Walking in Spartanburg

Tuesday:

I was "back to work" this morning. I'm filling in at my previous job while the lady who took my place is out on maternity leave. Maya Drinkall, my replacement, had a baby boy last Friday. Maya and her son are both doing well and should be home from the hospital by now. So today I started doing accounting work for the medical practice which I will continue to do for the next six weeks. Luckily I have not been gone too long, so for the most part I was able to pick up where I left off when I retired on January 31st. However when you have not done something for several months you have to stop and think about each step where it used to come to me without much thought.

Connie and I decided to do some walking around Spartanburg today. There are a number of urban trails located within the city limits and we chose to walk on the Mary Black Rails to Trails route. It is a two mile trail that was previously a rail line. The old railroad line has been removed and replaced with a paved path. Connie walked for 3 miles and I went ahead and finished the 4 miles trek of going to end of each way of the trail. Connie was able to do the 3 miles in a good pace with no back pain. YAHOO!!

Spartanburg is know as the Hub City since in the 19th Century
a number of railroads came through the city

View down the Rails to Trails path

After we finished our walk and had a beverage to replace our fluids (temps were in the low 80's), we looked for a place to eat lunch. There were a number of small restaurants, sandwich shops and bistros located in the downtown area so we decided to park and walk around till we found one to try. We ended up a the Cafe Around the Corner. It is more of a sandwich shop than a restaurant and they have not been open very long. It is a farm to table place that only serves natural and organic items. Connie had a "veggie burger" while I had one of the lunch special sandwiches with cold cucumber soup and potato chips. Both of our meals were very good, but I thought mine tasted better. We gave them a good review on Yelp and then walked back to the Jeep.

Cafe Around the Corner in downtown Spartanburg. We gave it a great
review on Yelp.

We then went to visit the Hatcher Garden and Woodland Preserve. The Hatchers were a couple that retired to Spartanburg in 1969 and spent the next 30 years improving the 10 acre gully behind their house into a beautiful garden/preserve.  It is a place of quiet and tranquility near the downtown area in Spartanburg. When we were there today we had the place to ourselves (except for a couple of workers).

Entry into Hatcher Garden/Woodland Preserve

Connie hiding among the flowers

There were several pieces of art in the garden

The pond at the bottom of the garden

One of three small waterfalls in the garden

Some of the trees are over 100 feet tall

Information about the Hatchers and the garden

After this we drove by The Seay House, the oldest house in Spartanburg. We found the house to be behind a high fence and only open by appointment. We took a quick look at the house and then moved on.

The Seay House - oldest house in Spartanburg
I took this pictures between the wires in the fence

It was a good day for us. Connie was able to walk without pain and we both glad to be active instead of traveling or sitting for hours each day. We came back to The Duchess were I went back to work again for a couple of hours before we had dinner. Spartanburg in an interesting small city with several colleges. There seems to be an active downtown area with some new construction along with renovations of some older buildings occurring at the current time. There is also a section of the city along the I-26 highway with all of the modern box stores and chain restaurants.

Visiting Family in Augusta GA

Thursday:

We got up early Thursday morning and took a walk around the Gunter Hill COE Park near Montgomery AL. After eating breakfast, we finished unhooking and headed out towards Macon GA, the next stop on our trip. We looked at the campgrounds available around Macon and decided to call Arrowhead Campground on Lake Tobesofkey to see if they had any sites available for the night. They had one last pull through site with a view of the lake, so we told them we would take it. We arrived at the campground around 2:00 PM and at the check-in office to the campground Connie met a couple that ended up being our neighbors in the campground. The couple was Emory and Billie Brantley from near Tampa FL. They had just purchased a brand new Tiffin Phaeton motorhome from the Lazy Days dealership in Tampa a few weeks ago and this was their first "trip" in their new RV. They gave us a tour of the Phaeton and even though it was only 36 feet long it was well arranged and very nice both inside and outside. Emory and Billie had camped at Arrowhead a number of times on previous trips from Tampa in their prior motorhome: they had owned the previous one for 15 years. We decided to go to dinner together and they recommended the Fish and Pig Restaurant which was located on the lake. Connie and I got the Fish and Pork combo dinner that included pork ribs and fried catfish. We had a nice visit with Emory and Billie and enjoyed meeting them. They were headed towards Tennessee to go on the Whiskey Tour of a number of distilleries over several days.

