The Road South to Hilton Head

Even Willy was ready to leave winter behind.

The morning we left New Hampshire looked exactly like the kind of morning that makes you want to leave. Cold, gray, and a fresh layer of snow covering the ground.

We had reached the point where we were done with winter. The cold, the daily chores that go along with it, and the feeling that spring was still a long way off. It was time to point the motorhome south.

Our first stop was New Jersey. We stayed a few nights with Tom’s mom, caught up with family, and took care of a few things that needed attention. We also spent time visiting Julie’s dad, who unfortunately was in the hospital at the time. Not the visit anyone hopes for, but we were glad to be nearby and able to check-in on him.

From there we headed to Cape May and boarded the ferry across the Delaware Bay. That crossing has become a familiar part of this trip, and it always feels like a transition point. Once we are on the other side, the journey really begins.

From the ferry in Delaware, we usually head down the Delmarva Peninsula toward Virginia Beach. This time the wind had other plans. Because of the strong wind there were restrictions for RVs towing vehicles over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge - Tunnel, so we had to reroute through Annapolis and head south from there. Either way it makes for a long travel day, and by the time we arrived in Yorktown we were ready to stop moving for a while.

Friends we call Martini and Manhattan moved there from Wolfeboro last October and welcomed us to park the motorhome in their driveway. They greeted us warmly and already had a lovely dinner underway. After a long travel day, it was great to sit down, relax, and catch up after several months without seeing each other.

While we were there we also spent some time exploring Jamestown and Yorktown, both places with a lot of early American history and well worth visiting.

From Virginia we continued south to Lumberton, North Carolina for a quick overnight stop at a KOA just off Route 95. This was not a place we would ever consider camping. It was simply a convenient overnight spot with full hook ups close to the highway where we could keep the Jeep connected to the motorhome.

That kind of stop is really just about regrouping. We had enough time to unwind a bit, enjoy happy hour, cook dinner, and relax before getting back on the road the next morning for the final stretch to Hilton Head Island.

KOA campgrounds are not our favorites. The sites tend to be small and unless you pay extra for one of their deluxe spots you are usually parked on dirt. In this case there was a planter at the site filled with dead plants. As a gardener that kind of thing is hard to ignore. It was pretty clear they had been mums from the fall and had simply been left there ever since.

The last leg of the trip is only about four hours, but we make one stop along the way that has become part of the routine. About an hour before Hilton Head we pull into a truck wash to get both the motorhome and the Jeep cleaned up.

After several days on the road the vehicles collect their share of highway grime, and it feels good to arrive looking clean. The process is simple. We stay seated in the motorhome and slowly drive through the wash bay while a crew of six to eight men work their way around the vehicles with hoses and long handled brushes. In just a few minutes everything is clean again and we roll out looking much more presentable.

Once we arrive at the resort we pull into our site and begin arranging things so the space works for how we live while we’re here.

In the next post we will share more about our time on the island. For now we thought it would be fun to show what it takes to make the trip.

For us the journey south is part of the experience. We prefer to make the trip an adventure rather than simply hammering down the highway to reach the destination.

Thank you, as always, for following along with our travels and the small adventures that go with them. We truly appreciate everyone who reads, watches, or checks in from time to time.

If you’re currently enjoying sunshine and warmer days, we hope you’re getting outside and making the most of it.

And if you’re still dealing with winter weather somewhere out there, please accept our sincere condolences. We’ve been there recently, and we know exactly how you feel.

More soon from Hilton Head,

Julie & Tom

AKA Wine & Whiskey