Day 7 of 166 Days of RV Adventures in the Summer of 2026

Wednesday May 13^th, we departed Santee State Park enroute to Fayetteville RV Resort in Wade North Carolina. We took I-95 over Lake Marion to get onto US 301.

Summerton was the first town we came to. I kept seeing signs and banners for Briggs vs Elliott. What is that all about? The Briggs vs. Elliott Festival is an annual community event that honors the landmark legal challenge to school segregation. Briggs was the first filed of the four court cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education, the famous case in which the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 officially overturned racial segregation in U.S. public schools. The weekend-long celebration commemorates the anniversary of the case. The festival features a lively parade through downtown Summerton, guided historical tours of local civil rights sites, jazz music and a scholarship gala.

We saw many farmers irrigating their fields. This farmer was watering their corn using overhead sprinklers on a center pivot. The point of irrigation is to ensure the crop receives 20–30 inches of water annually, peaking during the tasseling stage. Effective irrigation management prevents moisture stress, maximizing yields by maintaining soil hydration until the kernels reach maturity.

The Town of Turbeville is located at the intersection of Highways 301 and 378. In 1840 Michael Turbeville bought 125 acres of land and built a home on this property. Sometime between 1870 and 1875, William, son of Michael, purchased 200 acres and built the first house in what is now the Town of Turbeville. His brother, Clem, likewise bought land and built. Their land was substantially covered with large pine trees; the brothers built a turpentine still which they ran for about 20 years. 

They also built a large store where they carried on an extensive mercantile business for an even longer time. During those years the community was known as “Puddin’ Swamp”. After the turpentine business was no longer profitable, the brothers put in a sawmill to cut timber. During this time a railroad was built through the area and began buying much of the timber. In addition to the freight cars on this line, passenger service was also added to this line. In 1898 the Town of Turbeville was recognized by the US Government, since it established a Post Office. The Town was laid out in 1912, lots were sold and businesses began to spring up. With the exception of the Depression years, Turbeville has thrived in spite of two fires, on in 1938 and another in 1970. Today Turbeville’s population has increased to 720 people with 321 housing units. Over the years volunteerism has provided the town and community with fire and rescue departments. 21st Century Turbeville has been characterized as “small town with a big heart.”

Sellers, South Carolina, is a quiet, rural town known for its small-town charm. It offers a peaceful atmosphere with a focus on local community, close to regional tobacco history and the scenic Little Pee Dee State Park. It is home to the historic Sellers Depot, a reminder of its past ties to the railroad industry, and the Sellers Raccoon Festival. The Annual Sellers Raccoon Festival is a community event featuring a parade, live music, food vendors, and kids' activities like inflatables. Traditionally held in mid-October on Main Street and features a "raccoon cookoff" and community fun.

Coming north, you do not see a million billboards for it, but once you arrive you know it is there… South of the Border! It is a famous kitschy roadside attraction and rest area located in Hamer, South Carolina, immediately south of the border between North and South Carolina. It sits at the intersection of Interstate 95, US 301, and US 501, and is widely known for its pervasive billboard advertisements and its Mexican-inspired mascot, Pedro.

An effort to re-establish the 334-mile-long South Carolina-North Carolina boundary that began in 1995 and was completed in 2013. When issues arose regarding the state boundary between York County, SC and Gaston County, NC in the early 1990s, the SC Geodetic Survey and the NC Geodetic Survey signed a Memorandum of Agreement in April 1993 to cooperatively re-establish the South Carolina – North Carolina boundary. The intent was to avoid a litigious dispute, such as occurred between South Carolina and Georgia regarding their boundary in the Lower Savannah River area. This contentious dispute cost the state $10 million and 26 years of litigation and negotiation, that involved the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress, to resolve 25 miles of boundary.

We arrived at Fayetteville RV Resort and got settled in and relaxed a bit. Later we met friends from Texas at Dirtbag Ales Brewery & Taproom. Milt & Gaby are here in North Carolina working on her dad’s estate. It is a popular, multi-use craft brewery campus. It features an expansive indoor taproom, a huge outdoor patio, a dedicated dog park, a playground for children, a craft cocktail lounge, and its own resident restaurant.

We were so busy talking, I did not get many pictures. We all enjoyed craft beers or ciders and some awesome conversation. The resident restaurant is called Napkins. They also have a food trailer there called Schnitzelhouse. Which is right up Gaby & her brother’s alley, as both are very fluent in German! They enjoyed talking to the proprietor of the food trailer! Charlie enjoyed a brat from them. Gaby, Milt & her bother all ate traditional German fare from there. I went for the chicken wings from Napkins!

