Day 1 Tuesday February 17, 2026
We have not used the motorhome since November 2025 and we don’t like for it to set unused for several months. We believe if vehicles are not used regularly things tend to not work properly. So we planned a short four day pre-Spring trip to take a break from our normal Winter routine and exercise the motorhome systems.
We departed about 11:30 for Hammocks Beach State Park Campground In Swansboro NC which is only about 45 miles from home. This is a new state park campground with 23 campsites. 15 of the sites are full hookup, the others have no hookups except water hydrants are scattered among the sites. There is also a really nice baththouse and 4 cabins. The sites are all large, have a large setting area/tent pad, picnic table and fire ring and the parking pad and setting area is covered in nice small pea gravel. We drove through it a few months ago when we were in the area.
We arrived about 1PM and setup in site 42. We should have paid more attention to the sites when we drove through the campground a few months ago. We knew even before we setup that the parking pad for our site was not level but we put down our wheel ramps for the rear wheels and managed to get the motorhome almost level. It was almost 10” lower in the rear of the site than the front.
After getting all the utilities hooked up, I setup our new Starlink Internet Satellite device(Starlink Mini). This will be our first time using it while on a trip. I had it setup at home on the building where we store the motorhome and have been using it to provide WiFi for the motorhome so I could remotely monitor the temperature, control the thermostats and monitor the power in the motorhome.
The device is really simple to setup. It took me about 5 minutes to set it up. I mount it on an old camera tripod I had, set it outside the motorhome, plug in the power cable and use the Starlink App to align the device with the Starlink satellites. Later I setup one of the TVs in the motorhome to use the Starlink WiFi via our ROKU device. This is the first time we have used the Starlink WiFi for TV service so we weren’t sure how good it was going to work. We don’t usually watch much TV when we travel but sometimes we do. The system we had been using for WiFi depended on a cell signal from the nearest cell tower and we were not getting very good service from it and it cost almost three times more per month.
Then we had some lunch, took a walk around the campground to take a good look at the other sites for future reference in case we come back. The campground hosts are off today and tomorrow so we had to go to the Visitors Center to checkin and get our windshield site card for our Jeep.
We needed some fruit for our breakfast so we drove about 2 miles to Walmart before returning to the campground and enjoying the peace and quiet. There are only 5 RVs in the campground tonight.
Day 2 Wednesday February 18, 2026
After a hearty breakfast we drove to the Croatan National Forest in Cedar Point to walk the Cedar Point Tideland Trail. We have camped in the campground here many times and have walked the trail numerous times also but not recently. The trail is built with elevated walkways in several places so you can walk over the tidelands which are wet. This morning the tide was up so we didn’t get to see the usual little creatures that live in the marshes along the trail. The complete trail is one mile long if you take the outer loop and don’t take the short cuts.
It was a nice walk so we decided to treat ourselves with a Latte and one donut each at Dunkin Donuts in Cedar Point on the return to our campground.
I had to make a quick stop at ACE Hardware in Swansboro for a few screws for my woodworking shop. Then we returned to the campground.
We had 5 campers again tonight in the campground. This is a really nice campground, very clean, large campsites and paved streets . Our only complaint is that sites 41, 42 and 43 are 10” or more out of level.
Day 3 Thursday February 19, 2026
After breakfast we drove to Harbor Freight in Jacksonville so I could buy a couple of small power tools for my woodworking shop. I had a few dollars from Christmas gifts that was burning a hole in my pocket.
Then we returned to the campground so I could work on the ice maker in our freezer. It is not making ice. I thought the problem was that the water inlet was iced over and I was correct. We got it thawed out and for now it is working.
We drove to Cedar Point which is just across the White Oak River past Swansboro for some seafood at Bogue House Restaurant. We have ate here a couple of times and it is always good. It is not a fancy place but clean, quick service and good seafood.
On the way back to the campground we stopped at Bicentennial Park on the banks of the White Oak River in Swansboro to take a walk and take a few pictures. It is amazing to us how much Swansboro has grown since we retired in 2002 and drove through here. And it is still growing.
We relaxed and did some reading until about sunset when we walked out to the waters edge to get some sunset photos over the river. The wind coming off the water was rather chilly but we stayed until almost dark to get some sunset photos, but nothing spectacular but still pretty.
Day 4 Friday February 20, 2026
We were lazy this morning and decided to go to a coffee shop for a latte and sweet roll. The first one we stopped at didn’t have much of a selection so we went to Sweeter Things Bakery Cafe. We have been here once before. They had a good selection so we got a cinnamon bun and a cream cheese pastry and lattes.
We had to make another stop at Walmart for some fruit and something to take to Church Sunday for our lunch after service at the Church.
We have had good weather all week and today we had the most sunshine except for about 15 minutes of rain midafternoon.
Day 5 Saturday February 21, 2026
We had a light rain again this morning just before daybreak.
After breakfast we packed up and headed home about 10AM and arrived about 11AM unhooked the Jeep from the motorhome and then got the motorhome stuck in the yard beside our RV Barn. There was a lot more rain here the last few days and the yard got wet and soft.
This is the first time we have ever got the motorhome stuck. It has a powerful 450 horsepower engine but it is also very heavy, 37,000+ pounds but the tires are not for driving in mud or snow. I connected it to the power plug beside the RV Barn that our Boondockers Welcome guest use. That will provide enough electricity to keep the batteries charged and the refrigerator running until I can get the motorhome pulled out. I will let the ground dry for 2-3 days and then pull it out with the tractor.
