Hello and welcome to Mike and Donna's retirement adventures.
After many years of working and taking care of family, we decided to look for adventures in other places.
Donna's retirement came at the request of her former manager (little Hitler) on 9/27/21 after 18 years with the IT vendor at the San Diego Convention Center. Mikes retirement began 46 years to the day, after high school on 3/18/22.
We have always liked cars and driving; we love to travel. We decided life on the road could be a new challenge/adventure for us.
In August (2021) we ordered a new home: An Airstream 30' Classic and a new Dodge RAM 2500 Diesel truck to tow it.
On Friday December 2, 2022, we finally took possession of it.
Have fun following us down the road.
July 24 – July 28 Bishopville, South Carolina
Lee State Park
Quiet – quaint – also an Equestrian Park. Interesting…. we’ve never been in a campground that had a separate little stable area at each campsite – but now we have! The back part of the park had multiple sites for horses and their owners. Based on what the camp host told us, it gets quite busy as there are Equestrian clubs that travel together from place to place.
Who knew?????
The park itself is also well known in the area for the many Artesian Wells built in the 1930’s and is over 100 feet deep and still working and pumping water into the local creek. The 5-mile loop around the park takes you to several of them deep into the woods. Journey (our truck) needed a good bath after this escapade!
The little town of Bishopville is well – little. Not much there – basic amenity stores, mostly vacant and run down more than we’ve seen lately. However, it is home to the South Carolina Cotton Museum and Veterans Museum. We spent several hours filling our heads with information about cotton and discovering that this little town is quite the place that honors our military.
Bishopville – located in Lee County – is also the home of “The Lizard man”. Mike purchased a book about him at the Cotton Museum. He was a real person, so we understand. He got tired of people coming on his property, so he started dressing up as “The Lizard man” to scare them away – LOL!! We ate at a local place recommended by the camp host – “Harry and Harry Too”. Lizard man made his presence well known as there were several newspaper clippings with long stories, framed on the walls. He also made quite the appearance on the restaurant sign.
Ya know? Since we started this retirement adventure, we’ve seen thousands of different styles of RV’s. Once in a while, you see one that just catches your eye. We love how people personalize what they own!
July 17 – July 24 Santee, South Carolina
Santee State Park
Another very nice park located on Lake Marion. If it weren’t so dang HOT and humid, we could have enjoyed some nice walking trails……but…. we are in the heart of summer and in South Carolina! Oh, and then there are those lovely nightly thunderstorms that roll through…. whew!!!
This park in particular is loaded with “flying” squirrels – LOL!! And these little buggers like to eat the nuts from all the pinecones and then drop them from above out of the trees. We haven’t been on the roof of the Airstream lately but we’re hoping there are no “dents” from the discarded cores!!
It’s a bit off the beaten path so to speak but within 30 minutes’ drive to a couple of nice towns. In fact, it was so HOT one day; we said “hey, let’s go to the movies”! Something we don’t do very often. So off to see “Mission Impossible” we went.
Another day, we drove to Summerville and then on to Charleston with some longtime friends that Donna went to high school together in the Philippines – Sue Gage, Lisa Gage Patrick and her hubby Randall. Randall chauffeured us around the gorgeous city of Charleston. Oh my - the architect on the homes and buildings is just scrumptious. We had been to Charleston a couple of times in the past, but it’s one of those cities that draw you back. We had Linner (lunch/dinner) at the old Charleston Navy base which sits right on the water. Couldn’t have asked for a better day!!
Still in the land of huge agriculture, we passed acre after acre of corn, soybeans, tobacco, and peanuts.
One of the advantages of taking smaller secondary roads versus freeways, is you get to see all of the quirky tiny towns, and some have just images left of what they used to be – which is sad. Others seem to be thriving – how? Not sure…….
July 9 – 17 Dillon, South Carolina
Little Pee Dee State Park
What do you do when you are close to “South of the Border”? (the North Carolina/South Carolina line). Of course you have to go look at all the “stuff”!! We had been before but ya know, you just have to. It’s just one of those things. And….it was HOT………
Another day we drove to Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, to meet some longtime friends, Jim and Lyn Markham. We’ve known them since we lived in Leesburg, VA many moons ago. This is the second time we’ve gotten to see them on our travels. We had lunch at the “Hippie Hen House”. It’s a favorite for the locals and we can see why. Very yummy food….