I will tell you more about the campground tomorrow. This is one of my favorite campgrounds to walk in! Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!

Days 5 & 6 of 166 Days of RV Adventures in the Summer of 2026

Monday May 11^th, 2026, we traveled from Savannah Georgia to Santee State Park in South Carolina. We left Savannah on US 17 N. In Georgia US 17 is a 124-mile coastal route, often called the "Ocean Highway" or "Coastal Highway," running from the Florida border to the South Carolina line at the Savannah River. It is generally a two-lane road that is a scenic alternative to I-95. The Eugene Talmadge Memorial Bridge, named to honor the former politician, is a major cable-stayed bridge spanning the Savannah River, connecting downtown Savannah, Georgia, to Hutchinson Island and Jasper County, South Carolina, via US 17. Completed in 1991, it features a 185-foot vertical clearance, a vertical navigational clearance of roughly 185 feet, and a 1,100-foot main span.

The Savannah River begins at the confluence of the Tugaloo and Seneca rivers at Lake Hartwell in Northeast Georgia. It flows for over 300 miles, before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Savannah, Georgia. The Savannah River defines the border between Georgia and South Carolina.

Fun fact about that border. On June 29, 1977, an altercation between Georgia law enforcement officers and a South Carolina shrimp boat captain attracted national press and rekindled a controversy that would not be resolved until 1990. South Carolina and Georgia disagreed over the exact location of the boundary in the lower Savannah River, as well as ownership of several islands in that region. At stake in this border dispute was not only tax dollars but also potentially millions of dollars in federal aid. On June 25, 1990, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of South Carolina and awarded ownership of most of the islands in the Savannah River. Adding three thousand acres of land and seven thousand acres of water to the Palmetto State.

South Carolina features over 344,500 acres of salt marsh, the most of any state on the Atlantic coast. These marshes serve as a vital ecosystem that acts as a natural buffer against coastal storms and a nursery for marine life. These tidal wetlands are characterized by vast expanses of green smooth cordgrass, tidal creeks, and mud, defining the scenic landscape of the Lowcountry.

We turned off US 17 in Hardeeville Georgia onto 321. Just after Tarboro, we turned onto US 601. We followed 601 all the way into Orangeburg, SC. One of my favorite parts of traveling these two-lane roads is the sights we see. I love diving through the “tree tunnels.” In the south, the Oak canopies create stunning "tree tunnels," particularly where massive live oaks and Spanish moss drape over roads to form shaded, magical corridors.

Hampton County Courthouse is a historic courthouse building located at Hampton, South Carolina. It was built in 1878 and was originally a two-story structure constructed of brick laid in the common bond pattern in the Italianate style. In 1925, the courthouse was renovated and additional wings were added to the front and rear facades. Also located on the property are two small modern annexes situated directly to the rear of the courthouse, and a two-story brick annex.

Hampton is also the home of the world's original Watermelon Festival. Since 1939, Hampton County's most colorful crop has been celebrated with a Watermelon Festival, headquartered each June on the Hampton County Courthouse Square. It is South Carolina's oldest continuing festival. Cordele, Georgia, may be widely recognized as the "Watermelon Capital of the World," a title it has held since the early 1990s due to its high-volume production. The city serves as a major hub for growing, packing, and shipping over 200 million pounds of watermelons annually.

In Orangeburg, we saw the Veterans Memorial Park, which is part of the Edisto Memorial Gardens. It is a 175-acre site honoring South Carolina military members, dedicated on November 11, 2009. It features a 25-foot obelisk, granite, and water features, located on a historic 1865 Civil War conflict site.

We arrived at Santee State Park, our home, for the next two nights. Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures.

On Tuesday May 12^th, 2026 we enjoyed a relaxing day at Santee State Park.

Santee State Park is in the Sandhills of South Carolina on the western edge Lake Marion. Santee State Park is 2,500 acres in the heart of Santee Cooper Country. It has two campgrounds, 158 water & electric sites for RV or tent camping, 48 of them have 50-amp service. Two boat ramps that provide access to 110,000-acre Lake Marion, the largest lake in South Carolina. Ten plus miles of trails for hiking and biking. There are thirty modern cabins, ten are uniquely located on a pier over Lake Marion and 20 on the lakeshore.

On my morning walk, I found my favorite place at Santee State Park. It is by the lake when the lake catches first light. No motors. No voices. Just calm water and soft color through the leaves of the trees. It is earned by showing up early. It’s a view does not impress, it invites you stop and look. It reminds me that the most sacred places ask nothing from you.

