We Have Arrived

We arrived safely at Safe Harbor Farm, an animal rescue farm on the northern fringe of Maysville, NC about 3:40PM. We will be here for the month of March. Today’s journey was 180 miles through the southern part of North Carolina. For the most part, the roads were pretty good. Most of the route was on NC State highways where speed limit was 55mph or less. As we were leaving South Carolina, we encountered signs advertising The South Of The Border. Looks like a interesting place that picked up on a fun theme.
   
We crossed into North Carolina, our last state, and found I-65 pleasantly smooth. Kudos to NC DOT. We left the interstate at Lumberton and headed out on NC-41 to Wallace. Enjoyed the ride through the country side. We stopped at The Kountry Kitchen for lunch and a break. Sometimes when we stop like this, it is a challenge finding a place to park our truck/trailer. This time it was easy since there was an empty used car lot next door.

After the break, we continued on NC-117 for a few miles, hopped on to I-40 for a few more miles, then turned on to NC-53 for a short trip to Jacksonville, NC. Jacksonville is home to the Marine Corps Camp LeJeune. Jacksonville is a nice size town that has a Walmart, and other cool places. I can only imagine how crazy it is here on weekends follow the 1st and 15th. We have been warned these stores will be packed on those weekends. From Jacksonville, we had 20 miles to travel on NC-17B. We are on the home stretch now. Then we finally saw the Maysville city limits sign. What a welcomed greeting.
   
The least turn was onto a road leading to a closed gate. Carol got out to open the gate. We were home at Safe Harbor Farm.
   
After closing the gate behind us, we stopped on the road and waited for Lynne, the shelter manager. She greeted us and and had us introduce the dogs to the property first. This also gave her a chance to see how our fur babies respond to us. While their behavior was not perfect, they did fine. Remember, they have been riding in the truck for 12 days. They are not allowed to mingle with the animals here (other than the cats who roam freely). So check out or new digs. Left of the spot where I took the head on shot of our parking space is the chicken coop. We were warned that the rooster cannot tell time. Left of the chicken coop is the cat center.

        

We took a quick trip to town for a bite to eat and found Pop’s Main Street Diner. They open late for serving lunch and dinner Monday – Wednesday, and early for breakfast and lunch Saturday – Sunday. Carol and I decided will be be back to this place frequently.
   
I looked through the simple menu and zoomed in on Liver/Onions added Mashed Potatoes and Pickled Beets. Dinner included a couple of scoops of ice cream. What could be more country then that.
   
Since Feb 17th, we have driven 2055 miles. In the next day or so, I will post our travel expense info. Meanwhile, I think we will go to bed early tonight. We will be here for the month of March. Then it will be a short two day trip to Blue Ridge, GA for our next assignment.

Thanks for stopping by.

Road From Hell

Today we thought we had smooth sailing. The plan was to take I-20 from Heritage RV Park in Augusta, GA to Florence RV Park in Florence, SC. A trip of 159 miles. This should be an easy route so I asked Carol if she would like to drive it. Nothing tricky, no small roads, no tight turns. Carol makes all the correct turns and we are now headed on I-20 into South Carolina. Looks pretty cool.

Then we get to the South Carolina state line. Our nice comfy trip turned into the road from hell. Carol described it as riding on a washboard. Think about driving on the highway, listening to the tires crossing over the transition joints. You know the sound. It almost sounds like a train on railroad tracks. In a Lincoln TownCar, you can hardly feel the tries crossing those joints. In a 1 ton truck pulling 15,000 ponds, not only do you hear the tires crossing the joints, you feel the tires crossing the joints. The feel is amplified by the weight of the trailer and the stiff suspension of the 1 ton truck. For 4 miles we had washboard road. I beseech the South Carolina DOT to change their sign at the state line to read something more appropriate such as “Welcome to South Carolina, The Rough Rider State”.

Fortunately after 4 miles, we were back on asphalt so the ride was much better. Just about the time I was ready to take a short cat nap as we were approaching Columbia, guess what showed up again. Good guess – more road from hell. By the time we got to Florence, we were both beat up. We arrived safely at Florence RV Park northwest of the city around 1:30. We were unhitched and set up in about 40 minutes. Now time for a rest.

     

I asked the office staff about a recommendation for dinner. We were looking for a place unique to Florence and South Carolina. The ladies thought for a moment and said, “Most of the folks here just go across the interstate to the Flying J.” I said thanks for the suggestion.

When I got back to our RV, I googled “good eats, florence sc”. From the links that came back, I found RedBone Alley. This is a unique restaurant in that the owner converted a J.C. Penney’s store in a mall into the restaurant. You can read about it on their website.

I planned to have photos of our dining experience but the camera battery apparently had its energy jolted lose on the trip today. I had CHICKEN PONTALBA, their “infamous” cheese grits loaded with spicy fried chicken, local sausage, mushrooms and Low Country hash brown potatoes. Carol had FETTUCCINE MOSAIC, hearty bowl of fettuccine Alfredo tossed with grilled shrimp and chicken topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a few green onions. Served with a side salad. YUMMY.

After dinner we fueled up at Walmart (3.85) plus bought a few groceries that will get us to the weekend. Tomorrow we will be at our March Workkamp gig – Safe Harbor Farm in Maysville, NC.

Thanks for stopping by.