or maybe take the ferry from Wisconsin over into middle Michigan. After that it gets really hazy. We talked a bit about maybe doing part of the Kentucky Bourbon trail, Graceland, and maybe even hitting some of the old-time baseball parks. Assumes of course that there’s baseball this summer. It’s always been sort of a lower level bucket list item to go to as many old-time ballparks as we can. Yeah, I know, major league excitement (pun intended).

Ok then, so when do we leave? Again, a very good question. The answer? We’re not totally sure. We keep pointing at this or that date, but it seems to change by the next day. We will definitely be on the road by the end of June. Just how much before is an open discussion. We are dragging our feet a tiny bit so to allow things to open back up again. A lot of campgrounds are just now starting to allow RV’ers back in again after the virus issues.

We will start getting back into the groove of blogging more frequently again. Kind of got out of the habit a little as there just wasn’t much to talk about. Unless you want to hear about the TV shows we’ve been binge watching (yeah, I didn’t think so). But things are starting to ramp back up again so the entries will start happening again.

-Mango

Voyage 3.0 (beta) has lifted off!

For those of you that have been anxiously awaiting the kickoff to our 2020 voyage, we have begun! And you really need to find something more constructive to do.

Yes! We decided to sneak away and do our shakedown cruise sooner rather than later. We’re hopeful that the whole Covid-19 episode will continue to subside, and we can yet still salvage something of the 2020 summer & fall.

This particular jaunt is only ten or so days and only as far as northern Georgia.  The first half is to a state park just outside Savannah called Skidaway Island State Park. The second half will be just north of Atlanta for a few days.

We try every year to do a short mini cruise before we do our big cruise. We use it as a shakedown to test out all the systems, try out any new changes or additions, and reacquaint ourselves after being stationary for a while. (We also make a list of things we took to the house that didn’t make it back. Flour & sugar so far.)

This year’s big change is that we took out the oven and replaced it with a large toaster oven. We found that the oven was just one tiny step away from useless and we hated it. So, we made the decision to do away with it and find a large toaster/convection/airfryer/oven that would fit the space and be many times more useful.

My part was to figure out how to make all the changes and implement them, and June’s part was to research and find an oven that made the most sense. She decided to go with a manual Cuisinart oven that fit the dimension requirements and seemed to have good reviews. Manual because it doesn’t have all the fancy electronics that would probably burn out during the first thunderstorm somewhere that had lightning. Hard to burn out a mechanical timer!

New Addition

Long story short, I made all the changes to the old range/oven & cabinetry while she tried out the new oven at home. Much easier to learn a new oven at home rather than on the road. We are very happy to report that it works perfectly and checks off all of our requirements!! (And it just so happens that it makes great wings.)

So, with cautious optimism, we are underway for this year and are hopeful that the following days/weeks will see the US start to get its feet back on the ground.

One Happy Camper!!

Great to be back!!

Front Row Ticket To The Real Florida!

Warning!! This blog post is from an un-apologetic, un-abashed, NATIVE Floridian. Yes, we are a dying breed.

Today we took Walt out for its maiden voyage. Walt is a two person inflatable kayak from Sea Eagle. June and I have talked numerous times about purchasing just such a craft. One evening at Long Point we were sitting outside and a couple went cruising past in their inflatable kayak and we were sold.

I have to stop here and explain that being a native Floridian, I bristle whenever I hear when someone mention Florida and the first thing asked is if that person has been to Disney. I just want to scream! I have gone to great lengths to show June the REAL Florida and all that it has to offer. I will give full credit to June that she has been extremely receptive and patient to my ramblings. We have visited several Florida state parks and have seen numerous wonderful things and learned boatloads, and none of them have anything to do with a corporate rodent. I'll get off my soapbox now.

