Pendleton, SC
We arrived at Twin Lakes Campground around 2:00 in the afternoon with bright blue skies and warm temperatures. When we found our campsite, the only challenge to getting in was the slope down to where the site leveled off. As we backed the RV into the site, the change from the roughly 8% grade to the level area caused the rear hitch where we have our bike rack to dig a trench in the gravel site. We were a bit concerned about this but it appears as though the Yakama hitch we bought was designed to handle such abuse.
It is not uncommon for Core of Engineer (COE) campgrounds to have spacious sites that are not too close to each other. This campground is no exception. The sites are very spacious and the neighboring sites are not too close but the fact that we were virtually alone on our loop made for a very nice secluded feeling on the shores of Lake Hartwell. Given the quality of our location, we were content to spend most of our time right at our campsite.
We did venture into the town of Clemson, where Clemson University is located, to wander around a bit and check things out. We found a very nice water side community park where most of the trails in the park were actually boardwalks that venture out over the water. We saw an interesting crane of some sort perched on the railing of one of these boardwalks. We both tried to get as good a picture as we could with our iPhones without getting too close to scare it off.
Our 5th wheel is equipped with 2 40 gallon propane tanks. We went from mid May to mid October on one tank that we refilled just as we left Rochester. Well, that tank went dry after less than 4 weeks on the road. I guess having to resort to the furnace for nights that get below 40 degrees (and there have been a lot) will consume propane quickly. I looked up nearby locations for refilling the tank and found a Suburban Propane on Google maps that was less than 10 miles away. When we drove to the location specified by Google not only was there no Suburban Propane to be found, there wasn’t anything to be found! It looked like undeveloped, forested land. Luckily, Amy had noticed a convenience store/gas station that had a sign advertising propane tank refills. As we worked our way back to the main road we found ourselves at the corner where the store was located so we were able to get our tank filled after all. So glad Amy was paying attention and reading the road signs as we were navigating to the non-existent Suburban Propane. Let’s hope we have fewer overnights below 40 degrees so that we can heat the RV using our heat pumps and not rely on the furnace too much.
We did take a hike on Fants Grove Lake Trail, which crossed the road about 1 mile from our campground. It was a fairly easy, but long hike through part of Clemson’s Experimental Forest. Dan was hoping to take pictures of birds but there were not many around.
Love me a COE sunset! And an electric space heater (or two). We survived The Forks on two space heaters.
How nice that you had your very own “corner” of that beautiful lake. In YouTube videos on Tiny Houses I’ve often seen them setup with a tiny little stove with a pipe that vents out (typically ones that are used on boats) and they say it keeps their whole place nice and toasty. They feed it these tiny little slabs of wood….sticking with the tiny house theme ;>). Yeah for Amy being observant…a good quality for a “co-pilot”.