Jackson Springs, North Carolina

We have been at Sycamore Lodge and RV Resort in Jackson Springs, North Carolina for almost two weeks. The campground is a reasonably nice.  There is very little to do in the area.   We have gone into Aberdeen a couple of times.   There just is not much that to entertain.   Let me be honest… this area is pretty boring to me.  It is pretty with the tall pine trees and quiet because we are out in the country.

George has gone for a ride almost every day.  We have gone for walks around the campground.

But after two weeks with limited sites to see, I'm about to lose my mind.  We are both feeling restless and ready to move on.  We originally planned to stay here for one week and changed it to two weeks because we the reviews were so great.  There certainly are some sites that are nice with good lake views, but the rest are just average campsites with lots of trees.  Those trees have caused some issues for our cell phones and internet.

I have used our time here to work on a massive picture organizing project.  I have been putting pictures on my computer for years—but until now I have never taken the time to organize pictures.  When we moved into our RV, I had 2 major projects… The first one is to organize my recipes—entering them in my Cookbook database.  The second project is to organize all of our pictures.

Today is another cloudy "project" day.  We have watched movies, I paid a few bills and I am trying to catch up on our blog.

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Charlotte, North Carolina

We decided to head to Charlotte, North Carolina today. We were not sure what to expect.   We have really started to enjoy the adventure of going into an area we are unfamiliar with and tripping over local "treasures".  We rarely have any kind of time restrictions, so we are able to get lost and then found—while remaining stress free.

Charlotte is almost 2 hours from Jackson Springs, which is farther than we usually travel for a day trip.  But there have not been things closer that we were interested in seeing—so we were willing to drive.

We went to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.  It is a beautiful property.  We were able to tour the boyhood home of Billy Graham.  He lived in the house for most of his life, until he left for college.  The library was more than historical account of his life.  There are videos of interviews with Rev. Graham and videos recounting various stages of his life.  Throughout the museum we saw examples of the lives that were changed by his life and ministries.

This museum gives the full glory to God for everything Billy Graham did and every life he touched. 

It felt very unpretentious to us.  We had not followed his life or ministries closely; so we were interested to see this evangelists' history.  At the end of the tour, every visitor is presented with the gospel and given an opportunity to invite Jesus into their heart and life.   It was a perfect way to finish the tour.

We enjoyed lunch in the café.  We made a quick stop at Northern Tools to pick up a tool for George to finish the installation of the auxiliary fuel tank.  Then we headed back to the RV.  

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Now to North Carolina

Today is a travel day. We are moving from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to Jackson Springs, North Carolina.  It is a perfect day to travel.  We like to travel when it is not too hot or too cold.  It was a sunny 75 degree day.  There is very little wind.  Wind can really be a problem.  We are definitely high profile.  We are 13 ½ feet high and 75 feet long.  So we are almost as high as a semi-truck and every bit as long as a semi.  So weather can be a major stress.

We got to the campground about noon.  We were hoping to get a campsite by the lake, but the lady at the office was unwilling to have any discussion about changing our assigned site.  After a short discussion, I could see I am not going to convince her of changing.  We have the RV set-up down to an art; so we set up quickly and make some lunch before going exploring in the nearest town.

We have enjoyed the sun and beaches for several months; so this area will be very different for us.  The weather is supposed to be fairly moderate while we are here.  I will be thrilled if we do not have to deal with a tornado watch—the season and area are right for storm conditions.

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Myrtle Beach: Enjoying the Beach

This morning we loaded our lawn chairs into the truck and headed to the beach. We spent several hours enjoying the beach with our friends, Stephanie & Randy Corbin.  The weather was perfect!

It was the first day that had been sunny for several days.  We were all thrilled at the opportunity to spend some time outside hanging out at the beach.  There was a small breeze—which kept it from feeling too hot.  We set up our lawn chairs and watched people playing on the beach and enjoying the ocean.  Randy was the only one of us that was interested in getting into the water.  He wanted to make sure he swam in the Atlantic Ocean.  We were all happy to say, "We watched Randy go into the water."  

The rest of us walked into the water—ankle deep.

We went to a local diner, “Good Fellas” for lunch.  It is not much to look at from the outside; but it got great reviews.   We all enjoyed our lunch and stayed visiting for a long time.  It seems like we could sit and visit for hours.

We went back to the RV Resort so Randy & Stephanie could pack up—they move on to their next stop tomorrow.  It always makes travel day easier if you can do part of the work the day before.

George and I went for a walk around the Resort.  We loved seeing the little swan family. 
After they got their chores done, Randy helped George finish installing the auxiliary fuel tank on the truck.  Stephanie and I sat and enjoyed a final visit.  We say our goodbyes—unsure of when we will meet on the road again.  But we are all committed to maintaining the relationship and so we are sure we will be able connect again.

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Myrtle Beach: 14th Avenue Pier and the Boardwalk

We got up and spent the morning working through and returning emails.

We have a Townhouse in Colorado Springs that we maintain as a rental property.  It has been vacant since April 1.  We count on this rental property for a good portion of our monthly income, so there is a definite impact on life when it is vacant.   The previous tenants had been in the property for a year and we were able to manage it long distance easily with the existing tenants.  When they decided to move out, we hired a management company that will screen possible new tenants and manage any on-going issues.  We will pay them 10% of the monthly rent; but there is no way we are able to screen new tenants when we are traveling.   It is hard to give up the control (and the money).  The management company believes they have a new tenant—we are very excited.

We met up with Stephanie and Randy late morning and headed to Myrtle Beach Boardwalk. 
 

We walked down the 14^th Avenue Pier.  It was warm but windy.  The perspective from the pier was so different than walking along the boardwalk or the beach.  Standing at the end of the pier we were able to see, for what seemed like, miles down the coastline. 



We all enjoyed walking down on the Boardwalk. 

The view is amazing.  The Atlantic Ocean is on one side and little shops and restaurants are on the other.  We went into a couple of gift shops, but they felt like "tourist traps".  They seemed to all have the stereotype beach souvenirs. None of us bought anything.  We all know… if we buy something, we will have to find a place for it in the RV.



We enjoyed our little stroll down along the Ocean, visiting and seeing the sights. 

George and Stephanie were not interested in riding the Sky Wheel.  Randy and I thought about it; but I was not convinced I really wanted to ride that giant Farris wheel.  It was easy to say I did not want to spend the money—but I was probably just a “big chicken”.

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