Rolling in Money
February 21, 2023
We both took showers this morning. I know you’re happy to know that. But let’s back up a second. We’re staying in the Johns Island State Park Campground. It is a pretty big park with tiny spaces. It is also fairly expensive. But the online pictures made our site look wooded and private. It is neither of those things. I can see a shuttle bus parking lot and a construction dumpster and very few trees.
Oh well, these things happen and one just learns to roll with it.
We had made 2pm reservations for a walking tour in Charleston SC but we just had a slow morning, then hit Charleston around lunch time. We found parking and walked along the waterfront some. These are the live oaks that Joan told us about. We found out later, during the walking tour, that these are treasured trees in Charleston. They are really hardy, virtually impossible to topple in a hurricane, are green all year round and drop leaves all year round. The USS Constitution is made from Live Oak from trees in Charleston area. Too cool!
Then we had lunch. I had fish and chips and Susan had a really good chicken salad sandwich. We were also covered in money!
Yes, those are dollar bills. The restaurant, The Griffon, is covered with 1 dollar bills most of which have had writing scrawled on them.
Back on the waterfront we came across some grackles, they looked like Long Tailed Grackles which would be Life Birds, but those should not be around here. I need to do some research.
The walking tour was really great, Captain Bob, a native of Ohio (!) kept up a patter for 2+ hours. I can’t tell you everything he said, but I’d do the Secret Gardens and Alleyways tour if you find yourself in Charleston. Here’s a few random photos.
Oh, we also found out what “Lowcountry” means. We’ve been seeing signs all over the place for the last hundred miles, Low Country Bank, Low Country Guns and Ammo, etc… The lowcountry is a region of coastal South Carolina that is, well, low. If I recall correctly, it is only about 30 feet above sea level. Rice grows really well here. And that’s why the trees are all in swamps, the whole place is a swamp. The tour guide mentioned it and I spoke about our driving experience, it is one thing to hear a tour guide, but it is quite another experience to drive past miles of forest which are covered in water.
Tomorrow is an ambitious day. We’re going to see the Angel Oak on the way out of town then head south then west stopping at one of three Cracker Barrel restaurants. They allow overnight stays and we’ve lined them up in the GPS, 272 miles past the Oak, then 86 miles, then 29 miles past that for a total of 397 miles for the day.
Day: 0 miles,
Total: holding at 1,145 miles.
Miles/Day: 190.8