Sunday, October 7, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012, Drive to Silver Lake
Today. We drove to Silver Lake to watch the grandsons play football on Saturday.
Thursday, October 4, 2012 Helen Keller and Shiloh
One of our first stops was touring Eugene V. Debs house in Terra
Haute, Indiana. It is an interesting coincidence that one of your last
tours is Helen Keller's house Ivy Green in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Both were well known socialists in the 1920s and 1930s.
Helen Keller, born 1880, turned blind and deaf by an early childhood fever, proved that blind and deaf people could live productive lives if given the opportunity. Keller is the first person to receive a BA degree. Helen's opportunity came by being born in a blue-blooded, wealthy family. According to the house guide, Helen Keller is a descendent of John Quincy Adams.
Keller's family could afford to hire Anne Sullivan to tutor Helen from age 7 through college. Sullivan remained Helen's lifelong associate until Sullivan died in 1936 with Keller holding her hand.
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When we arrived at the house, I was decorated with lots of flowers because the director's daughter had been married the weekend before and left the flowers there. A guide showed us through the house with lots of furniture in the house during Keller's childhood. Outside is the pump where Helen learned her first word, water. Notice the wedding flowers.
Also outside is the little house Anne asked to be built to create a better situation for teaching Helen.
Many know through The Miracle Worker, Helen Keller's amazing education. Lion's Clubs often speak of Keller's 1925 challenge to become knights for the blind. Few know Keller was a socialist. She campaign for Eugene V. Debs to become president.The house tour guide did not know Keller was a socialist and couldn't imagine how this is possible because Keller had been active in so many charitable causes. Such ignorance of Americans about the left.
The drive from Tuscumbia, Alabama to Shiloh battleground in Tennessee is about an hour. Some distance from Tuscumbia, we passed a sign for the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard. (YouTube video)
Kathy's great-great grandfather, Samuel Woods Reid, served in Napolean Gray's, Company D in the 15th Arkansas Regiment. (History as the 1st Arkansas Volunteers) This regiment was commanded by Brigadier General Patrick R. Cleburne. Cleburne earned the title, "Stonewall of the West". Ironically, lists of the greatest generals of the Civil War often list Cleburne above "Stonewall" Jackson, e.g., 1, 2, 3. Biographies of Cleburne often say hee is the most forgotten or underrated general of the war.
(Confederate Order of Battle at Shiloh)
Shiloh battlefield is covered with signs identifying the locations of regiments through the battle. Kathy and I photographed the five signs mentioning the 15th Arkansas. Descriptions below identify the locations of these signs on this map.
This sign identifies the location of the camp the night before battle, April 5, 1862. On the lower left side of the map, this sign is between highway 22 and Trabue's line.
Scott Manning explains a demonstration a Confederate skirmish line. Skirmishers formed "rows of checkered board patterned troops on one knee. A row would move forward, kneel, and shoot. Then another row would move forward and do the same while the previous row reloaded. They explained that skirmishers would move like this toward a possible enemy position to probe their exact position."
Shiloh is the 15th Arkansas' first battle. The 15th Arkansas formed the skirmish line in the opening attack on Sherman's troops, pushing them in the direction of Shiloh Church. Brigidier General Patrick Cleburne's battle report says, "[t]he Fifteenth Arkansas engaged the enemy's skirmishers and drove them in on their first line of battle. My skirmishers then fell back on their reserve [on their left]. On the map, look for Cleburne's line south of Shiloh Church. Notice the sign puts the 15th Arkansas Skirmishers are in front of the rest of the troops.
By noon, Cleburne's troops had moved forward to this location. On the map, this location is just to the right of Sherman's name or half-a-mile north of the name Marsh. In one of these places, Cleburne's battle report says, "Here the Fifteenth Arkansas inflicted heavy loss upon the enemy, and lost many good men, and its major, J. T. Harris. He scorned to pay any regard to his personal safety; he moved up within pistol range of the enemy, and was shot dead while firing on them with his revolver." Then later the report says, " Here Captain Cowley, acting major of the Fifteenth Arkansas, a true and tried officer, was shot in the head...."
