3 15 13 Friday

On the South Carolina coast.

For the most part, the Winter had been cooler than normal this year, down here. It's getting more normal and very pleasant now as we head North into cooler weather. We added it up last night and since January 1 we have stayed in 27 campgrounds, most of them State Parks. They are wonderful because they are almost always located at historic sites, beaches or scenic wilderness areas. The whole trip we have seen signs on every body of water, cautioning about Alligators. Have we seen one.....No...Until the last two days. Now they are everywhere. Apparently they are inactive in the Winter, and are the weather warms, they become more so. I didn't being a yak on the trip and I have to wonder about my reaction to sharing the water with large carnivores and poisonous snakes.....It makes me appreciate Michigan all the more. The other major thing we've noticed, traveling, is road trash. With no bottle laws and marginal highway clean up, we miss clean roadways...

We've been meeting lots of wonderful and interesting people, from all over the place. Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, and all over the US.

This area of South Carolina, was at one time, the worlds largest exporter of rice. They are also home to the only, tea plantation, in the US. In Charleston we saw a replica of the HUNLEY. The first attack submarine ever. It was used during the Civil War and the hull was recovered in 2000 and is being researched and preserved. The story behind it all is most interesting.