Southward Ho With Apollo: DE, NC, SC, FL

We left Ringwood on Friday, Jan. 15th with a winter storm at our heels. The first night was spent indoors, guests of Mitch’s cousins, Hal and Lenne in Milton, DE, escaping the pouring rain. Then on to Chapel Hill, NC for the birdhouse maker Jack Riehl’s driveway and spent the first night in a long time in the Roadtrek. It was chilly and a bit rainy but we were snug and comfortable.

All systems are go.

We headed out early and in the afternoon reached the James Island County Park which is on the outskirts of Charleston.

We called our former next door neighbors Gene and Cecile King who live on Johns Island, and had a terrific dinner with them at the Wild Olive restaurant. For those of you who know Gene and Cecile, our impression is that they are doing very well. They both look great and seem happy and perhaps relieved, especially when we talked about the threat of a nor’easter snowstorm.

After that we were on our own.

The James Island County Park is a low country gem and a key destination for seasoned RVers. The park has many amenities and is known for their elaborate Christmas Light Show (too bad, they stopped turning on the lights the week before we arrived).

Only the owl was lit.

There is a very big wonderful dog park located on the water, which Apollo loved; swimming, boating, fishing, and of course camping with very private full service spacious sites. It got pretty cold that night and we let Apollo into our bed. It was definitely a three dog night. In the morning Mitch turned on the propane furnace which worked like a charm.

The next day was Martin Luther King Day and we went into the City.

We stopped to pay our respects at the “Mother” Emanuel AME Church where the eight worshippers and their pastor were gunned down last June.

We then went on to attend a rally in the park.

That evening we dined at “Bertha’s Kitchen” in North Charleston, where soul food doesn’t get any better than this.

Locals picking up dinner at Bertha’s.

Fried Chicken, lima bean stew, and corn bread…$9.80 for two dinners.

Bertha and her daughters who now run the show.

Early the next morning we set out for St. Augustine, FL, and by 3 PM we had set up camp at a beautiful forested site in the Anastasia State Park. It was pretty chilly but did we care? Not at all as we visited the usual tourist sights dressed in our winter coats. For dinner we found our way to “Salt Water Cowboy’s” in St. Augustine Beach where we enjoyed oysters on the half shell and Minorcan clam chowder with the locals.