At 2:30 pm, the troops moved one-quarter mile, northeast of previous sign. Tilghman Creek is the little vertical blue squiggly line near the top of the map just to the right of the Brewer and Wharton lines and further south near Russell and Wood. I don't know where the 15th Arkansas actually was on Tilghman Creek. East of Tilghman Creek is as far forward as the Confederates would get on April 6, 1862. Union army held this position through the night.
This is Cleburne's final position the next day, April 7, 1862. On this map, the 15th Arkansas is not shown, but this sign is located in front of Gibson, about where the 1st Arkansas and 13th Louisiana are shown. Cleburne's battle report says, "As far as I know the Fifteenth Arkansas was the only regiment rallied anywhere near the scene of disaster. In the face of a deadly fire and an exultant foe the regiment reformed near two abandoned cannons and fell back in order behind a ridge. From this point, seeing some re-enforcements coming up, I led them in a charge on the advancing foe. The enemy fled back faster than they came." "In this charge Lieutenant-Colonel Patton, the sole remaining field officer of the Fifteenth Arkansas, was shot dead. He did his duty nobly in this battle and secured the love and confidence of every man in his regiment. The Fifteenth Arkansas continued to pursue the enemy until out of ammunition, when 58 men, all that were still together, fell back to replenish."
Cleburne's battle report summarized his brigade's performance during Shiloh, "This was the first battle my men were ever engaged in. They led the advance of our army on Shiloh and engaged and repulsed the enemy's cavalry the Friday before the battle. They fought in the foremost line both days and were never rested or relieved for a moment. They captured many stands of colors and assisted in the capture of General Prentiss' Federal brigade on the left."
After Shiloh, the Confederate Army was reorganized. The 13th and 15th Arkansas depleted regiments were combined. As regiments were depleted the Confederate army combined units together rather than adding fresh recruits to rebuild the strength of old regiments.
The 13th/15th Arkansas next participated in the campaign to encourage Kentucky to join the Confederacy. They fought in Battle of Richmond, August 29-30, 1862, (See map.) and Battle of Perryville, October 8, 1862.
When I was a Boy Scout in Kentucky, we commemorated Perryville with a 20 mile hike. Since both sides were trying to get water, I believe we couldn't drink during the hike. Or maybe I am making that up. I also remember memorizing Gettysburg Address during the hike. I believe we repeated it as a group at the end of the hike.
Animated story of the Battle of Perryville.
To see the movements of the 13th/15th Arkansas during the battle, look for Cleburne the far right side of the map. The 13th/15th is shown in front line of Cleburne's. This is the position from noon to 2 pm.
At 2pm, Cleburne moved forward to the dark red line. The 13th/15th Arkansas moved across "Doctors Fork".
By 4 pm, the "13th/15th AR" was able to move forward again to the brown line.
Though the Confederates won the Battles of Richmond and Perryville, the Confederates lost the strategic situation and withdrew from Kentucky. Saving Kentucky for the Union.
Helen Keller, born 1880, turned blind and deaf by an early childhood fever, proved that blind and deaf people could live productive lives if given the opportunity. Keller is the first person to receive a BA degree. Helen's opportunity came by being born in a blue-blooded, wealthy family. According to the house guide, Helen Keller is a descendent of John Quincy Adams.
Keller's family could afford to hire Anne Sullivan to tutor Helen from age 7 through college. Sullivan remained Helen's lifelong associate until Sullivan died in 1936 with Keller holding her hand.
.JPG)
Also outside is the little house Anne asked to be built to create a better situation for teaching Helen.
Many know through The Miracle Worker, Helen Keller's amazing education. Lion's Clubs often speak of Keller's 1925 challenge to become knights for the blind. Few know Keller was a socialist. She campaign for Eugene V. Debs to become president.The house tour guide did not know Keller was a socialist and couldn't imagine how this is possible because Keller had been active in so many charitable causes. Such ignorance of Americans about the left.
