Day 25 & 26 of 166 Days of RV Adventures in the Summer of 2026

On Sunday 5/31 we enjoyed a quiet morning preparing for the start of our 250th Anniversary of America RV Tour. We start every Yankee event with a welcome and traditional root beer floats.

We are in Fayetteville RV Resort. It is a top-rated, award-winning campground just north of Fayetteville in NC 28395. It has always earned a perfect 10/10/10 rating from Good Sam and won the "Best of Cumberland County" award multiple times. It serves overnight travelers, groups, and extended-stay guests. From the shape of the office, it would be safe to say that it used to be a KOA!

We feel our caravan is the perfect size and composition of travelers! We have 10 caravanners and 2 staff. We have all size campers, from a small tear-drop to 36 foot Class A rigs and everything in between! We have people that have traveled with Yankee extensively, some occasionally, and we have some first-timers! WE even have a couple whose parents worked for Rod as tail-enders back in his early days! I love this mix of people!

We spent time getting to know each other, how Yankee RV does things and what they will be doing for the next 15-days.

We had several caravanners arrive today, so instead of dragging them out to a restaurant, we had a cook-out for our welcome dinner. Burgers cooked on the grill with all the trimmings! This clubhouse is beautiful, so we might as well use it as much as we can!

We closed the night out with a fire near the tail-ender's site. He has a huge Solo Stove and it makes a great fire!

On Monday June 1st, WOW... it's June already! We took the group onto Ft Bragg today, to go to the JFK Special Warfare Museum. Yes, we took many non-DOD personnel onto a military base! I was surprised, it was relatively easy and no one got turned away! Yeah!

In 1918, it was established as Camp Bragg, later changed to Fort Bragg. The base was named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg. Bragg was a prominent and highly controversial Confederate general during the American Civil War, famous for commanding the Army of Tennessee. While he secured a major victory at the Battle of Chickamauga, his career was defined by disastrous retreats, intense unpopularity among his own troops, and the operation of a brutal slave plantation. 

However, in June 2023 as part of a congressional mandate to remove Confederate names from military assets, the base shed its original namesake and was officially renamed Fort Liberty. In March of 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a directive reverting the base name back to Fort Bragg. A formal redesignation ceremony took place on March 7, 2025. While the base has returned to its historic name, it honors a completely different individual. Instead of the Confederate general, the base is now officially named in tribute to Private First Class Roland L. Bragg, a highly decorated World War II hero. PFC Roland Bragg served with the 17th Airborne Division. He earned both the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for exceptional gallantry during the Battle of the Bulge. Notably, he risked his life to save a fellow wounded soldier by commandeering an enemy ambulance and driving it through hostile territory to an allied field hospital.

The JFK Special Warfare Museum is the official regimental museum for the US Army Special Forces (Green Berets), Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations regiments. Located on Fort Bragg, which was Fort Liberty for less than 2-years. 

The unassuming exterior of the building gives way to a spectacular collection of artifacts. The museum preserves and showcases elite military history, weapons, and artifacts spanning from World War I to current operations.

One of my favorite parts was to follow the footprints on the floor at the JFK Special Warfare Museum. Boots are worn by every soldier in the military. This museum uses the footprints, a highly specialized piece of military tactical equipment, as the path you follow to see the exhibits at the museum. THe boot tread patterns have changed over the years and the outlines at the museum do the same!

There was a unique Afghan war rug featuring a portrait of President George W. Bush. The "War Rug" phenomenon started following the 1979 Soviet invasion and continues in the post-9/11 wars. Traditional rug weavers in Afghanistan began incorporating contemporary military imagery into their carpets. These became known as "Afghan war rugs". This rug features a woven portrait of George W. Bush set against an American flag, complete with his name woven directly into the pattern. Many of these rugs were woven in the 2000s and purchased by US service members, particularly Special Forces and Airborne troops, as deployment souvenirs. Several found their way into military history collections due to their relevance to recent operations.

We took the group to lunch at Fayetteville staple, Fuller's BBQ. Fuller’s Old Fashioned BBQ is widely known for serving home-cooked country-style buffet food featuring pit-cooked barbecue, fried chicken, seafood, and homemade desserts. 

