Day 18-20 Low Country, SC

Day 18-20, April 5-6-7, 2008, Edisto Island
After our lucky break at the dump we quit early today. Jane stayed at the house waiting for a repairman. Betsy and I took off and since it was actually sunny we headed for the beach. We put Tippy on a long, long rope and he had the time of his life running into the surf, chasing seagulls, and rolling in the sand. Betsy and I sat in the sun and just enjoyed watching the ocean.

Saturday Jane drove us into Charleston for a tour. We had already seen part of Charleston when we attended Josh and Natalias wedding, but Jane has been coming to the area long enough to know all the really neat area’s. For once Betsy and I could set
back and enjoyed the view. We did take a mansion tour and enjoyed it very much. This evening we didn’t have seafood, but opted for barbeque instead.

The longer I’m here on Edisto Island, the more I like it. Everyone is very friendly.
Of course we have the advantage of being with Jane who is accepted as a local.
We were talking with one of the owners of a restaurant who has been here since the mid 1950’s. He said that back then there were only about fifteen people at what is considered the beach portion of the island in the winter! You see all sorts of homes on the island.
I tend to like the old one’s that have some personality. And of course, as I mentioned before there are very few businesses.

Picture 1. Charlestown street scene 2. Edisto Island dirt road 3. Tippy at the beach!

Sunday-- Deputy Jane departed for home. Before she left she gave us our certificates of completion of the McPherson Work Release Program and said that we were now authorized to travel about the south. It’s a good thing we found all this work to do down here or we would never know about the “work rule of the south.” Golly gee, it pays to have people help you out and make sure you abide by all the unknown local laws. Funny thing is that I keep having these dreams about never ending crystal cabinets and mounds and mounds of shoes.

Since we failed in our attempt to see Beaufort on the way in, we headed back that way without Starship. Beaufort was established in 1711, which was before Savannah. Beautiful old homes. We did drive through the downtown area and it was packed so we opted just to look at the homes.

To end the day Josh and Natalia came down for dinner. Josh said that he was in the downtown Charleston area and saw a car bearing Indiana license plates from Bartholomew County. He engaged the couple in a conversation about being from Indiana and that he had relatives in Columbus and mentioned Amy and Jeff. The lady said that she was their 3rd or 5th grade teacher. We’ll have to try and figure out who it was.

Day 17 - Edisto Beach, SC

Day 17, April 4, Edisto Island
Todays post is dedicated to Arlo Guthrie and his famous Alice’s Resturant recording which we all listened to back in the 60’s. Jane left for the big house early today to meet Leroy, her island handy man. Betsy and I followed a couple of hours later. The first thing on the agenda was for Leroy and me to clean out a first floor storage area which was just filled with Christmas wreaths and other Christmas decorations plus a few odds and ends. We filled the bed of Leroys truck and still hadn’t made a dent in the mess.
So we filled up my pickup too and that pretty much got it all. Leroy takes off for the dump, and I run upstairs to tell Deputy Jane and Inmate Betsy that we’ve gone to the dump. When I arrive at the dump I was surprised to see Leroy sitting just outside the gate. I pull up, get out, ask Leroy what the problem is. He tells me the gates locked.
I look at the gate and sure ‘nuff it’s locked. I look at Leroy, and he looks at me.
Then I notice a sign by the gate which says Days of Operation, Monday thru Thursday and Saturday. Hell’s fire today is Friday. I ask Leroy what we do now? He says, “Nev
heard of no dump bein’ closed on Friday”. So here we sit with about 550 Christmas wreaths in various stages of disrepair, a couple dozen broken Santa’s and a few Rudolph’s thrown into the mix. I start walking up the road to a cluster of buildings that house some town offices in hopes of finding someone who’ll let us in the dump. I hadn’t gotten very far when I heard a truck coming up behind me. I turn around and jump for joy when I see it’s a town owned truck with a load of leaves and branches. By the time I’d gotten back to the gate Leroy had already talked to the driver and gotten permission for us to dump our load while the town truck dumped it’s load. Man we roared into that dump and Leroy went to one dumpster and I headed to another dumpster and we had
a steady stream of wreaths flying through the air. As Arlo would say, “So if you’re ever on Edisto Island, on a Friday, with 550 Christmas wreaths, a couple dozen broken Santa’s, and a few Rudolph’s thrown into the mix, you better be damn lucky or there
ain’t a gonna’ be no dumping.” Jamie

The shoes are a tribute to yesterdays post!!! I'm just happy I didn't lose a eye to the 150 +spike heels I dug out of the top of a closet. Betsy

Day 15- 16 -Edisto Beach, South Carolina

Day 15-16, April 2 thru April 3, Edisto Island
We’ve been busy little beavers the past couple of days. The weather has been gray and rainy, but we’ve gotten a ton of stuff packed up in the house. Let me tell you, Imelda Marcos had nothing on Miss E as far as shoes go. Lord A Mighty. I’ve never seen so many shoes. I was working on getting the crystal packed up and happened to notice Tipper walking sorta funny. He’d take a step or two and stop and then put his nose back toward his right rear hip. Then he would repeat the process. I went in to find out what the problem was and discovered that he had somehow run across an old sticky trap for mice. It had attached itself on his right side and believe you me it was on there tight.
We tried to pull it off of him, but that didn’t work at all. We ended up have to cut it away from him. Consequently he has a little less hair on the rights side now. Jamie
note: The picture has nothing to do with the work camp. I didn't want to disappoint those who enjoy the beautiful beach! Look closely and you will see a sizable squadron of pelicans. Betsy

