Willow Tree Resort, Longs SC

We have been at Willow Tree Resort in Longs SC (North Myrtle Beach area) for almost a week now, will head South to Charleston SC this coming Friday.

Willow Tree Resort is a very nice resort with nice very Long and Wide sites.

We will stay here again when in the area.


You can tell the length of the sites with our truck parked in front of our 5th Wheel, also the Company Truck is parked on our site behind our 5th Wheel.

 

View from our Campsite towards the lake

Some of the sites by the lake have Hot Tubs at the site

Carolina Landings Resort

Still at Carolina Landings Resort.

Like I said in an earlier post, this is a nice area but the Campground has been here many years and had little or no maintenance in a long time and it shows.

The current operators do not seem interested in making any kind of updates or repairs, I did hear a few of the fulltime residents comment that updates / changes are coming.

Also this park is not designed for todays large and long 5th Wheel, Travel Trailers and Motorhomes.

Lost of erosion, potholes, poor roads and worn out water and power connections.

Our Site is about as level as they get here !!!!

 

And the sites go uphill from where we are setup

 

 

Begining of Fall in Fair Play, South Carolina

We left Tallahassee, FL on Friday 10/3 heading North to South Carolina for a week of R&R and some cooler weather.

I am not a summertime fan, the older I get the less I like the heat and humidity in the Southeast.

On our way to South Carolina we stopped in Perry, Georgia for a overnight stay before traveling through Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday morning.

Our trip to Fair Play, South Carolina was uneventful with no truck or trailer issues and no traffic accidents or slowdowns as we went up I-75 North to I-85 heading towards South Carolina.

We are using some of our free Camping / Resort nights we received from Lazy Days when we bought our new Redwood 5th Wheel and staying at Carolina Landings a Encore / Thousand Trails Resort.

This Encore Resort like many I have seen is an older resort that is in need of many repairs and updating as it has been here since the early 60s.

The sites here are difficult to navigate and none of them are level at all. The site we are on is on a hillside and the site uphill from us is leaking water pretty bad, so the grass hill by our front door and our pad stays wet all the time. I said something to the staff here, nothing has been done.

The staff and long term residents here have been very nice and polite but this is not a park we would stay at long term.

We went out yesterday exploring the area and drove on a section of the Cherokee Foothills Parkway from where it crosses I-85 one exit South of us, up to Table Rock Mountain, SC.

Our return to the Resort in the afternoon brought us South thru Pumpkinville, SC, Pickens, SC and Clemson, SC.

 

Debra at the Table Rock SC visitors center entrance walkway

 

Lake and Mountain view at visitors center



 

Some wildlife along the walkway

 



 

Table Rock SP Visitors Center

 

Visitors Center fishing dock and lake

Stone Mountain Aug 2014, Atlanta GA

We are working in the Atlanta area so we are back at Stone Mountain CG again for a couple of weeks.

This is one of our favorite parks, nice CG and it is inside a Stone Mountain State Park which is a large Georgia State Park with many things to do and also very close to Atlanta GA.

Stone Mountain State Park has lots of things to do, they have a Steam operated Train ride that goes around the Mountain, they had a Cable Tram lift that takes you to the top of the Mountain to a visitors center on the top, they do a Laser Light Show on the side of the mountain on the weekend, they have a lodge and conference center here too.

Our site in the Premium Loop, deeper sites,  more space between sites, less trees to get in the way.

We are in Site 18, again one of our favorite sites, nobody on either side of us, good clear view

of the Southern Sky (Good Satellite Signal) and our puppy dog Bale loves it, it is one of the highest sites in this loop so we call it Bale's Mountain.

 

 

Since school has started back, the campground is pretty empty.

 

The office and Campground Office and State Park attractions are

operating on the winter / weekend schedule.

We are down at the end of the road in the picture on the left.

 

 

The lake at Stone Mountain, just down the hill from our Campsite.

 

Usually there are lots of ducks out on the lake, this afternoon we only saw the one lonely duck.

 

There are lots of Tent Campsites between just down the hill from us on the edge of the lake.

It has been a busy week with repairs, installations and challanges

It has been a busy week getting repairs, installations and challenges taken care of.