It was originally founded in 1986 by James Fuller Locklear and his wife Delora in Lumberton, North Carolina. Before opening a formal restaurant, James was locally known as "the barbecue man," selling plate meals from his home pit to fundraise for local schools and fire stations. To augment their farming income, the couple opened a tiny, 40-seat sandwich shop on Highway 211, featuring a simple four-item buffet.  As popularity exploded, the family opened a larger 300-seat flagship restaurant in Lumberton and expanded their footprint north into Fayetteville to the highly successful location on North Eastern Boulevard, where we dined.

After lunch, we went to the NC Veterans Park. In 2008, the North Carolina Legislature approved a bill to construct the North Carolina Veterans Park. The site of the five-acre park is Fayetteville, and it honors all veterans, living or deceased, from all the services. It has a small indoor display and a large outdoor display. It is the first state park in North Carolina dedicated to honoring military veterans from all branches of the Armed Services. We could not visit the inside displays, as it was closed, but the outdoor displays are always open.

Peeking through the windows, you can see the 33,000 dog tags are suspended from the ceiling of the North Carolina Veterans Park visitor center. This universal identification tag has been worn by all military personnel in the US since the Civil War. Rather than focusing exclusively on a single war, this permanent artistic exhibit spans multiple major American conflicts. Beneath this architecture, individual labeled dog tags are strung on lines under headings for each of the United States' major wars, including the Korean War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. Catching daylight from the windows above to create shifting patterns of light and shadow. These constantly changing patterns remind visitors of the countless veterans that have served their state.  Photo credit to Lynda Krueger!

The outdoor park elements include a Story Garden; Reflection Garden; Community Plaza; Service Plaza; Patriot Wall; Pride and Purpose Tower; seven water features; and the North Carolina Soils Wall, built with soil from each of the state's 100 counties. "Soil" is part of the memorial's storyline, which reads: "From the soils of North Carolina, you left your families and homes with the purpose to serve your Country. The people of North Carolina Honor your service and welcome you home."

Twelve large columns representing the branches of the US Armed Forces, the National Guard, and wartime periods.

There is a striking 35-foot tower built from stainless steel and granite. It features an adjacent ceremonial light cannon used to symbolically welcome troops home.

Several unique artistic installations created directly from salvaged military equipment and artifacts.

The grounds feature seven distinct water installations and curated green spaces with native plantings designed for quiet reflection.

We stopped in front of the Airborne and Special Operations Museum, which is closed on Monday, for pictures of Iron Mike, General  Hugh Shelton and a K9.

The most famous monument is a 15-foot, 3,235-pound statue of a WWII paratrooper landing on a pile of rocks. The original steel statue was placed on Fort Bragg in 1961, but was later restored and moved to the museum.

A 10-foot, 1,800-pound bronze statue of the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Special Forces commander, sculpted by Paul Moore.

A life-sized bronze memorial of a Belgian Malinois dog in full deployment gear, which honors the working dogs of the Special Operations K9 teams.

All the caravanners headed back to the campground on their own and we had an ice cream social and travel log review.

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures.

Day 23, 24 of 166 Days of RV Adventures in the Summer of 2026

Let's play catch up while we have a few minutes! On Friday May 29th, we left Sumter with Tim and Debbie on our way to Fayetteville RV Resort. We are taking full advantage of the two lane adventures and are taking US 401 all the way to Fayetteville. Tim had shown us the St Charles Gin Mill located in Mayesville, South Carolina while we were out one day driving around. We passed it again today and I had to do the deep dive! Despite the name sounding like a spirits distillery, the St Charles Gin Company is an agricultural cotton ginning operation, not a beverage distiller. Although everything I could find about it says it is an "active" operation. The look of the building tells a different story.

Ever heard of Lamar, SC? Well it's a thriving little town, looking to the future. The town is now anchored by a wide and straight Main Street bisected by cross streets that extend in a grid pattern of streets and sidewalks East and West.  Main Street is easily accessible to the entire community making the Town of Lamar a very pedestrian friendly community. Most residents can easily walk to pick up staples at Main Street’s grocery store, visit several retail merchants for necessities, mail a letter at the post office, pop in the local bank and dine with friends at the locally owned restaurants. But did you know that at least six NFL players have hailed from this small town. A notable feat for a town with a population of fewer than 1,000 residents. I won't give you all the info... you will have to look that one up!

