Our road trip to Charleston, SC... good; bad and ugly

[empty_nest]

We left New York for Charleston on Monday, June 24th. Figured about 900 miles and planned to do around 300 per day and find camp sites along the way for two nights down and two nights back. We had reservations at James Island County Park for 5 nights. Just got home this afternoon.

Long before we left, I went through everything with a fine-tooth comb; the 5'r, repacked the wheel bearings; the truck, had it serviced, etc. I thought we were as ready as you can ever be. Well, here is the good the bad and the ugly. Learned a lot along the way........

The Good........
* James Island County Park is a class RV park. I would go there again and would highly recommend it.

* The city of Charleston was everything we had heard about, could have hoped for and more. The people, the history, the architecture was all fabulous.

* All the tours we had booked came off without a hitch... Palmetto carriage ride, Ft. Sumpter, the Drayton and Magnolia plantations, the H.L. Hunley tour and off course Patriot Point. Outstanding stuff! Also went back into the city just to walk the Battery and surrounding streets.

The bad........
* We blew not 1, not 2, but 3 tires on the trailer on the way south. Unbelievable!! After I put the spare on and blew the second one in West Virginia, we had to abandon the RV along the highway and find a tire shop. Bought 2 brand new trailer tires and after a couple hundred bucks and 2 hours lost time, we were back on the road. Outside of Charlotte, NC the 3rd one went. I was fit to be tied! Put the spare back on and we limped into JICP. In Charleston I replaced the other two tires. There was around a total of $450 out of the travel budget. I checked those tires for tread wear, weathering and found nothing to indicate any problems. Since, I've been told to expect around 5 years on these tires. I honestly have no idea how long these tires have been on the trailer. Could be original, for all I know.

* Always traveled I-79 to I-77, when going south. Might not have been the best choice, towing the RV. My truck handled it ok but she got a workout. Whew!! Came back I-95. All flat running 'till past D.C. The traffic around D.C. is, well,******but it was worth putting up with not to have to pull those mountains. Another lesson learned!

* We had rain almost every day, from the time we got to JICP 'till we got home. And, when it rains in the south, the sky opens up. Now I know why they call that area the Low Country. We had ankle-deep water all around the camper, the first night there. It rained 5-6 inches, along with a tornado warning. Could it get any better?

* We found out that all camp sites are NOT created equal, even though we stayed at all KOA's for the 1-nighters. Learned that we need more TV cable and another section of water hose. Had to change sites at the last stop just so we could reach the water hook-up. Don't know who laid out the utilities in that park but I don't think they were RV'rs.

The Ugly......
* KNOW THE CLEARANCE TO THE TOP OF YOUR RV!! (Nuff said!)

[eabc5454]

I've driven the I77/I79 route in a passenger car. We live in Virginia. We will drive I81I64 to Douthat State Park, but won't go further. Those loooooonnnnnnngggg hills are too much for me to do in an RV.

[mr__ed]

I spent about a year in Charleston in the mid-60's while in the military. Lots of history there and all in all a beautiful place. :C

[Esacnj]

Had a tire problem a few years back and did some research. When one goes, usually the other on the same side will go in about 100 miles or so do to the additional stress it takes. A tire looses 1/3 of it's life after 3rd year just to age. I now carry 2- spares to be able to change both on one side if I have a problem with one. I also invested in a TPMS now.

[ct1964ups]

Next time, in Wythesville,stay exit 80 at Ft Chiswell...down 1/4 mile behind Flying J...all pull-thrus and level
On 95 in Carolina's have Carolina Crossroads...in Roanoke Rapids.....exit 171..another great overnight spot...Chuck

[empty_nest]

Going down......

Grove City, PA.... Pull-Thru; full hook-ups... very good

Wytheville, VA.... Back-in; Elect/Water only .. our site was terribly uneven and took 3 2X8's to level side to side

Return ...

Enfield / Rocky, NC... Pull-Thru; Elect/Water only... place was almost deserted. Cheapest of all the KOA's we stayed at. Good level site, right up front. Owner was very nice and facilities were well-kept.

