Captain’s Log: RV Wanderlust 10-14-14

• Date: 10-14-2014

• Current City: Myrtle Beach, SC
• Current Location: Pirateland Family Campground
• Site Number: 790
• Wi-fi Signal: Verizon – Good / AT&T – Good / Campground Wi-fi – Average/Good and Free
• Cell Signal: AT&T – Good
• Mission: Work / Explore

• Compliment: 2 Officers, 1 Crew, 0 Guests
• Captain: Eric Highland
• Navigator: Brittany Highland
• 1st Mate: Trogdor the Burninator
• Guests: None

• Weather: Rain / 74°
• Precipitation: 40%
• Humidity: 93%
• Wind: 1 mph

• Fuel: 25 Gallons of Diesel – 1/4 tank
• Odometer: 105,479
• Generator Hours: 4613.6

• Estimated Date of Departure: Saturday, October 25th.
• Next Destination: St. Augustine, FL (Tentative)

Special Orders: Continue to enjoy new friendships. Work. Presentations.

Captain’s Remarks

13:16 – When we last left off, we were wrapping up our time in Raleigh, NC and heading to Myrtle Beach, SC. Well we made it!

Originally we had planned on staying at Apache Campground in the North Myrtle Beach area, but somehow the place felt a little shady. Our friends Denny and Veronica had given us a promotional offer that Apache had given them at a recent RV show which seemed like a good deal. But when we got to the campground, their office staff wouldn’t honor the promotional rate.

Regardless, we took a drive around the Apache campground and found the spots they had available were pretty tight, and didn’t have much curb appeal. Also, without the discount, it wasn’t worth the price of admission. So we did some quick research online and found Pirateland Family Campground instead. See you Apache, we’re off to visit pirates.

It was a 30 minute drive to PirateLand, and it ended up being a great decision. The spot that they had for us was in a fantastic location.

As of this writing, we’re still here! As a matter of fact we liked the spot so much that within days of being here, we extended our stay to a full month! This is unprecedented for us. Our spot is #790. It is a really long and wide spot, complete with a little shelter and picnic table. It literally takes us all of about 30 seconds to walk to the beach from where we are:

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13:29 – Our friends Denny and Veronica that we met in Raleigh were also headed down this way. So we told them about Pirateland and they ended up coming down and staying just across from us! We’re really glad we get to spend more time with them. They’re a delightful couple and have become great friends. You can check out their blog at RVOutlawz.com.

We’ve been walking around the campground with them daily, had a wine and game night at our place and have plans to go out to dinner later this week with them. It’s always nice to have friends that you truly enjoy hanging out with as neighbors. As I reflect on our new friendship, I have to say that one of the things that IS difficult about full-time RVing is having to say goodbye to people you enjoy hanging out with. You never know when, where or even IF you’ll see them again. We’ve invited them to come hang out with us in Florida the week of November 2nd-9th. So hopefully they can make it work! It sucks saying goodbye. Ok, enough on that, no tears I have a blog post to write. Now let’s see, where was I… 13:34 – Ah yes, Myrtle Beach. We checked in on September 27th. On the 28th we went to the Boardwalk. Such a fun place full of great little shops and beachfront eateries.

We went to the largest gift shop on the eastern seaboard called the Gay Dolphin. It was pretty kitschy stuff mostly, but some of it was really nice. Regardless it was a great shop to get lost in for awhile. After that, we headed to the SkyWheel, a massive ferris wheel on the Myrtle Beach boardwalk.  The views from the SkyWheel were spectacular!

That afternoon we headed back to our place and went out to the beach just steps away from Meriwether (our RV) to do some reading.

On the 30th we had a special guest over to visit. Michelle R. and her friend who is like a mother to her came over to hang out and grill with us. Michelle is the admin on a bunch of RV groups on Facebook and when we found out we were both in the same city, we just had to say hi. She had never been to the Atlantic Ocean before. So it was special that Brittany got to share that moment with her.

13:43 – On October 4th we went to one of the BEST places we’ve been so far on our RV journey!! It is called Brookgreen Gardens and it came at the recommendation of Vickie, a wonderful lady who runs the social media accounts for Pirateland Family Campground. She said it was a must see and she wasn’t kidding! The place is huge and simply breathtaking in its beauty. It is only about 20 minutes from our campground. I’ll let the photos tell the story.

After our time at Brookgreen, we headed even further south to a delightful little town called Georgetown. Another great little stop if you are ever in the area. They have a nice historic main street with tons of little shops and a small boardwalk.

While here we picked up my port and starboard navigation lights that I’d been wanting for our nautical theme in Meriwether.

October 6th was spent preparing for our presentation at High Point Market which we’ll be doing on the 20th and 21st.

For those new to the blog, Brittany and I work for ourselves and part of what we do is public speaking, teaching on the use of social media for business. We’ve been blessed to work with some pretty big names in this capacity (including Public Relations Society of America, Texas Conference for Women, Austin City Limits, and the Ronald McDonald House) and we rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more before we ever go live.

Our blog entries here tend to focus on the amazing sights and the fun things we get to do but without our work, none of this would be possible! Last Friday the 10th, we went to a place called Broadway on the Beach. It’s another large boardwalk area with all kinds of fun little shops and eateries. We really enjoyed our time just walking around and taking it all in. We found a little grill and enjoyed some happy hour appetizers and Brittany enjoyed a little wine.

13:52 – On Saturday we drove out to Conway, SC. A small little town with some serious charm about 17 miles from Myrtle Beach. We ate at a 50’s style diner, walked on a boardwalk along the river, bought a 4×6 rug for the living area in our RV and just enjoyed the day. The sweet lady at Bodega, the shop in Conway where we bought our rug, kept doing demonstrations for us. First she poured red wine on a carpet (that we bought) and then she used Eco Clean cloths to clean her windows. She was out of stock on them, but she still wanted to show us. The people at Conway were very friendly and kind, and Brittany and I just adore small towns.

Afterward we went shopping and I got some new shorts, swim trunks and a couple shirts (with my weight loss I’ve been needing to replace my wardrobe). I also got Brittany a little something just because. Remarks: Definitely adding Pirateland Family Campground as a place to return to if we are ever in the area. Speaking of campgrounds, we just locked in our dates for our Corpus Christi, TX stay another spot right on the beach. We plan to be there December 31st – January 17th which is really nice, as it is where Brittany’s parents live. Also we found out my mother Leticia is planning on being with us for Christmas this year and New Year’s which means she’ll get to ride in Meriwether for the first time ever! She’s an amazing woman and we can’t wait for her to come hang out with us for a couple weeks! As if all that weren’t enough, we found out that Brittany’s grandfather might be coming down to Corpus for the holidays! He is an incredible man and we love him dearly. It would be great to have my mother (83) and Brittany’s grandfather (90) meet one another. I think they’d really enjoy each other’s company. Though they can’t fall in love, it would really mess up our family tree. Haha. Just kidding.

Navigator’s Addendum