All Packed Up And Nowhere To Go

As my mother used to say, it’s OK to make plans just don’t plan the results”. We’d gotten everything packed up and secured for the trip from Natchez to Spanish Fort near Mobile, Alabama. The last thing to do before heading out was to pull in the slides. We have 3 slides: one for the bed, one for a small desk and the main slide with the table, dining chairs and sofa. We can operate the slides from either 30/50 amp service or off of the battery. Since it is a big drain on the battery we usually keep plugged in until the slides are retracted. We also have a remote that can do this from the outside. The slides come in according to a set pattern and go out the same way so you can’t just move a single slide by itself. Opal was already in the truck sitting on her raised platform so she can look out the window. She knows the routine and knew we were getting ready to leave.

Bedroom slide in. Desk slide in. Main slide …… WHOA! What’s happening? The main slide stopped about halfway and the bottom started lifting. Back up and try again. Same thing. Try again. Same thing. And again. Isn’t that the definition of insanity when you do the same thing over knowing the outcome? Steve goes out and looks around. We try again. Now this is where Steve and I have a definite Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus thing going. I’m all for calling for help when something needs fixing if I don’t know how to do it. We have 3 roadside assistance plans: Good Sam, Coachnet and later we find one through the warranty on the trailer with Assurance. We’re paying for them, why not use them. Steve is of the opinion that you don’t call until you’ve completely exhausted every possibility of fixing it yourself. So in and out of the trailer, under and out at least a half dozen times with no improvement. Now the slide is not only raising up but moving in more on one side than the other. We finally call Coachnet. We talk to a technician. I’m holding the phone while Steve climbs under then relaying what the tech says and what Steve says in return. Steve has to cut into the undercarriage barrier to see what type of mechanism we have for the slide, electric or hydraulic. Finally  almost an hour later it is decided we need a roadside mechanic. Meanwhile, Opal won’t get out of the truck even when I put her lease on. So I leave her in there. I know we’re getting ready to leave. There’s no way I’m getting out and have them take off without me! The mechanic is 90 minutes away. We don’t want to unpack anything so we sit at the picnic table. Steve crawls under the RV some more and finally sees what’s wrong. A bolt from one of the shock absorbers has become lodged against the slide and won’t let it move correctly. This causes one side to move and not the other. The mechanic comes. Over an hour of trying. The only way to get the slide closed so we can travel is to cut the bolt. With the slide out of alignment some moulding had to be removed to allow the slide to clear the cabinets. Steve had to stand with a piece of cardboard against the cabinet while I pushed the slide retract button. That’s how close it was. Normally there is about 2 inches of clearance. We’ll be alright for travel but must go to a Dutchmen dealer so it can be repaired under warranty. Everyone thinks it’s a manufacturer’s defect.

We get out the MiFi internet and look up Dutchmen dealers to find who is the closest. We’re in luck. There are two in the Mobile area. We’ve used Camping World before with our old trailer so we call them. This is Saturday about 3pm. Yes, they can get us in on Monday.  Steve asks about a mobile mechanic coming to the campground. No, they don’t have one but they do have electric and water hookups in their lot and we are welcome to use them. By now it’s past our checkout time and we decide to spend one more night in Natchez. When Steve goes to pay we find out that all this time we could have gotten the senior discount rate! It’s available to non-residents as well as residents. Oh well, live and learn. One more thing to do, we must cancel our reservation in Alabama for tonight. No answer at the park but we leave a message. So we unpack as little as possible. Opal finally gets out of the car. This is really confusing. I’m sticking close to Mom and Dad tonight!