First was the TV in our front lounge area of our Redwood 5th Wheel.
We traveled about 380 miles last Sunday with our Redwood, when we got setup at the CG we sat down and turned on our TV in the living area.
It started turning itself on and off every few seconds.
I checked all the connections, power cord and power outlet, all checked good.
I contacted Crossroads RV and talked to customer service.
After a little nudging Crossroads customer service got the ball rolling, contacted a Crossroads dealer (this dealer does not carry the Redwood product line) close to our current location, shipped a new TV to them overnight Air.
I removed our TV, took it to the Crossroads dealer, they verified the TV issue, gave me a new TV and I took it back to the CG and installed it, it works great.
I was impressed how Crossroads / Redwood handled the issue and took care of their customer.

The next problem was with our GMC 3500HD, we got a message on the Driver Information Center display that said "Service Trailer Brakes". (We have the factory installed Trailer Brake Controller)
I took it to the GMC dealer and they checked it and said it was a bad sensor on the brake master cylinder.
They did not have one in stock but would have it the next day and I could come back in and they would replace it.
On both visits to the GMC dealer, it took less than 30 minutes from the time I arrived till I was on my way, I was impressed, fast service by the dealer.

The next item for the week was we ordered Slide Toppers for all 5 of our Slides.
They arrived on Thursday and we installed them yesterday.
They are manufactured by Carefree, we got black hardware but most Redwoods have black fabric too, we opted to be different and got gray fabric due to the hot Southern Sun since we spend most of our time in the Southeastern part of the country.
Installation when well, just took a while to install all 5 of them.

Front Living Slide on the left side

 

Kitchen and Bedroom slides on the Left Side

Ft Myers Florida

We are working in the South East Florida area which includes, Naples, Ft Myers, Sarasota, Bradenton, North Port and such.

It has been quite hot down here the last couple of weeks and we usually have afternoon thunderstorms everyday.

We are staying at Up River Resort in the Ft Myers area off I-75.

This park is the typical South Florida Snowbird park, only a few residents live here year round and we only have a few RVs stop in for a few days then they move on.

We will be here another week, then we will head up to Tallahassee for a week and then on to Atlanta GA (Stone Mountain) till Labor Day weekend.

I did get the slide topper awnings ordered this week, hope they will arrive while we are in Tallahassee and we can get them put on before heading to Atlanta.

 

Here we are parked on the end of a row, we have a few Palm trees next to us.

 

As you can see the rest of the park is pretty empty, only a couple of 5th Wheels that have been closed up and left for the summer, awaiting their owners to return in the winter.

Another view down the next row of all the empty sites, pretty much have your choice of where to stay until the snowbirds get here in October / November !!!

 

Traded our Jayco Pinnacle for a Redwood 38 FL (Front Living)

When we were working in Georgia, I got to looking at new 5th Wheels that would better suit our
lifestyle now that we have been on the road almost 3 years.
We have pretty much figured out what we like to do and what works for us.
Since the 2015 RVs are now on the dealer lots there are some deals on the "Left over" 2014s.
So I started working on a couple of dealers that had a Redwood Front Living Floorplan we liked.
I did not know if I could get them to my number with a trade of our current Jayco Pinnacle.
Our Jayco has served us well but if I could put the right deal together, maybe we could trade.
After several days of beating on 2 dealers for the absolute best deal, we made a deal with Lazy Days in Tampa on a 2014 Redwood 38FL. ( I know I said I would not buy from a Mega Dealer like Lazy Days, I always liked the smaller dealers)

 

 

This is the floorplan of our new Redwood 38FL

The Bedroom is in the rear and the living area is in the front over the Hitch / Pinbox area



 

 

 

Some pictures of our new Redwood 38FL taken by Lazy Days for their website

 

Fullbody paint is nice touch, two entry doors, one at the front of the main awning

and one at the rear of the main awning.

 

Kitchen and dinning area

 

Rear Bedroom with King Bed

Wardrobe in the bedroom with TV

 

Front Living area with recliners at the front cap area,

note we removed them and put our theater seating

unit in, see picture of mod further down.

 

 

On our way up to our home base in Tallahassee from Tampa after

picking up our Redwood 5er

 

 

 

One of the first mods, put up some towel bars in the bath area.