The drive from Tuscumbia, Alabama to Shiloh battleground in Tennessee is about an hour. Some distance from Tuscumbia, we passed a sign for the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard. (YouTube video)
Kathy's great-great grandfather, Samuel Woods Reid, served in Napolean Gray's, Company D in the 15th Arkansas Regiment. (History as the 1st Arkansas Volunteers) This regiment was commanded by Brigadier General Patrick R. Cleburne. Cleburne earned the title, "Stonewall of the West". Ironically, lists of the greatest generals of the Civil War often list Cleburne above "Stonewall" Jackson, e.g., 1, 2, 3. Biographies of Cleburne often say hee is the most forgotten or underrated general of the war.
(Confederate Order of Battle at Shiloh)
Shiloh battlefield is covered with signs identifying the locations of regiments through the battle. Kathy and I photographed the five signs mentioning the 15th Arkansas. Descriptions below identify the locations of these signs on this map.
Scott Manning explains a demonstration a Confederate skirmish line. Skirmishers formed "rows of checkered board patterned troops on one knee. A row would move forward, kneel, and shoot. Then another row would move forward and do the same while the previous row reloaded. They explained that skirmishers would move like this toward a possible enemy position to probe their exact position."
Shiloh is the 15th Arkansas' first battle. The 15th Arkansas formed the skirmish line in the opening attack on Sherman's troops, pushing them in the direction of Shiloh Church. Brigidier General Patrick Cleburne's battle report says, "[t]he Fifteenth Arkansas engaged the enemy's skirmishers and drove them in on their first line of battle. My skirmishers then fell back on their reserve [on their left]. On the map, look for Cleburne's line south of Shiloh Church. Notice the sign puts the 15th Arkansas Skirmishers are in front of the rest of the troops.
By noon, Cleburne's troops had moved forward to this location. On the map, this location is just to the right of Sherman's name or half-a-mile north of the name Marsh. In one of these places, Cleburne's battle report says, "Here the Fifteenth Arkansas inflicted heavy loss upon the enemy, and lost many good men, and its major, J. T. Harris. He scorned to pay any regard to his personal safety; he moved up within pistol range of the enemy, and was shot dead while firing on them with his revolver." Then later the report says, " Here Captain Cowley, acting major of the Fifteenth Arkansas, a true and tried officer, was shot in the head...." 
At 2:30 pm, the troops moved one-quarter mile, northeast of previous sign. Tilghman Creek is the little vertical blue squiggly line near the top of the map just to the right of the Brewer and Wharton lines and further south near Russell and Wood. I don't know where the 15th Arkansas actually was on Tilghman Creek. East of Tilghman Creek is as far forward as the Confederates would get on April 6, 1862. Union army held this position through the night.
The next morning Union supported by Buell's reinforcements the Federals attacked. See this map of the second day's battle.
This is Cleburne's final position the next day, April 7, 1862. On this map, the 15th Arkansas is not shown, but this sign is located in front of Gibson, about where the 1st Arkansas and 13th Louisiana are shown. Cleburne's battle report says, "As far as I know the Fifteenth Arkansas was the only regiment rallied anywhere near the scene of disaster. In the face of a deadly fire and an exultant foe the regiment reformed near two abandoned cannons and fell back in order behind a ridge. From this point, seeing some re-enforcements coming up, I led them in a charge on the advancing foe. The enemy fled back faster than they came." "In this charge Lieutenant-Colonel Patton, the sole remaining field officer of the Fifteenth Arkansas, was shot dead. He did his duty nobly in this battle and secured the love and confidence of every man in his regiment. The Fifteenth Arkansas continued to pursue the enemy until out of ammunition, when 58 men, all that were still together, fell back to replenish."
Cleburne's battle report summarized his brigade's performance during Shiloh, "This was the first battle my men were ever engaged in. They led the advance of our army on Shiloh and engaged and repulsed the enemy's cavalry the Friday before the battle. They fought in the foremost line both days and were never rested or relieved for a moment. They captured many stands of colors and assisted in the capture of General Prentiss' Federal brigade on the left."
After Shiloh, the Confederate Army was reorganized. The 13th and 15th Arkansas depleted regiments were combined. As regiments were depleted the Confederate army combined units together rather than adding fresh recruits to rebuild the strength of old regiments.