The next morning we finally get on the road for the 5 1/2 hour drive to Mobile. We find Camping World and there are 6 parking spots with hookups. We pull in and get set up. Not wanting to cook we check the iPhone App for Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. There are 3 places in the area. We choose the Gumbo Shack in Fairhope, Alabama. This sports bar setting offers creole dishes as well as regular offerings. This is the first time we’ve been in an area to try one of the restaurants since we left Charlotte. I ordered gumbo (excellent) and a shrimp panini. I had jambalaya (also excellent). Then we ordered cajun oysters. Oysters on the half shell with parmesan cheese, tobasco sauce and a slice of jalepeno. No leftovers! What about the dog?  While we were eating a local man came in with his Weimaraner. The dog obviously knew everyone and stood up on his back legs with his front feet on the bar just like he was ordering a drink. I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to get a picture but if you’ve ever seen those photos of Weimaraners dressed up and placed in human like situations you can picture this. A friendly, quirky place with good food.

The next day the trailer was packed up and taken to the shop. We were in luck. The warranty paid all but $136 of an almost $800 bill. Since we were here it seemed like a good time to have some routine maintenance done, tires rotated , a problem with premature wear on one tire resolved, an interior light replaced and 2 shades fixed. Since not all of the work could be completed in one day the trailer was moved back to the campsite for our second night in the parking lot. Again we call Meaher State Park where we were to stay and this time we tell them to cancel the whole reservation. They only accept cash or check so we didn’t have any money to loose. We weren’t alone. There were 5 other vehicles there. To kill time while we were waiting we drove around stopping at local businesses. Then we decided to drive down to Gulf Shores State Park. We’d tried to get reservations here back in August and we were surprised when they told us it was full all winter. After talking to the volunteer at the gate we now know why. Most state parks limit you to 14 days. Between November 1 and March 31 Gulf Shores allows continuous camping and only charges $450/month including water and electric. Reservations need to be made a year in advance. It looked like a beautiful park. One to remember for the future. We were hungry and stopped at one of the many seafood restaurants along the beach. When I looked at the menu I saw that today’s special was popcorn shrimp but Tuesday’s was crab cakes. I teasingly asked the waitress if she could pretend it was Tuesday. She said she’d have to ask. I really didn’t expect them to say yes since the special was half price. They did! The special was supposed to be a smaller portion but I had 2 large crab cakes.

Fort Conde in Mobile

View Of Mobile From Fort Conde

View Of Old Mobile Home From Fort Conde

Mobile Carnival Museum

While we waited on Tuesday for the trailer to be finished we drove down to Mobile and stopped at the Visitors Center which is housed in a 4/5 recreation of the original Fort Conde that founded Mobile. As with many cities in this area Mobile has been under French, British, Spanish and American governments. We took a tour of Fort Conde then walked over to the Carnival Museum (closed). Mobile has a Carnival at the same time as New Orleans Mardi Gras. By then we received a call that the trailer was done. Now to find a place for tonight. After 2 nights in a parking lot we decided to move on. There was Plantation Escapees Rainbow Park not far away so we checked in there. Escapees Club members receive a discount on site rates but the park is open to general RVers too. Laundry had mounted up so this was a priority. We drove around while the clothes were drying and saw that there were homes with RV garages, permanent sites with storage buildings and the temporary lots. While we’re not ready to stay in one place for a long time yet, this did give us an insight into options available to us. Like many RV parks with lot owners and long term residents they have a lot of activities. Tonight they were having a community dinner for $5/person. So we went. It was nice to talk with people who had been doing what we’re doing for many years. One couple at our table had been RVers for 15 years. They all nodded knowingly at our tale of woe. Yes, they had similar experiences.

Wednesday morning after a quick breakfast and we’re off to Florida. Bedroom slide in. Desk slide in. Main slide in but what’s this? It’s not closed on the left and it’s not lined up correctly. We call Camping World to tell them we need to come back. “Just an adjustment” they say. Two hours later we really do get on the road. With this unexpected delay we don’t know if we’ll make it before dark. We stick to the interstate instead of the scenic routes we prefer.

To be continued in our next post Paddles, Peddles and Playas On St. George Island. OK so you caught Chari’s brain slipping a gear. Let’s try again. Make that Paddles, Pedals and Playas.

