Down to Savanna, GA

On May 15 we drove to North Carolina State Fairgrounds Campground (that’s a mouthful) in Raleigh, NC. The campground itself was not much to talk about; close RV sites with no amenities. The sites were mostly dirt (soft mud due to rain) and we were not able to level our RV properly, we eventually called management and got another site assigned. Altogether we spent 2 hours getting everything set up properly (leveling, connecting hookups, etc.). The next day we rode our bikes to the JC Raulston Arboretum, which is associated with NC State University and focuses on research of plants that grow well with no chemicals. We saw many varieties of different plants and learned a bit about bees. While the well known honey bee is highly social, most bees are not and live independently. They had an “Air Bee and Bee” case where a bee could make its own home. Interesting the bees that were flying around the structure looked like wasps to me. Makes me wonder how many times I see a bee and think it’s a wasp. For lunch we rode to Pam’s Farmhouse Restaurant, serving fresh local food. It was good southern cooking. The next day we met Kevin’s past co-worker Mark, and his wife Debra, for a drink at Lola’s Beach Bar and dinner at Hayes Barton Cafe. Hayes was at one time a pharmacy and the interior has been left similar to what is was originally. It’s known for its pies and cakes that sell for $14/slice or $140/cake. The food was excellent. We did not indulge in dessert but Kevin did get a slice of Key Lime Pie to go.
On May 18th we drove to Outdoor Inn in Santee, SC. It’s a cute spot owned by a young family. They have 60 acres which most of it is still woods. Three acres are the RV spots, farm animals (cows, goats, sheep, chickens and 1 donkey)
and a garden. They have carved out a mile and half trail through the woods where you will also find 3 very large pigs and male cows/steer. They plan to continue developing it, with the intention of keeping it secluded. The downside is there were a lot of little flies, they didn’t bite but were annoying. When we arrived here we could not get the power to stay connected. At first we assumed it was the shore power since we had power that morning before leaving the Fairgrounds. The RV park owner said the RV in our site that morning had shore power. 🤔 Kevin checked a few wires and found a loose one; driving the RV is like putting it through an earthquake. With that problem fixed we went to put the tilt bed down. No movement, no motor sound, zilch, dead. Kevin checked the breaker. Nada. Looked for all other breakers he could find to no avail. We slept on the drop down bed in the main cabin (aka guest bed). The next day he did his usual internet research, posted on the Thor group facebook page, removed part of the bed frame looking for a fuse and talked to Thor customer service. Thor talked him through how to replace the switch to the motor and one guy person posted in FB to try turning off the battery switches, which was an interesting suggestion since we just changed 2 batteries and may be related like the “DEF” service light issue? That made us nervous. Since we were moving in the morning we decided to wait and possibly get more clarification. Spent another night on the guest bed.
The next morning I brought carrots, celery and lettuce to feed the animals. Carrots were their favorite, 1 or 2 goats ate the celery, chickens ate the lettuce and the donkey ate everything!
When I went back to purchase baked goods from the little self- service farm stand the donkey yelled for more food! We left around 10:00 a.m. to go to Savannah and stopped at the first rest area to check that the car was towing properly behind as we’re still figuring out how to use the brake buddy. Shortly after getting back on the road I heard a loud bang and asked if the RV storage doors were all locked, Kevin confirmed they were and not flying open in the side view mirror. I mentioned the loud bang and Kevin thought maybe something got tossed in the “garage”. I was concerned and should have insisted that we pull over. Shortly after exiting the highway to the RV park near Savannah cars start honking at us. We pulled into an O’Reilly parking lot to discover a tire on the Honda was completely shredded 😬. Kevin put the spare on and drove 8 miles to Discount Tire while I stayed with the RV. Two and a half hours later we were back on the road to Red Gate Farms - RV Resort, about 10 minutes away, where we stayed for 2 nights. It’s a lovely venue with farm animals, a salt water pool, and social events. We went to a social hour and met some friendly couples, one of whom also knew the boating life.
We went into the city of Savannah and walked around the historic district. We stopped at a Tasting Room where I did tastings of Georgia wines while Kevin had a beer, I was impressed, they all were very good. Then we toured The Prohibition Museum, touted to be the only such museum. The first prohibition started in 1735 with King George II declaring that Savannah was corrupt with alcohol and banned it (per the request of General James Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia). At some point Americans revived alcohol and it was banned again in 1908 during the 20th century prohibition campaign. There were a lot of interesting displays plus a Speakeasy, which we did not go to, surprise, surprise!もっと詳しく