Moving toward Winter Destination- Evening Surprise

(Summerton, SC) – I got up feeling fairly recovered from the head cold I had yesterday. I slept all night, so that helped.  If you have a cold take Airborne.  Seems to have worked for me.  I’m not perfect, but sure better then yesterday.

After our pre-departure routine we got underway at 8:50am, which is early for us.  However, we had a longer trip than normal for today so it was good to get on the road a little early.  The temperature was in the low 40’s, so we're glad to be heading south.  On the way south on I-95 you can’t miss the signs for South of the Border.  It's a big, Mexican-themed recreation/shopping area on the NC/SC border.

The trip was smooth.  The first half was on 4-lane U.S. routes, and the last half was on I-95.  We made our usual rest area stop for lunch, and pulled into Santee Lakes Campground in Summerton, SC around 3pm.  There are 200 sites, most of them pull through sites.  There are a lot of trees, and Jim had trouble finding a hole through the trees to pick up the satellite TV signal.  He finally succeeded, but he got only two of the three satellites, so some of the channels we usually watch in hi def will be in standard def.  Oh, woe is us!  :)  The park is right on Lake Marion.  We did a quick walk down to the lake and back. Tomorrow we’ll do some more scouting around.  This is a huge park and Lake Marion is also large.

Our site

Some of the sites around us.


The bathhouse is right in front of us

Going down by the lake, there’s several picnic areas

Nice pier and sitting areas

Looking from the pier looking toward the park manager's house

Looking back toward the picnic areas and campground

Great swimming area and beach




A lot of empty sites.

Most of the trees are pine trees, but there's also a lot of mossy oaks.

One of the great things about being full time is, you can experience local cultures during your travels.  The nice lady in the office told us about Lone Star BBQ, a unique barbecue buffet place about five miles away.  Two of our favorite words are barbecue and buffet.  We decided to check it out.  The place consists of four inter-connected wood buildings that were originally built in the 1800's as a general store.  The buffet line and souvenir shop are in the first building.  Dining tables and chairs are spread throughout the other buildings, along with lots of old items from times gone by.  It's almost like a museum.



The food was excellent.  Along with pulled pork barbecue, there was catfish stew, tomato pie, shrimp and grits, and various cobblers and puddings for dessert.  The shrimp and grits wasn’t half as good as Jim's mom's, but it was ok.

Here's some of the "stuff" that was on display throughout the place.
 


 

The biggest surprise of the evening was the chance to see some local entertainment.  The Claude Lucas Bluegrass Band played from 6:30 to 9:00, and were they ever good!  They played old fashioned fiddle and banjo bluegrass music. 

It was a small crowd, and we kind of felt like outsiders, but everyone was so friendly and made us feel very welcome, especially the owner/manager of the place.  He was really interested to hear about our full time lifestyle.  We can't remember when we've had a more enjoyable evening.  Another great day (and night) on the road. What a life!