the couple went down to georgia

The weekend was free. Where do we run!? We had spent all winter cooped up in the house, huddled under blankets, dreaming of the day that we can once again use the truck and trailer we have been paying for neglected out in the yard. Finally the time had come. We had taken the Monday off from work for a three day weekend. So where do we go? Rain was in the forecast for the Carolinas. To the South and East: rain. To the North and West: ice. It seemed as if the first camping trip of 2019 was off to a rough start. If we aimed right, there was a small triangle in Georgia that had a lesser chance for rain. We took the shot.

While we were packing up on Saturday morning it was pouring. Not even figuratively, I mean buckets. I pulled the trailer right up to the house to preserve dryness, both for ourselves and inside the camper, but it didn't do much good. After as few frantic trips back and forth as we could bear, we jumped in the truck and off we went!

Georgia is a lot closer to North Carolina than we had thought. In a little over three hours we had pulled into our campsite right on the Savannah River. It was still drizzling as we unpacked. We quickly realized that in our haste back home, we forgot most things (okay I forgot...). Of course it was nothing important, just chairs, and propane for the grill, and lanterns, and pots and pans, and sandals, and condiments... The beer we remembered. You know, priorities and all that.

The beach in front of our campsite

Since it was still light out, and too dreary to really enjoy the scenery, we decided to head into town to see if we could rectify our forgetfulness. Lincolnton, GA is a wonderful place. What makes it so wonderful is that nobody is there! There was a tiny main street with two restaurants, one grocery store, and a Dollar Tree. We were able to pick up some new chairs (that are staying in the trailer forever to prevent future incidents), some pots and pans (same), and other essentials.

By the time we got back to camp we were ready to chill. We set up our brand new, Dollar Tree chairs and, cautiously, sat down with some beer. It was getting a bit chilly, as the weather predicted, so the official uniform of the night became rather interesting...

Camo crocks, camping fleece pants, a hoodie, and a plush bath robe. That's how we roll.

We continued to party into the night. Music was playing, beer was flowing, some dancing even occurred! We were basically the only ones in the campground. The party continued late into the night. So late in fact we didn't make it to bed until 9:45pm! Of course we didn't realize how early we actually went to bed until the morning.

Sunday turned out beautiful! The temperature was in the 70's and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. Finally something worked out!

We traveled about an hour to Augusta, GA. Just to see what was there. Turns out, it has a pretty cool river-walk and a cute downtown area. Unfortunately, it also has something that Lincolnton didn't: people. We walked a few miles up and down along the river, taking some pictures before getting tired and heading back to camp. We wanted to stop for something to eat on the way home but the deeper South you go, the less you can find open on Sundays... We rolled into camp starving and ready to relax. 

We took some awesome pictures down at the water before calling it a day and sitting by the campfire for the night. Well... that was the idea at least. The fire had other plans.

We bought some firewood at the good ol' camp general store. As I said, it had been raining a good bit. Clearly, the proper precautions weren't observed to keep firewood in flammable conditions. The cardboard and paper burned wonderfully but no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get the wood to start. We sat outside and listened to music until bedtime. Every now and then one of us would get some fresh inspiration and go poke at the fire again but it was never fruitful. We finally gave up and headed in for bed. As I was brushing my teeth, I saw out the window a nice fire! The cardboard embers we had been building up finally caught a piece of wood! We couldn't believe it but were too tired to care. It quickly burned out.

Mondays are always sad days. Usually it's because reality comes crashing back and work rears its ugly head. Today it was because we had to leave this lovely little slice of paradise. Rose and I both had gotten one of those fancy new stretchy hammocks that hook to trees but we hadn't got to try them yet. After breakfast and a little bit of packing up, I put them up just to try them out. It was lovely...

I was slightly afraid that the little straps holding me up wouldn't support the weight of many hotdogs and countless beers but I remained elevated and surprisingly comfortable. We really didn't want to leave Georgia. There will definitely be a return trip sometime in the summer; this time with the canoe. I highly suggest Elijah Clark State Park if you ever want to get away from it all.