Last Days at Hunting Island

 The weather is getting warmer each day and the clouds have stayed away. We are grateful the weather is cooperating. It is hard to get out earlier than 11 o’clock each morning. But we will do better. Christmas is hitting us hard and we are doing the best we can. Being away from family and friends is hard. Thinking about Christmas pasts has left us longing and lonely. Seeing other couples and families and all of the Christmas decorations throughout the campground seems to make things worse. The only thing we are able to do is to go out painting. Painting makes you live in the present. You must use all of your faculties to create a decent painting, so you can’t think of the past. You meet people and they don’t know your circumstances, so it’s easy to have a normal conversation. That is one reason we did this trip.

So, painting we did. I went and finished the painting I started yesterday with Christine by my side. We bought a trolley at Walmart to carry all of our gear on the beach, (a stroke of genius) because you can’t park near the beach. The sun goes behind the trees around 3:30, so we packed up and started a new painting on the marsh. We did small ones understanding how fast the light moves at this hour. But we forgot about the “no see me’s”. Torturous little buggers! We persevered and managed to get a good one started. We headed back ad feeling melancholy we cracked open a wine that we had saved for Christmas.

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Christmas morning was filled with tears. Neither of us could control ourselves. This is all so hard! Our lives are so completely different than just a few months ago. Our futures are blank and the prospect of starting over at 60 is daunting. So many people both alive and past have disappeared from our lives. Things that mattered before are meaningless now. I had to empty our dump tank that morning. We bought a portable dump tank so we didn’t have to hitch and unhitch. As I was emptying it the slinky fell off and our &#)@ exploded in my face! Merry Christmas!

After my shower, There was nothing left for us to do except paint, so we headed for a place that seemed appropriate to us….The Boneyard…

We dragged our heavy trolley over a mile down a path and was stunned by the raw beauty of nature’s destruction. It was mesmerizing! How do you chose what to paint? I decided to paint the only tree left standing. It felt appropriate considering how I felt this day. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed ourselves. After dragging our stuff all the way to the truck we were spent and had an early night after eating our rice and beans, our Christmas feast!

Continue Hunting

The next morning we headed back to the lighthouse with the intention of painting it.       

But it was another chilly morning so we decided to go and get some propane since we didn’t want to run out on Christmas. We also wanted to see historic Beaufort so we decided to go there first. Halfway there, we hit a traffic jam. A bad accident up the road. We decided to turn around and sightsee. We drove around and saw a whole lot of nothing! We hoped that the traffic had cleared up and it did so we went to Walmart to pick up a few things. They had propane but you had to switch them out and we didn’t want to do that with our new ones. We found a Tractor World and they got the job done.

As soon as we got back, I got my paints together and went off to do a new piece. The internet was finally working so Christine hung back and relaxed with her laptop. It was a little chilly but manageable and it was beautiful out so I stuck it out. I really enjoyed myself painting the palm trees. Not many people were around. The sun went below the trees so early so I figured I’d finish it the next day.When I returned to the RV, I was still brimming with energy so I put took the trash to the dumpster on the other side of the campground. I was a little warmer due to the walk and it was still light out so I went for a long walk on the beach. There wasn’t any clouds in the sky for a fantastic sunset but it was glowing out. I guess I needed some time on my own because I felt calm and relaxed when I got back. Another full

Hunting Island

 It took us less than two hours to get to Hunting Island. We were planning on staying here through Christmas. We had to check in when we arrived and we were greeted by Kim, our camp hostess. We got our info and then told her our story. She ended up being our protector and had the staff checking on us all week! 

We pulled into our spot. It was lovely but we were on a slight hill. We got out to set up and got our RV level and stabilized. The people next to us were watching us the whole time. I can only imagine what they were thinking as we were going about our chores. We wanted to unhitch. We had a lot of chores to do and we didn’t want the RV behind us. Christine went to our curious neighbors and asked if they would watch us unhitch to make sure we were doing it correctly. As we were unhitching, because of the hill, we needed something under our jack to raise it high enough to get it off. Our new friends offered us this bucket chuck to give us the height to get it off. We were never told about this in our RV school and we never saw it in our tutorials. Thank God they knew what they were doing. So, we did a successful job getting it unhitched but could have never done it without them! They were super nice and had their young son help out with everything. He was polite and gracious. He gave us the bucket as a Christmas gift!

We headed directly to Walmart which was about 12 miles away. We needed provisions! After getting what we needed, we headed home and we’re happy the forecast said we were in for a day of rain. With our fridge full and all set up at the campground, we hunkered in and relaxed for a day and enjoyed the rain.