We skirted the edge of Darlington, not close to the raceway or anything else of interest! I found the next town much more interesting! Society Hill, South Carolina, is a historic town in Darlington County, known as the oldest community in the county and a former intellectual center for the Pee Dee region, founded by Welsh settlers in 1736. Named for the St. David's Society, it grew around St. David's Academy and Welsh Neck Baptist Church, becoming a significant cultural and educational hub that produced many state leaders. Today, it's a small, historic town with a rich past, featuring historic homes and sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

When we hit the top of the hill in Society Hill, we were chasing wind, we saw all kinds of spinning scrap metal that really caught my eye! Les Baker is the creator of all of this moving artwork! His outdoor art work started all by chance. 

He started his business, Piece of Work, in the old fire house very close to his old homestead! He builds his yard from old scraps and discarded items. He is a young man, with a big imagination. He said "build it and they will come... and boy, do they!"

Palmetto Furniture Company is located in historic Society Hill, South Carolina. The company was founded in 1937 by the late Fred Auman. The business was originally a chair factory. After a devastating fire in 1954, the company was re-established as a wholesale distributor of fine furniture for local stores throughout the Carolinas.  

Tatum is the last town in South Carolina, before the border of North Carolina. Tatum, named for Richard J. Tatum, a North Carolinian who moved to this area of Marlboro County and became a successful farmer, was home to Marlboro County's first high school. Tatum was little more than a rural crossroads until the railroad came in 1884. By 1900, Tatum was a thriving and prosperous town. But, by the looks of it now, that is not true. 

Here we come, North Carolina! The state is the 28th-largest and ninth-most populous of the US. North Carolina was inhabited by Carolina Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan speaking tribes of Native Americans prior to the arrival of Europeans. King Charles II granted eight lord proprietors a colony they named Carolina after the king and which was established in 1670 with the first permanent settlement at Charles Town (now Charleston, South Carolina).

We took Tim and Debbie and their 5th wheel through part of downtown Fayetteville! We even hit the Historic Market House, it serves as the centerpiece of a major traffic roundabout at the intersection of Hay, Person, Green, and Gillespie streets. This National Historic Landmark features a distinct clock tower. It was built in 1832 on the site of the old state house and Town Hall which burned down in 1831. It served both as a town hall and general market until the early 20th century, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973. 

As we came around the historic Market House, I spotted this Fayetteville mural. Andaluz The Artist created this mural in honor of hip-hop star J. Cole in downtown Fayetteville, which is Cole's hometown. The mural is on the side of a building for Back Around Records and Bails For Tails, near the Market House traffic circle. Letters in the postcard include Fayetteville cultural touchstones, including images of Lafayette, the city's namesake; the 82nd Airborne patch; and Putt-Putt, which was founded in the city.

We arrived at Fayetteville RV Resort in Wade, NC. This is our 2nd time at this park in less than a month. We stayed here for a night, on our way to Bob & Tammy wedding and were lucky enough to see our friends, Milt & Gabby, from Texas! We will be here for 4-nights this time!

On Saturday May 30th, we used the day to get our route recons done and we did a test to gain access to Ft Bragg for non-military personnel. We are taking the caravanners there on Monday! We also told all the caravanners that are arriving early they should visit the The United States Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum, as it is closed on Mondays. It is part of the U.S. Army Museum Enterprise dedicated to preserving and teaching a public history of the Special Operations and Airborne community. 

It is a self-guided walk through military history starting with the 1940 Parachute Test Platoon, continuing through WWII, the Cold War, Vietnam, and current global operations. The dioramas include life-size mock-ups that place you on the streets of war-torn Normandy, inside a helicopter exiting into Vietnam, and alongside special ops during urban rescue missions. Some of the bigger items in the museum include a World War II-era cargo glider, a C-47 aircraft, and a rotor blade assembly from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter.

Debbie created a decal for us and Tim helped us install it on the back of our RV. We love it!!

We ended the evening, relaxing around the fire with a few early arrivals.

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!

Day 22 of 166 Days of RV Adventures in the Summer of 2026

Our last full day in Sumter was Thursday May 28th. We did a bit more exploring. We have driven by Shaw Air Force Base many times this week. Shaw AFB is named in honor of Sumter native and World War I flying ace First Lieutenant Ervin David Shaw. It is primarily known for hosting the 20th Fighter Wing, the largest combat F-16 wing in the US Air Force. It is also highly distinguished as the only SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) wing in the continental US.

