March-April 2014 Trip Leg 3

Thursday 3/20/14 We departed the Rally grounds at 9:30 AM and arrived at the state park about 2PM and set up on site 1 in loop 1 after checking in at the office. Our site is on the banks of Lake Hartwell, a very large lake with a great view. To bad I don’t have a kayak.

Friday 3/21/14 We drove into Anderson SC to Cracker Barrel for a great breakfast followed by a stop at a McDonalds to use their free WiFi. Next was a stop at a car wash to get the road grime off the “toad” followed by a stop at an auto parts store to get some 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Then we stopped at Walmart to stock up on groceries before returning to the CG. One of the tips I learned at the FMCA rally was using 2000 grit sandpaper to bring back the clarity in the headlight lenses when they begin to fog. The lenses on the “toad” were getting fairly bad. After 30 minutes of sanding on each lenses they looked much better but were still a little hazy. I then decided to polish them with 303 and then they were almost as clear as new.  I did the same on the lenses for the MH. I think I will contact the lady that put on the seminar that discussed using the sandpaper and tell her about also using 303 as a final step. The remainder of the afternoon was spent reading and relaxing.

03/22/14 Saturday After breakfast we took the trash and rode our bicycles 1.5 miles to the trash dumpsters. We rode our bicycles 4 miles before returning to our campsite. I think this is the only CG we have ever stayed where there was not either a container in the CG to place your trash or it was picked up near your site. What even makes this even stranger is there is a cleaning crew that comes every morning about 8:30 to clean the bathhouses and they are driving a pickup truck, so why couldn’t they also collect the trash form a trash container. We read and relaxed until it was time to cook supper. I cooked chicken in my Dutch Oven. Wow was it tender. After eating I built a campfire and we enjoyed it for awhile.

03/23/14 Sunday Lena make blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Mummm good. Today we read, relaxed and watched the NASCAR race. The CG loop we are in was full all weekend but by nightfall everyone has departed except one other and us.

03/24/14 Monday Let me vent just a little. There was a couple of ladies (I guess) and one young boy that setup a tent Friday afternoon in the site next to us. They had never set up their tent before arriving and it took over an hour to set it up while they read the instructions. That is not my reason for the venting. After nightfall Sunday night they packed up and departed. When we looked out this morning they had left all their weekend trash in the fire ring along with a number of burnt soft drink cans and aluminum foil and some of their trash was scattered around the campsite. This sure was not a good teaching lesson for the young boy that was one of the “ladies” son. Leaving your trash on your campsite is just one of my pet peeves. I just see it as lazy and inconsiderate. I believe you should leave your campsite as clean or cleaner than you found it.

We drove to the nearby Lake Hartwell Dam to get a better look at it and get some photos. The lake has 56,000 acres of surface water. Then we drove into Anderson to get some groceries and find a WiFi site. When we returned the other camper had departed so we have the entire 16 site loop to ourselves.

03/25/14 Tuesday Lena wanted to go to IHOP to try their Crème Filled Crepes for breakfast so we drove into Anderson. After eating we went to The UPS Store to ship our GPS to Rand McNally. They said they would repair it or replace it even though it was a year out of warranty and they paid for the shipping. Shortly after returning to the CG the wind really whipped up blowing in the 24 degree weather that is coming tonight. I had to take up everything outside to keep the wind from blowing it away. The weather report indicated winds over 30MPH and since we were sitting beside a large lake we were getting the wind full force coming across the lake. There were whitecaps all over the lake.

03/25/14 Wednesday A quite day with sunshine, no wind and a very calm lake.

03/26/14 Thursday We broke camp at 9:30AM and drove to the dump station. It is difficult to get into the dump station with a 40’ MH the way they have it laid out and I can’t even imagine how a 5th wheel or travel trailer would do it coming from anything other than loop 2 or 3. Needless to say we don’t plan to return to the CG. It has potential but I doubt the state will put any money in it to realize that potential.