After leaving Jim and Lyn, we were close to Myrtle Beach, so why not? We had been there before but hey, it’s Myrtle Beach! We did a bit of shopping at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Broadway at the Beach. We can always find SOMETHING even if we don’t need it – LOL!!
We had seen on the local news about a shooting at a Waffle House nearby – not knowing exactly where it was, we stumbled upon it as we were heading back to the park. Seems some folks got pretty rowdy in the middle of the night – drunk and disorderly – decided they wanted something to eat – and who knows what really happened – other than a bunch of windows got shot out. Nobody hurt….
And can we just say that the trees around here that have the Spanish Moss growing from them are pretty cool looking!!!
July 5 – July 9 Elizabethtown, North Carolina
Jones Lake State Park
We almost had the place to ourselves! Considering it was in the 90-degree range, I can understand why.
Whew – we need to get used to this heat and humidity!
We had a great campsite – beautiful park – a nice lake with a beach area….but it was just too dang hot to hang outside.
The cute town of Elizabethtown was just minutes away. We poked around the town several times – in and out of the cute little shops. We had lunch at…………. Melvins’
Well, it IS one of the top 100 places to eat while in North Carolina! They’ve been in business since 1938. Burgers, Hot Dogs, chips and drinks…. and the line was out the door!! They’ve got it down to a science…. we were sitting down with our burgers/drinks within 10 minutes.
Where can two of you eat for under $12.00??? If you order a Burger “all the way”, you get it with Chili, Mustard, Onions, and Slaw. Watching the assembly line while they put orders together was quite a site – LOL!!
June 26 – July 5 Pollocksville, North Carolina
Magnolia Lane Campground and RV Resort
Where in the world is Pollocksville? Well………it’s off the beaten path for sure! But what a hidden gem we found. Privately owned and the nicest owners ever! That North Carolina charm is something that can’t be beat. Their 4th of July celebration was on the 1st with a complimentary dinner of hot dogs, baked beans, and corn on the cob, cooked on the BIGGEST portable cooker we’ve ever seen!! The evening topped off with a fantastic fireworks display over the lake.
We were about 30 minutes from New Bern in one direction and Swansboro/Cedar Point/Emerald Isle in the other direction – all surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Intercostal Waterway, and the Bogue Sound.
We did a day trip to the historic district of New Bern. It’s a beautiful town. We saw lots of cool historic homes, neat little shops, the most gorgeous Episcopal Church, and lots of neat places to eat (of course). The town “mascot” is a Bear, full size bears – all hand painted. We stopped at the Visitors Center to get a map which provides you with the location of more than 60 of them!!! Scavenger hunt………………….
Another day trip took us on a full loop to Swansboro/Cedar Point/Emerald Isle. There’re typical beach towns with a few neat shops and places to eat. Lots of houses on stilts right on the water’s edge. At the very northern tip of Emerald Isle is Fort Macon which we spent some time poking around – soaking in more history of the area.
In between the towns are miles and miles of agriculture farms – tobacco, corn, cotton, peanuts, and a few sunflowers thrown in here and there. What a great part of the country, which we truly love!!
June 26 – 29 Washington, North Carolina
Goose Creek State Park
We had a beautiful, sunny drive – getting closer and closer to the beach areas. One thing we’ve both noticed is how beautiful the medians are – silly huh? But really – they are all beautifully manicured with lots of nice trees and flowers. It’s all quite welcoming…and then once off the main highways, very rural in this part of NC – more gorgeous countryside.
The campground is a small, quaint park with only 20 sites. It’s a very nice place to land for several days.
It wouldn’t be an adventure without some excitement. The first night we had a WHOPPER thunderstorm come thru that woke us and everybody else up. Donna was woken by the sound of the POURING rain and snapping sounds. Now wide awake, we could see lots of activity with red lights and such, across the park. An ambulance left along with many other types of machinery. Turns out a tall pine tree had fallen on a trailer and one occupant was taken to the hospital. We understand that she was hurt but was going to be okay. Needless to say it was a pretty sleepless night.
