Charlotte NC

Monday (5/2) to Monday (5/9):

On Monday morning we made the 115 mile trip from Greenville SC to Charlotte NC. We are staying in a small RV park, Elmore RV Park, located "in town" behind a used car lot/auto maintenance shop. Almost all of the residents are long term but there are a few spaces available on a short term basis. We were assigned to Site 4 and backed the Duchess into the site. I glad that we have an extension to our 50 amp cord so that we could us this site instead of the one a next to it. We got set up and then ordered a pizza from Pure Pizza, a local chain here in Charlotte. It was not much of a pizza, but we didn't have to do any cooking.

Tuesday morning we were up bright and early since we had an 8 AM appointment to have our jacks/leveling system looked at. Our right rear jack is not working at all and we had some times where the jacks would not go up & down with out us having to turn them off & on several times. We dropped the Duchess off at Rowell's which is located in Indian Trail NC, a suburb of Charlotte. From there we went and ate breakfast at Johnny K's a local restaurant recommended to us by the shop. We both ate a large breakfast that was very good and enjoyed the coffee (several cups) which was brand called Java Jeff's. After breakfast we went to Costco where we bought: Lenovo MIIX 700 laptop, electric toothbrushes, COBRA dash cam and few other items. After finishing up at COSTCO we did a 4 mile walk (2 miles up and 2 miles back) along the 4 Mile Creek Greenbelt.

You can see how much rain this area has gotten lately.

We found a Trader Joe's across the street from the greenbelt parking area and bought something to drink to refresh ourselves after the walk. We returned to Rowell's where they were waiting on a phone call from HWH Leveling Systems. So we went to a restaurant next door and ate an early dinner. Upon our return to Rowell's they had talked to HWH and decided that a valve that was sticking open needed to be replaced. We will return on Monday morning to have the work done since the valve had to be shipped from HWH.

On Wednesday we went to Freedom Park here in Charlotte which is a 98 acre park located a few miles south of downtown. There are walking trails, a large pond stocked with fish along with numerous sports fields.

It started raining on Wednesday PM as we returned back to our park. We visited a local brewery in the late afternoon, the NoDa Brewery, which is located a couple of miles from the campground. We did a sampling and then each of us had a glass of one of their brews.

Thursday it rained all day and the temperature never got above 60 degrees so we did not get out except to go to the grocery store. We have great WiFi service here in the park and so we were able to stream Amazon Video on our TV. We started watching a series call Orphan Black that has been on Showtime and were able to watch a number of episodes.

Friday the weather was better so we headed to Reedy Creek Park and walked along the trails within the park. Some of the trails were wet but most had gravel on them so they were not muddy.

From there we took a trip out to Concord NC to visit the Hendricks Motorsports Racing Team Museum. They have a number of the winning cars from the racing team on display along with exhibits showing you how the cars are built.

From there we went to the Tom Johnson Camping World Center and took a look at the 2016 Newmar motor homes they have in stock. We didn't see anything we liked better than the one we are in. They are nice inside, but don't have as much storage as we have in the Duchess.

Saturday we went to visit downtown Charlotte. Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank both have several large buildings downtown along with a number of other banks. Charlotte is the second largest banking center in the USA only trailing New York City. There was a music group playing smooth jazz in one of the parks which we stopped and listened to them for a while. They were very good when they played an entire song, but they spent most of the time starting and stopping. From there we took the Liberty Walk along which there are 18 plaques dealing with the Revolutionary War in Charlotte. The buildings on the walk are all gone, but the plaques gave you a history of that location and what was there. Charlotte was occupied by the British for several years during the Revolutionary War and several battles were fought in Charlotte and the surrounding countryside.

Music in the park.

This was not part of the Liberty Walk.

We also visited the Wells Fargo Museum which is located in their bank (they took over Wachovia Bank several years ago). The museum gives a brief history of the Wells Fargo bank, shipping and other business through the years.

After we walking around downtown Charlotte for about 3 hours we decided to visit the Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, which is the oldest craft brewery in Charlotte. We tried a sampler of 6 of their beers and didn't particularly like any of them.

There was a place across the street called the Broken Spoke, so we had to see what it was. It ended up being a distillery, but the rules in North Carolina were so complicated we decided not to go in.

After a visit to one of the Whole Foods store in Charlotte, we returned back to the Duchess for the evening.

On Sunday afternoon we drove out to Belmont NC and visited the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. It was packed with people since they were letting any "mom" get in free today. These gardens were nice but not anything like the ones in Atlanta.

Monday morning we will get the motor home leveling system repairs completed and then head towards the Raleigh/Durham/Greensboro area.

FYI: This is our 100th post to the blog.