The Next Step

The Bermuda Sands had a lovely view of the Atlantic Ocean, with a well constructed winding boardwalk starting right outside & making its way north for well over a mile to the funfare area. There was a pier almost outside too, as well as shops & restaurants just steps away.

Once we'd found a place to "hang our hats" for a few days, we then had to decide whether to spend some time in Myrtle Beach (which we immediately found attractive) or to move on further south. We went & had a look at the State Park Campsite for RVs, & found to our surprise that it was a few dollars a day more expensive than we were already spending, and we'd have to supply our own "supplies", like shampoos, towels & so forth. as well, we'd have to move on after a fortnight.

Getting Warmer

After West Virginia, we had a brief encounter with Virginia proper, crossing the Shenandoah River & then into North Carolina along I75, through Charlotte & then back onto US highways, cutting directly for the coast. I can't say why we aimed for Myrtle Beach; it wasn't our intent, but somehow we were guided to The Grand Strand - an area we knew nothing about except that it was a destination for golfers. Supposedly, anyway. Turned out it was a haven for snowbirds, instead. Not many of them were to be seen either. It was rather eerie to find ourselves in a seaside town with several miles of high rise apartment buildings spread along the coastline, and without traffic or much sign of life.

It was a bit overwhelming, to have such choice. Even though many of the smaller motels were closed, especially those on the "wrong" side of Ocean Boulevard & some of the bigger resorts were shut for the winter as well, we were still faced with a confusing number of options, all of which looked very attractive. Eventually we settled for a medium-sized place called "Bermuda Sands" which made itself look attractive with lights & palm trees, & stayed there for a week while we sought out somewhere more "permanent".

Our Route

I didn't fancy the boring drive down to Detroit, or the frantic pace of the QEW to Niagara Falls, deciding instead to loop around the E coast of Lake Huron into Michigan at Port Huron. This is a pretty drive, if a bit slow, but that was OK as it gave me the chance to familiarise myself with the behaviour of the RV on the highway. Crossing the border was something we'd not looked forward to, given the sullen attitude of airport border guards in the US, but our lady was friendly & efficient, & we were across with no waiting & a 2 minute chat. We thought that was an excellent welcome for snowbirds.

As soon as we were across, we of course filled up our fuel tank, at a price of only about 2/3 that of Canadian gas prices. And then we were off on Interstate I 94 to I 80 at Toledo, where my brother used to work from occasionally. 

We found it more agreeable to stay off the Interstates, as our RV tended to be buffeted around by the large trucks as they passed us at high speed, & the US highways, as shown here, were more interesting to travel on. This way we got to see some of the quite lovely small towns & villages in central Ohio, which were in stark contrast to the gritty Toledo/Cleveland area.

As you can see, it rained for most of our journey through the northern states, & as it was mid-December, the days were very short also, forcing us to either drive at night or stop around 4 pm to find a motel. A motel? With an RV? Well, yes, it was new to us, remember, & was still winterised for the Canadian weather. Besides that aspect, nearly all the northern campsites were closed, so we chose to motel it down to warmer climes.
We made a few mistakes, the most harrowing of which involved driving through mountainous West Virginia along I 75 at night on our second day out. It wasn't until close to 10pm that we reached Bexley - tired & rather frazzled from the long day on the road.

Getting There

Fed up with winter, Patti & I decided to head for the sun. It was mid-December by the time we got ourselves ready, but then we packed up our new (to us) motor-home & pointed it in a southward direction. We were very glad to leave the snow behind, even though there wasn't very much of it on peoples' lawns, but it was coming, we knew from past experience. And as I had virtually no experience in driving a 31 foot vehicle on unfamiliar roads, we wanted to avoid weather hazards as much as we could.