Not much around except for acres and acres of farm land growing tobacco and corn. The corn is almost “knee high by the 4th of July”!!
As always, we can find interesting things where we are. We passed through this area many years ago to ride the ferry to Okracoke Island on the Outer Banks of NC. Ferry, you say??
Well, there just happens to be many of them in this region. One only 12 miles from where we stayed, so we hopped on it one afternoon and rode it across the Pamlico River to the small ghost town of Aurora.
June 21 - 26 Wake Forest, North Carolina
Falls Lake State Recreation Area
Rain, rain go away – come back again some other day!! As we traveled from our previous site, we called Airstream of Greensboro to plead our case once again (we had called them yesterday and they had no time for us), that there was still something not quite right with The Sandman – we live full time on the road, and we REALLY needed Airstream to make it right. Low and behold, the Service Technician said swing by, and we’ll fit you in. Music to our ears!!! Yayyy! The road Gods were looking after us…….we changed course just slightly and within an hour, we were there. A few hours later, they had us all fixed up and, on the road, again. Whew!!! Yes!!! Thank you………….happy dance………..
The first 3 days in Wake Forest, it poured and poured. Ugggg…there is nothing worse in Donna’s eyes than camping in the rain. But………it gave us a chance to finally check out the A/C in The Sandman – and the Dehumidifier. Yes – we are now in HOT and HUMID country which we’ve not lived in for many years. Both working as they should – another happy dance LOL!!!!
Once the sun finally came out, we got a chance to meet our neighbor kitty, Galveston. It was a hoot watching him “chirp” at the birds and squirrels. He was quite good at climbing the trees close by too – LOL!! His parents had him on a long leash so no worries about him running off.
Mike’s sister and family live in the area. It’s been quite a while since we spent any quality time with them. We had so much fun sightseeing, eating, laughing, drinking, and catching up.
June 20 – 21 Charlotte, North Carolina
McDowell Nature Preserve
We get it – everyone needs rain but………..can we just get a dry morning to hitch up and get on the road??? Welp – not today. It was a nasty morning, a nasty drive and we arrived at our campsite as the rain finally let up a bit.
A super beautiful place, nestled in the woods, and we were sad that we were only staying overnight. Our plans to be there longer got screwed up when The Sandman got sick and we ended up in Virginia a few days more than anticipated. Oh well – things happen and we roll with the day………..
We did manage to get a nice walk in after getting set up, to the Nature Preserve itself. A nice LONG walk after a stressful drive, was just what the doctor ordered LOL!!! There is just “something” about nature, hearing the frogs croak, watching the lightning bugs start to buzz around as night falls, and finally seeing some stars appear.
June 16 - 20 Christiansburg, Virginia
Interstate RV Park
It’s all great until it isn’t!! As we were getting ready to leave our last place, Claytor Lake State Park, our front stabilizers wouldn’t go up. Uh oh….Houston – we have a problem! We check other things and nothing, nada……….we check the inside CZone which is our control module for the entire rig and nothing, nada….batteries are showing dead, dead, dead. So….we get on the phone with Jackson Center which is where the Airstreams are made. They gave us some suggestions to try. Did that – nothing worked. But we were able to hand crank the stabilizer up.
Next up – we called Coach Net which is the warranty roadside assistance thru Airstream. They found a guy – he came out – turns out he was a Bus and Truck mechanic – so no help. We get back on the phone with Coach Net. They find an RV mechanic close to us – Luke with Nomads RV shop. We talk. He can come to us – but…………we have to be out of our site by 4:00. The park is FULL so we had to leave. It’s now 2:30. We ended up towing The Sandman to Nomads. Luke does a quick look at things and finds at least 2 blow fuses amongst other things. Of course, it’s late on a Friday so nothing can be done until Monday.