Billie & Emory Brantley and their new Tiffin Phaeton

Site 4 @ Arrowhead Campground on Lake Tobesofkey

View out our front windshield at Arrowhead Campground

Lake Tobesofkey

Friday-Sunday:

We headed out from Macon towards Augusta GA on Friday morning. Since we only had 120 miles to travel, it allowed us time to take a walk around the campground, say good-bye to and wish safe travels to Emory and Billie before we left. We arrived at the Heritage RV Park in Augusta around 12:30 PM and were checked into Site 41. We later found out that this RV park in almost 70 years old making it one of the oldest private RV parks in the country.

Site 41 at Heritage RV Park

We did not have anyone on either side of us at the park
Good WiFi in the park along with 3-4 bars of ATT service.

View of the park. Most of the sites are occupied by long term residents
this time of year. We found out that during Masters Golf Tournament week
everyone has to leave the park and they charge very high rates during that week.

We are here in Augusta to visit with Connie's last surviving aunt, Evelyn Bailey and her two cousins, Keith Bailey and Donna Leida who also live here. We got set up in the RV Park, did some shopping to pick up some supplies and then went over to Donna and her husband Stan's house here in Augusta for dinner. We had not seen Evelyn, Donna or Keith in several years and so we spent the evening getting caught up.

On Saturday, all of us went to lunch at Jason's Deli and then everyone came back to the RV park to see The Duchess. Even Evelyn at 88 years old was able to get up the steps and come inside the RV. We visited for a while before Evelyn got tired and they headed back to their homes. We ended up going to Keith's house for dinner while Stan & Donna did some chores that needed to be done.

Connie and Keith (and Opie his Cocker Spaniel)

Keith Bailey is a very talented artist who works with various materials to make puppets, team mascots, bird houses and other pieces of art. Here are a few pictures of a small portion of his work:

On Sunday we went by the local Walmart to pick up a few items and then went over to Cabela's to look at their camping chairs. Connie is looking for a zero gravity chair that she saw on line at the Cabela's website. The store here in Augusta is called an Outpost Store and did not carry this chair in stock. We then went to Whole Foods where we had pizza slices for lunch and hung around until 12:30 PM (local liquor laws) so that we could buy some wine that we found on sale for $3.99 per bottle. We had picked one up at Whole Foods on Friday and really like the wine, so we wanted to get several bottles for the "road".

Our "expensive" taste in wine

 We then went over to Stan & Donna house to visit some more along with taking pictures of everyone.

Mike, Connie, Keith & Donna

Keith, Connie & Donna
Aunt Evelyn

Donna, Keith & Stan

 Donna & Keith put together a great light supper for us, we finished up our visiting and said our good-byes and headed back to The Duchess for the night. While we were taking a stroll around the campground, we met a couple who had just moved into a 5th wheel here at the RV park. He has six months left before his retirement after 30 years in the military here at Fort Gordon in Augusta. They had put their house up for sale, it sold quickly so they are staying in the 5th wheel until his retirement and their decision as to where to go from here. We showed them The Duchess and after taking the tour, I think that they will end up in a motorhome and not a 5th wheel. Tomorrow we travel to Spartanburg SC where we will spend a few days and then go on to Asheville NC on Friday.

Travelling across the South

On Tuesday morning we left out of the Quiet Oaks RV Park near Kinder LA headed to Gulfport MS. It rained on Monday in Kinder and since we were on a RV site with only a small amount of gravel we were concerned that we might have trouble getting out. It was muddy but we were able to get out of the park without any trouble. We made the trip back to I-10 and headed to Gulfport MS. After a drive of 240 miles, we pulled into the Campground of the South which was right off of I-10.

