Willow Tree RV Resort (Longs, SC)

Longs, SC
Willow Tree Resort site #8

Willow Tree is a beautiful park that was built about 8 years ago.  It was done right.  All the sites are wide and long with paved parking and concrete patios.  Most of them are pull-throughs.  I’m glad we got the rally rate for 7 nights.  In the 1980’s, the lake was actually a quarry so the water is very clear and cool since it’s about 35-40 feet deep.  They quarried coquina which is a type of limestone rock.  They have a very nice paved path around the lake with a nature trail in the woods.  They also have several birdhouses for bluebirds and swallows.  There is a resident pair of Canada Geese here.  Yep, that’s Wanda the MH in the background.


Apparently they can’t read too good.


We finished up Sunday by going to a campfire at Howard and Linda’s along with the rest of the dreamers that were left in the park.  Denny played his guitar and sang a few songs for everyone and we all enjoyed talking and dreaming.


Monday we slept late and enjoyed the kayaks on the water.  It is amazingly clear and a beautiful blue hue.  It has been some chamber of commerce weather the whole week.  Gin enjoyed fishing even if they didn’t bite.  After a while, I paddled toward her so we could chat.  The front point of my yak knocked her rod out of the holder and we watched the rod drift down away from us through that clear blue water.  What cha gonna do.  :(  These pics were taken by Paul, another rv dreamer that left Tuesday morning.



We finished off Monday night with a campfire at Gene and Jinny’s.  It was nice to be able to just chat with them for a while.  They are from New York and are getting ready for the road in the future also.  They seem like a good match for each other as are most rvers.  When you live in close quarters, it’s a good thing to be able to get along with your mate.

Tuesday was another beautiful day and I took some time to take some photos around the park.  There is a kildeer sitting on her four eggs and it’s interesting to watch her.  She protects them by running away from the nest and acting injured.


There are also a few loons that like it on the lake.  Every time I tried to get a photo with one of them in it, they would go under for a fish.  This is a shot of the four cottages that are across from us…


and the office complex where the swimming pool, laundry, and exercise rooms are.


There is some nice landscaping around also.  We like this park and maybe we can stay here a month in the off season to get the good rates.  It’s close enough to North Myrtle Beach but still very remote.



We enjoyed a late lunch in Calabash, NC at Ella's and took a nap after we got back.  We noticed a nice boat landing on the way there into the black water of the Waccamaw River.  It was calling for us.  :)  We visited a bit with Lee and Martha, the only other rv dreamers still here.  We are leaving on Wednesday while they are leaving on Thursday.  We did the usual packing of the outside stuff to get ready for the road in the morning.  It always saddens us and this time is even harder because we had so much fun with some wonderful people.

As Gin as been known to say, stay focused on what’s ahead and the rest will follow.

Rally

Longs, SC
Willow Tree Resort site #8

We arrived at Willow Tree today around 1:00, got a bite to eat, and went to the RV Dreams social and checked in for the rally.  This is a really nice campground but as Howard noted, it is in the middle of nowhere to be so close to Myrtle Beach.  I had to trust the tom-tom when we got close, so the last 15 minutes took us 30 minutes of driving.  We rode our bikes around the big pond.  It's 1 mile around.  Our site is waterfront.  We may get the kayaks in the water tomorrow afternoon if the weather is nice.

There was a "small world"  moment at check-in when I noticed a couple that had the last name of Rommel.  They were from NC so I asked them if they had a son in Raleigh.  They did.  I work at the same place as their son.  I guess that's not quite as "small world" as a couple of years ago when we were at the NC Outerbanks.  I saw a camper and truck from Maine that had a Raleigh thin blue line sticker.  I asked the couple about it and their son worked with me also.  Maine.  Small world.

We had a catered dinner and social time.  We met Jim and Linda that have a blog that I have followed for quite some time.  Sitting at our table were James and Tonya.  They are from Jacksonville, NC and have lived in their 5er for 4 years while he finishes his time with the military.  He retires this summer and they hit the road.  Also at our table were Sherry and David.  They made their maiden voyage here in a 2004 Winnebago Brave 34 ft.  They had posted it on the rvdreams forum and we posted that we had a rig very much like theirs.  They were hoping to meet us and we will gladly show them some things that Gin did to make the rig a little better.

It is an interesting blend of folks here.  Most are not full-timers yet.  Several don't even have rv's.  But we all seem to know how to enjoy each others company.  We plan to go to some seminars in the morning so I better get some beauty sleep.

Huntington Beach Sate Park; Murrells Inlet SC

Stix n Brix; Clayton NC

It's that time of year for us gonna be full-timers that we start looking forward to the upcoming travel season. One way to look forward is to look back. The next few posts will summarize our RV outings from 2009. Travel with us.

March 13-20, 2009
Huntington Beach State Park
Murrells Inlet, SC Site #116
$182 for 7 nights
400 miles round trip, 7.1 mpg, $1.77 per gallon gas
Like sites 1,3,5,31,33,30,60,68,71,106,107,111,115,117,119,121,123,125, and 127

Friday-Travel day. It drizzled half the time in NC. It was slow going with that and an army convoy on I95. This is our first time at this nice quiet CG. It has paved roads. We are on a private spot in the woods next to the bathhouse. Satellite tv is good at this site. There is local hi-def also. We settled in and cycled the CG some.
Saturday-We rode Suki around the park. We explored Atalaya which is the castle style summer home of the couple that donated the land for this state park. We located a virtual cache at the foyer fireplace. We walked along the beach. The jetty is way too far to attempt. We found our first two geocaches!! (got a travel bug)
Sunday-We went into Myrtle Beach after driving through Murrells Inlet and had a big lunch at New China Buffet. We shopped at Tanger Outlet. I'm picky so I didn't get anything. It drizzled in the afternoon.
Monday-It rained most of the day. We got take-out from Harrelson's Seafood Market. We walked some of it off in the CG. We took the wooded walkway to the shore. Since it rained a lot, we finished the day putting together a 1000 tiny piece puzzle.
Tuesday-We drove into Georgetown and came back to bike around some in the CG. We found 3 geocaches. We enjoyed s'mores by our first evening campfire.
Wednesday-Finally a beautiful day!! It was "Wildlife and History Day" at Atalya. Some very interesting displays but we didn't think to bring a camera. A Ranger started a fire by rubbing two sticks together using a bow. The "birds of prey" presentation was the big attraction with a Harris hawk, barred owl, and yellow-billed kite (an African species) flying around the crowd. The seagulls left :). We cooked supper (Cornish hens and spiced apples) over the campfire.
Thursday-Another beautiful day!! We hiked the Sandpiper Pond Nature Trail. The Garmin batteries died just as we got close to another geocache. :( We checked out the nice Education Center. We biked the CG some more and walked along the beach. We packed up the outdoor stuff and ended the day by eating leftovers and s'mores by the evening campfire.
Friday- Travel day. It's back to work for me tonight. Gin drove the MH for the first time. It was only for 40 miles on I95 south of Fayetteville, but we both have more respect for each others usual seats.
We definitely want to come back to this CG. There are a lot of nature oriented things to do here and we didn't even get to check out Brookgreen Gardens right across the highway. We were in Sylville all week.