Operational since 1941, it trained thousands of Allied pilots during World War II and has deployed forces in support of major global conflicts, including the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 20th Fighter Wing's F-16CM Fighting Falcons specialize in neutralizing enemy ground-based air defenses. 

Shaw is a major hub for military operations, serving as the headquarters for the Ninth Air Force (AFCENT), Fifteenth Air Force, and U.S. Army Central (ARCENT).

Sumter Original Brewery (SOB) is the first brewery in Sumter. It is located in the downtown area in an old store that has been totally renovated! It features a 15-barrel brewing system, a tasting room, dining area, and a rooftop terrace. It offers a diverse selection of craft beers, hosts events like live music and trivia, and provides a family-friendly atmosphere with games like pool, ping pong, and cornhole. The brewery is a key part of downtown revitalization. 

We enjoyed our beers and meals!

See this mural in downtown Sumter? Ever wonder more about it? What's the name of the mural? It is called "Beneath Swan Lake." Beneath Swan Lake that is situated on the Imports Limited building in downtown Sumter. McClellan Douglas finished the mural in June of 2021. He is a self taught professional artist that specializes in large scale interactive art works.

The Lincoln Museum & Heritage Center in Sumter, SC, celebrates the legacy of the historic Lincoln High School and African American education in the region. Located on the site of the former school. In 2009 the Lincoln High School building was sold to the Lincoln High School Preservation Alumni Association. 

By 2015 the school had been given a state historical marker and was listed with the National Register of Historic Places. In 2016 a museum dedicated to African American education, civil rights history was opened and the facility began to operate as a center for arts, humanities and cultural programming. Ongoing preservation efforts, supported by a Civil Rights grant from the National Park Service and private donors, continue the Preservation Alumni Association's efforts to restore the historic structure.

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures! We are traveling on Friday!

Day 20 & 21 of 166 Days of RV Adventures in the Summer of 2026

On Tuesday May 26th, we finally got our haircuts! When we are on the road, we use Great Clips. We have had pretty good luck with them. They have notes in the computer that follow you. Charlie had Jen and I had Adeline at the Great Clips on Broad Street in Sumter.

We spent the rest of the day working on some Yankee work that we needed to get done before our trip starts on Friday. Our caravanners will start to arrive shortly after we arrive in Fayetteville. The actual caravan begins on Sunday.

We took a drive to see the area on Wednesday May 27th. Camden South Carolina, was the first major town we went through. Camden is the oldest inland town in the state. It dates to 1732, when the colonial township of Fredericksburg was surveyed by order of King George II. The settlement grew in the 1750s around the Pine Tree Hill trading post, and in 1768 the name was changed to Camden in honor of the Lord Camden, the British Parliamentary champion of colonial rights.  

Camden was a major center of Revolutionary War activity and preserves three sites of national significance. Since 2005, Camden has been a leading partner in the preservation and restoration of the Battle of Camden National Historic Landmark. Activities include restoring the natural setting back to 1780 conditions, building hiking and bike trails, and interpreting the battle to the public. The project was kicked off with 225th anniversary reenactments of the battle, attracting thousands of visitors. The city also supports the Historic Camden Revolutionary War Park, a 98-acre outdoor museum complex, which includes the town site of colonial and Revolutionary Camden, and several restored and refurnished period houses. The park also includes reconstructions of military fortifications and patriot Joseph Kershaw’s mansion, which was used as British headquarters.  

I would not call it a big town by any stretch of the imagination. It has 2 basic buildings that are still in use... the post office built around 1900 and the Presbyterian Church, constructed in 1890. That is Liberty Hill, South Carolina. The area is steeped in history, originally serving as a high-ground retreat for antebellum planters in the early 1800s. It was established circa 1813 near merchant Peter Garlick’s store. It is believed that the community was named by patriotic settlers celebrating their newfound freedom after the Revolutionary War. In the following years, grand plantation homes were built, and antebellum Liberty Hill was among the wealthiest communities in South Carolina. After the Civil War, the area fell into economic ruin. Nevertheless, the town did eventually reassert itself and appears to have changed very little since the beginning of the twentieth century.

