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Santee State Park, Santee SC

We passed a warm and humid night, parked in the back of Cracker Barrel, with all three Fantastic Vents running to circulate some air.   Thank goodness for those fans.   On nights like that, they are the best upgrade we ever installed.   We’ve even survived boondocking on 100-degree nights in Death Valley with them.

Our plan shaped up enough for us to know where we were going today.   We towed just 118 miles up to Santee, SC, and the Santee State Park on Lake Marion.   It’s a large shady park with two campgrounds in mixed deciduous forest, and it would be a fine overnight stop for anyone coming up I-95, but our real goal was to have a place within a reasonable commuting distance of Congaree National Park ““ with 30-amp electrical hookups for the air conditioning.

santee-state-park-lake-marion.jpgThe major theme of Santee State Park seems to be boating on the lake.   The lake features a flooded cypress “forest,” which is an unusual feature.   Since we didn’t happen to strap a boat to the roof of the Honda, we walked the ¾ mile nature trail instead.

Frankly, there wasn’t a lot of interesting nature revealing itself on the trail, except insects such as spiders, beetles and ticks.   Emma discovered a few ticks on her shoes from a short sojourn off the trail into some grass, but fortunately I’d sprayed her legs with bug repellent before the hike and we were able to evict the ticks before they got a nibble of her.

santee-spider.jpgFor most of the hike I was elected to walk in front so my face would collect the webs strung across the path, and I eventually amassed quite a collection of them. Finally I started keeping my eyes open for spider webs, and that led to my involvement in trying to photograph spiders in their webs.   It’s a worthy photographic challenge, one which will probably keep me occupied for a while just like hummingbirds and bees have occupied me at various times.   Right off the bat I can see I don’t have the right lens for the job “¦

Even in the shade of the trees, the humidity slowed me down.   Just that little walk made me look forward to some air conditioning.   We have not yet escaped the southeast humidity, and it’s likely we’ll find more of the same up north in a few weeks.   I’m going to have a tough readjustment to northeast summer conditions.

lone-star-bbq.jpgSouth Carolina can be such a polite place. I haven’t heard Eleanor referred to as “ma’am” more than once or twice a year, but here she has gotten that treatment half a dozen times this evening.

The peak of “sir” and “ma’am” occurred when we stopped at the Lone Star Barbecue & Mercantile for the nightly dinner buffet.   This place is built out of four buildings recycled from the former community of Lone Star: O.K. Zeagler’s General Store, the post office, Dantzler’s Social Hall, and Schuler’s General Store.   Now connected together along State Park Road, they make a popular restaurant. On Saturday nights the line can go “all the way out to the oak tree,” we were told.

Maybe I was just hungry, but I can recommend the Lone Star for a taste of local food.   It’s nothing fancy, just good southern cooking.   Between the three of us, we had fried chicken, green beans, “tomato pie,” mashed potatoes, “hash” (a semi-sweet puree of beef, I think) over rice, macaroni & cheese, banana pudding, and Indian pudding with butterscotch topping for dessert.   $9.99 for adults and we sure didn’t leave hungry.   Being just a couple of miles off I-95, this place is a great lunch or dinner stop for anyone passing by.

lone-star-bbq-inside.jpg

Fuel report: towing at 60 MPH on the flatness of I-95 through Georgia and South Carolina, with the A/C on and only mild crosswinds, the Armada got 11.0 miles per gallon.   That’s about the best it has ever done, and fairly good for a gas engine pulling an 8000 lb trailer.

By comparison, towing at 72 MPH in west Texas, in similar conditions, the Armada got between 8.6 and 8.9 MPG.   That means going 60 saved us about 20% on our fuel bill.   I’m going to work a 60 MPH speed limit into all my long-distance travel plans going forward.

4 Responses to “Santee State Park, Santee SC”

  1. John Irwin Says:

    Rich, I seriously question towing a heavy trailer at 72 mph on tires rated at 65 mph. All ST trailer tires, even my E-rated Maxxis, are rated at 65 mph maximun. I tow at 62 mph, a sweet spot for the Duramax in 6th gear and 1500 RPM. I may hit 70 very briefly to insure safe passing.

    A friend (Myron) blew 2 tires on the way to Jackson Center with over $5000 damage to his Limited.

    I have a tire warning system sitting in a box by my desk that was delivered yesterday and will be installed before our trip next week.

  2. adam Says:

    Hey all,

    Susan and I stopped at Santee on our way back to Maine. We got in around 4 pm and decided to take a quick bike ride on the trail. A bit longer than two hours we found ourselves back on the C with great big smiles and appetites. At certain points of the single track bike paths we thought we might not make it back. It was a fun ride and one way to keep ahead of the skeeters.

    We’re missing you all and have started looking at the calendar today.

    Adam and Susan

  3. Sandybee Says:

    In Calif, the speed limit for a vehicle pulling a trailer is 55. Saves on tires AND gas.

  4. Clarke Hockwald Says:

    Hi Rich…..having lived in California all my life I’m used to the 55mph maximum speed when towing a trailer. I transfered this habit to my motorhome….I drive at around 60mph most of the time, and it does improve gas mileage significantly. Driving slower helps me relax more quickly on vacation. In the event of an unexpected blowout it’s easier to control the vehicle slowing from 60mph with a blowout, especially on the front, than from over 70mph.

    We recently upgraded from a Class C (Fleetwood Tioga) to a Class A (1982 Newell) motorcoach….on our way home from Tempe, AZ yesterday (was in Tempe to see my daughter’s graduation from ASU) the left front tire exploded at about 60mph on I-10. I was glad I was only going 60, and in the right lane. It was hard enough to wrestle the bus to the breakdown lane…I can’t imagine what it would have been like at 70mph!

    Clarke