September 18, 2013
Hilton Head Motorcoach Resort
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
We continued our trip south, moving from the northern end of
the South Carolina Coast to the southern. We’re definitely heading south too
early.
Our travel route was pretty easy: follow US-17 south along
coastal South Carolina, swing inland to pick up I-95 for a short stretch, then
take US-278 right to the Island. It was an easy driving day, logging 203 miles
in about 4½ hours. Plus, as an added bonus, we were able to do our part in
keeping the population of “Love Bugs”
in check, as the front of the coach was covered with them at the end of the
day!
I’d been to Hilton Head Island years ago, let’s say early
1990s, for a work conference. I thought it would be a nice place to stop on our
route this year. I was disappointed. Unless you have excess discretionary
income, new golf clubs, and a good exterminator, take a pass.
To begin with, everything on the island is highly regulated
as to the look and feel of the place. Essentially they are trying to eradicate
most vestiges of the plantation lifestyle that made the place a success in the
first place (it’s still divided up into six or so “plantation districts” on the
map) and turn it into a jungle like you’d see on “Survivor”.
The whole place is covered in vegetation, mostly mossy Live
Oaks and palms of various kinds. All the buildings are designed and colored to
blend in with the vegetation. Commercial signage is severely limited to the
point where, if you don’t know where something is, you’re not likely to find it
on the first try.
Now, I suppose that if we had gotten out more we might have
found more interesting parts of the community. It’s just that it was very hard
to be outside at all with the heat and humidity, even in the abundant shade.
The RV park I selected was also a disappointment. It was one
of the first upscale “Outdoor Resorts” (a now-defunct organization) properties,
and it’s showing its age. Relatively
small and narrow sites, more overgrown vegetation, failing concrete slabs and
roadways, and bugs galore; this place was a real challenge.
But, we made the most of our time. We relaxed and read. We
ate well, even if mostly from the supplies we had on board. We ventured out,
off the Island, to the outlet malls for some things Geri needed (and didn’t
overspend in the process!). I cleaned (most of) the Love Bugs from the
windshield and the front of the RV. We walked the pups early and tried (mostly
unsuccessfully) to sit out around Happy Hour. We survived it.
And now we’re ready to move on, probably more ready than we’ve
been in a while. We’ll do our routine night-before travel preparations and be
ready for tomorrow’s travel to Florida.
Feel free to click on any image above to enlarge it...
1 comment:
Did I detect that you will not be going back there in the near future :-)
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