We left our campground near Charleston last Saturday and drove about three hours to our next site. This time it was the Little Pee Dee State Park. We knew that it was a little out-of-the-way park, located in rural part of South Carolina’s piedmont, just south of the North Carolina border. However, we did not realize how remote it was until we had set up camp. At that time, we found that we had no reliable Internet, no cell phone coverage, no access to any “local” TV channels, and due to the dense forest that we were located in, no clear line of sight to any TV satellites. Basically, we were cutting off from communicating with the rest of the world.
For us, it was not much of a big deal, since we had lived for 10 years on our sailboat without TV and during ocean passages did not have great commination options. When we started out sailing, we could download our emails and weather reports using our SSB (single side-band) radio as a modem that connected to a land-based computer network around the world but it was very s-l-o-w and connecting to the computer network was at the discretion of solar flares and atmospheric interferences. By the time we finished sailing last year, things had improved with a satellite-based system of communications called Iridium but, compared to what one has on land, it is rather limiting. With that background, you may have a better understanding as to why we felt like we were, once again, back on our boat in regards to communicating with the world.
We were disappointed that we had no reliable communication options simply because Sunday was Mother’s Day and Mary Margaret could not talk with our three kids as they each tried to reach out to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. We knew they each reached out because every now and again, we would be able to hookup to the Internet through some spurious signal that flickered one bar of strength on our Internet meter. Whenever that happened, we checked our emails and messages and sometimes they would download. I was even able to post a blog post that I had written right before leaving Charleston but had run out of time to post before we left.
Little Pee Dee State Park was a nice enough park with about 50 dirt sites. Each had a 30 Amp hookup and water, so that was great. During the days we were there, the afternoon temperatures got into the 90’s therefore, it was wonderful being able to run LeuC’s 3 A/Cs.
The park’s local claim to fame was the little lake that it bordered on, being created by an earthen dam and small concrete spillway. However, last year Hurricane Mathew dumped so much rain in this area that the lake overflowed the dam and washed a section of it out. This drained the lake and created a weedy, mucky meadow instead. Thus, the fishing and swimming that the locals loved, was no longer possible. Plus, the scenic beauty of a lake on the shores of this park was gone. Sigh! On a positive note, the ranger shared with us that the dam will be reconstructed sometime this year and by this time next year, the lake will be restored.
The Dry Spillway And The Break In The Earthen Dam
Two Little Guys Who Were Fishing In The Remnants Of The Little Lake
The Mucky Meadow Where The Lake Used To Be
What View This Would Have Been A Year Ago!
A Petrified Tree Trunk. Go Figure!
Besides taking walks, playing cards, reading, listening to music and enjoying a late afternoon fire, there really was not much to do. Thus, we just kicked back and relaxed. It was nice to rest up a bit after running around the Charleston area, catching as many of the sights we had time for.
As I write this blog, we are now safely set up in the Falling Lake State Recreational Area, near Wake Forest, North Carolina. We left our Little Pee Dee State Park campground this morning and drove another 3.5 hours north. We have not yet explored it so I do not have any photos of this park to share. Instead, I will post a couple of photos of Little Pee Dee State Park. In a separate blog, I will finally post the photos I took while exploring Charleston’s historic district and our afternoon stroll along the Folly Island County Park beach.
Going Down The Road With The Leu's 