The Great Falls of the Catawba River mark the point at which the river encounters a series of rapids while coursing across the Piedmont Plateau on the border of Lancaster County, South Carolina, and Chester County, South Carolina, near the town of Great Falls. Prior to the creation of the Fishing Creek Reservoir and other artificial lakes by Duke Power, the falls were a major landmark on the river. The rapids could be heard from long distances away, while a major pre-Columbian trading path ran near the left bank.

The creation of the Fishing Creek Lake Dam at Great Falls, has resulted in the top two miles of it being completely dry except during times of very high flow. In 2023, the town of Great Falls saw the grand opening of the Southeast’s newest whitewater paddling destination. This was a 20+ year project that transformed a 100+ year old dry riverbed into a whitewater recreation area with two distinct channels for different levels of paddling enthusiasts. During Duke Energy’s recreational flow periods, the long-bypass channel features up to Class IV rapids while the short-bypass channel features numerous Class IV and V rapids.

The bottom portion of historical Great Falls is drowned by Cedar Creek dam, another hydroelectric project. 

Below the Great Falls, the river flows into Lake Wateree where it becomes the Wateree River.

On the wall of the York County Library in Rock Hill is the mural called "The Whimsical World of Vernon Grant." This mural celebrates the life of beloved artist Vernon Grant, and serves as the largest mural in York County. The beautiful piece of art was designed by illustrator Jill Pratzon and brought to life by muralist Osiris Rain. Vernon Grant lived in Rock Hill for over 30 years and much of his work can be seen on magazine covers and advertising campaigns. He is the creator of the SNAP! CRACKLE! AND POP! characters used by Kellogg’s. Grant also co-founded the beloved Come-See-Me festival which happens every spring in Rock Hill. The piece helps pay tribute to this city’s most influential artist. 

 

We enjoyed lunch at Victoria's Diner. We missed breakfast by six minutes! But the "cook's choice" for lunch was chicken & dumplings. Charlie, Tim and Debbie all had that. I went for the cold plate!

Founded in 1876, Clover, South Carolina, originated as a railroad depot named after a serendipitous patch of clover growing near a steam-engine water tower. Officially incorporated in 1887, this York County town grew into a booming textile hub. There is a beautiful train mural near Main Street. It was "refreshed" by Imre, who is an artist who loves to make your ideas come to life. He can do murals, canvas or work with different mediums and materials. He helped to modernize the historic Train Mural in 2024! 

Clover, South Carolina, is best known as "The Town with Love in the Middle" (a playful nod to the letters in its name) and for its rich Scots-Irish heritage. The town leans heavily into its heritage by hosting the popular Clover Highland Games and Scots-Irish Festival each fall, featuring bagpipes, traditional heavy athletics, and clan gatherings. They also throw a large-scale St. Patrick's Day celebration.

We stopped at Kings Mountain National Military Park on the way back to Sumter. At 4,000 acres, it's one of the largest national military parks in the United States and one of just two Revolutionary War national military parks. 

Thomas Jefferson called it "The turn of the tide of success." On October 7, 1780, the Battle of Kings Mountain was fought during the American Revolutionary War. It was a decisive Patriot victory where a volunteer militia (the "Overmountain Men") surrounded and defeated a force of British Loyalists commanded by Major Patrick Ferguson on a rugged, wooded hilltop just south of the North Carolina border in South Carolina. The park preserves the site of this important battle.

The battle was primarily fought between Americans. The Patriots were frontier frontiersmen and local militiamen from the Carolinas, Virginia, and present-day Tennessee. The opposing forces were Loyalists, commanded by the only British regular on the field, Major Patrick Ferguson.  After Major Ferguson threatened the Appalachian settlements, the Patriots gathered to hunt him down. 

They trapped Ferguson's forces on the rocky slopes of Kings Mountain, launching assaults from all directions and effectively using the trees for cover against Loyalist bayonet charges. The battle lasted just over an hour. Major Ferguson was shot and killed, and the vastly outnumbered Loyalists were entirely routed. They suffered roughly 225 killed and over 700 captured, while the Patriots suffered only 28 killed and 62 wounded. The battle was the first major patriot victory to occur after the British invasion of Charleston. 

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!