April 6-12, 2025
After three weeks in southern Kentucky during our four month Summer Tour, a work trip for Brandy took us to the south once more.
Brandy had bandied about the idea of a return trip to her newly-acquired South Carolina property and mentioned that Ash and I could join her. She initially threw out the idea of leaving the weekend of April 12 but on Monday, March 31, she asked if I would be OK with leaving that Saturday, the 5th, instead. I had a ton to do before I could leave, but I made it work.
Insane Prep
After the using my flex day during the debacle of bringing the RV home on Tuesday, that meant I had to work Friday. I busted my ass getting things ready to go and it took a toll on me, mentally and physically. I hit a fairly severe trough during the week, suffering from crazy burnout that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before, but I realized I didn’t have nearly as much to do as I thought I did, that I was piling all my immediate to-do tasks on top of my long-term to-do list, which made the whole thing seem more daunting than it really was. Once I shifted my mindset, focusing only on what needed to me done emergently, the mood shifted and I was able to get everything done in time.
Saturday morning arrived and we were out the door at 7:30 am, on the dot. I thought I had selected the route that would take us south, through St. Louis, but I guess I didn’t and we wound up heading east, through Illinois, Indiana and into Kentucky.
Southern Floods
As we passed through Indiana, rain started to fall, growing in intensity as we passed into Kentucky. As we continued south on I-65, we drove through some pretty magnificent hills where the interstate was carved through. The short cliffs closing us in on the highway had frequent streams of water pouring over the precipice creating lacy, veil-like waterfalls.
As the hills died off and we found ourselves surrounded by relatively flat land, we saw what the rain was doing to the area. Forests that we drove through were converted to swamp-like bogs with the towering trees growing out of deep water, and farmland and parking lots were completely submerged.
After a stop at a nearby outlet mall, we pulled in to the Hampton Inn in Simpsonville just after 5:30. The TVs in the lobby and Brandy’s TikTok feed were full of reports of the crazy flooding in the area.
It rained all night and well into the morning, even as we left the hotel at 9:00.
We made the rest of the drive over 6 hours on Sunday, arriving at the AirBnB around 3:30. A quick run to the grocery store later, and we were settled in.
Low Key Trip
I did my research before the trip to see if there was anything notable to do in the area, specifically any hikes I could take, and there are a few that seemed to be through fairly urban settings, which is fine, as long as I’m not passing by a junkyard, like I did on the walk through the park in Montrose. I saved a couple on my AllTrails app and made some plans to hike at least one of them.
Aside from that, the only other thing I wanted to do while in South Carolina was to try some distinctive Carolina barbecue. That would come later in the week though.
In the meantime, I really didn’t do much, besides work and watch the TV, either baseball or movies.
Tuesday, after work, Brandy and I took one of her property managers out to dinner at Willy Taco, a place described on Google as:
Mexican grub & tequila cocktails offered in a hip, upbeat cantina with Day-of-the-Dead decor.
Google description of Willy Taco
We got to the restaurant at about 6:00, and when I walked in, was immediately pleased with the way the place was decorated. Sure enough, plenty of Dia de Muertos decor to be found.
We sat and perused the menu and this is where things went a little sideways. All of the tacos they offer are these weird fusion tacos with not-at-all authentic ingredients. The closest they had was a trio of birria tacos, which they were out of. Instead, I ordered a “Southern Tide” (Crispy shrimp, applewood smoked bacon, pimento cheese, shaved lettuce, chipotle ranch, pico) and a “Patagonia Steak” (Grilled marinated ribeye, shaved cabbage, chimichurri, charred tomatillos, chipotle ranch, frizzled onions, chopped cilantro).
Now, don’t get me wrong, the tacos were good, but they were not at all what I was hoping for. That’s OK though, it was a new experience!
We also ordered an order of queso blanco. The cheese was very thin and didn’t have a lot in the way of flavor. Most of the flavor I picked up was from the roasted corn that garnished the dip. Even the chips it was served with were somewhat disappointing.
