Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Day 21 and 22 - Edisto Island, SC to Lumberton, NC



Day 21 & 22, April 8-9, 2008
Wow, can’t believe that we’ve been gone three weeks. I thought I’d be sent home via
Greyhound long before this. One of our “to do’s” while we’re down here is to tour a plantation. So back to Charleston. We found a visitors center outside of town and looked at all the brochures and decided on Drayton Hall. It’s a National Historic Site and the oldest plantation house where the public can tour in America. We wanted colonial vs.
Antebellum. Had a great tour. The guide was somewhat pompous but in a funny way.

We headed back to the island via 174 which is the main road. Betsy had spied a giftshop several miles from the beach and thought it looked “artsy”. The day before we had stopped but they were not open. However I found the house I’d been looking for.
If I was looking for property down here this is what I would buy. It’s not on the beach, but it’s close. It’s got a little land. The plantings are spectacular. I’m sure it would be a money pit, but hey we’re dreaming here. A picture is above.

We looked in the gift shop and knock me down with an anvil, Betsy found something to buy!! We were paying for the item and the clerk looked up in shock and said, “I have no earthly idea what the date is today”. I looked at her and said, “I’m pretty sure it’s April, but other than that I haven’t a clue.” We all sorta decided that the 8th or 9th sounded okay.
She chose the 8th, and that happened to be correct. We’ve been to long without TV, newspapers, and a regular schedule.

We tried the Edisto Historical Society, but they were closed. We did however answer the age old question, “how many historical society members does it take to put up a small tent?” Apparently five, but they needed more so they could form an exploratory committee to determine the feasibility of erecting a small tent. Man, talk about some clueless looking people.

We then decided that since this was the last night at the beach we would have shrimp.
Betsy went into our favorite seafood shop for the shrimp. She and the skipper/owner were small talking and she mentioned that she was from Indiana. The seafood guy says that he just sold one of his shrimp boats to a guy from Greenwood. The Greenwood guy was the roommate of the skipper/seafood market owners son at the College of Charleston. I’ll bet the skippers son was at the college to escape becoming a shrimper, and here comes Billy Hoosier a stumblin’ down the pike. Betsy said that she met the kid from Greenwood very briefly and he wasn’t much of a talker. Good luck Billy. Hey, if Forest Gump can do it, you can too.

Our Edisto Island interlude is over but we had some fun, met some nice people, laughed at Tippy at the beach, saw some sights, and enjoyed the seafood.

April 9th—Left Edisto and the plan was to take SR17 from Charleston to Wilmington and then find a spot to stay. As we got closer and closer to Myrtle Beach the traffic kept getting heavier and heavier and as we passed by campgrounds we kept seeing no vacancy sign’s. We decided to forget the plan and head inland to escape the spring breakers. We found a Good Sam campground in Lumberton, NC. We’re 92 miles from Raleigh whichis good, since we can’t arrive at our next campsite until tomorrow. Got an e-mail from Jeff saying James is going through a MINE period—everything is his. For some unknown reason James is taking possession of all gardening tools. Betsy suggested that since his birthday is coming up maybe we should stop tomorrow and buy him a little Mantis Rototiller. We’re sure that no harm can come of that!! Jamie

Soooooooooooo with a tear in our eye and sand in our shorts we depart our beach vacation…………………………. The seafood was great!!! The sound of the surf will have to stay with me till we are able to return. We also visited the Edisto Island Interpretative Center yesterday to learn more about the ACE basin of which Edisto is a part. ACE we found out stands for Ashepoo, Comachee, and Edisto River Basin. It is a system of fresh and salt-water rivers and marshes that house an enormous variety of plant and wildlife. We saw heron, pelicans and gulls soaring over the marshlands every day. I loved looking over the marshland and I think they just creeped Jamie out thinking about all those bugs and alligators! Betsy
Picture 1. Jamie's favorite house 2. Drayton Hall Plantation 1735

1 comment:

Amy said...

Not knowing the date is one of the hazards of leisure travel. We always get confused on time zones as well. Usually few days we decide to buy a newspaper to see whats going on in the world.

I have to admit that I predicted your trip would not last this long, so I can say I'm impressed and Pat, I was wrong, they were not home in two weeks.

State AIMS testing continues this week and we are only on day 2. When will it end?!?!?! Pat and I plan to do the Sahuarita Relay for Life on Friday afternoon, but may opt out if exhaustion sets in!

Enjoy the final days of your trip.