Parris Island — Oorah!

Thursday, 6 DECEMBER
US Marine corps Recruit Depot — Parris island, SOUTH CAROLINA
TEMPS: LO IN Dillon 50F / HI @ MCRD 67F (10C / 19C)

It was still dark when we woke up this morning at Bass Lake.  Despite the campground’s proximity to the interstate, we weren’t bothered by any traffic noise and got a good night’s sleep.  We were in no hurry to get on the road, so we decided to take advantage of the free wi-fi to stream the latest episode of the Turkish soap opera we follow on Web TV.  With the rest of the campers still fast asleep, the signal strength was excellent and we enjoyed the show with no hiccups.

It was after 9:30a when we set out under overcast skies.  Our destination — the campground at Parris Island MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) where we had one of the eighteen sites reserved for the next three nights.

An easy drive of 193 miles (309 km) brings us to Parris Island MCRD.

By the time we stopped at the Santee rest area for lunch, the sun had broken through, and the temp had risen to 63F (17C), giving us hope that we just might be able to eat our lunch al fresco.  Well, that didn’t happen — despite the sunshine, the breeze made it just a tad too chilly to sit outside.  So, we cranked up the generator to use the microwave and ate in the comfort of our home instead.

We arrived at the MCRD gate around 2:30p.  Between the GPS and the Microsoft Streets & Trips directions I had pulled up on the laptop, we had no problems finding the small campground and settling into site 2.  The sites here are all back-in, 20-30-50A FHUs; and are nicely spaced.  At $15/night (no tax), this military campground is a good deal and a great benefit resulting from Mui’s active and reserve duty with the USAF.

(The cell signal for our mi-fi was the pits when we first set up, but Mui put the device next to the internal antenna, and now we have a very useable signal.  This is the second time camping in low-signal areas that the Wilson trucker antenna we installed earlier this year has proven its worth.)

[Parris Island campground map courtesy of the Marine Corps Community Services website]

Admittedly, the MCRD is quite a ways from the places we might want to explore, but we still have some things we want to take care of around the house before we get out and start exploring.  So, this place will work out very nicely for our purposes.  We’ll also take the time to do a recon drive to Hunting Island State Park as a possible place to stay after we leave here on Sunday.  And if the temps rise and the sun continues to grace us, we just might get a chance to relax a bit on our patio — now that would be grand!

Site 2 — just look at all the space we have on the patio side of the coach!

All but a few of the sites are full, but we have yet to see any of the other campers.  From the graffiti on the vehicles, it looks like most of them are here for tomorrow’s graduation of some of the recruit training battalions.

After settling into our site, we walked down the road leading to the water — about ½-mile each way.  Not much there, but we enjoyed the peaceful scenery and watched the birds diving into the water.  They were quite far from shore, so no photo ops, but we did get to watch the sunset and even had a chance sighting of a dolphin swimming about.

For the doubters — proof of our dolphin sighting; too bad I didn’t have my long lens with me!

There wasn’t much in the way of color, but we enjoyed the sunset anyway.  After the sun dipped below the horizon, we headed home.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings ;-)

P.S. For those curious, we topped off our diesel at the Pilot Travel Center at exit 170 on I-95 — $3.89/gallon with our Flying J/Pilot RV Plus card (discounted from $4.01/gal).