Anyway, so we took Walt out in the south Brevard area among the numerous spoil islands near Sebastian Inlet. Getting to see up close to the way Florida once was before condos, and hotels, and urban sprawl was extremely refreshing to say the least. Ospreys diving for their lunch. Pelicans fighting over a fish scrap. Mullet jumping right next to us. Clouds of gnats floating on the water (they don't bite). Thousands of thick layers of mangroves along the shorelines. Smelling the musk of the crappy. Seagrass and horseshoe crabs in the water below. Seeing one or two manatee so close that we could have touched them with a paddle. Letting the wind push us as we drift along a water passageway between two islands. It brought back a whole flood of boyhood memories of fishing in places just like this.

I truly hope that June enjoyed today as much as I did. I am beyond happy that places like this still exist and are there to be seen and enjoyed if searched out. Yeah ok, it's not the overblown glitz of Disney or Sea World, or Universal. It IS the real Florida and one that I take the most pride in.

I know, I said I would get off my soapbox.

Mango

Meet the SS WALT

Today was the inaugural voyage of the SS Walt. Yes, another recreational vehicle that has a name. I'm pretty sure you would expect that from us.

Sea Eagle SE 370 ... aka Walt

So before I spoil it and tell you what W-A-L-T might stand for, take a guess. Add it in the comments below. The person that chooses the correct answer gets ... wait for it ... absolutely nothing but thanks for playing. 

We ordered the Sea Eagle 370 right after we left our last camping trip at Long Point. We knew we would get a lot of use with it at home or very close to home. We went back to Long Point this morning and used their boat launch and paddled around the lagoon. It was so quiet and relaxing. We saw many mullet jumping out of the water. Not one of them cooperated so I could capture it on my camera but it was fun watching them. One mullet was a show off with an out-of-the-water 4-hopper. Very impressive. We saw egrets dive-bombing for their lunch but the second best part of the day was seeing a manatee. 

Manatee ahead at 11 o'clock

This guy cruised along right beside us. We thought he was all alone but then noticed another one right next to him. The water in this area is only about 3 feet deep and very clear so we were able to get a pretty good view.

Overall, a pretty good start to our kayaking adventures. Mango manned the foot pump while I assembled the oars and that's about all there is to this. We were in the water within 10 minutes. We bought a dry bag to carry wallet, keys and cameras and that worked well. Lots of leg room and good back support. Add a little sunscreen and go. 

Mango is busy typing a blog entry too so I'll let him tell you more about the environment of today's trip. 

So the kayaking thing? 2 thumbs up. I loved it. And the name? Water Access Leisure Toy. Did you guess correctly?

And best part of the day? Hanging out with Mango, having fun and making memories.

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Til next time. 

-June

12 miles down the road

March in central Florida is wonderful. Warm days, mild evenings and it's not yet bug season. The perfect time to camp. 

We've been wanting to try Long Point Campground, a nice little county park in southern Brevard county. A couple weeks ago while out for a drive, we stopped in to check on availability. We were able to string 4 nights together on the same site. Perfect. Edna hadn't been out in a while and Mango's been itching to go.

 Foot bridge to Scout Island

Long Point is mostly filled with snowbirds. I think ours is the only Florida license plate here. We are right on the water (Indian River) and can hear the gentle waves all day long. A nice sunny spot and a fire pit have been perfect to host family and friends who have visited. 

Today, we took a nice walk to Scout Island, which is across a foot bridge (the only other access is by boat). All natural Florida here so a nice walk among the mangroves, Australian pines and other flora was relaxing. Again, no bugs and not too hot. It doesn't get much better than this. We both had our cameras and took lots of shots. On our way back across the footbridge, we spotted a manatee working it's way along the shore. 

This is the perfect spot to have a kayak. We've been considering a Sea Eagle 370 since we retired two years ago. It's inflatable which means easy to store and travel with. We would get a lot of use right here at home. Haven't ordered it yet but on the way back from Scout Island, there were 2 kayak life jackets for sale at a neighboring campsite. Yes, we bought them. I'm guessing that means we'll soon be the proud owners of a kayak.