Myrtle Beach, North Carolina

It was dark when we arrived at the KOA last night, so all we saw of Myrtle Beach were the golf courses and restaurants along the road on the drive in. Sometime in the middle of the night it started to rain, and when it rains in South Carolina, it pours! The main storm hit around 3AM. While lying in bed just before 6, I had the sensation that little drops of water were hitting the bottom of face. After convincing myself this was impossible, since gravity insures that water would fall down and strike the top of my face, I started wondering if Teressa was flicking something at me as a joke. I put my hand on the mattress between our pillows and found it was soaked. We sprang out of bed to find water dripping down the cabinet at the front of the bed. In looking at the roof of the RV as daybreak broke this morning, all I can figure is there must be a crack in the seal right along the top front. One more project for when we get to Orlando and it dries out.

After the rains stopped around 7:30, I took Rocky for his morning walk. There were puddles of water everywhere, and to Rocky’s delight, squirrels! We treed five of them before we were even 100 feet from the trailer (see the picture of our squirrel hunter on guard duty). The day was looking up! As we rounded the lake on the other side of the RV park, it sounded like a semi was approaching from the southwest. The semi turned out to be another tropical cloudburst. Initially we laughed as the warm rain drenched our bodies. Then Rocky started to whimper – either a flashback to when he was a stray, or stirrings of more recent memories at the groomer. Just as quickly as it started, it stopped, and we meandered back to the trailer. I’m sure the squirrels were laughing at him from the trees, as he now looked more like a drowned rat than a fierce Pomeranian.

When everyone was up and showered we jumped in the truck and went to a local pancake house for breakfast. I ordered grits so everyone could try them. Brian and Laura think it will also be the last time they ever try them. They don’t taste bad, in fact they don’t taste like much of anything, it’s more the consistency that is offensive. The rest of the food was excellent, and the waitress showered us with genuine southern hospitality which really impressed the kids. “She is like our new best friend”, Laura declared.

After filling the truck with diesel, we parked along the main drag in Myrtle Beach and walked down to the public beach access just as the clouds were breaking up. We understand that Myrtle Beach is a twenty mile long strip of sand, although we could only see a mile or so in either direction. Hotels, condos and restaurants line the entire length of the beach. The kids were thrilled to find a wide assortment of sea shells, some up to six inches across. A woman told us they were so plentiful because of the dredging and beach restoration project that is currently underway.