This place was not built for checklists. It’s a place to relax, let your shoulders drop. Walk a trail without rushing. Sit by the lake and do nothing. When the wind died down, we enjoyed sitting out and talking to anyone who walked by. We even met a man from Buffalo New York.

Lake Marion is the largest lake in South Carolina and is centrally located within the coastal plain where it is bordered by five counties. There is over 500 miles of shoreline. Lake Marion is the uppermost of the two beautiful water bodies that comprise Santee Cooper Reservoir. Its head waters extend upstream nearly to the confluence of the Wateree and Congaree Rivers, where seasonally flooded, forested wetlands form the wildlife rich Sparkleberry Swamp.

The reservoir was constructed to provide hydroelectric power to rural South Carolina and to provide needed jobs for a depression ravaged state. Because of World War II, the completion of the project was moved ahead and Lake Marion Dam was closed before the clearing of Lake Marion was completed in November 1941. As a result, fishermen will find there are thousands upon thousands of stumps, dead tree trunks and live cypress trees. 

The 6.5-mile-long Diversion Canal connects lower Lake Marion to Lake Moultrie and provides a productive and weather protected area for anglers. The closure of Lake Marion Dam trapped a founding population of striped bass and a thriving population developed in the reservoir. Blue catfish and flathead catfish were introduced into the system in the mid-1960s. They have readily adapted to the Santee Cooper lakes system and today provide many anglers with the opportunity to catch the largest freshwater fish they will ever encounter. Largemouth bass and shellcracker fisheries also draw anglers each spring, providing unique opportunities to catch large fish.

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures as we head further north, before we head south again. 

Days 3 & 4 of 166 Days of RV Adventures in the Summer of 2026

We are spending three nights at Creekfire RV Resort, a low-country Cove Community in Savannah, GA. Our friends make it a point to stay here every chance they get. We were scheduled to stay here in 2022, but our travel plans changed and we have not gotten back here until now.

But, I need to back up. Years ago, Charlie and I worked for Carefree, a mobile home and RV community owner. They owned over 100 communities in the US and Canada. I always described Carefree as a company that was owned by five friends, three of those friends were Terry Harrell, Colleen Edwards, and Dave Napp. Carefree sold all its holdings to Sun Communities. The former owners had to “stay out of the RV park business” for a period of time. When that time was over, Cove Communities was founded. 

It was 2017 and the manufactured housing industry veterans Colleen Edwards and David Napp, with backing from Montgomery Street Partners created Cove. CO – Colleen and VE - Dave. Edwards and Napp, who previously founded Encore Communities and Carefree Communities, established the venture to acquire high-quality RV and manufactured home communities. Colleen and David founded the firm and served as active leaders, retiring in 2024, at which point Montgomery Street Partners recapitalized their equity interests. The pair brought over 23 years of experience in the industry, having previously acquired over 185 communities. Under their tenure, the company acquired over 250 RV and manufactured home sites across the US, Canada, and the UK. As of May 2026, the leadership of Cove Communities is James R. Goldman, who was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in late 2024 following the retirement of founders Colleen Edwards and David Napp.

Okay, back to current times… Friday night, we enjoyed a few drinks and dinner at the Lakehouse, the on-site restaurant. Even though it was overcast, the setting was perfect and the night was too! 

I enjoyed the happy hour margaritas and Charlie had rum and Pepsi. We shared chicken fingers with fries. 

The only wildlife we saw was this beautiful Monarch butterfly!

Our first full day here was Saturday May 9^th; it was an overcast day. But, we were determined to get into the lazy river! 

We waited until later in the afternoon, hoping it would warm up! It did not! We got in and acclimated to the water temperature and enjoyed floating around. It was very full of kids and adults. The adults were floating around, just like us, but the kids were in and out of the water, jumping in the river, swimming against the flow and generally being unruly. We decided that we had enough and headed back to the RV. We cleaned up and went back to the Lakehouse. 

On Saturday night they have entertainment, tonight it was a piano man, Joe Jarka. A piano player, a singer and a human jukebox! He began his musical career in Syracuse, NY. In the early '90s when a desire for a move to a warmer climate brought him to Savannah, Georgia, the party band "Double Down" was born featuring Joe on keyboards and lead vocals. This band was a mainstay in the Savannah music scene for years. In 2000, Joe was hired to play at a brand new establishment as one of their featured "Dueling Piano Players". This was a fantastic opportunity and Joe has been honing his craft alongside some of the most talented and creative people in show business ever since! It was a great evening of music, Creekfire Shrimp, and liquid libations.

