Day: April 24, 2019

DAY #183

Last day at Sadlers Creek State Park, and the last day in South Carolina. The weather has changed and what a glorious change it is. The gloom and doom of the last couple days have been replaced by brilliant blue sky’s and sun, plus the temperature has rebounded to a comfortable 70 degrees.

The park looks practically deserted, just a couple of us left to hold down the fort.

There really are some beautiful views that the campground offers.

Got into the truck and did some meandering around the area. It took a little doing but I was able to find some back roads to explore.

The area in this part of South Carolina is a mixture of fields, farms and trees all on a terrain of flatland’s to rolling hills. It is a very scenic and serene area.

Spotted a couple of old buildings that caught my eye and wanted to show them as they represent a time gone bye.

Driving along the roads I began to feel somewhat melancholy. I’ve always had a fascination with the South, especially the time frame between 1900-1950, and throughout this journey I’ve hoped to be able to see at least a whisper of that time. Looking at the old houses and buildings, I found myself thinking how I wish I could go back to that era. To see and immerse myself in the culture, the idiosyncrasies, the way of life. It was a simpler time and one so different than the one I know. Disclaimer; One dimension of that time that I do not cherish or embrace is how African-Americans were treated and the life they were forced to live.

I’ve enjoyed my time in South Carolina and who knows, maybe I’ll be back again some day.

Wildlife Alert: Coming back into the park I spotted three deer just hanging out. It was three times better than the one I saw yesterday.

DAY #182

Today was a washout. It was cloudy, gloomy, windy, and cold. A perfect day to just hangout in the trailer, watch TV and surf the net. And the best part, I didn’t have to feel guilty about doing it.

It was so cold this morning thought I saw ice forming on the lake. OK maybe I’m exaggerating a bit (how about a lot) but it was cold (high of 51 degrees). Just for the heck of it I checked the temperature in Osakis. It was 78 degrees and sunny, that really surprised me. Wow, it looks like spring may finally have made it up to the north land.

One positive thing about the crummy weather is that its thinned out the herd of campers in the park. The people next to me, and across the road have left, along with the kids who were making so much noise yesterday. It’s opened up some more space, if only it was nice enough to get out and enjoy it.

I did try to be a little productive today. I called the issuers (Shazam) of my FNB-Osakis debit card to let them know that I would be using the card and not to decline it because of the location (South Carolina), thinking it was stolen. Well, in the end all I accomplished was to have it reported lost or stolen and now it’s been cancelled and of no use to me. Damn automated system, I thought that at one point it would have directed me to a person to talk to but no, it just cancelled the card and informed me that if I had any questions to contact the issuing bank (FNB-Osakis).

Later in the afternoon, I went into Anderson for groceries (Publix) and to get a bite to eat (cooks day off). Everyplace I went was busy and didn’t want to wait. I ended up going back to the Pompous Pig and It did not disappoint, it’s a good place to eat.

Wildlife Alert: On the way back from Anderson I came across a deer while driving down the park road into the campground. Not a big deal but still it gave me a charge.

Tomorrow looks to be a much nicer day.

DAY #181

Today was a washout both figuratively and literately. Storms were back in the area and it was windy and rainy all day. At least the temperature was in the low 70’s, but with high humidity. I don’t like the feeling when it’s so high, it makes everything feel sticky.

Some areas received over 7 inches of rain and there was a lot of flash flooding going on, especially around the mountain foothills about an hour north of the campground, areas I had visited just a couple days ago. In addition, it was reported that a couple of tornadoes had touched down around Newberry and Prosperity, SC, close to the last campsite (Dreher Island State Park) I had stayed. Some damage to buildings but thankfully no fatalities. Very fortunate that there wasn’t anything like that around here although at times the rain came down hard.

Got tested (emotionally) a couple times today. First; the rain had stopped and the sun had popped out between the clouds and I started to hear music, loud music along with a dog incessantly barking. After a few minutes I thought what the f**k is going on, don’t these people have any damn consideration for others! Jumped up, opened the trailer door and went outside in my usual rush of anger. I saw it was a couple of young teens hanging around their trailer across the road. I caught myself from getting too stupid and remembered I’ve been there before and geez, I didn’t want to become some grumpy old man, so I took a moment and then, just let it go. Soon after the music and dog stopped.

The second test; I was on the bed with the trailer door latched open and the wind came up strong and popped the latch slamming the door shut. Damn it I thought, I’d just fixed the broken latch and here we go again, bitch, bitch, bitch. Again, it took a moment of reminding myself to calm down and let the anger go, got up and checked the latch and thankfully it hadn’t broken, all was well.

I thought to myself that if this is the worst I have to endure today, I’ve got it pretty darn good. I need to learn to just let the anger go.

The storms finally moved on early in the evening and was replaced with dropping temperatures. Time to get out the space heater, I’m going to need it tonight.

DAY #180

Today was rather warm (80) and very humid. Not into that, no worry, a front is on the way that promises to bring rain, wind and possibly severe weather in the next couple of days, I can hardly wait (yes that’s sarcasm). Oh yea, in addition to all that the temperature is looking to drop by about twenty five degrees (brrr).

Found out yesterday morning that on one of the TV stations I can get, is one of my favorite shows. the ‘Rockford Files’ airs at 9:00 am, so when I woke up early (for me) this morning, I was all excited that I was going to get to watch an episode (I guess it doesn’t take much to get me going). From time to time, some of the stations fade in and out with the channel I wanted being one of them, but after going through the channels this morning everything was A-OK, that is until I got to the station that the show was on. Nothing, the station wouldn’t come in. It’s a conspiracy I thought, someone is out to get me. why oh why does this happen to me? Just kidding, but it did tick me off. Sometimes I don’t know if I’m ready for this world.

Made a trip into Hartwell to do some shopping. Today I tried the local ‘Ingles’ supermarket’. I liked it, it was clean and spacious and offered quite a bit in it’s deli. I was a little disappointing in the bakery selection and for that reason, I place it a notch below Publix.

One thing I’m noticing around the area is that there aren’t the back roads that I’ve found elsewhere. I really get a charge out of going down them and getting a chance to get a glimpse of what the area is really about. Seems around here it’s main roads and that’s it. Maybe they’re there and I just haven’t found them yet, I’ll have to keep looking.

Went back to the campground and noticed that someone had set up at the site right behind me. So much for my cushion of space. Another thing that has been nagging me a little is the lack of wildlife. I haven’t seen any birds, squirrels, turtles, nothing, and at night I’m missing the sounds of the boy frogs calling out looking for a girlfriend. On the parks edge I have seen a couple of crows and a deer (dead). Maybe it’s too heavily foraged for birds, but it’s nevertheless a big change from the last campground.

A little nervous about the upcoming couple of days weather wise.

DAY #179

Today I went into Anderson to get some BBQ. Went online and looked for a decent spot and found one that looked interesting. It was called the ‘Pompous Pig’ and had some pretty decent reviews. I’m kind of surprised that a lot of BBQ places in the area are only open 3-4 days a week.

I’m just not much of a pork eater and BBQ chicken doesn’t excite me, so having a good brisket is important to. Even though I haven’t had very good luck with BBQ brisket from the other places I’ve stopped at, the pictures on the website of their brisket looked pretty good. I thought, I’ll give it one more try.

Found the place and placed my order. the weather was nice out so I found a table and ate outside. the brisket was really good and the sides were also good. although the price was a tad on the high side, it turned out to be a satisfying meal with some of the best brisket I’ve had so far.

Afterwards, headed back and spent the evening looking at maps online trying to decide future campground bookings as I slowly make my way back to Minnesota.