We decided to not do much today - take a day to relax, catch up on our reading, prepare for tomorrows drive, etc., etc. By 3:30 PM it started to rain. And rain. And rain. And RAIN, big time!! It rained all night, sometimes heavy sometimes not so heavy. But it was pretty steady.
Monday the 6th
Woke up at 7:00 AM this morning. Punky was ready to go out. So I took care of my morning routine (got dressed, brushed my teeth and put the coffee on), put their leashes on and stepped out of the rig into sunshine! And it was already 70 degrees! After a nice long walk we came back to the coach, wiped all our feet off and fixed breakfast - kibbles for the kids and cereal for me. Tina was still sleeping so when the dogs finished their breakfast they went back into the bedroom and snoozed for another hour until Tina got up. After my sweetheart finished her breakfast (she switched from cereal to French Toast - I should have waited, heh, heh) we cleaned up, put things away, hooked up the car and set out for Charleston.
We got gas in the rig and after passing through Savannah we crossed the Savannah River into South Carolina on SR 17 north. Once we got on I-95 it was a pretty easy drive but there were lots of stretches where side gusts made for some excitement. Especially when being passed by a big semi. 124 miles and we pulled into the Lake Aire RV Park and Campground in Hollywood, just 6 miles south of Charleston. We got a very nice spot, set up and had lunch. Since the weather was nice we did some checking and decided to drive out to the other side of Charleston and visit Boone Hall Plantation (http://boonehallplantation.com/).
We left the rig around 2:00 PM and got to the plantation gates around 2:45 PM, bought our tickets and proceeded up the long tree shaded drive to the Hall. Parking over by the old Cotton Gin Mill building we walked over to the Guest Center and made a reservation to tour the Hall at 5:00 PM. This gave us a chance to tour the plantation by motor wagon. Originally created by a land grant of 200 acres from King Charles to Major John Boone, the plantation grew over the years to 4,200 acres. Focused at first on indigo, pecans and rice, they switched to cotton as soon as the cotton gin was available. With as many as 1,500 slaves at one point, the plantation was hugely profitable and remained in the family for five generations before being sold. Over time the property had several owners and several houses on the property. In 1935, the third house was torn down and the current structure was put up. The owner wanted to have a home representative of the 1860's more in line with what we think of as Tara. Today they grow strawberries, tomato's, melons, corn and several other crops, including Pecans.
After touring the plantation grounds we walked around the outside of the house, through the formal gardens, visited the house slave "Shacks" and down to the Boone Hall Reach which was the original highway to Charleston. When we toured the home we were only able to see the first floor because the second floor is still a residence. There are three rooms on the first floor - the library and sitting room which could also serve as a ball room (about 800 sq ft), the formal dining room (600 sq ft) and the game room (300 sq ft). There is a kitchen and bathroom but both are private so we didn't go in them. All the rooms are furnished with period pieces from England and France. Everything was very beautiful and nicely kept.By the time we got to the car it was almost 6:00 PM so we jumped on the by-pass freeway and drove around the north side of Charleston and back to camp. I walked the dogs while Tina got dinner ready. After dinner we planned out what we wanted to do over the next three days before moving on to Myrtle Beach.
Distance for this leg, 124 miles. Total for the trip so far, 5,991 miles.
To see all of today's photos, click on the following link:
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