The 13th/15th Arkansas next participated in the campaign to encourage Kentucky to join the Confederacy. They fought in Battle of Richmond, August 29-30, 1862, (See map.) and Battle of Perryville, October 8, 1862.
When I was a Boy Scout in Kentucky, we commemorated Perryville with a 20 mile hike. Since both sides were trying to get water, I believe we couldn't drink during the hike. Or maybe I am making that up. I also remember memorizing Gettysburg Address during the hike. I believe we repeated it as a group at the end of the hike.
Animated story of the Battle of Perryville.
To see the movements of the 13th/15th Arkansas during the battle, look for Cleburne the far right side of the map. The 13th/15th is shown in front line of Cleburne's. This is the position from noon to 2 pm.
At 2pm, Cleburne moved forward to the dark red line. The 13th/15th Arkansas moved across "Doctors Fork".
By 4 pm, the "13th/15th AR" was able to move forward again to the brown line.
Though the Confederates won the Battles of Richmond and Perryville, the Confederates lost the strategic situation and withdrew from Kentucky. Saving Kentucky for the Union.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Lookout! Wednesday, October 3, 2012
We decided to go to the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga Military Park only. The trip up the mountain switches back and forth. There are houses nearly all the way... I sure don't think commuting up and down the mountain during the winter sounds very fun!
Many of the houses are very nice and quite large. The homes on the edge of the mountain seem to consistently have large decks or are otherwise built out over the drop-off. Although the view of Chattanooga in the valley is phenomenal, I'm not sure I would want to live in many of those homes.
We first visited the Battles for Chattanooga Museum. This store has a 3-D map of several battles around the Chattanooga area, including Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. There is an audio presentation while the lights on the map illustrate the troop locations. This gave us a much better understanding of the situation during the fall of 1863 in the area.
The official Visitor Center is next door and has exhibits that give additional insights and information about the various "players" on both sides of the conflicts. We then walked across to the Point Park and walked the trail. The views of Chattanooga were impressive.
This trip meant something to me (Kathy) because I have a photograph of my great great grandfather Francis Bryan with other soldiers on Lookout Mountain. He served in the Union Army with other soldiers from Ohio. I don't have the exact unit with me, but we learned soldiers from Ohio were there at the battles and that many soldiers had their photos taken on the Point shown in the photograph on the right after the Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge (November 24 and 25, 1863).
I also need to check my other great great grandfather's papers (Samuel W. Reid) when I get home. I know he was captured that fall and began to suspect that these battles might be where he was. Today we learned that Major General Patrick R. Cleburne's regiment held right flank of Missionary Ridge for the Confederates against 10 times more troops. This regiment included Sam's company, the Napoleon Grays (Fifteenth Regiment of Arkansas Infantry) under the command of Major E. Warfield. According to Cleburne's official report, the 15th Arkansas engaged in heavy fighting all day long around Tunnel Hill and captured one Union battle flag. See map. (Confederate Order of Battle)
The date of Sam's captured in nearby Graysville, Georgia, coincide with the Battle of Missionary Ridge.
I must learn some more about both of these grandfathers and their participation in the same battle, different sides. Later in their lives, their children married in Osage County, Kansas!
The history lesson for the day was over, so we headed west with the intention of visiting the battlefield at Shiloh, Tennessee tomorrow. (Yes, we seem to be steeped in Civil War history on this vacation!) Our new Waze navigation took us the quickest route, which meant we spent time in three states today (Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama). Tomorrow we will drive through a bit of Mississippi on the way back to Tennessee to the battlefield.
We remembered that we have traveled through part of this area a few years ago and were not able to visit Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia, Alabama, because it was not open the day we were here. Since out path was going by again, we stopped and will visit the home tomorrow morning, before Shiloh.
Last time we were here we stayed in a private campground, but tonight we are at McFarland Park, part of the city of Florence's city park system. There are large pine trees lining the road and we find the park nice for the overnight stop. Water is on both sides of the campground with herons inhabiting Cypress Creek.
