Monday 13 November 2000

Another crisp morning, followed by a 300 mile drive - our longest yet - down to Charleston, SC. Stopped on the way at Columbia, the state capital, for petrol and lunch, and stumbled on CiCi's Pizza which does an all-you-can-eat buffet lunch, including salad and dessert, for $2.99. Both a bargain and a challenge.

As we travelled south it was like the arrival of autumn in reverse - more and more leaves remaining on the trees, partly due to the journey south and partly due to descending about 3,000'.

Not a bad campground (Lake Aire, Hollywood); it has nice big sandy sites and a lake, but it's all a bit scruffy and very close to the railway. The current owners only bought it recently, and it had been severely run down, but they're slowly getting it together.

Tuesday 14 November 2000

Postcards, emails, shopping, Visitor Centre for maps etc.

Wednesday 15 November 2000

Visited Charles Towne Landing, the site where the first settlers in SC landed in the 1670s. The usual reconstruction of a sailing ship, a wildlife park, an old house now used as the Governor's official residence when he's in town, and a good carved Indian head ...

This whole coastal area right down to Georgia is known as the Low Country, because it is. The main crop from which the settlers eventually made their money was rice, rather than the more usual tobacco and cotton, as the land is flat and wet.

Met the couple in the site next to us - Christine and Norm from Nottinghamshire, who have been  doing this sort of thing for years; they spend about six months here every year and have membership of a big RV park in Florida where they leave their rig over the winter. They have a 30' 5th wheel with two slideouts - much more room than us, but it did cost twice as much - and a brand new huge 7.2 litre Chevy truck. Picked up some useful tips and suggestions of places to visit.

Thursday 16 November 2000

Got the truck's wheels rebalanced. Went into  Charleston intending to take a carriage ride round the old centre of the city as recommended in the Visitor Centre, but it was so chilly we went into the Gibbs Museum of Art instead - big exhibition of Afro-American quilts which was surprisingly interesting. Minimal time spent outdoors due to the cold.

Friday 17 November 2000

Visited Magnolia Plantation, owned by the Drayton family of Drayton House, Northamptonshire, who had originally gone to Barbados but wanted to expand their empire. House not very impressive; the original burned down, as did the second, so the current one is what used to be the summer cottage which was dismantled and floated down river to the main house site after the second fire. Huge gardens though, with free range peacocks and lots of Spanish moss and cypress trees ...

Interesting info #9: Spanish moss is neither Spanish nor a moss; it's an epiphyte which absorbs moisture and nutrients from the air, only using the trees as something to hang from. The 'Spanish' derives from its resemblance to 16th century Spaniards' long pointy beards.

Interesting info #10: Cypress trees were very desirable as a building material because the wood doesn't rot from moisture, although it won't take paint. Because the tree lives with its roots submerged, it throws up 'knees': specialised roots which stick up above the surface to take up oxygen (see the bottom left of the picture).

Still very cold - apparently about 20°F colder than the average for the time of year. We can believe it.

Saturday 18 November 2000

Not quite as Arctic as yesterday, so we decided to go and take a boat trip round the harbour. Big mistake. For some reason they'd closed off the covered-in lower deck, so we were all out in the open with the wind whistling across the water direct from Siberia. The commentator sounded just like W.C. Fields which cheered everyone up a bit, but the hotdog we bought was absolutely disgusting - not hot, but possibly made from real dog. Saw Fort Sumter - this is a big deal if you're American and into the Civil War ...

... apparently the first shot of the war came not from there as is usually written but from Fort Johnson just up the harbour. We didn't care.

Went into the old covered market to warm up a bit, then took a horse and carriage ride with a few other frozen people. We were given a blanket to huddle into which helped a bit. Plenty of nice colonial architecture on the way round ...

Terrific dinner in 'Sticky Fingers' restaurant: huge onion loaf as starter (free thanks to voucher from Visitor Centre), followed by ribs, pork and BBQ chicken. Highly recommended.

 After dinner we went to one of the local State Parks which was seriously festooned with Christmas lights - over a million according to the literature ...

... with each display being sponsored by a local organisation. Drove around twice ((in the rain), then to bed.

Interesting info #11: On the subject of Christmas, America is full of Christmas shops - retail stores which are open all year but sell nothing but Christmas related items. How do they make a living? And why don't they branch out a bit into, say, Thanksgiving products? Beats me. 

Sunday 19 November 2000

Even colder and wetter than before. Stayed in reading, watching TV and doing stuff; dinner at CiCi's (see above). Tomorrow we're off to Savannah, Georgia; the weather surely can't be any worse than here ...

Signed up for Passport America, which gives you 50% reductions at several hundred campsites round the country in return for your $39 membership. Pity we didn't do it on arrival. Not sure what the catch is, although I'm sure there must be one.