The park is nothing to write home about (so I am writing about it in the blog), but with the Passport America discount we only had to pad $23 for full hook-ups. It was a pull through site with plenty of room for both The Duchess and the Jeep. We were close enough to I-10 that we could hear the traffic if we were outside. I told Connie that I thought  I could throw a rock and hit the vehicles on the interstate. We had rain again on Tuesday night in Gulfport.

Campground of the South. The campground caters to snow birders
and this time of year has very few campers.

With a suggestion from Heidi Ivey, we went to the Oyster Half Shell restaurant for our dinner. I had the Shrimp & Grits along with Sweet Potato Creme Brulee as a side. Connie had the Stuffed Portobello Seafood Plate. Both were delicious and some of the best food we have ever eaten. Thanks to Heidi for the recommendation.

Oyster Half Shell Restaurant in Gulfport MS

On Wednesday morning we got up and headed out to Montgomery AL. The drive along I-10 to I-65 was uneventful (with one exception) with nice sunny weather for a change. We needed some diesel for The Duchess and stopped at a Tiger Truck Center. When we were filling up one of the truck drivers told us we needed to go see the tiger. We thought he was kidding, but then Connie saw the tiger. He looked like he weighed at least 400-500 lbs. So she had to take a picture (there was several fences to keep the tiger from the people and people from the tiger).

We thought we were going to stay in another Passport American park, but after looking at the campground we decided to find something better to spend the night at. This park was another private campground with sites right next to each other along the interstate along with having a very un-friendly staff. We found that the Corps of Engineers campground called Gunter Hill COE Park near Montgomery had a site available (there were several available for the night). The park here is beautiful and we had a pull through site that is over 100 feet long with full hookups for $24 a night. The park host told us that this part of the park had been updated and improved about three year ago and they certainly did a wonderful job. Connie cooked a great dinner that included some fresh vegetables that we purchased at a roadside shop. We were able to eat outside at the picnic table and enjoy the view along with the peace & quiet. After dinner, we took a walk through the park and then I rode my bike around for a few minutes.

The Duchess parked in Site 39

Overlooking the lake here at the park

On the move again

Monday (5/11/15):

Not much to report from last week. Connie was on her girl's cruise out of Galveston on Royal Caribbean while I stayed at the Dellanera RV Park. The RV Park was located right on the beach and for the entire week we had red flag warnings for high winds. Most days the wind would blow from 20 to 30 mph with some higher gusts occurring from time to time. With the salt water mist in the air and the wind blowing some of the beach sand around, it did not lend itself to being outside very much.  There were times when The Duchess would be rocked by the force of the winds and one night the power went out at the RV park for several hours. I was able to walk and bike around Galveston. Once you got away from the beach area, the winds were not as bad. The Duchess needs a good wash job, but I don't know when we will be able to get to it. Galveston is an interesting city with a lot of history that involves hurricanes that have hit the island over the years.

Connie had a good time on her cruise: lots of visiting with her girlfriends along with meeting several people on the boat. She came back with some sinus problems that caused her not to be able to sleep well the last night on the boat. Although the cruise was enjoyable for Connie, we were both ready to see each other and get back on the road in The Duchess again.

After picking Connie up at the cruise ship terminal on Sunday morning, we went back to the RV to finish getting her ready to leave. We left Galveston around 11:00 AM for the trip to Kinder, Louisiana where we will be spending two nights at the Quiet Oaks RV Park. We made the trip in about 4 hours and were able to take a route that avoided Houston. We are now set up until we leave on Tuesday morning headed to Augusta, Georgia to visit Connie's aunt and cousins who live there. It looks like we may be traveling in rain this week as it seems to be moving from west to east along I-10.