Luke helps us find an RV Park close by. Off we go. We spend all day Saturday calling places and driving all over looking for this special fuse. We find one at a local Dodge Dealer. All Airstream places are closed on the weekends – figures!! We called our besties Jon and Becky in CA to help. They found another fuse at a local Dodge dealer and sent it via Fed Ex for Monday arrival. All weekend we endure the CZone doing its reset and general wonkiness.
Monday in pouring rain, we hitch up and take the Sandman to Nomads for more work. Luke does his best to get us up and running. But…..there are a few things we feel still need to be done by Airstream………..back to the RV Park for one more night….
June 14 - 16 Dublin, Virginia
Claytor Lake State Park
We have such a renewed appreciation for the hard-working farmers who grow the food
needed to feed a hungry nation. The vast fields and crops, now just beginning to sprout,
are awe-inspiring.
The lightning bugs are out! The past couple of weeks we’ve begun to see them all over the
place. I think we can all remember as kids (if you lived in an area that had them), catching
them in a jar, poking a hole in the top, and watching their little bodies light up…..
As we’ve moved eastward, we are seeing more deer and beautiful woodpeckers. It’s also
bear country so there are plenty of warnings out and about. The grasses are full of bunnies bouncing thru the woods and the night sky stars?
Wow – most of the parks we’ve been in
should be designated as Dark Sky Parks. The stars look as if you could reach out and grab
them…..
Claytor Lake is no exception to the beautiful places we’ve laid our heads at night!!
This area is close to our hearts as both of our kids graduated from college in the area. Our
son went to Virginia Tech and our daughter went to Radford University. We spent a day
playing tourist at both places. We had lunch at one of our favorites – Macado’s. Oh so
good!!
We have been enjoying all the beautiful Magnolia trees now in bloom.
June 12 - 14 Appomattox, Virginia
Holliday Lake State Park
It can’t be beautiful and sunny every day. Today was driving in the rain and fog with white knuckles, as we drove up into the mountains. Every day is a new adventure!!
Visiting another beautiful state park. I know – peat and repeat – LOL!! But…this is why we try to stay at them. Nice lake with a small beach and many other amenities.
Being in the heart of Civil War history country, we went to the National Historical Park. Mike loving history, was in his element. It was pretty neat to see the “McLean House” and other buildings restored with reenactors. Many of the restored buildings included artifacts and stories from the surrender signing ending the civil war.
We had lunch at a local place called Granny Bee’s – recommended by one of the Park Rangers. It was a cute home town cookin kinda place. Yummy! We poked our heads into a couple of the local shops before heading to the American Civil War Museum. It was chock full of more history and artifacts. A really nice exhibit from students at Virginia Tech and the museum, chronicling stories from freed slaves after the war ended.
June 9 - 12 New Market, Virginia
Endless Caverns RV Park
The Virginia countryside is simply stunning! When we lived in Northern Virginia, we frequented the country a lot. Now that we are seeing it in a different light by living in our home on wheels, we cherish every moment – life is short – and this area is just gorgeous. The Blue Ridge and the Alleghany mountains is quite the site, especially on a clear day.
The RV Park is home to the Endless Caverns. Instead of having a “timed” entry and limited time to enjoy, we chose to go to Luray Caverns. It had been many years since we had been there, and they didn’t disappoint. There were several small museums there, one being a Car and Carriage Museum. My oh my were there some beautiful automobiles!!! We poked around the little town and had lunch at one of the only places open (it’s a very SMALL town).
We found lots to do at the RV Park. We dipped our toes in the swimming pool. We hiked up to the Endless Caverns sign from our camp site. Once at the top – wowzer – the views are stunning to say the least!! We poked around the quaint little historical town of New Market where we found the General Store to be quite popular. We had dinner at the Southern Kitchen where we had heard they had THE BEST fried chicken. Well…..we scarfed it all down – LOL!!
We celebrated our 40th Anniversary while there. We enjoyed steaks outside, with beautiful weather and a couple of spirits in hand.
