Greetings from Gaffney

Sunday, 7 July
Camp Freightliner — GAFFNEY, SOUTH CAROLINA
Temps: Lo 69F / Hi 83F (20.5C / 28C)

We left Virginia Beach yesterday morning and are in Gaffney, South Carolina now.  But before I get to the reason why we came here, a few words to wrap up our last week in Virginia Beach.

the Navy (left) and Marine Corps trainees marched by Sea Mist, our campground at the
Dam Neck Annex, NAS Oceana.  Early birds that we are, their cadence calls did not
disturb us when they came by around 7:15a daily.

Not much to write about since our plans for our final week at Sea Mist were mostly rained out.  The rain wasn’t constant, but we got light drizzles and downpours with no warning throughout the day … almost every day — until we hit the 4th of July.  Independence Day turned out to be a gorgeous day with lots of blue sky and puffy clouds — but it was too hot to be in the sun.  So, we made the most of our shade curtain and the light breeze that was a constant at our site to sit outside and enjoy the patio.

No birds to entertain us at Sea Mist … but plenty of dragonflies.

Our 23-day stay at Sea Mist was our longest in one place since getting on the road in December.  We weren’t very active physically, but I think we expected that.  After all, neither one of us much cares for heat and humidity.  So why not turn the wheels north or go up into the mountains where it might be cooler?  That was the plan, but we had to jiggle and wiggle, and move things around earlier this year, so a hot summer it shall be for us this year.

Looking back on our stay in Virginia Beach, it could have been much worse.  I didn’t think I’d be able to spend any time outdoors.  As it is, thanks to the breeze we got every day, I managed to sit outside for hours on end most days.  And the bonus was that I made considerable headway with the details for our fall vacation.  I even managed to process photos and put up several Two to Travel posts to catch up on last fall’s trip to Turkey.  A few more entries, and I’ll be done with that trip and can start thinking about how I am going to stay on top of blogging during this year’s much longer vacation.  I probably need to just accept the fact that’s not going to happen.

So, I’ll move on from Virginia with a fitting …

“The End” offered by one of the many blue darters that visited us daily.

… and move on to South Carolina.

We began our 404-mile (646 km) trek from Virginia Beach to Gaffney shortly after 8:00a yesterday morning.  The shortest route was on I-85 South, which meant that we were once again limited with campgrounds for our mid-point break.  In the end, we decided to overnight at the Greensboro Campground — the same place we stayed at on our way north to Ashland, Virginia in early June.  It’s not a destination campground, and we again had difficulty getting level, but it was fine for an overnight stay.  (My review from our earlier stay is here.)

404 miles (646 km) in two segments takes us from Virginia to South Carolina,
with an overnight stay in North Carolina.

Since today’s segment was only 148 miles (237 km), we weren’t planning on leaving Greensboro early.  But … we were both up at 5:30a.  We tried some tactics to delay our departure, taking time to not only have a healthy breakfast, but also going for a walk around the campground.  Our efforts were for naught, however, and by 8:30a, we were heading south on I-85.

A fruit bowl for breakfast is part of our new healthy-eating plan.

So, what’s there in Gaffney that we put it on this year’s Phaeton journeys?  Not much.  Even the city website lists only three things to do — visit the farmer’s market … our schedule doesn’t mesh with when the market is open; check out the visitor center/art gallery … it wasn’t open today, and the hours are wrong for the rest of our time here; and finally, explore the Cowpens National Battlefield … sorry, too hot and humid to go wandering around outside — even if we could fit it into our schedule.

This doesn’t look like a destination campground, does it?

So why did we come here if we’re not going to do any of the suggested activities?  We’re here to attend a two-day class for RVers who own rigs built on Freightliner chassis.  We were going to do this in March, on our way back up north from the Tiffin Service Center in Red Bay, Alabama.  But when Mui’s sister sent us a message that she was going to be in New Orleans in March, we switched things around so we could spend time with her instead.  Hence the odd-looking first-year travel map (inset in the map above).

Nine of the twenty sites at Camp Freightliner are now occupied, including two of
the three pull-throughs next to us that were empty when I took the photo.

We arrived at Camp Freightliner around 11:30a to find only 4 of the 20 electric-only gravel sites occupied.  We could have just taken one of the three pull-through sites  (the empty ones to our left in the photo), but decided on a back in site that looked more level to us.  With only a power cord to hook-up, we were settled in no time.

Next on the agenda was a quick stop at Wal-Mart, so we drove the 1.5 miles into downtown Gaffney.  While at it, we managed to sneak in a bit of sightseeing when we spotted a quaint log cabin near City Hall.  Turns out the cabin was built in 1804 by an Irishman named Michael Gaffney.  If I interpreted the signage accurately, he is the founding father of the city.

Arriving in the area in 1803, Gaffney purchased 805 acres of land for $600
and built this log cabin in 1804.

From the nearby signage:

Michael Gaffney was born in Granard, Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1797.  After a short period in New York, he set sail for Charleston, South Carolina.  He departed Charleston for upstate and arrived at Smith's Ford on the Broad River on December 17, 1800.  There he met and married Mary "Polly" Smith, daughter of John Smith, on July 21, 1803.  Gaffney purchased 805 acres of land from Jon McKie on January 20, 1804 for $600.  He then constructed this home, store and trading post at the corner of present day N Granard Street and Baker Boulevard.  This intersection was a Native American trail and wagon road.  It became known as Gaffney's Crossroads; later Gaffney's Old Field. Michael and Polly's first child was born June 1 1804, most likely in this log home.

The hand-hewn boards are all original to the cabin, which was moved here
from where it was initially built a few blocks away.

The cabin was locked up, and the windows were shuttered, so we had to make do with just seeing it from the outside.  Thus completing our sightseeing, we returned to the campground to rest up for two-days of classwork.

As I write this post, Mui’s busy making money?  How?  He’s working his way through an online driving course that will net us a $25 gift card when he completes it.  The offer came to us from USAA, with whom both our vehicles are insured (the RV is with Progressive, but under the USAA umbrella).  The Drivesharp program, which is worth $89, is being offered for free to USAA members age 55 and older (you must have an active USAA auto insurance policy in the US).  Look into it if you qualify (click the word Drivesharp above to get to the website).

Looks like Mui is playing an online game, doesn’t it?
Actually, he’s taking an online driving course.  He has successfully made
his way from Acadia NP to Shenandoah NP, and is now navigating the Smokies.

When we initially signed up for the March session of Camp Freightliner — the class, not the campground — we intended to have the M3 service done here as well.  Those plans changed when we postponed the class to July.  We had the service done at Bay Diesel while we were in Red Bay, so we cancelled the appointment here.  However, we are going to go ahead and get the four-corner weighing done.  Freightliner will take care of that while we’re in class tomorrow.

The RV parking at the service center is free for those who are having their rigs serviced; trainees like us can stay here as long as space is available.  We’re up to nine rigs now, one a fellow-Phaeton.  We are hoping that there will be plenty of space for us to stay here through the end of our two-day class.  If not, there is a KOA nearby that offers a 10% discount for those who are in Gaffney for the Freightliner class.

Neither of us has been in a classroom setting in quite some time, so the next two days ought to be interesting.  Stay tuned to find out if we passed with flying colors ;-)