Many of the houses are very nice and quite large. The homes on the edge of the mountain seem to consistently have large decks or are otherwise built out over the drop-off. Although the view of Chattanooga in the valley is phenomenal, I'm not sure I would want to live in many of those homes.
We first visited the Battles for Chattanooga Museum. This store has a 3-D map of several battles around the Chattanooga area, including Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. There is an audio presentation while the lights on the map illustrate the troop locations. This gave us a much better understanding of the situation during the fall of 1863 in the area.
The official Visitor Center is next door and has exhibits that give additional insights and information about the various "players" on both sides of the conflicts. We then walked across to the Point Park and walked the trail. The views of Chattanooga were impressive.
I also need to check my other great great grandfather's papers (Samuel W. Reid) when I get home. I know he was captured that fall and began to suspect that these battles might be where he was. Today we learned that Major General Patrick R. Cleburne's regiment held right flank of Missionary Ridge for the Confederates against 10 times more troops. This regiment included Sam's company, the Napoleon Grays (Fifteenth Regiment of Arkansas Infantry) under the command of Major E. Warfield. According to Cleburne's official report, the 15th Arkansas engaged in heavy fighting all day long around Tunnel Hill and captured one Union battle flag. See map. (Confederate Order of Battle)
The date of Sam's captured in nearby Graysville, Georgia, coincide with the Battle of Missionary Ridge.
I must learn some more about both of these grandfathers and their participation in the same battle, different sides. Later in their lives, their children married in Osage County, Kansas!
The history lesson for the day was over, so we headed west with the intention of visiting the battlefield at Shiloh, Tennessee tomorrow. (Yes, we seem to be steeped in Civil War history on this vacation!) Our new Waze navigation took us the quickest route, which meant we spent time in three states today (Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama). Tomorrow we will drive through a bit of Mississippi on the way back to Tennessee to the battlefield.
We remembered that we have traveled through part of this area a few years ago and were not able to visit Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia, Alabama, because it was not open the day we were here. Since out path was going by again, we stopped and will visit the home tomorrow morning, before Shiloh.
Last time we were here we stayed in a private campground, but tonight we are at McFarland Park, part of the city of Florence's city park system. There are large pine trees lining the road and we find the park nice for the overnight stop. Water is on both sides of the campground with herons inhabiting Cypress Creek.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
October 2, 2012 Through Georgia
We visited the Oliver Hardy Museum in Harlem, Georgia, the birthplace of Hardy, the fat one. Next weekend, October 6, is the Oliver Hardy Festival. 30,000 people are expected.
After his birth in Harlem, Hardy's family moved down the road to Milledgeville to run a hotel. Hardy was fascinated by the entertainers who stayed in the Baldwin Hotel. This sparked his interest in show business. The museum's collection is almost solely hundreds of Laurel and Hardy collectables.
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Kathy and I road in the back of Oliver and Laurel's automobile. (See picture.)
Next, we watched a 30-minute 1932 short called The Music Box. This film won the first academy award for live action short.
The rest of the day was driving across Georgia, around Atlanta to just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee. We are staying in a KOA Kampground.
After his birth in Harlem, Hardy's family moved down the road to Milledgeville to run a hotel. Hardy was fascinated by the entertainers who stayed in the Baldwin Hotel. This sparked his interest in show business. The museum's collection is almost solely hundreds of Laurel and Hardy collectables.
.JPG)
Next, we watched a 30-minute 1932 short called The Music Box. This film won the first academy award for live action short.
The rest of the day was driving across Georgia, around Atlanta to just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee. We are staying in a KOA Kampground.
Monday, October 1, 2012 Manning, South Carolina to Georgia
Kathy and Chris spent the morning and early afternoon driving around Manning, South Carolina. Chris spent the summer of 1973 selling Bibles door-to-door in Manning and Summerton, 10 miles south.
In my memory, the Manning 40-years ago was a little run down. My housemate Jim Wilson and I used to eat breakfast in a cafe where I learned to dislike grits. After breakfast, he would drop me off in the neighborhood I was working at the time. I spent a lot of time in the dilapidated houses of the black ghetto because these people opened their doors to a door-to-door salesman.
