Hi everyone! We last wrote over a week ago, and we apologize for leaving you up in the air. Things got really hectic. Often when we don’t write for days, it’s because we have no signal at wherever we’re camping, or that we’ve been just plain lazy. This was not the case this time. To all of you who have reached out to see what was happening, thank you! Following is a daily breakdown of what we’ve been doing. Sorry for the delay; I will try not to be too long-winded!
Friday, January 25, 2019
Day 38 – We departed the wonderful Edisto Beach State Park at 10:35 a.m., sadly, days before our time here was scheduled to be up. There probably won’t be a refund for those days – one reason why I’m learning not to plan ahead too much. It was 44 degrees and sunny.
361 miles, (7:00), 33389-33750
We drove for 7 hours, stopping lunch & gas. We drove from Edisto near lower coastal South Carolina, west and north thru the rest of SC, crossing into North Carolina and traveling thru NC to close to the Virginia border. We stopped for the night at the RV Resort at Carolina Crossings in Roanoke Rapids, NC. We took I-95 most of the trip home in the interest of getting to each destination as quickly & efficiently as possible. Definitely not as interesting to travel the big highways vs. the backroads & scenic byways! We arrived at the campground at 5:35 p.m., 42 degrees and sunny – the high today was 55 degrees.
Of note today and maybe the highlight of today’s journey (Ha Ha), was South of the Border, a town just south of the NC/SC border. We’d seen crazy signs for this place for about an hour before we reached it. Pretty funny.
Click on any picture below to see a slideshow.
(Reviews & information for all campgrounds that have not been done yet will be at the end of this post.)
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Day 39 – We departed North Carolina at 9:55 a.m. It was 34 degrees and sunny. Almost immediately we crossed the border into Virginia. Today we traveled north & east thru Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, to lower New Jersey where we spent the night.
333 miles, (6:30), 33750-34083
The high today was 42 degrees and it ranged from all sunny to completely cloudy. We drove mostly on I-95, but around the bigger cities, we took I-495 and I-295, ending up on the New Jersey Turnpike after crossing from DE into NJ. The traffic was challenging at times since we passed thru parts of Washington DC, Richmond, and Baltimore. Luckily it was the weekend during a shutdown, which we’re sure made the traffic lighter.
It took us 6 ½ hours to reach our campground, with stops for lunch & breaks. We arrived at 4:25 p.m., 35 degrees. This was the campground in NJ that we stayed at in February 2017 after we’d rushed home three days into our first trip because we had no heat at our house. (After that experience we found a way to let repairmen/women into our home remotely.) In 2017, the campground was called Timberlane Campground. Now it is called S. Philadelphia/Clarksboro KOA, and its appearance & facilities have been cleaned up a bit. (Reviews & information for all campgrounds that have not been done yet will be at the end of this post.)
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Day 40 – We departed our campground at 10:30 a.m. It was 43 degrees and partly cloudy. When we got up, it was 28 degrees; guess we should get used to the colder temperatures! We were happy that this travel day would be shorter. We’re all, kitties included, feeling a bit out of sorts & will be glad to finally get home. We are lucky that coming back home happened in between storms, making our journey easier. More snow is supposed to arrive at home on Tuesday along with bitterly cold temperatures.
194 miles, (4:05), 34083-34277
We arrived at home at 2:35 p.m. after stops for gas & lunch. We took the NJ Turnpike to I-287 to the NYS Thruway. Traffic wasn’t too bad; we’ve seen worse particularly around New York City. It was a Sunday after all. As soon as we got into NY, we saw thick ice on the slopes of the hills that line the Thruway. It was raining lightly. Most places had snow on the ground. When we got home, it was 44 degrees & partly cloudy.
When we got home, Rob first went into the house to de-winterize & check on things. Then he drove to our friend’s house to borrow a walker for me (THANK YOU, Carol & Ted). We spent that first night in the RV in the driveway at home. We didn’t think I could get down the stairs from the RV to the garage (there was some ice on the driveway in front of the garage), and then make it upstairs in our house. I could not put any weight on my left knee. So being home was not a big transition for us or for the girls. They seemed to think we were just in another campground, a nice one with trees & snow.
Edisto Beach State Park: 8377 State Cabin Road, Edisto Island, SC 29438, call ranger station at (843) 869-2156, call park office at (843) 869-2756, for reservations call 1-866-345-7275 or www.southcarolinaparks.com. This was a wonderful State Park particularly off-season. Site #118 was the best campsite by far. There are two campgrounds: sites 1 thru 74 at Beach, and sites 76 thru 130 at Live Oak. 117 campsites have water & electric hook-ups; there is a dump station close by. The Park is clean and well-maintained. Sites at both campgrounds range from small to large. The Beach campsites are mostly out in the open without much privacy & there are very little trees & bushes. Sand dunes separate those campsites from the Atlantic Ocean. These sites fill up quickly. We preferred the Live Oak Campground. These campsites are surrounded by brush, palmettos, and live oak trees. Some of them are close together but most have some space between sites. There is a stretch of campsites that border the tidal salt marsh, and those are very nice with plenty of bird activity, deer, and nice scenery. Site #118 has the best view and the most privacy. But most of the view sites are not large & can be difficult to get into. Worth a try, though! There are campground programs offered at the nearby Environmental Learning Center (programs on alligators, turtles, fishing and crabbing). There are hiking trails and biking trails. You can kayak or canoe the marsh creeks. $24.64 per night (includes tax) off season rate. Close to Edisto are the Ace Basin National Wildlife Refuge, the Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, the Ravenel Caw Caw Interpretive Center and Boardwalk/Trail, and the Botany Bay Plantation. We wanted to spend many days here, but had to leave. We will definitely, positively, be back again to complete this area’s exploration!
The RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads: 415 Wallace Fork Road, Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870, (252) 538-9776, www.rvresortatcc.com. This campground was perfect for a one (or more) night stopover. Very clean with quick & easy check-in and plenty of easy-in/easy-out pull-through campsites, during January & February they honor Passport America, and the rate was $25 cash (half price) for the one night with full hook-ups. This is an independent campground with all the amenities. It is located near the North Carolina/Virginia borders. It was off I-95 far enough that traffic wasn’t too loud, yet it was still convenient for getting back on the interstate the next morning. They were located in a residential & farming area. There were 78 RV campsites. We had site #O4. We would stay here again.
Philadelphia South/Clarksboro KOA (formerly Timberlane Campground): We visited this campground in 2017 when it was called Timberlane. The review can be found at https://36yrdream.com/2017/02/22/friday-feb-17-2017/ The only differences from that review and this visit are that the website info has changed to phillysouth@koa.net and PhiladelphiaSouthKOA.com, and previously the Timberlane campground appeared to be filled with many seasonal campers. This time the sites appeared to be used by people not quite so seasonal/full time, and the facilities seemed to be cleaned up a bit. We paid $62 for one night, full hook-ups, site #5, pull-through. We would stay again for an over-nighter.