Leaving Charleston and Dropping in on Family in Raleigh

We set a goal of getting the car packed up and the camper down by 9 am. We made it by 8 am, with plenty to time to spare for breakfast. So, we headed out to Folly Road searching for Sweetwater Café. To avoid the opening lift bridge, we took a right curve up a street we had not explored before and accidentally ended up discovering how to get on I-26, which info we needed to get out of town.

We searched King Street from Line down for a breakfast place and settled on Glazed Gourmet Donut Shop. It was a magical surprise for how random its selection was. The clerk also makes all the donuts onsite from scratch. I had an apple bacon fritter that was so light, it was pillowy – and delicious.

We took one more photo by the James Island campground sign after hooking up the camper, said good-bye to Charleston, and headed for the airport to get Mary on a plane. Dropped Mary off and said good-bye. It was great having her company on the last two stops. I stopped at the North Charleston airport visitor center to get a South Carolina highway map, then took I-26 up to I-95 heading to Raleigh, North Carolina to see my son Grant and his family. I switched to I-40 near Benson, but should have gotten off I-95 right before that since my campground, Raleigh Oaks, was right before the split. But I did have a chance to drive thru some beautiful countryside and see the lovely little town of Four Oaks by taking the “scenic route.”

Raleigh Oaks is a huge and really nice campground, but is just shy of 50 miles from Rolesville where Grant lives. The campground has two pools, a large kid tot lot, mini-golf, laundry, and a fabulous shower house. The weekend I came, they also had a jumping house for Easter. One of my new “neighbors” helped me get the top popped up. I didn’t need help, but he was so nice. I finished setting up the camper by 5 pm, got directions to Grant’s house, and drove over there. Grant and Tisha have a lovely new home in a mixed-race suburban development. Grant was out doing lawn work, and Nasir was playing with a football outside. I gave Nasir a fedora hat, and taught him how to pinch it in the front to put it on. He loved it, and wore it everywhere we went the whole time I was there. The two of us played catch until Mommy and Naima came home. I gave Naima her Oriental sun umbrella, which she also loved and took with her everywhere she went for the next two of three days.

We sat on the front porch and watched the kids put on their own show for us on the sidewalk. Grant mentioned that he has fond memories of camping when he was a kid and should probably take them camping. This set the kids off on wanting to go camping with me that night. I thought that was a wonderful idea, so they packed up their tiny suitcases with PJs, one change of clothes, a bunch of snacks, and their stuffed animals. We drove out to Raleigh Oaks campground (by this time after 10 pm). Of course, I got lost on the way out because I tried to take that back country road and made a wrong curve somewhere. Grant had to get me back using GPS from his house and doing a street by street description of where I should be driving. It was after midnight by the time we got there.

Mileage on car so far on this trip = 8,000 miles