Author: Easin' Along

In our last post, we came to you from Huntington Beach State Park in Murrell’s Inlet, SC, and had a few days remaining before it was time to move on. We were blessed with great weather and took advantage of our good fortune by visiting the beach daily. Additionally, we walked through the marsh at the western edge of the park, which serves as a sanctuary for various marsh dwellers such as egrets, herons, gulls, and wood storks. I captured a few with my camera.

As someone who can’t idly sit in a beach chair, I took my fishing rod with me on most days.  I even caught fish, but most were on the small side except for a couple of Pompano. The picture below is a sample of my catch (small whiting). We had fun, and the time passed very quickly, but we were ready to move on to Charleston for some time with our grandchildren.

In addition to sporting events, another reason for our visit was to celebrate Bennett’s twelfth birthday. Bennett’s parents (our son and daughter-in-law) had planned a pool party for Bennett’s sixth-grade classmates, and Helen and I were blessed to receive an invitation. Saturday afternoon was going to be hopping.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and parked Dora (fifth wheel) in Collin and Austin’s driveway.  Collin had a fifty-amp outlet installed beside the garage door that gave us electricity, and we connected a hose to the outdoor faucet for water in the trailer.  After that, the mother-in-law suite on wheels was ready for business, and I wasted no time jumping into Collin’s hot tub to rid myself of the effects of a three-hour drive.

Although we would celebrate Bennett’s birthday on Saturday, her actual birthday was on Friday. Helen and I were up early to welcome the birthday girl to a breakfast of Strawberry-Nutella Crepes prepared by her father. Balloons and an inflatable Happy Birthday covered the back wall of the kitchen. She opened a few family gifts before it was time for Helen and me to drive her and Cason to school for a long day, including a soccer victory that evening.

On Saturday, Helen sat poolside, drinking coffee while Collin cleaned the pool deck.  Their house is beside a marsh with a view of Charleston Harbor and the Ravenel Bridge. The morning temperatures were delightful, and the poolside was the best place to start the day.

Before the party guests arrived, Cason had a soccer game.  Helen and I served as cheerleaders while her parents readied the house and food for Bennett’s party. Cason played well, and her team won in a close match.

Guests began arriving at three that afternoon. Parents either dropped off their children or joined them for the party.  Helen and I had a great time meeting Bennett’s friends and their families. It wasn’t long before the pool was filled with uproarious laughter and a few squeals following a pigtail pull or two. Collin served up a meal of hotdogs with everything imaginable to smother them in a bun.

Collin and Austin also arranged to have a photo-booth photographer attend the party, which added greatly to the fun.  The photographer furnished funny hats, glasses, deely-bopper headbands, and other items for the children to use during the photo sessions. He gave every participant a strip of four photographs to take home as a souvenir and gave Collin a thumb drive of every picture taken. I “borrowed” a few to share with readers—some photos are great examples of the creativity inside a twelve-year-old mind.

Initially, Helen and I planned to return home on Monday, but work called Collin away for a few days, so Helen and I stayed in place for one more day to help Austin and watch Bennett’s volleyball game on Monday night.  By Tuesday, we were Easin’ Along on our way home.

I love being a grandparent…

The thought of sea breezes, soft sand, the sound of the ocean, and sensational seafood was more than we could stand.  Helen had some time between treatment, and my mom was much better, and in a good place, so we went for it.  It was time to take a trip to the beach. We left Knoxville last Wednesday.

We spent the first night at Weston Lake, an Army Campground on Fort Jackson.  That stop is a five-hour drive from home, which is about my limit for one day of driving. Around ten the next morning, we were on the road again to reach Huntington Beach State Park at the check-in time of 2:00 pm. Our timing was perfect, and we arrived a few minutes past two.

Huntington Beach is in Murrell’s Inlet, SC, an area famous for its seafood between the beach towns of Myrtle Beach and the very popular Pawley’s Island. This state park is perfect for beach-loving RVers, and last-minute reservations are difficult to come by. We scanned the website for availability. The best we could do was obtain a seven-night stay using three different campsites—not ideal, but we were up for it.

