Year 2 Days 136 and 137 Falls Lake Recreational Area, Wake Forest, NC

 

Yesterday, we continued our leisurely journey up the southeastern seaboard as we drove another 3.5 hours from our campground in rural South Carolina to our new campground near Wake Forest, North Carolina.  Driving along the rural roads of South Carolina was, at times, a bit of a challenge because the lanes were very narrow, there were no shoulders along the lanes and the trees draped over the road, hanging lower than LeuC’s height.  Thus, to avoid hitting limbs and leaves, we had to drive down the middle of the road.  That worked great as long as we were on a straightaway and no other vehicles were coming toward us.  However, whenever we approached a curve or we could see a car or truck driving toward us, we had to return to our side of the road and slow down to let that vehicle pass us before the next limb arrived to knock our bus.  This went on for about 30 miles, until we reached the entrance ramp of the I-95 freeway.

The rest of the drive was easy-peasy even though we had to drive through a couple of areas with construction and the traffic was remarkably heavy for a Tuesday.

 

We arrived at the Rolling View Campground, which sits on a peninsula that juts out into Falls Lake.  It is one of a number of campgrounds within the Falls Lake Recreational Area that is located between Wake Forest and Durham, North Carolina.  It is another very nice park and we are nestled in a wonderful site, deep in the middle of an oak and pine forest.

 

Today, we decided to mostly hunker down as a massive front is slowly moving over us, dropping huge amounts of rain.  We were able to sneak out for lunch before the rain hit, using our little Fiat to drive over to Durham where The Pit restaurant is located.  Our son, David Paul, had suggested that we just had to sample some Carolina BBQ before we left the Southeast.  Thus, we bellied up and I ordered some smoked ribs covered in a sweet BBQ sauce.  The ribs were good but a little dry for my taste since they are cooked overnight in a low temperature smoker.  They were smoky good but I prefer my ribs on the moist side.  What was excellent was the Brunswick stew that was served as one of the side dishes.  The last time we had Brunswick stew was over 40 years ago and we had forgotten how tasty it was. The hush puppies and mac and cheese were also excellent.  Mary Margaret had a delicious plate of fried chicken strips that were crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside.  It was all washed down with a local draft brewed red ale.  Yum!

 

We rolled out of The Pit and barely made it back to LeuC before the rain started.  I was fortunate to have the rain stop for a couple of hours as the sun set which allowed me to start a campfire and enjoy my nightly Cuban and a dram of Scotch while some wonderful classical music played on my cell phone. 

 

We will be here for 4 nights before moving on to Jamestown, Virginia.  Live is good!