Hardeeville, SC

Electronic tools such as iPhones are a real boon to travelers. We woke up to the grinding of coffee beans at seven this morning. I won’t pretend I jumped right up. I knew it would take at least ten minutes to brew that elixir that gets our days started. After a protracted period of time spent checking my eye lids for light leaks I got up and brought coffee back to Barbara and we started checking weather on the Weather Bug iPhone app.

Things looked iffy, with forecasted high winds and rain ahead of an approaching cold front. It was already blowing pretty strong but there was no rain yet in Gaffney. We could see on radar that we had a window for departure. After selecting a few alternate places to stop along our route just in case it was too uncomfortable, we set out. Barbara had the first leg and ended up driving in rain for the better part of two hours. The wind was getting stronger. I-26 southbound is protected reasonably well from southwest winds so it was not too bad. The new Bilstein shock absorbers we had installed while we were here made a terrific improvement in handling. The ride was much more stable than it was prior to the upgrade. We may have stopped short of our day’s destination with the original shocks.

This is what we were driving through today.

We are now tucked in under the red pin at the Hardeeville RV Park just short of Savannah.

We are spending the rest of the afternoon listening to the rain on the roof, and occasional thunder, while also listening to an appropriate CD titled “Jazz For A Rainy Afternoon”. It is a very relaxing way to wind down after driving in all that wind.

While the real traffic snarl will be on Sunday, we will still try to time our drive home tomorrow to miss any tie-ups around Daytona Beach since this is race weekend.

The Peachoid

One of the joys of traveling by motorhome is visiting small town America. While the coach was being serviced we set out to see more of the sites around Gaffney, SC. On our last visit we spent time at Cowpens National Battlefield. This time we decided to learn more about the town of Gaffney itself, so we wandered through the downtown area and spent time in their museum. The revitalization of downtown is a work in progress since, as you can imagine, the poor economy has limited both business opportunities and visitors. We got an earful from the owner of a large antiques store who is eager for a change in Washington in the hopes that it will improve the business climate.

Across from the new city hall is a reconstruction/reclamation of the log cabin home of the founding father, Michael Gaffney. The town sprung from its beginnings as a tavern and store at a crossroads in post-revolutionary (1803) South Carolina. The area is steeped in Revolutionary War history and Cowpens is only one of several revolutionary battlefields in the region. We hope to visit others such as Kings Mountain on future trips to Gaffney for service, but we limited ourselves to the downtown area this time.

The city of Gaffney reclaimed a retired elementary school and built an impressive history museum that contains many artifacts from early Indian settlements, the Revolutionary War, and early industry such as iron smelting. There were many exhibits depicting life in Gaffney, including athletic accomplishments of the local high school and college. One section was labeled Horses, Hooch and Hot Rods. It seems moonshine and stock car racing are in the blood of South Carolinians and these passions were well represented in the museum.

We visited Limestone College and the Limestone Springs nearby. The college was originally a hotel that was converted to a girl’s high school and subsequently a girl’s college in 1864. It is now coed, and boasts a national men’s Division II lacrosse championship in 2009. So far this year the women’s team is number three! In their opening game they won 22-0. How about that! For those not familiar with the sport it is scored like hockey. One goal, one point.

 

The campus is quite small and is bordered by two historical sites. The limestone quarry (now a lake) is the quarry site of the official South Carolina stone used to build the Washington Monument. I need to learn more about this, but evidently each state was to contribute a stone for the foundation of the monument.  Nearby are the Limestone Springs that in the late1800’s were a vacation destination and thought to have healing properties.

We returned to the Freightliner Service Center around 3:30 and found that all of the work was completed, so we settled up. I have to tell you that the folks here at Freightliner are terrific. They are really a friendly bunch and know their stuff. Anyone out there riding on a Freightliner chassis owes it to themselves to attend the Camp Freightliner classes held several times a year and have your chassis looked over by the pros.

Oh, what is a Peachoid? Thought you would never ask!

The Peachoid is the 135’ tall, one million gallon water tower built by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works from 1979 to 1981. The special features that make it peach specific are “false work” welded to a spherical tank. The paint job that makes it such a wonderful landmark was done by artist Peter Freundenburg, a specialist in super-graphics and murals. This thing is pretty impressive! The stem (not visible in this picture) is 12 feet long and 19 inches in diameter. The leaf is 60’ by 16’ and weighs 7 tons!

So. Now you know!

Gaffney, SC

We are on the road again. Those of you receiving the Spot notices noticed that we were in Hardeeville, SC last night. This is our annual pilgrimage to Gaffney, SC and the Freightliner factory where the chassis on which our motorhome rests was built. Their low season for activity is from December through February. To encourage business they offer a discount on service during this period. This discount, and a labor rate already much lower than in the Orlando area, makes coming to the folks that know this chassis best a great way to start our RVing season. 

One of the benefits of this trip is a chance to visit with Nina and Archie Sellew in Bluffton, SC. We had a great visit with these wonderful friends and Nina treated us to a terrific dinner. She really excelled with the dessert, a flour-less white cake with whipped cream and lemon curd frosting. The strawberries didn’t hurt either! We always leave their home about five pounds heavier.

We are spending the night behind the Freightliner facility. They provide electrical hookups and a dump station so customers need not seek hotel accommodations while having work done. We appreciate their thoughtfulness very much.

For those of you that have never seen what is under a motorhome’s skirt, here are a few shots of a typical chassis. It is interesting to see how far in front of the front wheels the driver sits. Considering how far back the engine is, it is no wonder the motorhome is so quiet as we head down the road. By the way, the battery location is for shipment of the chassis and not where they will finally rest.

Winnebago builds motorhomes in a two-story factory. The top floor assembly line is where the “house” is built, while on the ground floor accessories are added to the chassis. At the end of the two assembly lines there is a hole in the ceiling and the “house” is lowered onto the chassis. Pretty cool.

Tomorrow we will do a little sightseeing while they work on the coach.