Distance and Time Makes No Difference

11/12/2018

by Sandy

Especially when it comes to good friends.  We met up with my high school friends and maid of honor, Marsha and her husband Mark.  It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other other than on Facebook and when we found our paths could cross, we made it happen in Myrtle Beach.  What a great time we had!  Bill and I had been to Myrtle Beach several times over the years with our girls, but this “grown up trip” included nature walks along with beach walks and some great restaurants, a fantastic way to reconnect, and it felt like we’ve been getting together weekly.  We picked up right where we left off the last time.  What was amazing to find out was how much we still have in common.  The guys also enjoyed their time together.  Thanks Marsha and Mark for such an enjoyable visit!  As Marsha put it so well, you can have as much fun at almost age 60 as you can at age 16.  New “to do” item:  get together more often!

MYRTLE BEACH - saw hurricane effects, including offshore dredging activities to get the sand back to the beach, large seashells washed ashore and the hurricane-rerouted inlets along the shoreline

                               - Heritage Shores Nature Preserve, north of town, had a boardwalk over the marsh, with interesting views of marsh wildlife.                     

                               - there’s a 7 mile hike/run/bike trail in town, just watch out for fire ants and mountain bikers that don’t care if they run you over as they race around the bends 

                               - Recommended restaurants:  Lulu’s, waterfront dining on the inter coastal, Rios, a Brazilian restaurant with unlimited meats served by gauchos at your table, Paula Deen’s for southern cooking, and small, quiet Luigi’s for Italian.  

We started South Carolina in Gaffney with a 2 day course on our Freightliner chassis (which Bill will probably write about), but one really useful thing we learned there was an option we didn’t even know we had that has so far increased our gas mileage by 1 mile per gallon in highway driving, an approximate 10-11% gain in fuel mileage.

Then, we hopped over to North Carolina just over the border to visit with Sandy’s aunt.  Another precious visit that should happen more often.  Looking at a paper map does have its advantages over a GPS, it showed us we were fairly close to her.

Another unexpected surprise in Myrtle Beach was finding Sandy’s sister and brother-in-law were on vacation there, so they met us upon our arrival and got a tour of the bus and went to dinner with all of us, making our Myrtle Beach stop doubly special.  This is the beauty of travel, finding not only unexpected places but people in unexpected places and being able to flex your time and schedule to capture it all.

Next stop:  Charleston, SC