May 26 – June 9 Ashburn, Virginia
“Mooch docking” at Son-In-Laws Mothers driveway
Originally we were going to be camping at a super neat place called Lake Fairfax in Reston,Virginia, near where we used to live when we were in the area many years ago. However, our son-in-law’s Mom offered part of her driveway for us to park The Sandman in, while staying in Northern Virginia. Okay – perfect! Saved us some $$ which we very much appreciated. Our daughter offered for us to stay at her house in Ashburn, Virginia instead. Our son and his family, live nearby so it was the best of both worlds!
Two main reasons for our trip to Virginia from our starting point in So Cal were: we hadn’t seen our family in a while and after 18 months of waiting for a full military honors burial for Donna’s father at Arlington National Cemetery, the date was finally been set for Friday June 2 nd . Mike’s brother Steve flew in from the San Francisco area and our bestie Jonathan Harry flew in from Huntington Beach, CA. Many other friends of the family and military acquaintances came from different places to be with us. The day was beautiful………..
We enjoyed some sightseeing – showing Steve and Jon around the area. It had been many years since Steve had been to the DC area and Jon had never been. We took them out to see our home in Harpers Ferry, spent some time at local breweries/wineries and had fun going to our old stomping grounds!!!
Family time is precious to us. Our kids and grands are the bestest!! It’s always bitter sweet when it’s time to go. But………we’ll be back for Christmas!!!
May 16 - 26 Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
KOA Harpers Ferry
Can we just say that the weather God’s have been great to us? Oh yeah – beauuuuutiful drive from Elkins to Harpers Ferry! Can we say how excited we were to finally arrive????
Not that the KOA was anything special. Some of you know that we bought 5 acres with a house/pool last year in Harpers Ferry – did some renovations and then rented it out while we’re on the road. And………..it is very close to our kids and grands that live in Northern Virginia. Whoo Hoo!!!
We did lots of visiting with the family and a few friends. All were excited to FINALLY see our Airstream – The Sandman. We hooked up with the renters of our house – they invited us over for a yummy steak dinner one night. We’ll admit – it did feel kinda strange to have dinner in OUR dining room with someone else living there. However over the course of the last 6 months, we’ve become pretty good friends with them. We saw them several other times while in the area. We are VERY lucky to have found such a great couple to live in our home they treat it like their own.
May 14 - 16 Elkins, West Virginia
Pegasus Farms Campground
Deep in the Alleghany Mountains lies the quaint old town of Elkins. It’s very close to a very popular ski area called Snowshoe Mountain Resort. Also close to Seneca Rocks (beautiful rock formations lunging out of the mountains) and Blackwater Falls. If you’ve never been to this part of the country, it’s simply………..breathtaking everywhere.
Upon getting close to our campground, we encountered once again, beautiful but narrow back roads. “Oh look – there are now 10 vehicles backed up behind us”. Well – it is what it is LOL!!! Pass us when you can! The road to get into the campground portion of the property was a little nerve racking. We…..just……fit……whew!!
We stayed at a family-owned campground. The owners were the sweetest people ever! Getting up in age, they told us they had just sold the entire place – the campground, their house on the property, and everything in it Off they go soon to Italy. It was nice and quiet but close enough to go out exploring the area for a day. One corner of the property was a cemetery with gravestones dating back to the Revolutionary war.
One corner of the property was a cemetery with gravestones dating back to the Revolutionary war.
Did you ever wonder where Kingsford Charcoal is manufactured? Well….we stumbled upon the plant on a drive up into the mountains. It’s in a small town called Parsons and has been in business since 1958. It produces 125,000 tons of charcoal a year – wow!!! We drove a big loop thru the mountains and back, and didn’t stop to get pictures – darn it……
After a great lunch in the cute town of Thomas, we went looking for a waterfall at the edge of town. WELL… we found ourselves on a very narrow dirt and muddy road near abandon coal mines. All along the river were abandoned brick ovens used to turn the coal into coke that was then used in blast furnaces at the steel mills. Hundreds of ovens made of brick lined the river. Many of the bricks were melted from the heat of the coal. We had fun trying to imagine what life was like back then. It was kind of creepy with nowhere to turn around, and lots of mud. Thank you Ram 4wheel drive for getting us out without any problems.
