Summer 2009

This was one of the easiest runs of the entire trip. We left Asheville a little after 7am. A mile and a half later we were southbound on I-26. The route takes us through the three topographical regions of South Carolina. The regions are the mountains in the northwest, the Piedmont Plateau in the mid state region and finally the Tidewater. Each one has different driving conditions. From Asheville until we got to around Spartanburg, SC we were in the mountains, with some serious grades and curves. Fortunately that is only a small part of the run. From Spartanburg until we got to a point a little west of I-95 and Florence, we were in the Piedmont Plateau with its rolling countryside. The Tidewater extends to the Atlantic and is fairly flat with numerous rivers and wetlands. We got to the Lakewood Camping resort around 12:30pm.

We did have one little scare on the run... we thought we were going to get to the bottom of the fuel tank before we found a service station that sold diesel. I usually start looking for fuel when the tank has six gallons of fuel left. That point was reached just as we got off I-20 and onto local roads in Florence. I thought that Florence, being one of the major towns along I-95, would have many service stations that carry diesel. We were down to about three and a half gallons when we finally found a station that had diesel. Better yet, the price was one of the lowest we had seen in the area. This little scare (we get at least one on every trip) is not as serious as it seems. We carry a spare five gallon container of diesel and I was planning to stop when we had three gallons remaining and pour the contents of the container into the tank. I carry the spare container as insurance. However, just like insurance, I feel comfortable that I have it but would rather not use it.

Lakewood Camping Resort is a very large campground with at least 1500 sites. Some of these sites are permanently occupied with what are called Park Models. These are units that are not intended to be moved from place to place like recreational vehicles. The owners of these units have made additions that give them additional living room. They make improvements on the sites, which are approximately 20 by 50 feet in size, by planting trees and shrubs. Most of the other sites are occupied by transients like us. We had been here a number of times when the kids were younger and always liked the easy access to the beach and other amenities available in the campground. Our site is approximately 200 yards from the beach. The campground has an indoor swimming pool, an outdoor pool and, of course, the beach. There are snack bars, pizza delivery to the site and other services that make this like a small town. The only amenity not available is WiFi throughout the campground... It is only available in the Cafe and in the first few rows of sites nearest to it. I'm using my phone and Broadband connection to upload this day's page.

The last time we were in Lakewood was in 1990, a year after Hurricane Hugo devastated the area. The storm surge at this point was over 15 feet high and wiped out most of the permanent sites that were closest to the beach and seriously damaged others. The indoor pool lost the building enclosing it and was full of sand. I was in the area on business a week after Hugo came through and saw serious damage from that storm from the coast to about 200 miles inland. A year after the storm, the indoor pool was an outdoor pool (it is enclosed now) and they were still repairing storm damage. Today you wouldn't know that such a disaster had occurred in this place. I can tell you one thing, if I heard there was a storm that had a 10% chance of hitting this part of the coast, you will find me heading inland in a hurry.