South Carolina en route to Sun n Fun

Morty hit the road around 2 yesterday afternoon. This morning we are in South Carolina about 450 miles into our trip to Lakeland, Florida. We are going to the Sun n Fun airshow to see some aeroplanes! We overnighted in a truck stop and left the heat off. Now the temperature is slowly climbing through the 40s. The weather is fine, but there are still a lot of miles to roll...

Edisto Beach State Park

This little gem of a state park is right on the beach, with several sites looking out on the ocean. It is about 30 miles from the highways, deep in Gullah country. It was established in 1935 with a gift from the land development company and built as a project of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Wikipedia entry tells a little more about its location. Some extensive blogging about the park by Professor Robert Angel is at mobilestudiotravels.

The photos show the beach looking a little ragged from the high tide and high surf of Hurricane Ida.

Hurricane I????? Not again!

We have the distinct honor of having been affected by every "I" hurricane in the last 25 years. We were on the Big Island of Hawaii for Iniki in September, 1992. Wikipedia on Iniki In September of 2003, we were vacationing in North Carolina when Isabel hit cutting short our stay and sending us back to Raleigh. Last year, our trees were extensively damaged by Hurricane Ike . Now we are doing battle with Hurricane Ida, which is too new to have a Wikipedia entry.

As we evaluated the weather patterns at Huntington Beach, we determined that it might be better to head south. Within our 99 mile limit the weather wouldn't be any worse than what was due to hit the north-central portion of South Carolina, and could possibly be quite a bit better, even though we would be moving closer to the eye of the storm. As we packed up this morning sprinkles were just beginning to fall. As we completed the tank dump, the rain was just beginng to get steady. By the time we were pulling out onto the highway, we were in the middle of a full-blown torrential downpour. And that heavy rain continued more or less for the next 30 miles. Then it gradally let up, and by the time we were approaching Charleston and Edisto to the South, it was all but gone. What seemed to be happening, was a "comma" shaped storm that led with the broad front, but got thinner to the south and west. At least that was I was seeing in the weather forecasts.


View Larger Map

So, the rain held off until about 7 PM, and was strong for a few minutes, and is now dissipating quite a bit. This gave us time for a hike of the beach, and a bike ride along the houses on the beach. All in all, a much better day than what was forecast for back North were we began.

Shopping Trip

The need for groceries that sparked yesterday's trip was another challenge for Miss Garmina. Her maps are now over two years old, somewhat questionable as to current attraction locations. With only 17 miles to cover, we were not too likely to encounter a Wal-Mart, the Campers Choice for all things that go into Morty and this was borne out by Miss G. She did report that a Kroger was on the way and that might suffice since only groceries were on the list. There might also be some limited sales which my 25 year-old key tag might snag for us.

We shopped and did find a couple of pretty good buys. Gatorade usually about $1 was half-off and our RV Dinners from Stouffer were only $1.49. The store-brand cherrios were also quite a bit below the branded variety. Since we were stocking up, we probably did beat the Wal-Mart total.

We did have to add an item to our hardware shopping list, though. The dump station at Myrtle Beach was over six feet from the curb, and you can probably guess how long our dump hose is. The facilities here at Hungington Beach look quite a bit easier to use, so we can probably wait for the next WM.

Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina

So many days in Myrtle's Beach. The pantry was running dangerously low -- yesterday's lunch: the last of the sandwich makings; dinner: the last of the RV dinners; breakfast this morning, the last of the fruits. We needed a shopping trip at least! But there is conveniently, a great little camping park just a little 15 mile jaunt further South. We asked about other RVers about it, but got below average responses -- thinking maybe skip it for a longer trip further into the warmth. No, a state park campground on the beach can't be below average if the state is fairly diligent about its parks.



So here we are, and so far it's another "Wow!" Now we feel quite a bit more removed from the city. On the beach, you can barely see any house much less hotel. This is a beach's beach. At low tide it goes on forever. Dunes with oats, sand and surf and not much else. We watch the foam build and recede as it moves back into the water. Fewer birds and fish than we have noticed lately. A couple with lines out does pull in a two foot shark that is released back into the surf.

The piece d'resistance though is the marsh. Here live a huge alligator, and birds galore. There are herons, ibises, storks, and the rare spoonbills. The picture button gets a big workout -- over eight hundred photos in one afternoon.

Myrtle Beach -- ditto

Ditto. Clement weather prevails.

More recent pics are added to yesterday's album.

Myrtle Beach

Yesterday's trip was canceled due to clement weather. It was just too perfect to leave. Today will be more of the same.



Got up early enough to catch the sunrise.

Crystal Clear Dawn in Myrtle Beach

It cleared during the night, allowing a pretty good view of the full moon. By dawn, there wasn't a cloud in the sky so we headed down to the beach for some sun and surf shots. The temperature was still in the 50s but it seemed warmer with full sun.



We will head south 17 miles to Huntington Beach State Park in the early afternoon.

Myrtle Beach State Park in 59 Degrees

A cold front moved into the area last night leaving us a bit cooler and cloud-covered today. We walked the beach in the surf before both breakfast and lunch. In the afternoon we biked the park roads and snapped a few pictures. The promise of 70 degrees tomorrow kept our spirits high.



The Spanish Moss was somewhat in evidence, for the first time in our journey South.

Myrtle Beach State Park

After hearing almost everyone we know tout the awesomeness of the Myrtle Beach Experience we were [not] anxious to try it ourselves -- probably a little overdone/[right in line] for our tastes. Really the only reason we did choose to stop here was that it was closer to our 99 mile objective than the next state park to the south. The drive through North MB and MB itself was really eye-opening -- far, far larger than anything I ever envisioned as a beach resort. Mile after mile of sameness -- huge billboards, beach wear, restaurants, and miniature golf -- all repeating themselves endlessly. Truly, the mind boggled.

Then just as we were approaching the state park, Miss Garmina threw a hissy fit telling us to make a U-turn to enter the park. No such turn was required, just a left from the highway into the park. But we were flustered enough to give it a try before reaching the entrance and ended up doing a loop through the hotels and RV resorts of south MB.

Reaching the state park was an immediate change of attitude: deep, thick maritime forest with graceful winding roads and beautiful flowers and trees -- all on a mile of pristine ocean beach.



The weather was ideal, 80 degrees, high cirrus clouds to the west, with a little squall line moving away to the east. I took some pictures with the little Olympus camera while exploring the park on my bike and walking the beach. Now this is the kind of awesomeness that I can relate to.

The park itself is quite a bit out of our ordinary experience to date. There is free Wi-Fi, but it is passworded with a code that changes every Monday. The sites are of medium size and most have both water and electricity while some have sewer connections also. We are just behind the second dune line with about a 500 foot walk to the beach which is immaculately groomed. There are no alcoholic beverages allowed -- besides mentioning it numerous times in the rules, they also stamp it on your vehicle pass and require you to initial it. The rangers are on constant patrol through the park and the county police are driving up and down the beach. Our rate is $21 per night, but to that are added: $3 Reservation Fee; 7% Accommodations Tax; 1% Capital Project Tax - Myrtle Beach; 3% Local Accom Tax; 1% Local Education Tax - Horry County. This brings the total up to $25.31 per night. So we had to look at what the comparable RV resorts were charging, and it is over twice as much.

We are just a mile or so from final approach to runway 36 at the Myrtle Beach Airport, and we see right out of Morty's window the whole gamut of airliners to private planes coming in to land.