Bog balls, burgers, and beetles

 Location: Sumter National Forest, Brick House Campground, South Carolina

It was still cold in Blacksburg, so we decided to take a “shakedown cruise” in the new RV. We just aren't having much luck getting warm this spring! Last night here in South Carolina it got down into the upper 30s. Sheesh! We have had some lovely weather and warmer nights than this but the cold nights are not much fun, even if we do have a heater. What a pair of wusses!

Heading south: Had a lovely visit with Mark's mum in Greensboro, North Carolina for a few days, helping her with chores and shopping, and enjoying each other's company.

Further south: We spent 4 days with some ex-cruising friends (they are no longer cruising but they are still our friends :), who have made Beaufort (“bow-furt”), NC their home. We always enjoy our time with them and our walks around this lovely town. We spent some quality time just hanging out, cooking, and sampled several bottles of wine with our friends. Since we're planning to go to Nova Scotia next summer, we also made plans to travel with them for about 10 days to Grand Manan Island in August while we're both up in that neck of the woods. That should be a fun time.

Even further south: We ended up having another great visit with Mark's son and his family over the weekend near Burgaw, North Carolina.

Yet further south: Still a bit chilly, so we were on the move again. We just happened to get in touch with some other still-actively-cruising friends who also just happened to be spending the night at Osprey Marina on the Waccamaw River. Always looking for opportunities to get together with old friends, we headed down to meet up with them.

We decided to splurge for lunch and ended up at the Socastee Station restaurant in Myrtle Beach. It turned out to be a great choice. It just so happens that Monday is $5 burger day - what luck! We had a great waitress who recommended their “bog balls” as an appetizer. Curious, and always ready to try regional fare, we had to give them a try. So we split an order between the 4 of us. Yum – good decision! Apparently, “chicken bog” is a local delicacy consisting of chicken, rice, sausage, and “other stuff that's secret”. “Bog balls” are simply chicken bog rolled into balls and deep fried - what's not to like? They were accompanied by a secret spicy “dippin' sauce” and made for a really tasty (though not necessarily healthy) appetizer.

  Then came the Monday special – an 8oz. grilled burger on a bun with lettuce, tomato, onions, and a mess of fries (“chips” if you're from England) – all included in the $5 price! We all rolled out of there feeling more than sated!!

We finished this part of the trip off with a series of stays in US Forest Service campgrounds, most of them free. One was right on the Intracoastal Waterway at McClellanville, SC. We have passed by it several times in our boats. Lots of fun watching the boats passing by. 

 The campground we're in now has a $5 / night fee, but with our America The Beautiful Senior Pass we're in for half price – a whopping $10 for 4 nights. Livin' large!

 Finally warm enough to start heading north: We came across a North American Trail Ride Conference (http://natrc.org) holding it's South Carolina Derby trail riding competition here in Sumter National Forest. We had an opportunity to meet the organizers and several of the riders as we hiked the shared trail system this weekend.

And our biggest find so far this trip was seeing a dung beetle in action! They roll dung into a ball and then roll it along with their hing legs on top of the ball and push it along, backwards, with their front legs (video below).  It looks remarkably like a bog ball !!? Yikes!