January 27, 2022
Today’s trip we went south to Charleston. First on the agenda was a 1 1/2 hour bus tour of the city, Very informative and educational. Not to mention entertaining. We got off the bus at the Charleston City Market. We walked all the market. Some very nice items were for sale by various craftsmen. Sawgrass baskets, jewelry, fudge, spices, and a lot of other items. Just before we reached the end of the Market, a couple of locals were asked for their recommendations for a good restaurant. They both recommended Fleet Landing. It was only a couple of blocks away so we walked to the harbor.
We got a nice table by a window and had a great view of Charleston Harbor. Right next door to the restaurant the Carnival Sunshine was docked. Amazingly large ship. The food was amazing. Very delicious and the service was excellent. Very friendly staff. Over lunch it was decided to tale a tour of the Aiken Rhett House. That was suggested by our bus driver and looked interesting. After a conversation with an employee of the restaurant, they recommended a cab company. For $10 we got a ride from the restaurant to the Aiken Rhett House.
The draw to this particular house is that it is not restored. The house and out buildings and contents are exactly as they were left over a hundred years ago. The house has no heat or air conditioning so be prepared. The only exception is the Art Gallery. That room is temperature controlled to preserve the artworks. The tour is self guided. They will provide a media device with headphones or you can download the app. Jane, Nancy and George used the devices. I downloaded the app and used it as my hearing aid bluetooths with my phone. The tour is about 45 minutes to an hour long, depending on how much time you spend in the various areas. It was awesome. The app is Historic Charleston. You can go on the tour and they even provide a few photos of each room or area. We finished the tour right at closing time. As it turns out, we were only about 3 blocks from the Visitor’s Center, where we parked. So we walked back to the truck and drove back to our campground.
January 26, 2022
Today was lunch at our favorite Myrtle Beach restaurant, The Sea Captain’s House. Chris, Jim, Jane, George, Nancy and I gathered for a delightful lunch. Of course we had a great view of the ocean and the food never disappoints. Turns out Chris had been there once before. Everyone enjoyed their meal. After the good food and great conversation Jane, George, Nancy and I took a trip up to North Myrtle and walked around Barefoot Landing. A neat shopping area with some unusual shops. Also several restaurants. Everyone was still full from lunch but we did try Molly’s for some delicious ice cream.
January 25, 2022
Over dinner Sunday Jane and George and us discussed our plans for the upcoming week. It was decided that today we would drive up to Wilmington, NC to check out the Battleship North Carolina (BB 55) and then go on up to the NC Aquarium. The Battleship was awesome. We couldn’t go on the port side or the upper decks as they were doing repairs. Still a really awesome time. This was my 3rd or 4th time on board. Had a wonderful time and learned a lot. We spent about 3 hours on the Battleship which didn’t leave us enough time for the Aquarium. was decided that we would drive to Southport and found a great place to eat on the waterfront. It was called Oliver’s. The food was delicious and plentiful. We also discovered that Mel Gibson was using Southport to film a movie which will be based in Martha’s Vineyard.
January 21 & 22, 2022
Friday morning we got up to go to work and it was pouring rain and heavy winds. Apparently Jim Cantore went to North Carolina but he has nothing on Nancy. The weather forecast was for sleet and freezing rain later in the day. We had a relatively light day. The weather was so bad we used our truck to get around the campground. No one was out. The freezing rain and sleet arrived overnight. Limbs were coming down all over the campground. The Rangers gave us the day off on the 22nd.
When Nancy went out to walk Bree on Saturday, she noticed a limb had come down on our RV. Fortunately, it did not come crashing down but when it fell it kind of hung up on another branch. There was a crew nearby so she reported the limb to them. They came over and removed the limb. No RV damage was spotted.
What does one do when it’s nasty outside. Well, Jane and George hunkered down and read and just enjoyed a cozy day in the RV. We went to Chris and Jim’s with some stuffed peppers and enjoyed a meal, some beverages.
January 20, 2022
Our golf cart was returned to us. It runs so much better now. They replaced the 4 batteries and a diode. We were told the cost was $1,400.00. It’s nice not to have a Flintstone golf cart.
This is the day for a mini high school reunion. Jane and I graduated in 19XX from the same high school. As it turns out there are two other graduates that live in the area, Karen and Donna. We’ve reconnected through Facebook and have been communicating the last few years. So we decided to have a little cookout today. Everyone came to our camp site. We had beautiful weather. We had a nice campfire going and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs over the camp fire. Had a wonderful time catching up and seeing each other after all these years.
January 19, 2022
Yesterday our friends Chris and Jim happened to run into George on the beach. They talked for a while. You meet the nicest people in the campground. So we decided that since Chris and Jim and us were both off, we’d all go out to breakfast. So this morning Chris, Jim, Jane, George, Nancy and I went to Johnny D’s Waffles for breakfast. We have been here a few times and love the place. We had a great breakfast getting to know each other better and the food was great. Of course, Nancy had to take pictures of each persons’ breakfast.
