We’ve arrived at the beach!

We were up early on Wednesday, got everybody’s schoolwork done, and then got the RV packed up and ready for travel.  We were out of Columbia by 10:45.  It was a 3-hour drive over to Myrtle Beach, and I packed sandwiches for all of us so we wouldn’t have to stop for lunch on the way.

Our drive was uneventful, and we easily navigated our way to Pirateland Campground on King’s Highway, just south of Myrtle Beach.  We checked in, and quickly got set-up on site 871, down by the beach.

It’s pretty quiet around here in November, but there are still plenty of people around.  Only pelicans at the beach!

We’re in a sand/grass pull-through, about 6 sites back from the beach.  We could have gotten the end site, closest to the beach, but thought it might be too windy.

Tom’s first job when we arrived was to try to figure out how to fix our front step.  When we were leaving Columbia, we noticed that the front step was sagging when we stepped on it.  It turned out that the metal brace under the bottom step had broken at the weld on one end.  He called around to several welders on craigslist, and it was sounding like it was going to cost $60 – $80 to have somebody come out to the campground to fix it.  He and one of our neighbors were discussing other alternatives to fix it, and this morning while the kids and I worked, he took a drive to Home Depot to see if he could find something to fix it up with.  When he got home, the neighbor told him that he had found a guy in the campground with a portable welder.  Tom went and talked to him, and he came over to take a look.  5 minutes and $25 later, we had working steps again!  He had it fixed so quickly, I didn’t even get a picture!

The extra 2 days we stayed in Columbia gave the rain & wind time to move out, and by the time we arrived, the sky was blue and almost cloud-free.  It was still a little chilly (only high 50s yesterday), and we’re going to have a couple cold nights, but by the weekend it’s supposed to be really nice.  The outside pool & Lazy River are still open, although not heated, but by the weekend it might be warm enough for swimming!

While the kids and I were working, we kept hearing a jet flying really low over the RV.  We knew we were really close to the airport, but were surprised to hear this much activity.

Closer inspection revealed it to be some type of military aircraft, we think, and it was the same one, continuously circling the campground.

After lunch, we took a short break and did some walking,

and some bike-riding,

to check out the campground.  Bryce wanted to see what “high tide” looked like, so at 2pm, we walked down to the beach.  We could tell that the water was higher than it was when we were down there yesterday, but we were surprised that the waves weren’t bigger.  Bryce was tempting fate . . .

and we both managed to get surprised by one rouge wave!  (Not this one – I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture of the one that got us wet – I was too busy trying to get away from it!! lol)

Nicolas managed to keep his shoes dry, though . . .

Now that the time has changed, we have to make a conscious effort to eat dinner early, so we don’t end up eating in the dark.  Tonight we split a couple of ham steaks (Bryce’s favorite!), with carrots and mac&cheese, and then drove over to the indoor pool for an after-dinner swim.

Aaaahhh!  It’s been too long since we’ve been at a campground with a pool (at least one that’s open!)!  We spent about 1-1/2 hours in the pool and hot tub, and then went back home to get in our pjs and watch “Big Bang Theory”. 

We’re looking forward to our time here in Myrtle Beach . . . hopefully we can do some exploring (need to check out Huntington Beach State Park – we’ve heard good things about it!), and avoid most of the “tourist traps”!