Hartwell (GA)

With an innate feeling that we needed to keep moving southward, we left Clemson and headed to the southern most end of the lake—Watsadler (Army CoE) campground in Hartwell, Georgia.  Although this trip would take us into another state, we enjoyed another short travel day and took comfort in the expectation of setting-up before dusk.  

“Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect.”  - Margaret Mitchell

This leg of the trip was…odd.  Not really “bad” (let’s face it; we’re on a year-long vacation…how can anything be “bad?”), but just odd.  It’s like one of those days where you unknowingly wore socks that didn’t match; locked yourself out of your car until you found your keys in your jacket; had to take a detour on the way home due to a delivery truck accident slathering bologna all over the highway; and then had a door-to-door aquarium salesman interrupt your dinner.  Nothing catastrophically “bad”…just odd.

En route to Watsadler, we decided to take the scenic route.  It was along this route that we encountered a bearded hillbilly–complete with cover-alls–standing on the side of the road selling moonshine.  The Palmetto Moonshine Company is an interesting roadside attraction. The ground floor of this establishment has two entrances.  One for high-octane moonshine sales & tastings, and the other for no-octane moonshine shirts, hats, bandanas, glasses, and other souvenirs to show your support for your local squeeze-maker. The area around the building is fenced-in, with an array of animals calmly lounging about…that is until you introduce two golden retrievers into their space.  Apparently there is an on-going feud ‘tween the EquusFields & the McCanines that nobody mentioned to either of our hounds.  Once Buddy (aka. Bubba) approached the fence-line, the resident Jackass [oh, where I could go with that statement] started running & bucking as if it had just come off an 8-hour shift of being Chief of Moonshine Quality Control.  I did mention a “ground floor,” and yes…there was an upstairs.  It was labeled, “Zoo on the Roof.”  Perched above the moonshine tasting room, the moonshine bling store, and the customer entrances were numerous farm animals…namely goats.  I’m not knocking the wisdom in housing farm animals above human habitations, but my years in the military taught me about gravitational laws and the tendencies for things to “roll downhill.”  In a very un-Southern display of manners, I kept my hat on when I entered the establishment, and purchased a small souvenir…located on the bottom shelf. 

“None shall pass.” – The Black Knight (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

When we reached Watsadler, we checked-in and headed to our site.  We reserved a “pull through” as this requires zero backing skillz (hence the term, “pull through”).  There was a patron who was blocking the access road to our site, performing complex algebraic calculations in an effort to figure out how he was going to back his rig in.  Being completely oblivious to our 50+’ of truck & trailer, we decided to give him some time to pontificate the dilemma and simply walk to our reserved site for a pre-setup assessment.  When we walked our reserved site, we found it was not nearly as level as the on-line photo or description, so we found a nearby suitable site and returned to the check-in office to change our camp site.  After changing our campsite, we circled the campground (again), only to find the aforementioned gentleman attempting to jackknife his trailer into his campsite while seeing how close he could get to a very large oak tree without hit it.  After 15 minutes of traversing the same 15",  he managed to get most of his property onto the pad unscathed. 

As we pulled into our new “more level” site, Kristy hopped out and decided to sweep away the leaves where we would park the rig.  This keeps your tires from resting in a continual damp environment, and also gives you an idea as to how much contact the landing gear has on the ground.  After sweeping for awhile, we soon realized this site was level at “leaf height,” but still unlevel on the gravel pad.  We began the our routine of adding leveling planks to make the downward slope flush. With the rig finally set-up, we were ready to enjoy the lakeside site.  The sky was clear, the winds calm, and the distant sounds of Canadian Geese flying through the darkness echoed across the lake.  I grabbed my Canon SLR and tripod, and tried to capture the lake under cover of darkness.

And the blind shall lead the sighted, as we lose the candle glow; No one knows tomorrow, in the blinding light show.” –Triumph, The Blinding Light Show

Being mid-week campers as winter approaches, we have found ourselves with a higher degree of solitude than you would experience during the summer months at these same sites.  I guess we became spoiled, as we got a neighbor at the adjacent campsite.  We’ve had neighbor before, and all of them have been very nice and pleasant to be near.  This one also seemed nice, but for some reason he felt as though he needed to have his campsite seen from space.  The entire campsite was lit as well as any prison camp, with high-wattage lights hung above, and yards of rope-lighting marking the camp perimeter.  We actually discussed how we could rig a make-shift privacy screen so that we could sit by our campfire without wearing sunglasses.

We normally make grocery runs into the local towns, which gives us the opportunity to mix with the locals.  Hartwell, is another small town; with a town square and (during this time of year) Christmas decorations adorning the streetlights.  During our first trip into town, we passed something that confuses us to this day.  We didn’t film our initial reaction, but it looked something like THIS. 

It wasn’t a store.  It wasn’t open land.  It was a large, empty, fenced-in area…adorned with "No Parking" signs and barbed wire (to keep something out), and displayed a large sign with the word “Bunnytuna.”  Perhaps this was a project that involved the genetic splicing of rodents & fish in a hellish tale that mixes the storylines of Deliverance & The Island of Doctor Moreau.  Maybe this was failed attempt to create a culinary “meat-meld” that rivals the now-famous Turducken (although I would’ve named it “Hook-N-Hop”).  I think the answer is far more simpler.  Someone with excess money just wanted to see how many people he could mess with.  Touché’

Next up: Rain.  Lots of Rain.  Over an inch of rain fell in one night.  The rainfall was significant, and there were reports of tornatic activity within 50-miles of us.  The thought of using our RV as a shelter-in-place option was scary.  The rain continued for over a day, but we were spared from any damaging winds.  It was during these long hours of sitting inside during heavy rains that Kristy and I reminisced about our past tent camping days, and how a rain event of that magnitude would make life absolutely miserable.  As the water continued to wash through our campsite, we felt fortunate to have such comfortable accommodations—a dry place to live & sleep, and lots of grub to keep us full.  We weren’t the only one’s who understood the misery that heavy rains can cause, nor were we the only one’s that desired to be in dryer, more comfortable digs. 

Ants.

(to be continued)

wWw