Sunday, Mother’s Day, started out overcast and drizzling. But as the day dawned, the rain stopped and the clouds cleared and the blue sky and the sunshine came out! 

During my walk, I enjoyed the lake and the marshy areas in the resort. After my walk, we enjoyed a quite morning at the RV.

We enjoyed watching the neighbors! Yes, they are escape artists! 

These cute little goats live next door to the resort! These two little ones found a spot to get under the fence! 

One of their friends tried, but he was too big! The goats acted like they did this all the time! We left to go to the lazy river, before they decided to go home!

It turned out to be a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon at the lazy river. We went between 11am and 3pm. We picked this time, because check out is 11am and check in is 2pm. We figured that it might not too busy. We were right! Today was a much better day at the lazy river! It was still cool, when you first got in… but your body adjusted! We enjoyed floating around the river. We got out a few times to cool down, because the sun was hot! 

We enjoyed a few beers during our afternoon of relaxing in the lazy river. Charlie had a blonde ale from St Petersburg FL and I had a Peanut Butter & Jelly Cream Ale from No BS in Livonia NY. Delicious!

We are waiting for the sunset… we might actually be able to see one tonight! Nope, the clouds came in again!

Tomorrow we head to Santee State Park for two nights!

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!

Day 2 of 166 Days of RV Adventures in the Summer of 2026

We departed the Cary State Forest in Bryceville Florida on our way to Creekfire Resort in Savannah, Georgia. The first town we came to on US 301 was Callahan FL. Callahan is named for Daniel Callahan, who helped build a railroad there in 1854. Its major industries are timber and agriculture. It was home to one of the largest mulch manufacturing plants in the country. Now they are home to the only site in Florida permitted to handle papermill sludge and ash waste. Callahan is a town that is growing but has retained its small-town feel. The town is intersected by Florida A1A on the east, Florida 301 on the west, and U.S. 1 on the north and south ends of town – hence their town motto, Crossroads to the Future.

Just north of Callahan on US 301 is the AgriCycle Farm. This farm annually recycles hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of various industrial discard streams in order to supply millions of pounds of natural soil amendments, soil blends, and potting soil materials. They have the unique ability to recover, recondition, process, and ship a wide assortment of recovered residual streams in large volumes including papermill organic sludge, fly ash, precipitated carbonates, flume grit, wood yard waste, off-specification boiler fuel solids, stockpiled bark, shives, knots, butts, and other materials previously landfilled. 

The Florida Georgia State line is actually the St. Mary's River. It is a rambling stream of black-water that separates Florida & Georgia on the east coast. It starts in the Okefenokee Swamp and winds along a 130-mile path leading to the Atlantic Ocean & the Cumberland Sound. Total distance "as the crow flies" is about 40 miles.

Folkston Georgia is home to The Okefenokee Swamp. It is a shallow, 438,000-acre, peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida line. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness. It is world renowned for its amphibian populations that are bio-indicators of global health. More than 600 plant species have been identified on refuge lands.

Jesup GA was named for Thomas Jesup, a general during the Second Seminole War. I love Drive-Ins! The Jesup Drive-In Movie Theatre is Georgia's oldest drive-in movie theater, was established in 1948 by Ward Riggins Sr. It operated as a single-screen venue until the early 1970s when Tim Cockfield acquired it. Following tornado damage to the original screen in the mid-1970s, a replacement was installed from the closed Swainsboro Drive-In, and the venue expanded to two screens. In 2011, Ralph and Jamie Hickox purchased and restored the theater, aiming to preserve its 1950s architectural features. The Jesup Drive-In has received state and local recognition for its community service including 2014 Wayne County Business of the year, Georgia Small business of the year in 2018 by the Georgia Downtown Association and 2025 Renaissance Award by the Georgia Cities foundation. The Theater was practically wiped out by Hurricane Helena in 2024 but was restored by the Hickox's and reopened in the spring of 2025.

Outside of Savannah is Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens, it was established as a bamboo grove around 1890, then taken over by the US Department of Agriculture in 1919. The gardens are now managed by the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. They are devoted to fostering research and education. Plants from all over the world can be found in their unique collections, including several trees and shrubs which are one-of-a-kind in the US. Their historic bamboo collection includes more than 70 species, and their internationally acclaimed camellia collection is one of the largest in the country, with 36 species blooming from October to March.