So much has changed that for a while I thought I was in the wrong town. Most of the houses I visited have been torn down to be replaced by newer houses, lowcost government apartments for black and white residents, banks, medical facilities, or just empty areas. Between the town and the I-95 exit, is a super-Walmart and many of the chains in other towns across America. In the town, are many new medical facilities, banks, etc.
I have numerous memories of this summer. I will share one. Near the end of the summer, my mother and grandmother picked me up to spend a vacation together in South Carolina. Before leaving town, we did washing in a local laundromat. This building was divided into three equal areas. The right end was the dry cleaning business run by the business owner. The other two areas contained washers and dryers. My mother and I went to the dry cleaning area for some reason, e.g., getting change. At one point, the business owner asked in which room we were washing our clothes. We said the middle room. He said that was good. We then realized this was a segregated laundry. The room on the left end of the building was for blacks. When we revealed this arrangement to my grandmother, she went over and sat in the other laundry for the rest of the time. Yesterday, I couldn't find this laundry.
Kathy and I ate a late lunch in a cafe near where I used to pass my grits to Jim Wilson. The cafe is now a boutique store selling pasta salads and deli meat sandwiches with avocado spread on focaccia bread.
After leaving Manning, we drove into Georgia and camped at the Petersburg Campground at the J. Strom Thurmond Dam and Lake. This is a wonderful campground because the campsites are large, well-designed and well-separated from each other. Each campsite contains a fire-ring, grill, food preparation table near grill, a lantern hanger, and picnic table. The restrooms are clean and nice. Finally, few people are here.
Our campsite is beside the lake. 200 yards from shore is small island with a flock of geese who honk periodically.
In my memory, the Manning 40-years ago was a little run down. My housemate Jim Wilson and I used to eat breakfast in a cafe where I learned to dislike grits. After breakfast, he would drop me off in the neighborhood I was working at the time. I spent a lot of time in the dilapidated houses of the black ghetto because these people opened their doors to a door-to-door salesman.
So much has changed that for a while I thought I was in the wrong town. Most of the houses I visited have been torn down to be replaced by newer houses, lowcost government apartments for black and white residents, banks, medical facilities, or just empty areas. Between the town and the I-95 exit, is a super-Walmart and many of the chains in other towns across America. In the town, are many new medical facilities, banks, etc.
I have numerous memories of this summer. I will share one. Near the end of the summer, my mother and grandmother picked me up to spend a vacation together in South Carolina. Before leaving town, we did washing in a local laundromat. This building was divided into three equal areas. The right end was the dry cleaning business run by the business owner. The other two areas contained washers and dryers. My mother and I went to the dry cleaning area for some reason, e.g., getting change. At one point, the business owner asked in which room we were washing our clothes. We said the middle room. He said that was good. We then realized this was a segregated laundry. The room on the left end of the building was for blacks. When we revealed this arrangement to my grandmother, she went over and sat in the other laundry for the rest of the time. Yesterday, I couldn't find this laundry.
Kathy and I ate a late lunch in a cafe near where I used to pass my grits to Jim Wilson. The cafe is now a boutique store selling pasta salads and deli meat sandwiches with avocado spread on focaccia bread.
After leaving Manning, we drove into Georgia and camped at the Petersburg Campground at the J. Strom Thurmond Dam and Lake. This is a wonderful campground because the campsites are large, well-designed and well-separated from each other. Each campsite contains a fire-ring, grill, food preparation table near grill, a lantern hanger, and picnic table. The restrooms are clean and nice. Finally, few people are here.
Our campsite is beside the lake. 200 yards from shore is small island with a flock of geese who honk periodically.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Wash and Waze... Sunday, September 30, 2012
Today was more for getting ready for the next week of vacation than anything else.
The KOA served free waffles for breakfast, so I took advantage of that, while Chris finished off some of the leftovers from our sojourn in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area.
We then decided it was a good time to do our laundry there at the campground. These clean clothes will see us through to the end of this year's vacation.
