Summer 2026 July

Summer 2026 - June- Modoc SC

We start the month at West Dam Park Gatehouse.   

The gardener in me can no longer stand the weeds, so Gary and I tackle it.

While others enjoy the beautiful day on the water.

That's better!

But no good deed goes unpunished, I got a good case of poison ivy 🤢

We travel back to Waynesville for periodontal work for me.

On our way back we stop at the Nintey Six National Historic Site

We take the loop trail

Part of the original road

Gary tests his Marksman Skillls

We take a drive to Edgefield, SC about 18 miles away (seems like everywhere is 18 miles away)

It has a lovely Town Square

It used to have the National Turkey Headquarters stationed here.

We walk the trail commemorating the 10 Governors

We manage to finally find  2 worthwhile hikes on the Savannah Valley Railroad Trail.

A Whistle Post told the Engineer what combination of whistle to blow.

There were a few geographical markers along the way.

Another whistle post.  One blast then two.

End of this section

There's a short hike to a Spring House

We drove to the Cemetery as there was no actual trail

We saved the 2nd leg of the trail for another day

We reach the train trestle

We drove down the road to check it out.

Also drove down an overgrown road to see the Hugenot Worship Site

 

Summer 2026 - May - J. Strom Thurmond Lake.

We arrive in Georgia

We come across smoke from the wildfires

We get to the Volunteer Village.

And our site 

We face the Lake

Just down from our site.  The water level is down 7 feet.

A view of the Strom Thurmond Dam Visitors Center from the dam.

We go for a hike at West Dam

It has just opened after Helene

Lunch at The Mellow Mushroom in Evans the closest good sized town

A stray cat has been hanging around trying to make herself at home.  She's the talk of the Village.

We check out Lake Springs Day Use Area for a picnic lunch and bike ride.  It had a lot of damage from Helene, the Gatehouse is still closed.

 

The beaches must have 18" of sand so there are piles of sand everywhere.

The pole marks the water depth.  The lake is down over 7 feet.  Where the sand is used to be the swimming area.

We find a nice spot for lunch

We work 17 hrs a week each in exchange for our full hookup site.  One of our jobs is manning the Gatehouses for the day use areas.  Our first week was West Dam.  It has a Pavillion that can be rented and has 7 small beaches.

Another job is area checks.  We drive 200 miles around the Lake checking boat ramps. A couple campgrounds and day use areas.

Company Truck  

One stop is at Russell Dam

We get some pretty nice sunsets

The Volunters have their own clubhouse.

  Excercise equipment, Library and Jigsaw puzzles.

A TV sitting area, full kitchen with ice machine.  

A nice place to cook dinner when it's too hot to cook in the camper.

Laundry room and bathroom  with shower.

We had some good rain storms

Which brought the lake level up a bit.

April 27

May 29

Even finally got the Paddle Board out.  Think it was overinflated.  It was breezy and the water was choppy so wasn't able to stand up.  Next time!

Life is good!