January 18, 2022
Today we are back in the side by side. While backing up it felt very strange and did not feel right. There was a Ranger in the area and she wasn’t sure what was going on either. We nursed it back to our site. It just happened that a couple of maintenance guys were going by. We stopped them and they knew the vehicle and it’s idiosyncrasies. Apparently sometimes when you back it, it puts itself into 4-wheel drive. The cure, put it in reverse and its good. We finished the day in it but the Rangers called and said not to use it.
A high point of the day was when we were inspecting the primitive sites. On the road, as we were heading back, three gentlemen with large cameras, were standing on the road side and looking up and every so often clicked a few pictures. We stopped and they showed us a large Eastern Barred Owl. Very cool. We watched for a few minutes and then went on our way. Pretty cool day.
January 17, 2022
Not a great day. We had just started working and were in the South Campground when our provided golf cart decided to die. We had been telling the Rangers that it was acting up, no power, etc. Nancy got a ride to our truck from the very kind camper next to the site where we died. Meanwhile, I called the Ranger on call and she came out to troubleshoot. No go. We only had a few to do so we used our truck for a brief time. We went back to our site to have coffee and wait for the remainder of the sites to clear out. The Rangers brought us a gas powered side by side. It ran well.
January 15, 2022
Today our friends, Jane and George Murga, arrived. We had completed our work for the day and as they were checking in, we went down to their campsite to greet them. We started a fire in the fire pit as a welcome. After a little conversation, Nancy gave Jane a tour of the campground and the beach. Meanwhile George set up their travel trailer and I assisted when possible. We left them to finish up and we went back to our site to prepare dinner for them. Our kind friends brought us a couple of gifts. For Nancy they got a travel wine cup and for me a travel coffee cup. And for the RV, a set of really cool coasters. Pictures of each are available. It was a great night catching up with our friends.
January 14, 2022
Just another normal day. Not a lot to report. One aspect of our position is to be an ambassador for the park. Over the last several days, we have gotten to know a couple, Sandra and Chris Brown and their Standard Poodle, James Brown. They are from South Dakota and they graciously offered us several places to camp, eat, and see for our summer journey. I gave them this address and our email. I hope our paths cross again. It was great to meet y’all.
January 7, 2022
The first week here in Huntington Beach State Park is almost in the books. We arrived Sunday 1/2 around 3:30 PM. We got set up and no sooner entered the RV when it started to pour. We dodged a bulletin. This is our second year here so not too many items were new in Orientation. We received our name tags and vests.
Our first day to actually work was Tuesday 1/4. Work for us is to go to the office by 9:00 AM to get our list of camp sites that will be vacated that day. We drive around in our HBSP golf cart and ensure the site is clean and safe. We clean out the fire pit if needed. Then move on to the next site. The volunteer work force was revamped this past year. Last year there were to couples that worked Atalaya Castle and only one couple who cleaned the camp sites. They have since added a second couple for camp sites but have done away with the volunteers for Atalaya. Another responsibility for us is to inspect each camp site and log what we find. Fortunately this year, they are phasing out the Primitive camp sites. They are truly primitive and if you have to clean them you have to walk the ashes (sometimes water logged due to being hot) out without the advantage of having a golf cart close by. A long walk.
We met the other Hosts and discovered that Jim and Chris Mays are from Michigan. They know how to play Euchre (a Midwest card game). Wednesday night we met to have dinner and play Euchre. Great evening of fun.
The weather has been great. Today was close to 60 and sunny. Our work week is Friday thru Tuesday. We start at 9:00 AM and can end at 1:00 PM. Unless you finish earlier, like we did today. After only 2 hours of work, we were done. I know rough life, huh?
January 1, 2022
For over a week we have been preparing to start this new year with lots of travels. It is 10:00 PM and we are finally loaded and the RV is hitched. We will have to do a few things in the morning before we leave but for the most part we are ready. We are exhausted but anxious to get underway. If you want to get in touch with us or you have questions or comments, please email us at halpinrvtravels@gmail.com. Tomorrow we will leave for Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, SC. We will work camp for a month. We did this last year and loved it. More to come tomorrow.
In the Year 2021
The first part of 2021 was getting our medical issues taken care of. Nancy had a neck surgery and a hip surgery. I had my shoulder replaced. She recovered much quicker than I. We started to put feelers out for work camping opportunities. In addition we did a lot of research on weather and seasons. We have a large US map on our wall and we started to list and circle our “bucket list” places.
Usually in the fall, campgrounds start to work on their work camping schedules. We had already gotten a call from Huntington Beach and were initially scheduled for January and February. We received a call in the summer that they were redoing their schedule and using only 1 work camper at Atalaya and not 2, so we lost February but still had January.
Sometime in September we got a message from Fortwelikit in Custer, SD that they were interested in using us for Summer 2022. We had a phone interview and then signed our contracts. We are now committed to SD from May 1, 2022 through September 30, 2022. We will be working 4 hours a day, 3 days one week and 4 the next. This will allow us plenty of time to explore the area. So looking forward to it. So we started to plan our route trying to hit as many items on our “bucket list” as possible.
Right now we are leaving on April 12, 2022 (our 47th wedding anniversary) and going to Lexington, KY, Indianapolis, IN (to see family), Springfield, IL, Dyersville, IA, Sioux Falls, SD, and then on to Custer. After that our plans are fluid but we want to get to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Then because of weather, we will head south. Hopefully southwest but we’ll see.
