Our second trip of the Summer season was to a Shalom Roamers rally in Myrtle Beach. Our first stop was Melbourne, FL, where we met up with our long-time friends, Gary and Billie Jean Glenn. We joined them at Frigates, a lovely waterfront place with nice lunches and the very best Zeppoles (italian cheese doughnut). As usual, we were too engrossed in our conversation to take photos of our friends but we did get one of Stu enjoying his dessert.
The visit was wonderful, the Glenns are doing well, and Billie Jean’s book about her favorite hummingbird, Little George is both doing well and making Billie Jean proud and happy.
9/1 Overnight at the Merritt Island Moose Lodge
Moose Lodges, a fraternal organization like the more famous Elks, often open their grounds to campers traveling through the area. We had a nice, quiet spot just off the road and relaxed with a salad before traveling further North.
9/2 – 9/4 Fort Clinch State Park
Fort Clinch, located on the northern tip of Amelia Island, is a truly lovely park with two campgrounds.
The Amelia River Campground, on the west side of the park, is a wooded group of campsites well-spaced and almost private. It is located on a loop that touches the beach about 1/2 mile from the actual Fort Clinch.
On our first night at Amelia River Campground we went to Salt Life Food Shack in Fernandina Beach. The view at dinner was spectacular.
Joan had Wood Grilled Salmon and Stu had the Captain’s Seafood Dinner. Both were better than OK, but not really excellent.
We walked to the the beach and along the waterfront from the campground to the Fort. It was longer than we had expected, and we did not see an entrance to the fort, so we started walking around it clockwise and found the entrance 3/4 of the way around. We had obviously taken the long way. Once inside the fort, we relaxed in the Visitors’s Center and Museum, and then walked all around the inside of the fort.
The troops stationed there over the years since the Civil War never fired a shot at the enemy, but they did use the fort as a WW-I post to track and report enemy ships.
The Atlantic Beach Campground, the second campground at Fort Clinch, on the east side of the park, is an after-thought location, a circle of campsites, each touching the one next door with no trees, no barriers, nothing but sand and sun. A moderate walk to the beach is also in the sun. OK if your goal is to get sunburned and sandy, but worthless as a campsite otherwise.
We continued from Fort Clinch to Oak Plantation, about 8 miles from Charleston.
9/4 to 9/6 Charleston at Oak Plantation Campground
Oak Plantation is a “city” campground. Rows of side by side campsites, each of moderate size with enough space to set up comfortably. The campground was uncrowded so we were far from our neighbors and smoke-free. In season, the place would be uncomfortably crowded, but our visit with pull-through concrete sites was comfortable and easy to set up.
We set up camp, relaxed for 10 seconds, and went to the Angel Oak Restaurant for dinner. The dinner turned out to be so good we went back a second night.
Joan and I split a house salad – each portion was nearly enough for a meal. Stu ordered Hush Puppies and was surprised with a fresh, crisp, flavorful serving unlike any he experienced. The dish was served on crisp, sweet cole slaw.
If they had stopped then, the meal would have been perfect, but the surprise continued with Joan having a delicious Dill Salmon (“just as good as Stu’s but Joan prefers our pesto”), crispy candied brussel sprouts (first time Joan was ever seen to eat anything with the word candy in its title), and spinach that was not as tasty.
Stu had Shrimp and Grits with a side of Fried Green Tomatoes. The grits were flavorful, the fried green tomatoes were very hot and tasty, and the shrimp were exactly as Joan liked.
So we returned the next night for nearly the same dinner but Stu shared his ample shrimp with Joan and we skipped the salmon. And we ordered Beignets for dessert. Stu experienced a tasty sugar overload while Joan only tasted the dessert. Two excellent dinners.
9/6 A day in Charleston
Joan exceeded her usual superior planning by finding a dual excursion day in Charleston. In the morning we took a nice cruise around the harbor with a featured view of Ft. Sumter where the first shots of the “War Between the States” were fired.
The Carolina Belle is a harbor tour boat built for the tourist trade. The tour was well-narrated with us learning that Fort Sumter changed sides during the war as it was taken and retaken by the armies as they fought. We heard tales of the enslaved people as they were bought and sold at the largest slave trade city during this terrible time in our nation’s history.
After the tour we had lunch and traveled on the Charleston free shuttle bus to the Visitor’s Center where we waited for our afternoon bus tour.
Our bus driver and narrator, was non-stop knowledgeable about Charleston. He described the buildings, how the town was shaped by fires, earthquake, and religious freedom. His description of enslavement and the struggle for equality was sensitive and to our limited knowledge historically accurate.
The high point for Stu was when we turned the Four Corners of Law:
- Federal Law: The United States Post Office and Federal Courthouse.
- State Law: The South Carolina Supreme Court, which now houses the Charleston County Courthouse.
- Municipal Law: City Hall.
- Ecclesiastical (Religious) Law: St. Michael’s Episcopal Church.
As we turned the corner, we saw an elderly woman selling tourist goods. During our last trip to Charleston in 2022, we stopped and spoke with the same woman about the historic event where Thurgood Marshall first argued Brown vs. Board of Education which the Supreme Court eventually ruled in 1953 that Separate but Equal was illegal segregation.
We also learned a very interesting architectural fact. The houses are built with the side porch facing the prevailing breeze to make the home more livable during the Summer. The side of the porch, facing the street, has a door, complete with a lock. The door looks exactly as a home entrance might except the wall is completely open around the corner. Opening the door indicates visitors are welcome, as the door provides no physical barrier or security.
“In Charleston, SC, a ‘hospitality door’ (or piazza door) is a term for a door on a historic home’s piazza (porch) that was historically used as a social cue, indicating the family was open to receiving visitors if the door was open, and preferred not to be disturbed if it was closed.”
9/6 Myrtle Beach Lakewood Camping Resort
The Myrtle Beach Shalom Roamers Rally was the destination point of our end of Summer trip. We travel with a mostly Jewish group of RV campers, meeting them in larger campgrounds across the company. Over the years we have come to think of the other Shalom Roamers as friends. We enjoy sharing precious time with a minority of a minority, Jewish Campers.
This rally was held at Lakewood Camping Resort. It is a resort “Mega Park” with zillions of side by side campgrounds in a largely open field with a few trees and even some grass.
The park has a two swimming pools, two water slides, hot tub, pickle ball courts and almost every feature we have seen in the combination of every other place we have visited.
Soon after we arrived and set up, Stu put up their very own “hospitality door” indicating we are home and welcome visitors. We learned about hospitality doors in Charleston, just a few days previously. The door is a symbol that the occupants are home and accepting company, Our hospitality door is a “welcome” sign we set up outside our campsite.
A few minutes later, Carol and Jeff Kaplan walked by. Jeff asked, “Is your last name Bell?” They had arrived a few days earlier and with the help of the sign, we visited for a while to begin our week with the travelers of Shalom Roamers.
Rick and Susan Snyder were in the spot next door to Josephine in a nearly identical Thor camper built on a Ford chassis rather than a Chevy as is Josephine.
The two sites were sand and not level. Rick and Susan lucked out and found a sort of level chunk. Our site was so bad that even with blocks and lifts, our shower would not drain. Joan got permission to look at another site and without thinking – or drawing in our slide – Stu drove off in search of perfection.
Fortunately, Jeff saw us and ran to Josephine before any damage – other than our pride – was done. Our check list sat by and watched, as only a list can, the adventure ready to shout, “I told you so.”
Later in the day we joined a casual “catch up” meet around Eric and Sharon Pritzker’s modern campfire, a gas and glass bead contraption that created a captivating flame.
We soon retired to our now sort of level RV for showers and sleep.