Day 14 - Edisto Island, SC

Day 14, April 1, Edisto Island
We are staying at the McPherson Work Release Program Center. Cap’t Sandy and Deputy Jane say that we get released when the work is done. Actually we agreed to help Jane clean out the big house that Sandy’s mother owns because it will be rented shortly. I don’t think we fully understood the scope of this undertaking. After seeing the house and it’s contents Betsy and I considered waiting until Jane was asleep and then quietly hooking up the trailer and heading off into the night. We worked most of the day today and got the kitchen done. Tomorrow Betsy and Jane will have a go at the closets.
The problem is that they have to try on every doggone item.
It’s hard to believe but we’ve been on the road for two weeks. I told Betsy the other day that it feels like we’ve been gone a very long time, but the individual days just fly by. She feels that everything has gone very fast. jamie
This beach town is wonderful and reminds me of my earlier teen years spent on the Jersey shore in the summer. Walks on the beach, cooking fresh seafood for dinner and getting sand between my toes. What a wonderful life. Betsy
p.s. Tomorrow I hear we only have to work half a day and then we get to go sightseeing once again, yippee!!!

Day 13- Edisto Island, SC

Day 13, March 31, Ft. McAllister Historic Park to Edisto Island, SC
Before we get to Edisto Island we have to visit Beaufort, SC. The visitor center lady directed us to the marina area where she said there would be spots for RV’s. We got there and there in the 5 total spaces there were three huge tour buses, and a couple of RV’s. That didn’t work so we went back the same way and looked for a spot to park.
Nothing within reasonable walking distance. We decided that Beaufort would have to wait until another trip. We continued on to Edisto Island and arrived about 3:30 PM.
Beautiful, sunny skies. We parked the camper next to Jane and Sandy’s house, and headed to the beach with Tipper tugging on the leash. As we walked up the beach access path Tipper heard the roar of the ocean, but couldn’t see it yet. I saw his ears perk up but he never hesitated in his forward momentum. I thought he might get a little spooked by the sound but he wasn’t. We walked the surf line with Tipper trying to bite every wave that hit the beach. This is my idea of a beach town. Absolutely no commercialization.
There is a Piggly Wiggly, a couple of bars, some little eateries, a marina, and locally owned T-shirt stores. Jane says that the town board is always rejecting offers from hotel developers or McDonalds. Sandy and his father, who was a contractor, built the house
back in the 1950’s. It’s very cute and only two short blocks to the beach. JK
I broke the tradition of shopping only at Walmart today. I was forced to shop at the Piggly Wiggly which I call the Wiggly Piggly. Who every thought of that name? The beach is clean and there are super little shells and driftwood. As you can imagine I have already started my collection.
Picture 1. Jamie and Tipper on the jetty 2. The view down the beach

Day 12 - Savannah, Georgia

Day 12, March 30, Savannah
I’ve been wanting to visit Savannah for years and we’re here! We found the Visitors Center and ask one of the volunteer ladies if there was a map of a walking tour since we have our little buddy Tipper with us. She first apologized about the weather being so cool, and then proceeded to draw us an outline for a tour. We ask her if there would be any issues with having a dog with us and she said, “ no problem, if he doesn’t mind walking, we don’t mind having him”. We hadn’t even gotten out of the visitors parking lot and Tipper had already ticked me off with his constant pulling. Betsy and I looked at each other and it dawned on us that since it was cool and cloudy Tipper could survive in the truck. Our tour became a lot more enjoyable. We saw the City Market and the Wharf areas, both of which are nothing more than big tourist traps. We walked several blocks on Bull Street and it was awesome—the parks every couple of blocks, the houses, the flowering shrubs. I think our walk took about and hour and a half and we were pooped at the end, but boy was it worth it. JK
An absolutly beautiful city. I had a ball taking pictures of the homes, parks and the magnificent flowering shrubs.

Day 11 Lake Park to Ft. Mc Allister Historic Park, Georgia

Day 11, March 29, 2008, Lake Park to Ft. McAllister Historic Park
After leaving the RV park we headed to a do it yourself carwash that I had spotted on the way in. It was time for both the trailer and truck to have a bath. We were lookin’ a bit
Alabama-ish. Ever notice that the entrance of those carwashes are a lot bigger than the exit? We went in the exit just to make sure we could get out. All went well and we look a lot better than we did. Our drive today was not very inspiring. No pretty little towns, but occasionally there would be a glorious display of azalia bushes. Our campsite is at Ft. McAllister Historic Park just outside of Richmond Hill, GA and about 20 miles from Savannah. Richmond Hill was the brainchild of Henry Ford. Don’t know why.
Our campsite is absolutely HUGE! If we were staying longer we could put in a garden.
At our backdoor is a saltwater marsh covered in something they call wire grass. There are bugs here, but our repellent seems to work well. Tippy is on high alert since he’s spotted squirrels, and a raccoon has been seen lurking in the undergrowth. Looking forward to tomorrow and Savannah.
Since there were no highlights on the drive today I’ll let you in on a new skill development that I’ve been working on. For Christmas a couple years ago I ask for a fire making kit. The kit consisted of a steel striker which is shaped like a set of brass knuckles, a piece of flint, a bag of tow which looks like unraveled baler twine, and finally some char cloth which is charred linen. You make a little nest of tow and place a piece of char cloth in it. Then you start hitting the flint against the striker to create sparks. Once you get the hang of it it’s surprising how many sparks you can create. But the real challenge is to get the spark to land on the char cloth. When the spark lands on the char cloth it glows for awhile and if your quick enough you can blow on the ember and ignite the cloth as well as the tow. At this point the score is one out of four. The only time I’ve been successful was at David Crockett State Park in Tennessee. But every couple of evenings I’ll give it a go again. I’m just glad that having something to eat doesn’t depend on me making the fire.
Picture 1. The "nearly an acre campsite! 2. Our view out the camper door toward the salt marsh.