We have good friends that will meet us in Huntington Beach and camp with us for a couple of weeks. Then we had friends that were going to meet us in February but our job was cancelled. So we made reservations and are going to camp with them anyway. We then were planning on going on to Savannah, GA for a few days. Then we got a call from Skidaway Island State Park. They were interested in our possibly working for them. So we have arrangements with them to visit in February and spend 3 weeks giving it a try. If favorable, we can choose some time to work camp there, either late 2022 or 2023.
We also started to calculate weights. We’ve been told that when you travel westward it is best to have extra fuel as some fuel stations are not that close together. When adding equipment and fuel, etc. to the Ram 2500 it was going to be overweight. So we were lucky enough to find a 2021 Ram 3500, single rear wheel with a 50 gallon fuel tank.
You never know when opportunities will arise. Excited to start the retired life.!!!
Next Step
2017 Ram 2500 and 2021 Sandpiper 38FKOK
By November 2020 we wanted to go camping. We had put our travel trailer on RV Trader in March. Our goal was to sell and get a fifth wheel. During Nancy’s chemo, we had shopped for a Ram 2500 diesel and purchased one August 2017. We had good friends that raved about Huntington Beach State Park, Murrell’s Inlet, SC. November 2020 we went down for a few days. Absolutely loved the place. While there Nancy talked to a campground host and found out about work camping. Sounded like a great way to travel. We gave the Rangers our application on our way home. About 2 weeks later they called us and wanted to make sure we were serious about working for the month of January. We said yes. It was done. We were going to do our first work camping assignment at Huntington Beach State Park January 2021.
In the meantime, I had received an email from someone who wanted to look at our Cougar. We hadn’t had a lot of interest so we decided that if this couple did not purchase it we were just going to keep it. Jack and Cherry Utley showed up to look at it. They loved it and bought it. This was the first week in December. We needed to find an RV and fast.
We found a fifth wheel we really liked. A 2021 Forest River Sandpiper 38FKOK. Lots of room. January 2021 we made it to Huntington Beach. To accommodate this we had to rearrange our doctor appointments to February. When we got to Huntington Beach they asked us if we could stay for February also. Unfortunately we could not. We got a call from Muskgrove Mill State Historic Site about a work camping opportunity. We finished at Huntington Beach and went to Musgrove Mill to check it out. It didn’t feel like the right fit for us but was great to see the grounds and meet the people. From there we went on home.
No Camper
For several years we did not go camping. We loved our new log home in a wooded addition. Still do but in 2014 I started to get the bug again. I was nearing retirement and I wanted to travel the US and see our great nation. I started watching RV shows on TV and started doing our research. I retired 1/1/2016. I was ready and counting down to Nancy’s retirement date, which I had calculated. I had a couple of years to convince her that it was the right thing to do and we could find the right RV, etc. Then life happened.
We had been looking but we currently only had a Ram 1500 truck. The first plan was to get a bigger truck and then choose the RV. In early April, Nancy went in for her yearly mammogram. She was then told that in 2 weeks she had to come back for an ultrasound. She expected the worst. Unbeknownst to her I had been researching RVs that could be pulled by my half ton truck. Her comment was that she wouldn’t get to the Grand Canyon. Monday April 17th she had the ultrasound. Tuesday morning April 18th she got the call. She had breast cancer but it was unknown at this time as to the level or severity. She said, “What are we going to do?” My reply was “do you want to go look at campers?” Off we went. That day we purchased a 2017 Keystone Cougar X-Lite 30RLI travel trailer. Cougar Pictures
Through her treatment, we were not able to get to the Grand Canyon but we did use the RV as a getaway on her good days. After 9 months of chemo, surgery, and radiation we were free to travel. We started making plans. Then November of 2019 life struck again. Nancy fell off of a ladder and fractured C-1, C-2 vertebrae. Trip was on hold again. Then Covid hit.
In The Beginning
Our RV travels start back in 1998. We explored camping when we borrowed a friend’s tent. We found it enjoyable so we purchased our own tent. Shortly after a couple more camping tents we decided we loved the tent atmosphere but not sleeping on the ground. Our backs did not like it. So we started looking at “pop-ups” or hybrid. It still would give us the feeling of a tent but the comfort of a RV.
In the winter of 97/98 we were living in Indiana. There were two annual shows at the State Fair Grounds. One was Boat, Sport, and Travel and the other was RV. We had already been to a local dealer and chose a model. A Coleman Sun Ridge. It was ideal for us except we wanted to add air conditioning and a battery for electric brake. We attended one of the shows and visited the dealer’s booth. They had a Sun Ridge set up with a big Sale price on a tent card. Keep in mind we were just “looking”. Nancy was talking to the salesman and said, “If you throw in A/C and the battery for this price, we’ll buy it.” He went off to talk to his manager. We bought our first RV.
We used it for several years. Absolutely loved it. We traded it for some labor when we built our log home in 2004. Our camping was done. We lived in a log home in the woods. In an addition but…..