The amazing people we meet along the way.

We’re back on the road again, beginning our travels in South Carolina as we start our winter exploration of the southeastern US.  But before I delve into our current odyssey, maybe I should provide a quick review of how we got where we are now.  Many months ago, back in late August of this year, Judy and I started making plans for this trip we dubbed “Flying South for the Winter”.  One complication to our plans was the winter weather in New England in November, and our desire to host Thanksgiving in Massachusetts. There would need to be extensive preparations made to Neil the Northpoint in order to survive multiple days and nights of below freezing weather. So instead, we left Massachusetts just before Halloween, and after a quick 9-day road trip, Neil was nestled comfortably in much warmer Fort Mill, South Carolina.  We took a flight back home and spent the next 3 weeks or so entertaining ourselves in Massachusetts and spending Thanksgiving with the family.  The week after Thanksgiving we were on the move again, flying south to rejoin Neil. He was in great shape, although covered in leaves. We stayed in Fort Mill, SC another couple of days and then moved on to Charleston, SC, which is situated just 200 or so miles southeast, of Fort Mill, an easy drive. Please read next week’s blog post for highlights of our 8 -day visit to Charleston, SC, as we tell…the Rest of the Story. 

This blog post is not specifically about our travels and excursions.  Rather, as the title suggests, this blog post is dedicated to the warm and wonderful people we meet on our travels.  When telling others of our experiences traveling from place to place, two familiar questions often emerge: Do you meet a lot of people? And are you concerned about visiting some places?  Totally understandable in today’s politically charged climate. People are concerned that Judy and I could be exposed to risks as out of town visitors.  Honestly, nothing could be further from the truth.  Although we’re still very much RV’ing “newbies”, we have met the nicest people, everywhere!  And never, not once, have we felt unsafe in a campground, nor have we even felt the need to lock the camper door before going to bed for the evening. 

Did I say, The nicest people everywhere?!?  So, in the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I believe that I’m a bit chatty (some of you may also be considering the terms talkative, verbose, or even the dreaded bombastic).  The additional time created by being retired has probably enhanced this trait.   And yes, I’ll also admit that I’m not a “wallflower” and can be pretty social, sometimes to Judy’s chagrin.  Starting up a conversation and meeting people can be as easy as saying “hello, where are you from?”  Just that simple.  Here’s a small sample from this past week, and I’ll start with the lovely couple we met just today, at the Charleston Tea Plantation, and work my way backwards in time. 

• The Mennonite couple we met at the Charleston Tea Plantation, in the gift shop, after walking together on the self-guided tour of the tea making facility, were the sweetest pair of people you could ever meet.  Now, to be honest, I’m only guessing that they were Mennonite based on the clothes that they were wearing.  The woman was positively petite in stature as she was scarcely as big as Judy.  And she actually started up the conversation with me!  With just a brief conversation as we waited to get on a tour trolly, we knew that they were catfish farmers from the southern Mississippi delta.  The gentleman was just a small producer among thousands of catfish farms.  After a bit more time, we were talking about catfish recipes. Then the pair of us boarded the trolley for a tour of the tea plantation.  To my amazement before parting ways, the woman went so far as to look up a restaurant near Vicksburg, MS for us to go to, along with a recommendation for a catfish dish.

• Dave.  Dave is the nice, retired man living in the RV directly behind my camper.  He is from Minnesota but spends the winters down here in the Carolinas.  He doesn’t like the cold weather anymore and has been staying in this campground every winter for the last 5 or 6 years.  He also provided a restaurant recommendation, a place called Poe’s Tavern on Sullivan’s Island, SC.   We’re going there before we leave here.

Our RV camp neighbor, Dave.

• Yesterday we took a food tour in Charleston.  There were only 6 people on the tour, three couples.  We naturally fell into a conversation with Marilyn and Doug.  They are from Colorado and look to be just a bit older than Judy and me. Marilyn is a veterinarian and went to Colorado State College for Veterinary Medicine.  A place our son Josh really wants to go to for his Veterinary degree.  After the food tour we invited them along as we continued our self-guided walking tour of historic downtown Charleston.  Together we visited the old Exchange Building Museum and Dungeon before bidding farewell as time was expiring on the meter where the Beast was parked.  But not before exchanging contact information so that it would be possible to meet up again in the future.

• Earlier in the week we took a walking tour of historic Charleston.  We often like to take a walking tour of a city when we first arrive.  During this tour the guide pointed out a coffee and lunch location called Harkins on Queen Street.  So, as soon as the tour ended, Judy and I decide to wander back to said restaurant.  And so did three women who were on the same historic Charleston walking tour with us.  Like us, these ladies were also paying attention to the tour guide’s recommendation. Anyway, we sat with these three nice ladies, all from Tampa, FL.  They were traveling together, as they are sometimes known to do, whilst leaving their husbands at home.  They had been on several trips together, so we obviously compared traveling itineraries.

• Phil the Umpire.  The night before we left Fort Mill, SC we decided to clean up the camper and then walk down the end of the street to sample a “townie” restaurant called John’s Place.  It is a bit of a dive bar, with the pool table getting a lot of action, and college football games on all 10 TV screens.  OK, so this would be a very boring story to read through without the surprise appearance of PHIL.  Yep, you heard me.  Out of the blue some man approaches the table, pulls up a chair, and starts talking to us. Just a brief introduction, and he then starts rambling on about his life in Fort Mill.  And he keeps talking on and on, all the while telling us he is on his way out.  I find this man slightly odd but kind of entertaining. Rather harmless and maybe a bit lonely.  Inside of 3 minutes we know he is a retired oil salesman, and that he’s been married for a long time, but his wife is currently out of town. Judy finds this man a bit creepy.  I imagine he is in his mid to late 60’s. We found out very quickly that when Phil retired, he decided to enroll in umpire school and is now a licensed and certified softball umpire getting paid to umpire league games in SC.  You could tell how much he loved umpiring by the way he talked about it. Eventually, when Phil takes a moment to inhale, he gets around to asking us for our names, and since we’ve now been sitting together for the better part of 10 minutes, Judy decides to introduce herself as Mary! Mary! Who’s Mary?  I give Judy a strange look and of course introduce myself as Steven.  You know, like my name. Steven. Judy obviously thought that this man, Phil, was a bit unusual, and therefore felt it was unwise to provide our actual first names.  I was not aware of this small detail and provided my actual first name. Mind you, at no time were our surnames provided, and shortly after Judy introduced herself as Mary, Phil was bidding us goodbye. It was also our time to head back to the camper and as we exited the bar into the parking lot, Phil drove by us and pointed out the license plate on his car: UMPIRE.  What a great license plate for Phil the umpire from Fort Mill SC.  So says “Mary”!

Here's what we didn’t know when we started RV’ing:  Meeting the people would absolutely be a highlight of our travels. Seeing the sights, eating the food, walking the trails and parks are all great; it’s all what you would expect.  But the people we meet, everywhere, add richness and color to our adventures.  Wonderful, funny, interesting, and even outgoing people impart a piece of themselves to us, and hopefully we leave a piece of ourselves with them. In some cases, like Phil the Umpire from Fort Mill, they are indelibly linked in our memories of a specific place and time.