5/3/06 – Wednesday: Today was a little too long. We got a late start because we explored Magnolia Springs State Park (where we spent the night). The park was the site of a Confederate prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. The spring was rather small, but very pretty. It bubbled up out of a deep hole in a sandy bottom. There were LOTS of turtles (at least 15-20 at a time popped up everywhere you got close to the edge). We also saw some large bream (fish). We also visited the Bo Ginn Aquatic Education Center. Admission was included in the camping fee.

We finally left around 10:00 AM. We planned to stop somewhere for breakfast. Big mistake. We didn’t find a restaurant until noon—and we were very hungry and more than a little cranky by then. The roads in SC were pretty bad. We started out on US 1, which had been so beautiful through GA. It was bumpy and had a good bit of traffic. At one point, there was a low bridge sign (12’ 8”). I didn’t pay attention to it until we were almost under it. I slowed way down, but it was too late to stop (cars behind me). Just as the hood of the truck went under the bridge, I looked up and saw gouges in the underside where others had scraped. Whew!! Now I know that we’re shorter than 12’ 8”!

There were quite a few Revolutionary War sites in SC. We especially enjoyed passing through Camden, where there were some historic homes. The little town of Patrick was surrounded by large tracts of pine trees. We didn’t notice any lumbering going on, which seemed odd since the trees were planted in rows. Then we saw the sign for the pine straw festival on the town hall. We started noticing that the ground under all the pine trees was raked completely bare!

Just before Columbia, we cut over (a long way) to I-95. It was also in bad shape, and it had lots of fast moving traffic and trucks. We wanted to get at least as far Raleigh so that we could meet my cousin, Art, and his wife, Ginny, for lunch in the Richmond area on Thursday. We finally pulled into a KOA campground at 8:45 PM (about 10 hours with me behind the wheel). We won’t put in such long days in the future.

After we set up, we headed immediately for a BBQ joint the campground host told us about. We were their last customers of the day. I enjoyed a BBQ pork sandwich (I almost never eat pork, but when in SC, do as the S Carolinians do)—delicious!

Even though it was late, I decided to journal the day for the blog. I got carried away, downloading the pictures from my camera and adding them and going into great detail about the day. I clicked on “post,” and then went to view the site. Nothing! Over an hour’s work, and it was not updated. From now on, I’m journaling first in MS Word and saving it. Then I’ll copy it to the website.