TOUR AMERICA, 2021: MYRTLE BEACH STATE PARK, MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Temperature, Low 52 Degrees; High, 77 Degrees

Mixed Emotions

Travel Day

Mixed emotions according to the dictionary is: conflicting feelings or emotions. Then there is my definition: the excitement of traveling to a new location over against the worry that things aren’t going to work like they are supposed to. Lately, I’ve been having these type of feelings on a regular basis. My sister says that I worry too much. Ms Barbara says in essence the same thing. Could I be getting older?

Ok, enough of that. This morning I must admit I probably drove my wife up a wall. We were not due to leave until 11 am since we only had to go about two hours up the road. However, by 8 am I couldn’t sit still. I started puttering around, putting this away, checking on this and that. Yet, to my credit I honestly waited until 11 am before we hit the road. It was tough but I managed to do it.

Update: all the lights are working once again. It was indeed just a loose wire. Chalk up one for the good guys.

First, the trip. No interstate this time since we were taking Route 17 N all the way. Well, the road isn’t bad. But you can forget about making time. I believe the first thirty minutes of the trip was 60 mph, but the rest of the trip was never over 45/50 mph. Sometimes we were down to 35 mph. I will say that traffic did continue to move. Yet, I really had to stay on my toes. There were traffic lights that seemed to turn red on a moments notice; cars that came and went from shopping centers; and, cars that always wanted to be in front of you even if it meant cutting you off. It made for a very interesting trip overall.

Second, our new home. In plain English I goofed on this one. This is absolutely no place for us nor for a rig this size. Why, then, are we here? Miscommunication, and I’ll leave it at that. This one is on me.

This is a state park and it is real easy to find on Route 17. That big sign is hard to miss. The fun starts, though, when you make the turn in. Once again I found myself on a narrow entrance road. How narrow? While we were going in another rig was coming out. This was a pickup with extended mirrors towing a 5th wheel. We both had to slow down and our mirrors ended up being within inches of each other. Oh yea, it is tight.

Now, this entrance road is about two miles long, maybe more before you get to the actual campground. I was beginning to wonder what we were in for. Arriving at the ranger station for registration I wasn’t feeling much better. And it was only going to get worse.

After registering we wound our way into and through the park to our site, #308. How in the world am I going to get Elvira in there?

Notice the tree to the right in the picture above? First obstacle to overcome.

And notice those trees to the right above? They were situated right where I had to swing the front end to back in. This was going to be interesting. Now, If I could only bend the rig in the middle.

It only took me about ten minutes going real slow and checking, and checking and making sure no trees had decided to move!

As for the site itself. This is the first South Carolina park that was developed and opened in 1936 and I don’t believe they’ve done much to improve it since then.

Our site is hard packed dirt and I haven’t been in such an uneven site, well, I can’t remember when. The height of our front step will give you some idea of how high I had to raise the front end.

Thankfully, I’m not as bad as the rig next to me. That’s going some to get level.

Utilities? Again, I can’t remember when I had to use two sewer hoses to hook up. Plus, it runs uphill!

Then I had to get creative and find a way to keep my sewer hose in the sewer pipe. No threads, of course not, why would I think there would be.

Bottom line, I’m so glad we’ll be here only three days. This would be a great vacation spot for someone from this state. But, what they charge per day for an out of state resident makes this park and site an absolute bust. Coming to this area? My advice, do yourself a favor and go somewhere else. Anywhere but here would be better.

Oh, did I forgot to mention since it is so heavily wooded we have no DISH! Strike three.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement. We had an easy trip here. We did manage to squeeze Elvira into our assigned site. Now for the fun. We’re going out tomorrow to see what we can see. Then, the real reason for being here, tomorrow afternoon we’ll be spending time with friends we haven’t seen in years. We’re going to pack us much as we can into the next three days. Yipee!

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog.  We always appreciate your company, your comments, and your suggestions. Keep safe, keep healthy, live to the fullest the days that God gives you.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and her two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!