The afternoon was then devoted to heading south into South Carolina. This is another new state for our map on the side of the camper. (We mark the states we have gone to IN THE CAMPER VAN; not in other ways or times). We know only have Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii left in the U.S. We'll get Georgia this week; odds are we'll never take the camper van to Hawaii. So we've visited most of the states since we purchased the camper a few years ago! We've also visited Manitoba and Saskatchewan, so we still have some Canadian provinces to go.
We ate lunch at Zachary's Pizza & Restaurant in Saint Pauls, North Carolina. The Veggie was very good.
A visit to the South Carolina Welcome Center on I-95 was the main high point of the late afternoon. We picked up some tourist materials, including some information about campgrounds. We decided to check out Poinsett State Park. That's where we decided to stay; the sites are really nice and roomy.
Tomorrow's plans include visiting Manning, South Carolina, just a few miles away. When Chris was in college, he actually sold Bibles in this area one summer! Manning is where he lived, and I'd like to see a little of his past.
While driving past on the way to the campground, Chris says it looks like it may be quite a bit larger than it was in the late 1970s. I'm not at all surprised; when I attended high school in Wellsville, Kansas, in the late 1960s, nearby Gardner, Kansas, was still a pretty small town nearby. Now Gardner is growing constantly and seems to be almost an extension of the greater Kansas City metro area!
During the day, I added a new app on my Android called Waze. Waze serves as a navigator program, but also has a social aspect. Users report problems like heavy traffic, accidents, cars parked on the shoulder, etc., which Waze can use to suggest alternate, faster routes for commuters, etc.
It's been fun learning to use the functions included today, and tonight we actually used the Waze site on the laptop to edit the South Carolina map! If you travel on a road that is not marked in Waze, you can mark it as "Paved". Then you can go in on the computer and actually add that road and more information to the Waze maps and database!
There's definitely a learning curve for the editing, but I think I'm getting better. The roads leading to our campsite were not shown correctly; I think they are better now.
I also discovered that Waze's map editor works best with Chrome, so downloaded that browser too!
The KOA served free waffles for breakfast, so I took advantage of that, while Chris finished off some of the leftovers from our sojourn in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area.
We then decided it was a good time to do our laundry there at the campground. These clean clothes will see us through to the end of this year's vacation.
The afternoon was then devoted to heading south into South Carolina. This is another new state for our map on the side of the camper. (We mark the states we have gone to IN THE CAMPER VAN; not in other ways or times). We know only have Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii left in the U.S. We'll get Georgia this week; odds are we'll never take the camper van to Hawaii. So we've visited most of the states since we purchased the camper a few years ago! We've also visited Manitoba and Saskatchewan, so we still have some Canadian provinces to go.
We ate lunch at Zachary's Pizza & Restaurant in Saint Pauls, North Carolina. The Veggie was very good.
A visit to the South Carolina Welcome Center on I-95 was the main high point of the late afternoon. We picked up some tourist materials, including some information about campgrounds. We decided to check out Poinsett State Park. That's where we decided to stay; the sites are really nice and roomy.
Tomorrow's plans include visiting Manning, South Carolina, just a few miles away. When Chris was in college, he actually sold Bibles in this area one summer! Manning is where he lived, and I'd like to see a little of his past.
While driving past on the way to the campground, Chris says it looks like it may be quite a bit larger than it was in the late 1970s. I'm not at all surprised; when I attended high school in Wellsville, Kansas, in the late 1960s, nearby Gardner, Kansas, was still a pretty small town nearby. Now Gardner is growing constantly and seems to be almost an extension of the greater Kansas City metro area!
During the day, I added a new app on my Android called Waze. Waze serves as a navigator program, but also has a social aspect. Users report problems like heavy traffic, accidents, cars parked on the shoulder, etc., which Waze can use to suggest alternate, faster routes for commuters, etc.
It's been fun learning to use the functions included today, and tonight we actually used the Waze site on the laptop to edit the South Carolina map! If you travel on a road that is not marked in Waze, you can mark it as "Paved". Then you can go in on the computer and actually add that road and more information to the Waze maps and database!
There's definitely a learning curve for the editing, but I think I'm getting better. The roads leading to our campsite were not shown correctly; I think they are better now.
I also discovered that Waze's map editor works best with Chrome, so downloaded that browser too!
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