Charleston SC part 2 and Travel Planning

Our 13 days stay in Charleston, SC is now coming to an end.  This is the longest stay in any one spot that we have enjoyed so far.  While there are many things to see and do in Charleston, we also had some down days at the RV park including almost 3 whole days of monsoon like rains.  Charleston had flood and tornado watches in effect.  We kept watching as the RV park lake began creeping up toward our RV.  Luckily, the rains subsided just in time, but being mobile, I could have just unplugged, hitched up, and sailed on out.We have found that planning our upcoming travels and making RV park reservations to be much more time consuming that we had imagined.  Once we are booked out 6-8 months in advance , then it will be an easy task to just keep booking reservations for the last month.

What we have been running into is booked up popular state and private parks, then we check other parks in the area with good reviews on RV Park Reviews, then refer back to the atlas or Google maps to determine the location and how far it is from our route.  We are starting to work out a process working as a team at our desk.  Some parks require full payment up front, some a 1-night down payment, and one park we booked today I had to mail a check.

Here is our upcoming tentative itinerary:

1. Myrtle Beach, SC  – 5/30 to 6/5
2. Asheboro, NC – 6/5 to 6/7
3. Salem, VA – 6/7 to 6/19
4. New Market, VA – 6/19 to 6/26
5. Shenandoah River state park – 6/26 to 6/30
6. Kutztown, PA – 6/30 to 7/9
7. Tioga, PA – 7/9 to 7/14
8. Ohio – TBD
9. Indiana – TBD
10. Illinois – TBD
11. Sikeston, MO – 9/13 to 9/20
12. Mountain View, MO – 9/20 to 10/3
13. Maumelle, AR – 10/4 to 10/10
14. Vicksburg, MS – 10/11 to 10/17
15. Abbeville, LA – 10/18 to 10/25
16. Ocean Springs, MS – 10/25 to 11/1
17. Destin, FL – 11/1 to 11/30
18. Lake City, FL – 12/1 to 12/3
19. Cape Canaveral, FL – 12/4 to 12/10
20. Merritt Island, FL  12/10 to 1/2
21. TBD

Our tours through Charleston (also nicknamed the Holy City due to large number of churches), included walking through the historic district, lunch, a dinner out, a picnic at battery park, and a tour through the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10).  This ship was huge.  I love touring through these vintage warships and even I was tired after our 4 hour tour.

We toured the Vietnam Experience that was located at Patriot’s Point by the Yorktown.  It was included in the admission price.  A lifelike setting with sound effects and many props.  We also toured through many historical churches.  Some authorized and some not so much.

On one day while walking along the river shore line, we saw a most amazing sight – twenty two military C-17 cargo planes flew over in a staggered formation.  That was awesome.  I have a video of it if you are interested.  Just drop me a line.

After the rain cleared, we went to see the Angel Oak tree, a massive live oak tree thought to be between 500 and 1,500 years old.  Then a quick ride over the Kiawah Island, a beautiful resort area and beaches.  It is impressive how they developed this island without any of the commercialization and no high rise hotels.  On the way over, we stopped in to the Charleston Tea Plantation, took the trolley tour of the plantation and then did the factory tour.  This is the only tea plantation/processing plant in the US.  Tea must have sandy soil, warm and humid weather and 50 weeks of rain per year.  Charleston fits the bill.

Hope you enjoy the photos:

Above: St Michael’s Church; original 1803 chandelier and 1750 pulpit.

Above: St Paul the Baptist Cathedral