 

 

This is a picture of our theater seating unit, we replaced the recliners

with this from our Jayco Pinnacle.

We bought the Lane unit from a furniture store a couple of

years ago and had it in our previous 5th Wheel and really like it, so we moved it to our

new 5th Wheel and put the recliners that came in the new 5th Wheel in our trade in unit.

 

 

So far so good with the new 5er, we are currently in Ft Myers FL working with / training a

new tech for the area. I did have to adjust the hitch height on the truck, found the 5er to

be a little high in the noise during the first trip from the dealership.

The trip down to Ft Myers was better with the hitch reset and finding the right

air pressure for the air ride hitch on the new 5th Wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catching Up, Grand Canyon National Park

Our next stop after Las Vegas was Williams AZ, home of the Grand Canyon Railway.
This was a really neat small town on Route 66 that offered quite a few things to do and see
other than just the Grand Canyon Railway.

The Grand Canyon Railway train leaves the station at 9:30 heading up to the Grand Canyon National Park. The Train ride is 62 miles each way.
We had the Glass Dome Train cars going up to the Canyon, what a great view and excellent service on the train.

We stayed at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park, very nice park but right

next to the railway, and yes there are freight trains that use the tracks too.

Several trains come through during the night :)

This was sunset at the park, nice temps too due to the approx. 7,000 ft elevation.

 



 

Yep, another selfie, look at the lady behind us, she was laughing at us taking our selfie !!!

 

We had the front seat looking out the dome window on the train ride,

it was an awesome view on the way to the park. 

 

 

Picture of the train in front of us winding up the mountains to the Grand Canyon Park

 

Debra getting off the train in the Grand Canyon Park, better picture of

our Glass Dome Train Car.

 

Awesome views at the Grand Canyon Park

 

Yep, another Selfie !!!

 

More pictures of the Grand Canyon

 

Yep, that is the Colorado River way down there

 

 

Condor nesting area in the sides of the Canyon

 

Lots of cool plants of foliage in the Canyon area

 

 

Debra waiting at the Grand Canyon Railway Station for the trip back to Williams AZ 

 

All Aboard !!!

 

A couple of pictures of the drive back to Texas, most of the drive was not much to see

but this area had some nice scenery so I took a couple of pictures.

 

 

 

Catching Up, heading back East, first stop Las Vegas

Well we finished up our time in CA and are now heading back East, our first stop is in Las Vegas.
Lots of people and temperature was 105 to 107 everyday.

We did the strip and went to the Criss Angel show at the Luxor Hotel.

 

Debra in front of the Luxor Hotel

 

Another picture of the Luxor Hotel

 

Wow, look at us !!!

A selfie in the Luxor while waiting for the Criss Angel show time.

 

The entrance to the Criss Angel Theater

 

Criss Angel Believe Show in progress !!!

 

After we left the show we got back on the City operated double decker buses

These are not the open deck sightseeing type buses, they are enclosed on both decks

and air conditioned.

The next two shots are of the strip from the front of the upper deck, (when we got on

there was nobody upstairs, so we were able to sit up front by the window)

The city buses that run up and down the strip are a great deal, $8 for a 24 Hour pass, get on and get off as much as you want to.

 

 

Our Campsite at the Circus Circus KOA, we had a premium site gave us a small patch of

grass at the end of a row. Nice shade, table and chairs and even a grass for Bale to go Pee Pee on !!

 

Most of the sites were just an asphalt parking lot :(

 

 

We went on the Hoover Dam tour, one of the water intake pipes to the turbines

that drive the generators making electricity.

 

Even got another picture of Debra standing in front of one

section of the Generators

 

More Dam pictures, I know I had to say it !!

 

Lower section of the dam where the water exits the turbines

 

The two structures with the holes are the bypass spillways, I believe they

said they have only been used twice when the water got too high on the dam.

 

Picture of the new (2 years old) bypass bridge next to the Hoover Dam.

In the past you had to drive across the dam and it was always congested.

Now the Bypass bridge is right next to the dam and offers a quick crossing.

 

We also took a paddle boat tour of Lake Mead after we toured the Hoover Dam

Pictured below is the Lake Mead side of the dam.

 

Two of the Hoover Dam water intake towers, there are 4 of them, two on each side