Charleston SC James Island County Park

We left Warsaw a little later this year since we were gone for a month later in the summer.  We pulled out of Warsaw on November 14th and have stayed several places since then but there was not much to report that was different until today.  We got the motorhome serviced on November 16th in Gaffney, SC and then went to Greenville SC to see our oldest son Gabe.  From Greenville we drove to James Island which is about six miles south of the historic district of downtown Charleston, SC.  We tried to get into James Island County Park last year but they were booked up and were even filling up for this year.  This park we now know is very well know for the extravagant Christmas light display they put up each year.  I spoke to a volunteer here in the park today who was originally from Gary, Indiana and he said they replace all of the non LED lights in the display each year.  He said it takes 16 people three weeks to perform this job.  We went to Bellingrath Gardens in Alabama a couple of years ago and thought those Christmas lights were spectacular but those don't hold a candle to these lights in this county park.  They charge $15 per car to drive around the park to see the lights and the cars are bumper to bumper when they open at 5:30 until they close at 10:00 pm.  Over four million people have toured the park to see the light show since they opened 26 years ago.  The rv park here is also nice except for all of the trees which prevents me from getting a satellite signal.  We get about 15 over the air TV channels but having the satellite allows us to record and watch things when we want to.


Here are some pictures from our drive around the park tonight.  By the way we don't have to pay to see the lights since we are staying in the campground.



Last post of our 5,300 mile trip out west

We left Salt Lake City on Monday morning at around 9:00 am after visiting my brother and his family over the weekend and got home on Wednesday at around 2:00 pm.  We drove around 10 hours on Monday and stayed in a Walmart parking lot for the first time ever.  I think this may have been the highlight of the trip for Huli.  On Tuesday we drove another 12 hours and then around three hours on Wednesday.  For the very first time I can say we went on a trip, which happened to be our longest ever, and did not have one problem with the motorhome.  It performed great on the entire trip.  We averaged around 7.5 miles per gallon and used around 700 gallons of diesel fuel.  If you add the miles when we drove the car once we were stopped at an rv park we actually drove much more than the 5,300 miles we put on the motorhome.  The miles per gallon on the motorhome was poorer than we normally experience due to all of the mountain climbing we did plus we went much faster on the highways than we normally do going to Florida or other places we have traveled to.  On the plains the speed limit is higher than most roads we drive on and the roads are better for going a little faster.  On much of the way home we were able to travel at around 75 miles per hour.  We had a great trip and saw a lot of cool sites but are also glad to be home.  Today, Thursday, we plan on washing the motorhome and taking it over to the storage unit this evening.  I plan on waxing it over the next six weeks before we head out for Florida on November 15th.

Here are pictures from our last few days on our trip.

We went to the Octoberfest in Salt Lake City at the Snowbird Center on Sunday.

 Huli, Ellie my brother's daughter, and my brother.

 Crossing the Rockies again.

 Lots of windmills all over the west and mid west while coming home.

 Much easier driving on this type of road

 Set up for the night at the Walmart parking lot in Nebraska.  We had company with other rv's and trucks.  Got perfect tv reception with the satellite and had plenty of power using the invertor and the eight rv batteries for the night.

Bonneville International Speedway, West Wendover, NV

After leaving Reno we stopped at West Wendover, NV.  Most people would ask why we would you stop at West Wendover.  Well West Wendover, NV is known for being on the edge of the Bonneville Salt Flats where land speed records are set.  It is the closest town to the speedway being only four miles west of the actual access road to the speedway.  In fact there are no other towns near the salt flats other than Wendover, NV. The actual racing takes place in September but this year it was cancelled due to there being too much rain which made the salt unstable for racing.  People warned me not to drive on the flats because your car could sink through the top salt layer and get stuck even though it feels solid walking on it.  They also warned that the salt would stick to your under carriage of your car and you would need to wash it off since the salt is very corrosive to your car.


You can see the salt flats from the rv park we stayed at.

Here is our neighbors $1.5 million home on wheels with a matching trailer.

 They claim you can see the curvature of the earth at the salt flats but I didn't see it.

Here is a part of the salt flats under water which I guess is not uncommon but usually doesn't last into September.

There is an old Air Force base here where pilots were trained and practice bomb drops were made prior to the Hiroshima bomb drop.

This is a sculpture on I80 as you cross the salt flats.

 Ever wonder where your Morton salt comes from

 More mountains.  Did a lot of climbing again today.

Lake Tahoe, California

Today we drove south to Lake Tahoe.  We drove around the entire lake starting down the east side and then after having lunch in South Lake Tahoe, Ca. we went up the west side of the lake.  Traveling up the west side is where we found the most beautiful part of the entire lake, in our opinion, which is called Emerald Bay.  The water there is a green blue and is very beautiful.  The lake is actually split between California and Nevada with about two thirds of the lake being in California and one third in Nevada.  The lake is very large measuring 22 miles long and 12 miles wide.  The biggest thing that enhances the beauty of the lake in my opinion is the mountains that surround it. After going around the lake we stopped at Truckee, Ca for some refreshments before heading back to Reno.

Here are some pictures