Lake Hartwell, SC

Now we head almost five hours across the state to the southwest corner of South Carolina. We’ll be staying at Coneross Campground on Lake Hartwell. This is a Corps of Engineers campground with about 100 sites most of which have RV hookups. The lake spans across the SC/GA line. There are several other campgrounds around the lake. Lake Hartwell is primarily for water supply to the Atlanta area but is also used for recreation. If you lived in the south during the severe drought in 2007-2008 you might remember that this lake dwindled to only a 30 day supply. It still is down 15-20 feet from full level.We arrived to find our site was a lovely, wooded drive-thru spot. The sitting and eating area was a large terrace  adjacent to the driveway.

We spent our first day kayaking and swimming on Lake Hartwell. Although we left the boats at the water’s there was so much to do in the area that we didn’t get back again. The park was also good for a four mile bike ride.

Camping at Coneross

View of Lake Hartwell from our site

The nearest large town is Clemson, home of Clemson University. If you don’t like orange and purple or the Clemson Tigers beware! They are crazy for their teams, especially football.  You don’t want to come here on a home football weekend when 80,000 fans descend on Death Valley as the football stadium is known. Other towns in the area are Spencer, Pendleton and Walahalla. There is another barn quilt trail here with 100 locations. We didn’t have time to visit this trail but did see some of the quilts displayed on homes and businesses as well as barns.

One of the attractions in this area was visiting historically significant homes, a church and a graveyard. Known as the Old Stone Church it was built by Scot-Irish settlers in 1797 and used until the mid 1820s. The adjacent graveyard is still used today. There are several interesting grave sites. One was a man killed in a duel in the early 1800s. He was allowed burial there only outside the boundaries of the graveyard. However the boundaries continued to expand and his grave is now almost in the center. Another famous person buried there is Andrew Pickens, the general famous for winning the Battle of Cowpens (see our Spartanburg Area post). A monument to the builder of the Old Stone Church and parents of Thomas Jefferson Rusk was erected by the state of Texas in 1936. We’d never heard of him but figured if another state would erect a tombstone to his parents, we’d better find out. Thank Goodness for Google and Wikipedia! He was one of the principal generals at the Battle of San Jacinto where Texans defeated Santa Anna. He also served as the first Secretary of state for the Texas Republic. By far the story that intrigued me the most was about a lady from Charleston who was one of New Orleans most infamous woman of ill repute (or as the sign said even in a city known for bad behavior her deeds stood out.) Her brother went to New Orleans and shot both his sister and her lover. Apparently suffering from remorse he brought her body back to the Old Stone Church for burial. The congregation would allow burial only if her grave was surrounded by a brick wall. So in death as in life she was ostracized. The grave is rather overgrown now but a part of the inscription begins with “A Brother’s Sorrow….”.

Old Stone Church in Clemson, SC

Woodburn Plantation

General Andrew Pickens

Clemson University owns several historic properties on or near campus. We tried to visit Woodburn Plantation but it was closed. Later we learned it was open Wednesday-Friday. We took pictures through the fence. One place for “when we come back…” Fort Hill is the home of Thomas Clemson who donated the land to start Clemson University. He was the son-in-law of John C. Calhoun who built the home in the 1820s. When the home was willed to the university Thomas Clemson stipulated that it should always be open to the people. Therefore, Clemson University has volunteers trained to give tours in all of its historical properties. The two tours we took were excellent and we’d highly recommend them to anyone visiting the area. Since the Calhoun home is in the middle of the university it will be much easier to park if you go on a weekend. We went on a Sunday and parked right in front of the house. One of John C. Calhoun’s sisters married into the Custis family as in Martha Custis Washington. When furniture from Mount Vernon was being dispersed his sister asked if he’d like George Washington’s campaign chair. The chair is a fragile looking Windsor style. You have to wonder how it survived being toted about in such rough conditions. We were the only people in the home at the time. So when Steve expressed interest in the chair, the guide dropped the velvet rope and let us go inside the room for a closer look. What a thrill!