After leaving Fort Jackson, Helen rechecked the website, hoping to find a cancellation that opened a site, reducing our number of moves. She found one and immediately called the Park reservation center. Bob answered the phone and was extremely helpful. By moving our reservations around, Bob made it possible for us to stay the first two nights at campsite 24 and the following five nights at campsite 68.  Both sites are large, shaded, and a short walk from the beach.

We set up quickly at campsite 24, then did our favorite thing—took a long nap. After the rest, I was eager to walk the beach.  Sunset was near, and I wanted to take advantage of the lighting conditions with my camera in hand. We walked out at low tide. Fresh salt air greeted us.

The pictures above and below are from our first afternoon and illustrate well that everything we came for (except seafood) was right in front of us.

The marsh which protects Huntington Beach is a bird sanctuary and is home to many species of waterfowl and sea birds.  Helen and I walked the boardwalk through the marsh on our first morning. The tide was receding, and birds scampered through the sand and the mud in search of minnows and small crabs. I captured several birds in flight.

We’ll have more to report in our next post.  The weather forecast looks promising, and we will take every opportunity to soak up the beauty surrounding us. Oh, a seafood platter would be lovely too!

One more thing…

A few days before we left Knoxville, we enjoyed a visit from Mary and Alan, who were passing through Knoxville on an RV trip through the south and southwest.  Many bloggers are familiar with Mary and her blog Reflections Around the Campfire, a very well-written blog detailing their love of and travel to the State and National Parks throughout the country.  We had a delightful time together and hope to have the chance to meet again in the future.

We’re Easin’ Along.

Easin’ Along readers know that Helen was diagnosed with breast cancer in January this year and began a regimen of 12 weekly chemotherapy treatments shortly after. Even though the chemo drained her energy and resulted in some hair loss, we both feel that the treatments went well. With that phase of treatment behind us, we decided we needed an RV trip to relax and celebrate.  The mountains of North Carolina called us.

Happy Holiday Campground in Cherokee, North Carolina, is always our first choice.  With wide, spacious campsites and a bubbling creek to lull us to sleep at night, we consider ourselves fortunate to have such a lovely setting within a short distance from home. We planned a five-day stay, but we shortened our trip to three days due to some issues with my Mom. Three days would still provide a nice rest.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and began setting up when I realized I had made a big mistake. I’m unsure if I ever shared that I have sleep apnea and need a CPAP to sleep at night.  I am utterly dependent on the machine; with it, I sleep—without it, I don’t. Unfortunately, I left my CPAP at home. I was not going to spend three days in the campground without sleep, so I decided to drive back to Knoxville and retrieve my sleep machine. Helen remained in the campground and watched people and the creek flow by.

I returned to the campground, CPAP in hand, around nine o’clock that evening.  I was wide awake and suggested to Helen that we run over to the casino for an hour of fun before calling it a night.  She was surprised.  Usually, you couldn’t drag me out of my house at that time of the night, but Helen loves the casino and warmed up to the idea pretty quickly.

Cherokee Casino is about three miles from the campground, and on this Friday night, the place was hopping. As is our usual practice, we ventured off in different directions.  I usually find an obscure part of the main floor while Helen wants to be in the middle of the action.  Within fifteen minutes of unwinding with some casual gameplay, I received a text from my better half.  “I won $2,142!” I could almost hear her screaming through the message. A picture of her at the winning machine is at the top.

By the time I found her, Helen had already received her winnings (along with a Federal tax form) and was eagerly looking for another slot machine to conquer. She held her own for the rest of the night and the rest of the trip.  I coaxed a single one hundred dollar bill away from her vise-like grip on her money, but this was not my weekend. I did get one big thrill, however.  On Sunday night, a lady sitting in the row behind me put four dollars into a machine and, on one pull, hit the jackpot for over $13,000. Everyone sitting around her rose and gave her a standing ovation.  It was fun to see.

Before readers get the idea that the only thing we did was gamble, let me dissuade you.  On Saturday, we drove to Sylva and spent some time at Captain Bill’s Flea Market.  This is a vast market, and we walked to the end.  Some booths had interesting items, but we resisted. At the last booth, I spotted a hardback copy of The Judge’s List, John Grisham’s latest novel, in like-new condition. Currently, I am reading Grisham’s The Whistler, featuring the same main characters. The lady running the booth let me have the hardback for five dollars.  I consider the purchase my win for the weekend.

Relaxed and rested, we’re Easin’ Along.