So last we left off, we were heading straight into a massive storm line coming through the South.

When we woke up on Friday, we decided to relax a little and cook breakfast before heading out. Cooking in a camper is a new, and challenging, feat!

However, by the time we were ready to head out, the rain had caught up with us again. Once again, Scott and I had to hook up and leave while in the pouring rain! Bad timing, but we were becoming accustomed to this procedure!

At last, we were on the road again. Our final destination being Poinsett State Park in South Carolina, with a stop in Chapel Hill, NC to pick up Scott’s sister, Abbie, and her dog, Bo! The drive was brutal again, with constant rain and high winds. One of the best views in this trip down south is in Virginia, with a peek at Pilot Mountain. The weather was so bad, though, that this was our view…

We arrived in tact at Chapel Hill, made a quick stop to pick up Abbie and Bo, and were off again!

Now, this storm was not just any old storm. Our radio was constantly being interrupted with that fun little “Tornado Warning” beeping. We knew that if we kept driving, we would eventually get past the worst of the storm, so on we went. This storm had clearly produced some very high winds, as we saw MANY downed trees. Unfortunately for us, we had an encounter with one of these downed trees.

Coming around a turn, about 30 minutes from our destination, there was a significantly sized tree branch on our side of the road. Easily avoidable had it not been for a semi truck coming the opposite direction. Between hitting the semi and hitting the tree, we took the obvious choice. At this point, Scott thinks we cleared it and celebrates. I, however, saw the whole thing in the mirror. We pulled over, and saw the damage. The tree had hit our awning, and ripped it completely off. Abbie and I went back the couple hundred feet to pick up part of the awning that had come off. Interestingly enough, in the yard where the tree was, there were several side mirrors from cars who had clearly hit the same tree we had. We called insurance, took pictures, and fixed the camper the best we could. A very kind off duty police officer pulled over to check on us. He also had some large clippers, and went off to trim back the tree the best he could.

We finally make it to Poinsett State Park in South Carolina. The drive into the campgrounds was a little scary (a MAYBE one and a half lane road with trees on both sides, yada yada you get it). But we made it, got the camper parked almost seamlessly, had dinner, and celebrated the fact that we didn’t have to hook the camper up for a couple days.

Next post- we will FINALLY get into the good part of our trip! Our visit to Congaree National Park, the amazing Medieval wedding we sort of crashed at the state park, and the fun we had hanging out with Abbie and Bo!

Bonus picture- cute Freddy and Bo posing for the camera! Photo cred- Abbie!