We did an overnight camp beside a lake at a Georgia Power
site on our way to South Carolina for our Grandson’s 3rd birthday. It
was a nice lakeside spot … very well kept … where the Canada Geese pulled off what
seemed like an all-nighter of incessant honking.
3 hours of pounding
the slab (our reference to driving the Interstate) then took us to the outskirts
of a major South Carolina urban area. We camped for 3 nights at a small
privately-owned campground … spiked our tent right there in the midst of all
those fine pull behinds and diesel pushers. Shirli’s son was able to spike a
tent and join us for a rainy overnighter.
Night 5 took us to an older State Park on Strom Thurmond
Lake in South Carolina near the Georgia border. We stayed away from the slab
and enjoyed the back road scenic route to get there. That was an interesting
overnight stop. Several seriously die-hard fishermen had their pull behind rigs
set up. The view of the lake was stunning despite the near gale gusts, constant
high winds and freezing overnight temperatures.
We spent night 6, after a slow mosey on Georgia backroads,
in the lower end of the Oconee National Forest at a National Forest campground
on Lake Sinclair.
There are only a couple of sites in the primitive area that
will accommodate a large tent. The tent pads were made for tents 10’x10’ and
smaller. Our Kodiak will not fit. There are only a few sites with power and
water. One of those few is no longer in service. We got the last one with
hookups just before an older motor home pulled through looking for a spot for
the night.
We had planned to split the distance home and do an overnight in one
of our State Parks here in SE Alabama but the weather forecast prompted us to
pick up our scamper and get on back to our camping cabin here on Huckleberry
Hill.
We, with the assistance of Ma Nature, put the Kodiak tent
through some paces. Rain. Hard winds. Frost. Below freezing weather. The Kodiak
performed splendidly in conditions that would have made life in any lesser tent
quite miserable. We prepared in advance for the seasonal conditions so they
didn’t catch us unawares.
Preparation and awareness are two essential keys where
opening the outdoor door is concerned … regardless of what we are planning and
doing outdoors. We knew in advance what the weather challenges would be,
prepared for those challenges, and met those challenges head on.
It was a different sort of camping trip for us.
We usually have a camping destination in mind, make the
drive, spike camp, and simply sit for a few days … preferably in as remote a
place as possible. As possible? It’s not impossible but it is really difficult
to combine “drive to” and “remote” in a way that eliminates the presence of
other human beings. Even in the remotest of “drive to” places in this part of
the country, someone is either there or has been there.
The primary objective of this trip was to spend time with
family in South Carolina. A secondary objective was to explore some alternative
off the slab travel routes and
campsites that will make an otherwise long straight through drive more
leisurely and relaxing. We honestly only scratched the surface. There are a lot
of roads and a lot of campsites … North Georgia has A LOT of Corps of Engineers
campgrounds (half price to those of us with our Senior Pass) … so a specific North Georgia Camping Tour has a lot
of appeal.
There is something about tents and tent camping experiences
that puts us in contact with the surrounding natural world and its changing
temperaments … a personal contact that allows us the opportunity to reconnect
with our truer natural inner nature. It makes us feel very small in the grand
scheme of things. It makes us feel large in our personal capacity. It is very humanizing.
The experiences cause us to view our lives … and the complex
scheme of life that surrounds us … differently. They make us more humane and
civilized when we allow them their medicine-working course. Ma Nature
administers good medicine. Sometimes her doses are on the bitter side.
Sometimes her doses are sweeter than honey.
We take the doses as they are
administered and accrue their natural health benefits.
