We spent October 21 - 24 at Edisto Beach State Park. What a wonderful experience! After giving her a good scrub down (whew, what a job THAT is!) and getting her loaded with trip essentials, then making sure we had the campsite reserved, confirmed, and preregistered online, we set out for the first adventure. Jimmy's Dodge Ram 1500 Hemi pulled her like she wasn't even behind us, except that it cut his mpg's by almost half. Since she weighs 5,100 lbs without all the extra 'stuff' you pack to camp with, I guess that was to be expected.
We found our campsite, got her backed in and hooked up to water and electric and made sure both were working before we unhooked the truck. Didn't want to have to hook back up to move if either weren't working right. After rolling out the awnings, placing the patio rug and moving the picnic table under the cover, we started unloading and setting up the inside with the small appliances, dog crate, and other little essentials. The campsite was just about perfect, since we were at the beach campground but on the back side right at the marsh with a great view. The bath house was just across the little dirt street, and kept clean, so it was convenient....more space for showering than the camper and plenty of hot water, although I did give its tub a test run one night just to be sure everything worked, which it did. We took Leo and walked the few yards over to the beach, and took a long walk looking for shells and enjoying the weather, scenery, and life in general. Back 'home' and hungry, we made our dinner of super nachos that I had prepared for with my homemade chili, cheese, salsa and sour cream on tortilla chips. I hadn't played Rummy in years, so Jimmy refreshed my memory and we played several rounds before sitting outside for a little while.
Tuesday dawned dreary and cool, but we were determined to go fishing some. We tried to go to the dock at Steamboat Landing, but there were quite a few people there. Since we had Leo with us, I didn't think they would appreciate having him out there so we drove on to the Dawho bridge landing. We had it all to ourselves, so I tied Leo on a long run to a railing and we fished in a pretty steady mist and drizzle. Got too cold for Leo, so I put him back in the truck while we toughed it out on the dock. The only things we caught were a couple of tiny croakers and one ugly little dogfish. This was our second time fishing here, with no one else, and not catching anything. One of the Park Rangers told us he used to try fishing there too, and never caught anything either so he quit. Maybe that's why we had it to ourselves....no one ever catches anything from there, apparently! Back 'home', hungry, cold and tired; our bowls of steaming hot chili were well appreciated. It was raining pretty steadily by then, and the noise on the awning and roof of the camper made it impossible to stay awake, so naps were mandatory. Later on we got out the little propane grill I had bought. Putting it together was pretty simple, and we managed to do that without any fussing, or undoing anything to do it over. Jimmy had brought his fish cooker along, so we made fresh homemade french fries and grilled hamburgers right out there under the awning. Of course, we enjoyed a few 'adult beverages' of various types during our stay there, but always inside the camper since there is a rule of no public use of alcohol in the park.
On Wednesday we took travel mugs of coffee over to the beach, wearing our sweatshirts since the wind was pretty cool, and picked up lots of shells for me to try to do some crafts with. We even found a starfish, but not the first sharks tooth. So weird, they used to be all over the beach there. We tried to go to Botany Bay, as Jimmy has never been there, but it was closed yet again for another deer hunt. That makes twice we've tried and failed. Second choice was the little museum, which was a delightful little place. The afternoon consisted of a nap after a sandwich lunch, then shopping for fresh shrimp to boil for dinner, and riding out to the little fresh market for some she-crab soup and a key lime pie - yummo! We came back by the Piggly Wiggly for a couple of things, and ran into one of my high school classmates, Bill Coffey, who is now a policeman in Edisto! Dinner was excellent, even with the cool breeze - well, actually almost gale force winds - and we decided to roll up the awning to prevent it being damaged, since we were packing up to leave the next morning anyway. What a good decision that turned out to be, since after dark we sat on the 'patio rug' and enjoyed a million stars overhead while one meteor managed to streak across, and the fiddler crabs in the marsh were playing a tiny little symphony with their claws click-tick-clicking into the dark. There were several more games of Rummy played that evening. The wind continued, blowing in a cold front.
Thursday dawned dry but COLD!!!! We never did turn on the electric oil radiator we brought along, since our beds had plenty of blankets and spreads on them, but boy oh boy the air was brisk while we had coffee and got everything reloaded safely into their cabinets, nooks and crannies, bungie tying the table and chairs to the wall (a brilliant little device Mr. McConnell Sr. had created) and the TV (which we never used, never missed!) into its corner. I was a little concerned about having to empty the sewer holding tanks, but we pulled up to the dump station, hooked a new hose to the fittings and followed the directions in the camper manual without a single wrong move. The drive home was again uneventful, thankfully. We stopped at Duke's BBQ in Walterboro for lunch (our only meal 'out' in a restaurant the whole vacation) and there was Reid Boyleston from Barnwell! By the way, we highly recommend eating at this Duke's. I think it would be worth the drive just for the meal. We arrived safely back at my house, and backed her into the yard, unhooked the truck and then my job began, unloading all the food, clothes and miscellaneous things we thought we just had to have on the trip. Didn't use or wear about half of it. Lesson learned!
So, some observations: state parks not having sewer hook ups is not a big deal, the dump stations are not a horribly difficult thing to manage, bath houses are great to have but so are potties in the camper for middle of the nights, hehehe; campers should not leave their outside lights on all night, it is light pollution to stargazers; campers should NOT hang wind chimes on their campers as some of us are light sleepers and hear them all night long; waves crashing on the beach all night when you aren't used to it can be disruptive to sleep also. Most dog owners clean up after their pets, but not everyone is so considerate - watch where you and your dog walk! Four days without TV, wi-fi and Facebook, and never even missed any of it! Camping involves some work, some thought and preparation, but the payoff is huge, it is so well worth all of it. This old gal is hooked, and already looking for new places to camp (fairly close by) when the weather warms back up in the Spring. Being a member of The Roamin' Empire is a dream-come-true! Let the adventures continue.......
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| Backing the Pack-n-Play into her campsite at Edisto Beach State Park |
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| Ahhhhhhh Edisto! |
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| Nothing like sand, surf and breezes |