Travel Day to Galveston

Friday (5/1/15):

Connie and I got up early this morning to get The Duchess ready for the 123 mile trip from the Rainbow's End Park in Livingston to the Dellanera RV Park in Galveston. Since it was Friday, the Escapee's Care Center was having their Big Breakfast Special for $5 per person. We took advantage of the meal which allowed us to eat without having to clean up anything. We left Livingston around 9:30 AM for the drive down Hwy 59 to I-45. We did not know how bad the traffic would be in Houston, so we wanted to get an early start but also wait until the morning rush hour had passed. We also needed to get some diesel for The Duchess. We stopped at the Love's Truck Stop in Cleveland to fill up The Duchess: our first time at a truck stop. You have to tell them the dollar amount of diesel fuel you want (rather than just filling up as we do with the Jeep), so we will have to learn to match the fuel gauge with the amount needed to fill the tank. The Duchess holds 150 gallons of diesel and we will try to fill up once we get below 1/2 full. The traffic all the way through Houston was very light and the route we took had almost no construction projects along the way. The only time we had heavy traffic was once we were south of Houston on I-45 where there about 5 miles of stop and go. We arrived at the Dellanera RV Park around 12: 30 and were assigned Site 49. This is a small RV park with only 65 spaces. They have a combination of pull through and back-in sites, most of which can handle a big RV. The site we are in is a back in site. Connie and I had watched a video on-line about to back into a RV site and we followed the directions that we learned. It takes two people to handle this method, but it does work. We backed in as if we had been doing this for a long time.

The sites in this RV park are close together and our site backs up to the beach. If we were in a 5th wheel with a rear window, we would look out on the Gulf of Mexico. With a motorhome, we have to look out our side windows to see the Gulf.

Connie and I went into Galveston to eat lunch and pick up a few items at the grocery store. We ate at Fish Tales (fried shrimp which was not very good) and then drove over to find the cruise ship terminal which is located on the other side of the island. We also stopped in at a local credit union to pick up some cash. Our credit union (A+ Federal in Austin) is part of a national association where you can go to over 5000 locations and do banking as if you at an A+ Federal branch. This feature allows us to remain with the credit union instead of having to go with one of large megabanks.

The Pleasure Pier across Sea Wall Drive from
the Fish Tales restaurant. Connie remember when this pier
was the home of the Flagship Hotel. This hotel was destroyed in
one of the hurricanes that have hit Galveston over the years.

The Duchess all set up for the week.

We returned to the RV park, took a walk along the beach and then had a couple of individual frozen pizzas with wine for dinner. As usual on our travel days, we were both tired and called it an early night.

Our Site 49. You can see how close the sites are to one another.

View from the rear of The Duchess. I don't think there is
much of a sea wall at this location.

Final Days @ Rainbow's End

Connie and I are finally winning the war with the webworms. There are still a few trying to crawl up the motorhome, but most of them are either spinning a cocoon or going another direction. I guess the Sevin dust did some good once we put in around The Duchess. We are still taking it slow and easy here in Livingston while Connie continues her recovery. I have been able to walk and bike ride most days while Connie has walked at least twice each day this week.

Today (Thursday), we got the motor home weighed. The Duchess came in at a grand total of 36,630 pounds with a full load of water, propane and diesel fuel. The Duchess is rated to handle up to 44,000 pounds so we are well under the maximum weight for our rig. The SmartWeigh program here at the Escapee's Park uses scales to weigh each tire or tire set along each axle. We have three axles on The Duchess so we have three sets of numbers to deal with.It is possible to be under your maximum weight on the RV while being over weight on one of the axles. The Duchess came in under weight on all of the axles. We will need to make some adjustments in the tire pressures to correlate with our axle weights, but everything else is OK on The Duchess. We could actually add some additional weight in our storage areas and still be under the load limits for our rig.

This is where they do the weighing. Both Connie and I
had to remain inside the RV to get the proper amounts of
weight on each axle.

We went into Livingston to have lunch at Florida's Restaurant which is a local place that specializes in BBQ. The have made the list of several top BBQ restaurants in Texas over the years and we were not disappointed in the "lunch specials" that we ordered. There was lots of BBQ and it was delicious. After a walk around the Polk County Courthouse square to visit a few of the local shops, we did some groceries shopping at HEB before returning to The Duchess.

We are leaving this campground tomorrow and headed to Galveston. The campground in Galveston had an opening for Friday night and we took advantage of it. We have enjoyed our stay in Livingston, but it is time to move on. Our home does have wheels, you know.

One of the campers here is bringing their garden along with them.