24. South Carolina

Saturday morning, November 16, drove from Cherokee, NC to Seneca, South Carolina and stopped at the World of Energy, an exhibit put on by Duke Energy, the large utility company serving the Carolinas.  The exhibit was boring but the location was great as it was right next to Oconee Nuclear Power Plant. Had no idea they let people so close to reactor buildings.

Three Reactors - about 100 yards away

Drove 30 minutes to the town of Clemson, home of Clemson University.  Walked around the campus for an hour which was nice but nothing fantastic.

Drove another half hour to just outside the town of Anderson, and pulled into Sadlers Creek State Park, were I spent the night in their campground.  Lots of lakes in this part of South Carolina and the campsite was on a nice one.

Next morning, got up early and drove 2 hours Southeast to the town of Edgefield.  My friend Dan who I stayed with for a month in Jackson, NJ, had driven down the day before (12 hour drive) with his girlfriend Michelle.  Michelle's Dad lives there, so they came for a week-long visit. It was great to see them; her Dad restores old cars, so he gave us a fascinating tour of the cars he had in the garage at the time.  They had lots of land and a shetland pony.

Dan, Michelle, Richard, and Diana (I forget the dog's name).

Sunday afternoon, Michelle spent some "quality time" with Dad and his wife, so Dan and I drove to the nearby town of Aiken, where we found a sports bar and spent "quality time" watching football, drinking beer and eating wings all afternoon.

Stayed in Aiken that night, next morning drove two hours North to Congaree National Park, a swamp forest a little East of the state capital of Columbia. As it was Monday, the visitor center was closed, but they had a long boardwalk and hikes, so spent 3 hours hiking. It was OK, but no wildlife so a bit boring.

Finished the hikes sooner than I had expected, so called up and made a 3 day reservation at James Island County Park, 7 miles outside of Charleston.  Arrived late in the day to find that the famous Festival of Lights was going on in the park.  This is a huge Christmas light show with hundreds of animated figures.

Spent the next two very cold days touring Charleston on my scooter whose battery died on the first day. Bought a trickle charger, and left it on overnight which seemed to do the trick.

Charleston's famous bridge

 College of Charleston President's Mansion

Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor -  Civil War started here

Thursday morning, November 21st, drove 110 miles South to Savannah, Georgia.