The next morning it was so pretty out. But hand numbing cold. Nevertheless, we were determined to paint and we headed for the beach and set up. Not a lot of people around and the ones that showed up mostly kept to themselves. But we were intent and really enjoyed ourselves. Both of our paintings came out nice! We decided to grab some lunch somewhere because painting in the sun and just the stress from all we had done, we didn’t feel like cooking. We headed to the first place we found. JCT,  just over the bridge. The inside was dressed up with dollar bills. The walls were plastered with them! Because we had Darla, we had to sit outside. It was on the edge of a beautiful March.  It was pretty, but just a little cold. Our waiter was just as cold! I never had a server that looked so disinterested in what he was doing. He was as cold as the weather. But our food was really good. 

After our bellies were filled, we did a little sightseeing and saw the Hunting Island Lighthouse. It was lovely spot and we hope to come back to paint it if it gets warmer. There weren’t too many people on the beach but there were dolphins in the water and lots of birds around. Such a serene spot.

When we returned we decided to do our laundry. It was only 5 but felt like midnight. We got it all done and were so exhausted we could barely make it back to the RV. We just can’t believe how much energy it takes to do what we do every day!

Cartersville Country Winery

 We left Kingstree, SC and headed for our next destination. Another winery! Cartersville Country Winery. We pulled up to this quaint and funky winery. Since it was Sunday the store was closed. There was only one RV hooked up there so we had our choice of spots. Of course I found the only pull through lot! The place was pretty cool. It had a Studebaker and a couple Model T’s out front. It looked like a fun place. There was a band there the night before. And it looks like they host weddings there as well.

We were excited that this site had its own dumping station. How convenient! We got set up quickly and met our only neighbor. He had been there for over a week. Sam was a full time RVer with his wife. We had a lovely chat with him. Other RVs started pulling in and he left. Another airstream came next to us. Again we had a nice chat with them. They just got their airstream but they had other RVs before. They gave us lots of advice. The husband explained the backing up so I finally could understand it and now I feel more comfortable doing it. The wife lost her first husband in the Gulf War. She had lots of advice for us too. They had a young puppy and they had to tend to it so we headed for the winery which had an honor system there because it was closed. We optioned for a $10 taste of their 12 wines. They all tasted like soda pop. So we didn’t buy a bottle. We didn’t like it at all! 

When we got back to the RV, the wind picked up and it got cold and rainy so we retired for the evening. I had a lot of catching up on my blogs, emails and documentary.

Southern Hospitality

 Our next Harvest Host was an artist’s farm. William Mccollough, a well respected local artist. We were excited to meet him. After driving through sown cotton plantations and rural scenery we pulled up to his farm. There were horses and roosters to greet us, but no people. There was a long daunting driveway ahead but I didn’t know if I could get the rv in and back from it. After feeding some roosters that were hanging out, we wanted to leave. But because we boondocked the day the day before, our phones and all of our chargers were dead. We didn’t know exactly where we were or where to go from there. We needed to be hooked up. 

Just as we were leaving a woman pulled in. Christine got out and talked to her. She told her our story and said we had reservations there but the woman told us the artist was out of town and there was no hook up there. The woman saw our desperation and offered her bed and breakfast down the road for free. Electricity and water were available. Wow! We were flabbergasted! So off we went and not down the road as she directed, but about 15 minutes down the road. ( nothing is down the road….) We pulled into her property and immediately loved it there. As soon as we were hooked up we began painting. It felt so good! It was peaceful and the chickens that escaped their coop kept us company. The owner Currie Mccollogh and her daughter Chloe, a Marine, pulled in to feed the chicken. We had a nice chat and they took us inside to see the bed and breakfast. The house was in her family since pre civil war. Editions from different eras were added on. She carefully explained each edition and how she has been renovating it all. She did it by herself…another strong woman! She explained that the shack out back, that we ended up painting, was called the drinking shack. One of her great uncles was a soldier in WW2 and came back with terrible PTSD. His relief was drinking the memories away but he wasn’t to be dealt with while drinking so they banished him to the shack when he needed to relieve himself of his demons. 

She offered us her shower and laundry and we gratefully accepted her invitation and got all of our clothes washed! A luxury! She even gave us a dozen fresh eggs from her coup! We were speechless!

The next two days there were very peaceful and happy. I got two paintings in and Christine did 3! This was a plan executed! We felt fulfilled as we left! Things felt like they were going as planned.