Rusk Family Memorial

A Brother’s Sorrow ….                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Another property open for tour is Hanover House which is located on the grounds of the SC Botanical Garden.  This is a rare example of a French Hugenot home. It was originally built in the low country between 1714-1718. Although it had been allowed to run to ruin a state senator felt it was worth saving from impending flood control projects and contacted Clemson to see if they would like to have the property for their Architecture school. It has now been beautifully restored and period furniture shows it off well. The original owner was a French artist whose works were of similar style but pre-dated those of Audubon. Also on the Botanical Garden grounds is a Geology Museum worth seeing.

Hanover House

Inside Hanover House

Fort Hill, Home of John C. Calhoun and Thomas Clemson

Fort Hill on Clemson University campus

Over Labor Day weekend we had a very heavy rain. On Monday when Opal had her morning walk we found that a large branch had come down in front of the truck (not on it, thankfully) and blocked the exit. We weren’t  planning on going out today so when I reported the problem to the gatehouse I told them not to bother anyone to come out on a holiday and that Tuesday would be fine. It hadn’t been more than a half hour when a maintenance truck arrived. They had the limb down and the driveway cleared in ten minutes. Now that’s service.) 

No Way Out

Over Labor Day weekend we had a very heavy rain. On Monday when Opal had her morning walk we found that a large branch had come down in front of the truck (not on it, thankfully) and blocked the exit. We weren’t  planning on going out today so when I reported the problem to the gatehouse I told them not to bother anyone to come out on a holiday and that Tuesday would be fine. It hadn’t been more than a half hour when a maintenance truck arrived. They had the limb down and the driveway cleared in ten minutes. Now that’s service.)

We went out to dinner once while in the area to a place that was listed in a brochure about a local music trail. We hoped to find something similar to the Crooked Road. Seems this information was a bit out of date as several of the places listed no longer had live music. The restaurant had changed names and owners from Just BBQ to Smoke and Blue but they were still using the http://www.justbbq.com site. It turned out to be a good local place using cafeteria trays and styrofoam plates serving from a steam table. There were people from a five year old celebrating her birthday to college lacrosse players to over four generations of  a family line dancing. The BBQ was very good and you could try any of the five sauces. The music was more country than bluegrass but we enjoyed it very much and even danced a bit.

Just northwest of this area is the start of waterfall country so we set out to find two of them. I thought Steve had put my hiking boots in the truck and he thought I was bringing them. So much for communication! I only had sandals on so had to forego getting down to some of the falls. Next time I’ll double check. The first waterfall is called Issaqueena Falls. Local legend says that Issaqueena was an Indian maiden who fell in love with an English settler around the 1760s. When she learned of her tribe’s plans to attack the settlement, she rode to warn them. She kept track of the distance by estimating miles to the settlement and that settlement became known as Ninety-six and is still known by that today. Fearing that her tribe would take revenge, the lovers went to Issaqueena Falls and pretended to leap off but landed on a ledge below. They escaped the area and lived together for many years. Near Issaqueena Falls is an old railroad tunnel called Stumphouse Tunnel. It was built in an attempt to connect Charleston to Knoxville but succumbed during the Civil War and never was finished. The tunnel is 17 feet wide and 25 feet high. You can walk in about 50 feet before  coming to a gate. It’s pitch black so bring a flashlight. The cool temperature and high moisture level in the tunnel made an ideal environment for the Clemson University dairy program to make the first bleu cheese in the area. The second falls was Brasstown Falls which has a larger Upper Falls and a multi-tiered Lower Falls. The upper Falls is accessed by crossing a knee deep stream and climbing a bank. It’s worth the effort. While visiting Lower Brasstown Falls we were taking pictures when Steve slipped and came down precariously close to the edge. That man will give me a heart attack someday!Steve here… she exaggerates a bit. I was more worried about the camera being damaged than myself. I was there so I’ll settle this. Dad takes too many risks and Mom is a worrier. – Opal

Steve and Opal at Stumphouse Tunnel

Wildflowers Near Waterfalls

Lower Brasstown Falls

Upper Brasstown Falls in HDR Software

As usual we hated to leave. Another place for “when we come back”.