Friday Lunch With Andrew
Friday morning, I dropped Brandy at her property. We stopped at Sherwin Williams on the way to pick up 15 gallons of paint that were needed at the property and she was kind enough to give me a tour of the place while we were there.
The property was formerly an assisted living facility and had only recently been converted to an apartment complex. The campus was sprawling with several buildings connected by breezeways and elevated paths. The units that had already been converted were in one wing of the property but when we walked over to the other side, I suddenly entered a somewhat liminal space. All of the units were vacated hospital rooms. Most of them still had the hospital beds in them and there were many disused wheelchairs scattered through the halls.
We passed a picture that had either fallen or was taken down and was wedged into the handrail that runs the length of the hall.
We entered an area that had a faulty fire suppression system and an alarm beeped at us during our time in the building. This is where I took most of the pictures on this trip.
We made our way back to where we’d gone in, said our goodbyes and I began the hour-long drive into North Carolina and into Charlotte to meet my lead, Andrew, for lunch.
I found myself at Midwood Smokehouse. I was very early so I decided to take a walk through downtown Charlotte.
As the time to meet Andrew drew nearer, I headed back. I went in, grabbed a table and waited. He showed up a short time later and we socialized for a bit before my first taste of Carolina-style barbecue.
I was blown away. I’d never had Carolina-style barbecue but knew the sauce was vinegar-based. It was amazing. I left the place with a new favorite barbecue style. Next up will be Kansas City barbecue in June.
Way too late in the day, we bid each other a fond adieu and I started back toward Spartanburg to pick Brandy up.
I hit a ton of traffic on the way and got back much later than she wanted me to but I got her, we ran a couple of errands and headed back to the AirBnB. We packed up an prepared for an early departure Saturday morning.
The Full Monty
We decided we were going to try to drive, like, 9 hours on Saturday to give us a minimal drive home on Sunday. I double checked our route to make sure we’d be going through St. Louis this time, instead of the way we’d gone down and we were on the road before 7:30.
We headed largely northwest, through the point of North Carolina, through Tennessee, the corner of Kentucky and north along the wester border of Illinois before we started talking about finding somewhere to stop.
Brandy does NOT like stopping in big cities and especially big cities where she perceived crime to be higher than other areas. She made it clear she did not want to stop IN St. Louis, so either before, or after.
We crossed the Mighty Miss without spying a single reasonable place to stop. Seeing as how we’d missed our chance at stopping before the metropolis, it looked like we’d have to wait until after.
But, by the time we made it through the big city, we only had about 4 hours to go. We decided to press on and just make the drive.
We pulled into the driveway just before 9:00 pm Saturday night. I slept like a rock that night and only needed just under 7 hours to wake up feeling refreshed.
I was glad we’d decided to make the full drive on Saturday, giving me a full day of recovery on Sunday. Of course, I still had to unpack and get work tech set back up, but at least I didn’t have to do it after having driven 4 or 5 hours.
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, it was a pretty low-key trip. I wound up not hiking anywhere, and the only sightseeing I did was the little stroll I took around downtown Charlotte on Friday.
That did not take away from the fact that I was able to fill two more states on my map of states I’ve visited.
I’m hoping at some point we can head back down that way again and I can do a little more, get a little more of the state in me. We will see.
The few pictures I took on this trip, as always, are over in my Photo Diary.
On my last trip report post, I mentioned that we had nothing planned until September.
I’ve since updated that to include additional plans and plans-in-the-works and even now, since then, more trips have been finalized. Here’s what the remainder of our year looks now:
- April 28 – May 3: Lake Wapello State Park – our first trip in the RV
- May 15 – 17: Omaha – we are going to the zoo
- June 8 -14: Backbone State Park
- June 26 – 28: Kansas City (Dodgers vs. Royals)
- August 2 – 29: Salida, CO
- September 7 – 13: Fredonia, AZ (northern Arizona/southern Utah)
- September 13 – 20: Albuquerque
- October 2 – 6: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Blue October)
At the time of the finalization of this post, our trip to Lake Wapello kicks off tomorrow. I am pretty excited about dragging our fifth wheel down there and trying out some glamping. Here’s to hoping for an uneventful trip!
Until then!
– Phil