Sunday, October 3

After church, we loaded up, said our goodbyes, and began our drive north and east. We passed through the northwest corner of South Carolina, crossing the Savannah River AND seeing signs for the Strom Thurmond Dam. On leaving, Jon’s parting advice was to stop for a milkshake at a Cookout restaurant if we passed one. Turns out it is a drive or walk up restaurant only and offers 40 different flavors of milkshake--we split a peach milkshake in honor of leaving our three Georgia peaches in Atlanta! Yum--little bits of peach mixed in requiring the periodic use of spoon rather than straw.

Sunday night, we found a little campground outside of Burlington, North Carolina. We had called ahead but it was dark by the time we pulled in. JR, the owner of Hidden Lake Campground, cheerfully met us in his car and personally led us to our campsite. He proceeded to help us get setup and left saying, “Ya’ll stay as long as you want in the morning.” In the morning we could see we were surrounded by many long term campers--was this home for them, we wondered? As we drove out, the sign said, “Please Drive Careful!”