Hagerstown, MD... Back-in; Elect/Water only.. not real impressed. Nice location but utility hook-up locations were terrible. Site was small and difficult to manuver 5'er.

Just as a side note.. We only stayed 1 night in each location. I took the KOA's because they are convenient and never much more than a couple miles off the interstate. I'm sure there is more to these places than what we saw in one evening, good or bad.

[livelylittlecam]

Which KOA's did you use on the way down and back-and which ones were good? We may go to Charlestown next April and I am looking for some good pit stops along the way.

Thanks!

[Dtaylor]

Glad to hear you liked Charleston. James Island is a great place. We go at least once a year. You have to book well in advance to get a site there. Also, November thru the first week of January is their peak time as they have an incredible light show. Our last stay about a month ago was at the same time as tropical storm Andrea came thru. The week prior thy had had a lot of heavy rain so there was standing water everywhere. A few days after the storm most was gone. Charleston, being low, always has water problems when it rains. There just isn't any place for it go.

[washley1]

empty_nest wrote:
Tires were Carliles..... inflated to the recommended cold 65 psi. They were on the camper when we bought it 2 1/2 yrs ago. I have no idea how long they were on there, before that. I always keep the tire covers on when stored. I just never realized that they would deteriorate like that, with no visible signs.

Do a google on Carlile tires, and you will see why they blew. We lost our first one with less than 2000 miles on it, and I traded them all out after we read the posts from the google search.

[ct1964ups]

empty_nest wrote:

ct1964ups wrote:
not sure if your clearance problem was going into JISP,but I bent my air horn and broke the front a/c cover going into that park a few yrs back...so don't go in there any longer...Chuck

I wish! lol)) It was a railroad underpass...... it wasn't pretty.:o

Wow, can feel for you...yrs back got caught under one with a truck, no visible damage,but could hear it clipping the roof....so now somewhat gun shy....

[empty_nest]

Klueck wrote:
It sounds like you were very lucky those three blown tires didn't cause more than inconvenience.

Here

is a good link to tell you how to check the age of your tires. You might want to check the new tires you bought because they can sometimes be sitting on the shelves for years and are still "old" tires even though they have never been used. Tread doesn't tell the story.

After checking out this link I went out to check the age of the new tires I purchased along the way.

The two tires in WV were manufactured in the 48th wk of 2012. The two in Charleston were manufactured the 51st wk of 2012. So, these places done me good.

That got me thinking about the 4 that were replaced.. (3 that blew and the one that survived), but they are now gone. So, I checked the spare. That was produced in '03 and I have to assume the others were the same. That means that those tires were 2 yrs. old when my RV was built new. Wow! Needless to say, that spare will come off of there before our next trip!!

We learned a hard lesson but you can bet that will never happen again.

Thanks for the link and the information.

[2edgesword]

Glad to hear that overall the trip went well.

I drove from NY to FL in April with the TT and stopped in NC to visit some of the grandkids. The hills on I-79 and I-77 were a challenge.

Three tires in one trip...nightmare! I'll be going out to check the date code on mine today. Beyond that proper inflation, loading speed (heat generation) and road surface can all have an impact.

[john_bet]

We went back to Charleston in Oct.'12 after being there for the year of 1970. I was in the Air Force then. WOW what a change. Very much bigger, the Battery we knew no longer existed thanks to Hugo, we miss that big promenade. We stayed at the new Charleston Joint Base Campground for a couple of nights. All the buildings on base were newer than when we left except a couple hangers down on the flight line. As we had seen most of the sights when we were there we did visit them again. It was nice to see what changed, but probable wont go back again. We will soon have family even more scattered on this great country so will spent our time visiting them and great great grand kids. Oh, we had no bad or ugly on our trip.

[empty_nest]

ct1964ups wrote:
not sure if your clearance problem was going into JISP,but I bent my air horn and broke the front a/c cover going into that park a few yrs back...so don't go in there any longer...Chuck

I wish! lol)) It was a railroad underpass...... it wasn't pretty.:o

[ct1964ups]

not sure if your clearance problem was going into JISP,but I bent my air horn and broke the front a/c cover going into that park a few yrs back...so don't go in there any longer...Chuck