2010 04 02 Easter at Dreher Island

We decided that because it was Easter, this weekend most likely required advanced reservations to get a good campsite. This was our first reservations this trip and we are really glad we made them since we were greeted with a ‘campground full’ sign.

Dreher Island is a South Carolina State Park situated in Lake Murray, about 20 minutes west of Columbia, SC.

There are no 50 amp sites and even though our site was marked as level on www.reserveamerica.com, because of the slope toward the lake, we had to block the rear wheels. I would expect that anyone in a motorhome who wants to stay here on a weekend between March and October had better reserve a long site that is rated level well in advance because these sites seem to stay full. We saw a motorhome come in across the lake from us that was never able to get close to level and finally just left. We were told by the ranger at Beaver Dam that all Reserve America ask for is a swag of ‘level, partially level, partially sloped, sloped’. This really doesn’t cut it and we much prefer when they tell you how many inches slope over 10 feet as most COE’s do.

However, the difference of opinion on what ‘level’ means was our only complaint. We couldn’t have asked for lovelier weather or surroundings. Even though the campground was full of children it was quiet at night and we enjoyed sitting outside in the dark looking at the stars and listening to the lapping water.

In fact, because we had the windows open all of the time, I was wakened every morning around dawn to the sounds of all the waking birds. I snapped this picture of sunrise over the lake.

As usual, when there are kids around, Ken found someone to play with. This little girl, named Elias, and Ken got to be morning fishing buddies.

This is the view up to our RV from where Elias and Ken were fishing, so as you can see the sites were very much lakefront.

In fact, many campers docked their boats right below their sites. Kids also swam in the lake right off of their campsites. This was surprising to us since neither the boat docking or swimming are allowed off campsites at the lakes where we camp closer to home.

Being parked for 3 nights was heaven after our faster paced trek to this point from Illinois. We took a lot of walks with the dogs around the campground with Ditka and Sox making many new friends.

Signs of spring were everywhere, including these beautiful fragrant vines which we are assuming are a Southern version of honeysuckle.

Our Midwest flower guide doesn’t show anything like this in yellow. We need to get a better flower guide to go with our tree and bird guide.

We had forgotten about the bad side of Spring in the Carolinas – the pervasive yellow/green pine pollen that covers everything. Our screens, our tables, our vehicles---everything is covered. We did one general cleaning to get the worst but will need to do again when we get out of the pine forest and over to Myrtle Beach.

Easter morning, our neighbor Eli cooked a turkey outside in a unique contraption made of re-bar and chicken wire. This was impressive!!

We’re thinking this make-shift camp oven would work for any number of items to bake such as roasts, stews, chicken, etc., and there’s not much cleanup since the food is cooking in one of those turkey cook bags you buy at the store.

Ken and I did venture outside the park to the little nearby town of Chapin. We picked up some groceries, found a place in a parking lot with enough wifi from me to post a blog and then enjoyed lunch the lunch buffet at Farm Boys BBQ. Between Ken’s love for afternoon ice cream stops, and evening cocktail hour and this buffet, I may have to start doing double time on the Nordic Track!
I did get my 37 minutes in though as well as morning and evening dog walks with Ken. It drives Ken nuts to be around the RV when I’m doing my Nordic Track so that is usually the #3 walk of the day for the dogs. He has no problem stretching that mile walk to 37 minutes since he usually walks a minute, stops to talk for 5 minutes…repeat.

This was our first major holiday away from home in as long as either of us can remember. It was also the 4th anniversary of my Mother’s passing. Although I had my moments of melancholy, I talked to both boys on the phone, and couldn’t stay down long in such a beautiful setting.

We started a campfire around dusk and sat around enjoying the lovely evening and the stars.

Monday we are on the road to Longs, SC and the RV-Dreams Rally.

Hugs, C