Hollywood

Yep, we are in Hollywood and checking the area out.  Hollywood, SC that is!  Actually, we drove the car to Summerville today looking at homes in a Del Webb community.  We aren't looking to buy a home soon, but wanted to see what it was like in this area.  The community is way out in the boondocks among all the pine trees.  We were surprised how far the development was from any shopping centers, until we saw a new Publix grocery store nearby.  

We weren't impressed with the homes that we saw and liked the ones in Tucson much more.  The clubhouse was huge and they had nice tennis courts, pickleball courts, swimming pools and other nice features, but the homes were made out of wood framing and vinyl siding.  The lawns were very small and all the garages face the street.  Overall, were weren't impressed with the place.

There was a new high school at the entrance to the community and it was huge.  It was almost 3 blocks long and looked more like a small college than a high school.  I don't know how many students they have there, but they must bus them in from all over the county.

We stopped at a Gilligans seafood restaurant on the way back to the campground and had a nice meal.  Gerry had a shrimp pasta dish that she said was very good and I had a Panka? fish grilled.  It was tasty, but it seemed a little mushy to me.  I didn't get sick, so I assume that was the way it was supposed to be.  I don't think I would order it again, but maybe it will grow on me.

Our Tom Tom GPS power charger bit the dust and the battery went completely dead.  Best Buy had a 12V carphone charger with a USB option and we plugged the GPS in but nothing happened. The phone was also plugged in and it seems that only one device can be charged at a time.  Once the phone was fully charged, then the GPS started charging.  That was a relief to us since we depend on the GPS quite a bit in our travels.  It came in handy returning to the campground since we avoided the traffic around Charleston and had the backroads to ourselves almost all the way back.

We are camped at Passport America campground called LakeAire RV Park and Campground in Hollywood, FL.  The entrance way and roads in the campground are full of small potholes, but aren't a problem if you drive slowly.  It seems to be typical of campground like this in that there are a number of units that are being lived in fulltime and look a little shabby, while others are nicer.  They do have a pool and a fishing lake and the sites are a nice size.  We have put this on our list of places to stay while we are in the area.

BTW:  I only got three guesses where we are at the present time.  Two were close and the other not so close.  Ravenel bridge crosses the harbor in Charleston and just opened a few years ago.  The USS Yorktown is docked in the harbor and is no longer in service. 

Charleston, SC

We finally made it to downtown Charleston today and checked it out.  Our last visit to Charleston was in 2005 and we spent the better part of 3 days exploring the city.  They have some of the most beautiful old houses down by the Battery that we have ever seen.  Large 2-3 story homes that would look like mansions anywhere else in the US. 

We also drove over the Ravenel Bridge over Charleston Harbor we visited the Submarine Memorial and took some pictures of the USS Yorktown CV10 which is now a memorial in the harbor.  The Yorktown was used in Anti-Submarine Warfare exercises in the 60s and early 70s when I worked at the Naval Anti Submarine Warfare Data Center.  It was an interesting time to be working in that era due to the cold war and rapid advances being made in ASW equipment and tactics.

We went to the Pink House Gallery to see what it looked like.  It is a very old and historic building and one of the oldest buildings in the US.

The Pink House 

We stopped at the Charleston Crab House for dinner and had super meals and service.  The Crab House is located on water next to a bridge and we sat outside to enjoy the weather and view.   I had an excellent Grouper sandwich and Gerry had Coconut shrimp which she loved.  The Crab House was featured on a "Flip This House" TV program in 2006 and the results were very nice.  I don't know what it looked like before but it is great now.

Charleston, SC

We woke up early today and started getting the MH ready to hit the road once again.  Larry Jr. and Grant came out to the MH and we had breakfast with them and chatted for a while.  A long while.  We got out of there around 1:30pm and pointed the MH towards Charleston, SC.

The traffic on I-77 and I-26 was much heavier than I remembered it being.  I-26 was especially bad with long long line of vehicles on the road.  I only drive about 63mph so I think I held up some people, but that is life.

There was an accident just outside of Charleston and we had managed to pull off into the Rest Area to log onto the GPS system on the computer.  Good timing.  We sat there about 25 minutes and then traffic seemed to start moving again.  They must have cleared the accident very fast and we continued on to the campground.

We are staying at James Island County Park in a very nice campground.  The reservation was made last week and we got one of the last sites available for this weekend.  Lots of small children on bikes all over the place.  The parents seem to drop them off on the roads and bike paths and let them go.  I guess that is the way it goes today with parents and children.

We plan on checking out the sights here and enjoy some of the great southern cooking down here for our 5 day stay.  Stay tuned for some neat photos and stories.