Ughhh – Our first real issue this year.

We arrived in Charleston, SC and have been here for several days connecting with old friends, Randy and Carolyn and preparing for Carolyn’s baby shower.  Katrina was able to fly in last night from Cheyenne to attend as well.   Everything is good.

Last night however, was a real treat.  First of all, my sinuses are acting up so I decided to drive to Walgreens before the storm arrived.  I hadn’t quite made it back and it began to rain with vengeance.  We knew we had already secured everything as best we could and then suddenly the power went out.  We decided to just go to sleep.  About 1 a.m., we heard fire trucks really close to our unit so we peeked out the window and for sure, a rescue truck was parked right in front of our neighbor’s unit.  Poor guy had to be taken to the hospital.  It had stopped raining and the power had come back on, so back to bed we went.  Well very shortly after, I heard a buzz that then became a vibration and then it got louder and louder.  It was vibrating really hard right below the bathroom floor.  We had no clue what it was.  

Since it was very wet outside and probably around 2 a.m., John disconnected the unit from shore power and the vibration stopped.  Off to sleep we went until first thing this morning.  When we woke up John connected us to shore power again.  Of course, the vibration started again.  So we decided to try to isolate the problem.  We knew it was getting a feed from electricity, and we witched all the breakers on and off one at a time and still the vibration persisted.  We were totally puzzled.  Luckily, along came the owner of the campground, which when we explained the situation was as dumbfounded as we were.

He decided to help John, and both climbed in the belly of the unit.  John removed the side walls to look and the mechanics and sure enough it was our full unit surge protector.  One of the switches was vibrating badly.  We turned the shore power off to confirm it was the problem and sure enough, the switch stopped vibrating.  We never thought of our surge protector.

Now, on to find someone who has that darn switch in stock and who can install it, as he must be proficient.  Thank goodness we have a generator. 

In the Grand Strand…and in search for the perfect hammock!

We arrived in the Grand Strand and stayed at the KOA in Myrtle Beach.  John had warned me that Myrtle Beach was too commercialized and that there were way too many people.  Regardless, I really wanted to go as I had always heard of people vacationing in Myrtle Beach.  So, off to Myrtle we went.  The KOA is a really nice park and although very large, it is small in comparison to others in the area.  I knew that the area would have many amusement parks, mini-golf courses and that there would be restaurants at least every 20 feet.  What I found was just a giant playground.  The campgrounds are unbelievable.  They are a world of their own.  Some are right on the beach but are so large that if your site is toward the back of the park, it would literally take you about 10 -15 minutes to walk to the beach, which is why we opted for the KOA.  It has the inevitable pools and pool amusement area, but it is full of trees, which made our site really nice, although not so much if you want to use the satellite dish.  Who cares, we’ve got cable.  Even with our windows closed and the air conditioner running we’d wake up to the sounds of birds chirping.  It actually is very relaxing although once you leave the grounds, the chaos is all around you.

I really wanted to drive around and explore so off to see Pawley’s Island and Lichtfield Beach we went.  I had heard much about them, plus Pawley’s Island is the home for the Original Hammocks.  Sure enough, we purchased a hammock AND a stand so we could enjoy it regardless of whether we are surrounded by trees or not.

Pawley’s Island:

A Pawley’s Island Original Hammock – just heavenly!  Reminds me of our backyard back in Florida.

Myrtle Beach allows dogs on the beach, but only before 9:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m.  Jackson was really excited as he probably thought there were more crabs to be hunted.  He was in for a surprise though.  The sand here is packed, not loose like in the Outer Banks, so the crabs are neither quite as visible nor as plentiful as he was probably anticipating.  He kept on sniffing and sniffing and looking at us perhaps wondering where the little critters were hiding?  He was quite startled when a portion of the packed sand back into the ocean.  Of course, we amuse ourselves easily.

This is a unique vacation destination.  It is incredibly crowded and what is most interesting is that there is seaside amusement park, including a water park and even a ferris wheel.    

