Today was strictly a driving day. Not because the distance was so very far – it is about 3 1/2 hours from Wilmington to Charleston – but we took a few sections of backroads along the way and arrived at our hotel at 3:30. We decided to check in and John would do some ticket and tours research and I would work on my blog to try catch up.

We left Wilmington at 9:45 and headed south to Old Brunswick Town and Anderson Farm to see if, on the off chance they would be open. But no. All State Historic Sites and Parks in North Carolina are closed Sunday, Monday and all major holidays. We had a nice wander through countryside though.

We stopped beside a lake to take a photo of a pair of eagles nesting in a tree in a lake. The lake is posted with No Trespassing signs and apparently belongs to Orton Camp. I have never seen No Trespassing signs in a lake before. There was also a sign that said “Do no feed the alligators.” Why would you want to? We met a fellow at Bellamy house that said, “I knew what an alligator looked like long before I knew what a dog looked like.”

We rejoined the main south-bound freeway until we crossed into South Carolina at 11:45 and then diverted again inland to Conway and south to Georgetown where we joined Highway 17 again as far as Mt. Pleasant where our hotel is located. We have a short drive across the bridge to Charleston to make tomorrow. We did the detour into Conway to avoid the stretch of highway from North Myrtle Beach to Georgetown. This 60 mile stretch is an extremely popular holiday area with beaches and resort towns one after another along the coast. I was afraid it would be bumper to bumper creeping traffic as people head home after the long weekend so we avoided it all together just in case.

This is our first time in South Carolina so we found a geocache in Georgetown to record the state on our map.

These are all the photos I took today. As I said, it was a driving day.

We drive past thick tall forests on both sides of the road, broken by some marshes, creeks, rivers or small lakes. Nothing really scenic or different. Lots and lots of trees. The trees grow very tall and the undergrowth is extremely thick. One would really have to work hard to take a walk in the woods down here.

When John booked our rental car before we left home he selected a Rav 4. At the counter in Charlotte airport we were given a 2022 fully loaded Range Rover. It is a very nice roomy vehicle and has an awesome Nav system. We just input a place name or address and the kind lady voice directs us where to go. It took awhile to learn to ignore some of the directions because if you pass any exits along the way she will say “turn slightly left”, then “follow the highway”, then “drive the highway.” I guess some people decide to leave the direction they want to go and take exits they don’t want. We found it a bit redundant and confusing the first couple of days, but we have learned to just ignore it. Other than that it is a great system and we have used it a lot already.

We are staying three nights in Charleston. I have four things for sure I want to do: Visit the newly opened (2023) International African-American Museum, see the Old Slave Mart, take a horse-drawn carriage ride through the Historic Downtown and take the ferry to tour Fort Sumter where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Any other things will be done after those are completed.