We arrived at Creekfire RV Resort, a Cove community. We are here for 3 nights. Our whole reason for stopping here was so Charlie could enjoy the lazy river. It was overcast this afternoon and a bit cool. Hopefully it will clear up and warm up tomorrow afternoon!

We enjoyed dinner at the Lakehouse on the property. We had great lakeside patio seats. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and a simple dinner. 

Praying we get a nice sunset to enjoy while we are here! 

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!

Day 1 of 166 Days of RV Adventures in the Summer of 2026

We are normally the "take it slow in the morning kind of travelers", but today, it was all about getting north in Florida before the lovebugs woke up. For our northern friends, love bugs are a May and September, sometimes late April and late August pest. Twice a year, pesky, invasive lovebugs swarm Florida. They are my least favorite clingy pair that spend 12 hours having intercourse and at some point they splatter their gooey insides on car hoods and windshields, flying into people’s faces, and even clinging to your clothes, thus bringing a few inside with you, yuck! They traveled to the Gulf Coast and Florida, from Central America. I wish the border had been closed when they crossed! They thrive in Florida, because of our warm humid weather and our ample decaying plant matter.

All that being said, it was 6:15 am, yes, you read that right! I am normally up and walking at this hour, but not Charlie. So, it was dark for the first hour of our two-lane adventure. So, pictures are limited and my narration will have to do. We passed through Zephyrhills on US Route 301 N. Our community began as the town of Abbott on April 18, 1888 and consisted of 280 acres. A voting district was established in 1893 followed by a post office in 1896. In 1909, Captain Harold B. Jeffries, a Civil War Union veteran from Pennsylvania purchased 35,000 acres and created the Zephyrhills Colony Company. Zephyrhills was officially founded in March of 1910 and incorporated in 1914. In 1999, the City of Zephyrhills conducted a city-wide historic resources survey, finding over 400 historic resources. Who knew Zephyrhills is so rich in history?

In the 1870s there was a small town known as Fort Dade. In the 1880s, the railroad bypassed Fort Dade a few miles to the east; the whole town packed up and moved to be next to the railroad. In 1884, the town was incorporated as Dade City. We took the 301 Bypass and skirted along the south side of the town’s centerpiece, the historic Pasco County Courthouse. It was built in 1909 and has been restored a couple of times and it is on The National Register of Historic Places. A prisoner of war camp was located in Dade City during World War Two. The camp was for German soldiers who had been captured in North Africa as part of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korp. The camp operated from 1942 to 1946. It old camp site is now the location of Pyracantha Park Civic Center.

We passed through Bushnell on 301. I kept clicking pictures of the sun rising. Interesting fact about the next town we came to Sumterville. It was the original home to the first County seat and courthouse in Sumter County. However, the only thing that remains of that original building is the historical marker, located alongside US 301.

In Belleview, US 27 and US 441 joined us on Route 301. I never noticed that US 27 was on this route before, and we have traveled this route a great deal. We continued into Citra. Along US 301 is The First Baptist Church of Citra. In December of 1876, Florida was sparsely settled and Baptist were few and far between. It was originally built in 1880. The original church building consisted of one room with three windows on each side and seated about 100 people. By 1893 the membership had outgrown the original building so a new house of worship was erected which forms the main part of the present structure.

Citra is known as the home of the pineapple orange, originally it was called the hickory orange. The name Pineapple Orange was coined in 1883 for the orange with an aroma reminiscent of a pineapple. 

The “Orange Shop” signs boasted that it was inside the orange grove, sadly that is not the case anymore.

North of Citra, we started to see smoke from the wildfires in the area. 

It stayed with us for the remainder of our drive to Cary State Forest. We did take the 301 Bypass around Starke and the new 301 Bypass around Baldwin.

We have passed this State Forest many times... never knew that had camping!

Cary State Forest was established as Florida’s second State Forest in 1937. Cary is known for its scenic mature flatwoods, sandhill and basin marsh. Using sound forest management, the Florida Forest Service provides for multiple uses of the forest resources. The forest is managed for timber production, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation and ecological restoration. 

Cary State Forest offers the public a variety of passive, resource-based recreational opportunities, including hiking, RV and primitive camping, wildlife viewing, horseback riding, environmental education and hunting.

There are six water and electric sites. They are spaced far apart around a loop and each RV site has a double side concrete pad. Our site was easy to back into, because it was on a curve.  

We are here for only one night. Our quest to leave early and beat the love bugs was a success, there were only a few dead pairs on the front cap of the RV! The screen we put on in front of the radiator helped too!

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!