A little trip to Ninety Six and lunch with friends!

Volunteer Village
J. Strom Thurmond Lake
Modoc, SC

We recently heard about a town called Ninety Six, SC,

and decided to take a ride to see what was there.

Boy were we pleasantly surprised.

 It turns out that Ninety Six is where two Revolutionary War

battles were fought. Over 100 lives were lost during that time in June, 1781.

Ninety Six was allegedly named by the Charleston traders because it

was the estimated remaining miles to the Cherokee village of Keowee.

We first went into the visitor center, and watched the short movie

"Crossroads of the Revolution", which told the story of how the fort came to be.

There was great information on the settlement and battles as well.

There is a terrific one mile paved walking trail that winds around 

the grounds where Star Fort, and the original settlement of Ninety Six sat.

The fort itself was constructed in the shape of a star, 

with earthen walls and sandbags on top of that.

There was a two story tower to climb up to get a better vantage point.

Unfortunately, time and weather have eroded the walls,

so there are only a small indication of what was once there.

The settlement of Ninety Six was burned down by the British.

The outline of the settlement is marked by signs..

There was a stockade fort built around James Holmes home to protect the water supply.

After our nice walk and tour of the grounds,

we made our way to Batesburg-Leesville, SC

to meet up with Paul & Marti!

They are currently staying near Columbia by their daughter's home.

They picked a great place halfway between us,

Shealy's BBQ.

It is a great BBQ buffet restaurant,

and we enjoyed both the food and company.

I'm sure we'll meet up again sometime!

Another week, and a big repair

Volunteer Village
J. Strom Thurmond Lake
Modoc, SC

Seems like I'm only getting a blog post in once a week anymore :-)

Our weekends are busy at the gatehouse.

Saturday was 'National Get Outdoors Day' and the entrance fee was waived.

There were a lot of happy, smiling faces when we told them that!

Saturday night I surprised George and took him out to dinner.

We found a great little place in nearby McCormick, called Little Italy Pizzeria.

George had spaghetti & meatballs, and I had a great manicotti!

Sunday being Father's Day, George took it easy in the gatehouse ;-)

He got calls from his son and daughter,

and I gave my Dad a call after we got home.

Monday I was invited to help Jim & Linda with the water safety program.

There were a group of kids getting a tour of the dam,

then coming to the visitors' center to learn more about the dam.

I got to demonstrate how important a life jacket is

by using a peeled orange (which sinks),

and an unpeeled orange (which floats).

We had the presentation in the conference room,

right in front of a beautiful aerial picture of the lake & dam.

Today we did all our grocery shopping.

We've been trying to stretch our shopping out to 2 weeks,

to save some $$.

We did, however, go to a great little place

called The Sunrise Grill.

I had the best sweet potato pancakes...

they were delicious!

George had a great looking omelette too :-)

One of the reasons we were in town today,

was to pick up the truck.

We had been having trouble with the turbo,

and turbo sensors, since last year.

Several dealerships have looked at it,

diagnosing the problem as sensors,

which at that point were replaced.

Problem was still happening!

Finally, this dealer here in Evans, GA, Milton Ruben Chevrolet, 

told us that the problem has been the turbo all along.

They got GM to pay for $800 towards labor,

and suggested that we might want to contact them for further reimbursement.

The turbo should have been replaced back last year under warranty.

Our bill, including some maintenance work,

was $2700 :-(

Hard to see, but this was the engine..

they had to take the cab off to get to the turbo!

We're thinking that the Amazon job is going to come in handy!

Speaking of..

we're starting to make our plans after Amazon in December.

We're going to head back to California,

and Coyote Valley RV Resort has graciously agreed to let us work there again.

I want to be close to my parents again,

and we loved working there!

My Mom & Dad are on their way to Portland, ME,

to celebrate their 58th anniversary on a cruise along the New England coast.

My Dad is feeling pretty good,

and the chemo pills are helping with any pain he's been having.

We're anxious to hear all about it!

Harlem, Georgia and Oliver Hardy

Volunteer Village
J. Strom Thurmond Lake
Modoc, SC

Today we took a little drive over to the town of Harlem, Georgia.

Harlem was founded on October 24, 1870.  

It was named by a New York resident visiting relatives 

who thought the town resembled Harlem, New York.

The claim to fame of the town, is that Oliver Hardy was born there.

Hardy was born January 18, 1892.

In 1927 he started pairing with Stan Laurel in several shorts,

as well as longer comedies.

There is a great little museum with quite a collection of memorabilia!

We also got to watch any Laurel & Hardy film we wanted while we were there.

We chose one of their shorts...'The Music Box', 

which if you like slapstick, is pretty funny :-)

Yesterday George and I sat outside after dinner with the binoculars .

There have been bald eagle sightings in the trees across the cove!

I apologize for the quality of the shots. He was in a closer tree,

but decided he didn't want his picture taken, 

so flew and sat in one that was a bit farther away!

The view from the binoculars was fabulous :-)

These two guys are a little less camera shy..

We'll keep an eye out for that eagle!

We were blessed with a beautiful rainbow this evening after a loud t-storm..

Plodding right along

Volunteer Village
J. Strom Thurmond Lake
Modoc, SC

We've really been enjoying our time here working for the COE.

Every weekend we get to greet happy people coming into our park to enjoy the lake.

Last Monday our friends, Mike & Terri, left Modoc for points north.

We all stood around watching them get ready,

 being careful not to interrupt their routine :-)

One last picture of them..

Leaving in a trail of dust..

That night we sat around the fire with some of the other volunteers..

Last night we had a fire of our own,

and really enjoyed the 3/4 moon overhead..

A couple of the other volunteers wandered over and joined us for a bit,

but it was getting dark, so I only got a picture of Lucy :-)

Today we had a great time at a BBQ given by the Corps

for the volunteers and camp hosts.

It was held at one of the other day use parks, West Dam.

Even though the weather was in the 90's,

we were under a shelter, with a nice breeze coming off the lake.

There was a lot of good food to go along with the burgers that were grilled.

Jim & Linda were presented a certificate for all their hard work

with the Water Safety Program.

Earlier today, George took the truck into a Chevy dealer nearby.

We had problems with our turbo sensor back in October, 2012.

In the last 6 months or so, the check engine light has come on,

and the diagnosis has been the turbo again.

Apparently we need one :-(

GM is going to pay for part of it, as we're out of warranty now,

but the problem started while it was still IN warranty.

It's always something!