I can tell we are getting old…  We talked about riding the ferris wheel at night, but kept making excuses and ended up not pursuing the opportunity.   Today we left Myrtle Beach and arrived in Charleston, SC.  

We are so excited about finally seeing our son and daughter-in-law. Her baby shower is Saturday and we really excited!

Our stay in the Virginia Middle Peninsula.

We left the Outer Banks toward the middle peninsula of Virginia. We had to travel through our very first underwater tunnel, of course, hauling the RV.   It was a bit unnerving, but were very thankful there were no accidents in the tunnel and soon enough, we were out.  I guess I’ve watched to many movies.

We arrived at Chesapeake Bay RV Park, which sits on the banks of the Piankatank River.  As soon as we set up camp, we drove south to Newport News to meet one of John’s second cousins, Lindsay and her husband Tim and their two daughters, Colden and Ashlynn at the Crab House.  I ate steamed blue crabs for the very first time and never have I had to work so hard for my meal.  It was enjoyable nevertheless.  It was really nice to see Lindsay and her family and to finally meet Tim.  The sunset view from the restaurant was gorgeous!

While at Chesapeake Bay, we drove around Gloucester, VA.  Gloucester is the oldest living village in Virginia.  The architectural example of the Courthouse Circle in Gloucester’s Historic District dates back to 1766.

We left Chesapeake Bay and arrived at Beth Page Campground in Urbanna, VA. for a manufacturer’s national rally.  OMG this place truly was amazing!!!  The campground is humongous.  It even has a waterpark for the kids   They had activities galore. It reminded me of being on a cruiseship. I had not yet seen a place like this, although I hear there are several along Myrtle Beach, SC.  The sites are very spacious and are separated by pine trees, planted in such a way that you can even hang a hammock, if you wish.

We learned that friends from Palm City, Dawn and Rick Johnson were staying at Colonial Beach and agreed to meet halfway in a small (I mean small) town of Warsaw to have lunch.  Well, when we arrived at the place with the best reviews in town, it was closed even though their hours of operation indicated otherwise.  We began calling other establishments and their numbers were disconnected.  We began to wonder if anyone in that town ever went out to eat.  We found a small italian restaurant where we were the ONLY customers, yikes, so we opted to have subs, something simple and difficult to mess up.  Nevertheless we had a fun lunch and caught up on our adventures.

While at Beth Page, there was a vendor who made stained glass entry door windows.  John bought one decorated with palm trees to remind us of our home state.  He did a fabulous job on the installation and it looks amazing.

Before:  From the factory….

After:  

Lots of seminars were held and not only did we learn much, we now have way more questions.

We have met so many new friends and look forward to seeing them again next June in Goshen, Indiana where next year’s national rally will be held.

We will be leaving for Myrtle Beach, SC tomorrow.  

OBX – A Beautiful Place to Visit

We arrived at the Outer Banks and headed for Ocean Waves Campground in Waves, NC.  The Outer Banks is a 200 mile stretch of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina.  The northern stretch is the most populated, but it is all beautiful.  The dunes are the highest on the eastern coast and a view of the water is not possible.

Ocean Waves Campground

We could hear the roaring of the waves right from our campsite and over the dunes separating the campground is the most amazing beach.  

Jackson loved it as well.  There is where he began to chase after crabs and on his daily walks he knew were the crabs were and just wanted to walk along the beach.

The wind is fierce here.  We did not extend the awnings for the most part, but it is heavenly for the kite flyers, surfers, but especially the windsurfers.  It is such a treat to watch how they conquer the wind and the waves.  There is even a glider school at Jockey Ridge.  It is all just awesome.

We decided to go exploring and drove north to Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills and continued on to Duck.  We visited some lighthouses, had wings and beer for lunch and had a great time all around. 

Bodie Lighthouse:

The following day we decided to drive south and took the ferry to Ocracoke Island.  I LOVED Ocracoke Island and would return there in a heartbeat.

Ocracoke Lighthouse

 

We have loved our stay in the Outer Banks.  Tomorrow we leave for Gloucester, Virginia.