(Apologies for the disappearance off the face of the earth for a while, most of our online time in the States was spent trying to flog the RV so the blog fell away a bit. As always, the photos have been updated before the blog has caught up. I plan on getting the blog back up to date by the end of the week. In the meantime, Mark's photos can be viewed here and you'll find Emer's here)
It was pretty surreal walking around seeing all the workers in period clothing all going about their business. It was late afternoon at this stage so some of the trades were closing and it was $35 each to get tickets to go in and see them so we just strolled down the main street looking at the various buildings and people in costume. We went into a couple of shops and a tavern for some ice-cream before continuing our walk around and eventually out of the preserved area. We got a shuttle bus back to the parking area and fired up the RV again. Back onto I-95 southbound and we stopped at another rest area just over the North Carolina border.
It rained through the night but the duct tape held up for the most part and the only water thatgot in was in the shower so that was fine. We headed into the welcome centre and got details on good BBQ in the area - something the Carolina's are famous for and we had beeen told to get some once we crossed the border. The very helpful lady at the desk gave us a list of restaurants and recommended the best ones in her opinion. Emer really wanted ribs but was informed that's not the style in the Carolina's - it's all pork and chicken. We chose Parker's which was a couple of hours drive away so we stuck it in the Sat Nav and headed on our merry ways. We arrived around lunchtime and found the parking lot to be busy which was a good sign. There were tons of reviews in the lobby as we went in and one of them rated it as one of the top ten road side restaurants in the whole of the States so we were quite hopeful going in.
And we weren't disappointed. We both went for the combo which contained a portion of pulled pork, a BBQ chicken breast and wing and two sides. Being Irish, we both went for fries and boiled spuds. The meat was tender and tasty and the potatoes full of flavour. We were both stuffed when we were finished and the bill came to less than $15 which was incredible value in my opinion. It was strange to find people smoking in the restaurant but it happened towards the end of our meal so it didn't bother us too much. With full bellies we continued south towards Charleston, another colonial town retaining alot of the character from the area. However, there was still a fair bit of driving to do so we decided to go to the cinema in the outskirts of Charleston so we would get to see the city during daylight. We found an 18 screener about 10 miles from downtown so we stuck it in the Sat Nava and headed there.
We made it to the cineam at around 9pm and went up to buy tickets. There was a mother dressed for a nightclub with her young daughter ahead of us who bought tickets for the 9.20 showing of Harry Potter. Eager to avoid a repeat of Up we got tickets for the 9.50 showing so we headed back to the RV to write our diaries and wait for the show the start. Unfortunately there was a couple sitting right behind us who only seemed to want to chat which was annoying as we both wanted to see the film. Emer got up and told them to be quiet which seemed to surprise them. They shut up for a while, started whispering and then got up and moved over to the corner pretty much out of earshot so it was grand. The film was good - Emer enjoyed it more than I did but I have read the books. I don't want to go into it incase there are peoople who haven't see it yet. We decided to stay in the car park for the night which worked out fine as we weren't bothered until the construction crew started up in the morning.
We got up and drove downtown where we searched for free parking around the visitor centre. We weren't successful but the visitor centre had all day RV parking for a tenner which was reasonable. We parked there, grabbed a bite to eat in the RV and then headed into the air conditioned visitor centre where we cooled down and got some information on the historic downtown area and what to see. We chose a route to bring us to a good portion of the city. First stop was the Fort Sumter Ferry Terminal by the water (obviously) - the ferries bring you out to Fort Sumter where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. We were both quite underwhelmed by the area and had no intention of getting the ferry out so we headed on. We continued along the water down to the Battery where we found the part of the city we wanted to see. All the massive plantation houses from the colonial times are retained and in pristine order which makes for an amazing walk along the waterfront.
Back in the day houses were taxed on road frontage so most of the houses are quite narrow but really long. On top of this they all have full length balconies on each floor to give them the unique and iconic look of the colonial and plantation era. Obviously some of the houses are bigger than others but each of them are stunning and full of character. We continued around the waterfront and up Meeting Street where the majority of the stunning houses are and it really was an enjoyable walk. We stopped about halfway along the street where Emer bought a dress and then we went for somemore BBQ, this time in Sticky Fingers. They are a series of BBQ restaurant in the deep south and we shared a rack of ribs which were amazing. They have 5 different sauces to choose from and even ship around the world. We took details and fully intend on getting some wherever we end of having a fixed address for a while. Along the way back to the RV we walked along King Street which is the main shopping street while still retaining the character of the times. My camera battery ran out along the way so Emer hung out in the RV while I went back to take some photos. We booked into an RV park for the following day but had one night to sleep somewhere so we found a Wal-Mart less than 15 miles away and stayed there so that we could pick up supplies the following morning and get there early. Wal-Mart's stay open 24 hours and have absolutely massive car parks, at least 50% of which is empty the whole time. We parked over in the corner and weren't bothered at all.
The next day we got up, got some supplies and then headed to the RV park where we arrived around midday. We parked in our spot and had trouble getting online which was kind of a blessing in disguise as we just went into the office/cafe and got online in there. South Carolina is absolutely roasting this time of year and since our A/C is broken the RV is horrible to be in when there is no air moving through it. We caught up with e-mails and started looking into flogging it in Florida but since they closed at 10 we didn't get too far into that. We chilled out for the day, had BBQ for dinner and the last of the jars of peaches from Chicago for dessert. The following morning Emer got up earlier than me to go online and do her stuff. I checked my emails and cleared out the RV tanks before hitting the road just after midday.
Our final stop before hitting Florida was Savannah in Georgia, another of the fantastic preserved cities from the 1700's. We arrived around lunchtime and parked in the visitor centre which was only $1 an hour which we were both quite happy about. Again we went into the visitor centre to cool down and get some information about downtown. Savannah was the first planned city in the States and still retains 21 of the 24 parks that were dotted around the city and have the roads built around them. There are trees all along the main streets and in all the parks and the buildings look really well against that backdrop. We strolled around to some of the squares, including the one where Forrest Gump sits down on the bench and eats his chocolates ("My Mom always told me that life is like a box of chocolates"). We headed down to the waterfront and along all the converted cotton factories before heading back to the RV and hitting the road south in the evening. Again, we stopped at a rest area on I-95 just over the state boundary - this time in Florida where the final leg of our road trip begins.....
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