Hard Labor Creek State Park

The last two months have been hard on us; just a lot of stress.  For example, we unfortunately had to put my mom in an assistant living  home in September.  My mom has Alzheimer's and dad could no longer give her the necessary attention she needed and my brother and I live to far away to help much.  I will not bore you with the other stuff.  Point is, we needed to get away and take a break from life.  Let's Go Camping!

We went camping at the end of October to Hard Labor Creek State Park, Rutledge, Georgia. It is one of the first Georgia State Parks and the second largest. This park is close enough to home that we were able to do a quick weekend trip. Since the mobility scooter has died and we are waiting for a new one, we wanted to camp somewhere that we would not miss out on high profile adventures; we also wanted to just... relax. We can visit this park anytime to catch up on any adventures we missed.

We did do a little cooking. Friday night we grilled some salmon with lime butter and it was outstanding. Saturday we did a Chicken Pot Pie recipe in the Dutch oven. Recipes are at the end of the post.

Weather during Stay: high 80’s and lows mid 40’s
Phone/tv/radio: Cell phone coverage was sparse and for a dollar more you could have cable.
Elevation/landscape/terrain: This Park is very hilly and has a nice wilderness feel. Light/noise: At night the sky was lit up with stars and a moon that made the canopy of the pop up glow. While seating by the campfire you could hear a couple of owls. We woke up Sunday morning to a flock of ducks.
Comfort stations: The comforts station near us was always clean and seemed to be well maintained.

Accessibility: Due to the hilly nature this park will be a challenge for those with mobility issues. Even if we had an operable scooter it would have been a strain. The bathroom has a large accessible stall that contains both the shower and toilet with a shower curtain to separate the two.

Dog friendly: Yes

Comments: The park is located on two small lakes, there are ample facilities for group gathering and the pioneer camping area was large and right on the lake. There nice wooded space between campsites. Some of the sites are your traditional one level while others are multilevel. We noticed that some of the campers did not have their awnings up because the site seemed to be narrow, we debated going the same. As with most campers one of the joys of camping in a state park is to walk the park and see the different set ups that folks have, this would is challenging in this park due to the size and terrain.

Hiking/Walking: There are plenty of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.

Our Opinion:

Site Description: Our site was # 23. Most of the camp sites have lots of space between them.

Favorite Site: Did not have a favorite site to list since most of them are nice.

  

Salmon Recipe

For the Lime Butter we minced a few cloves of garlic, cut a little zest with my butcher’s knife, and then juiced the lime. We then folded everything with 3 tablespoons of butter until it was incorporated.

We rubbed the salmon with the inside of the lime that we had squeezed and seasoned with salt and pepper. Grill the salmon until it was done and topped with the Lime Butter.

Chicken Pot Pie

            Ingredients:

            6 tablespoons unsalted butter

            1 large onion, chopped

            1 pound of potatoes, diced

            1 Portobello mushroom, diced

            ½ cup Brandy

            6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

            1 can chicken broth

            1 cup whole milk

            1 whole rotisserie chicken deboned and diced

            1 cup frozen peas

            1 teaspoon Poultry Seasoning

            Sat and pepper to taste

            1 box frozen puff pastry (1 sheet if using a 10” Dutch oven, 2 sheets for a 12”)

In camping Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and a few pinches of salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender onion are translucent. Stir in flour and cook for about 1 minute until combined well. Add Brandy and blend. The add chicken, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, and combine well. We inverted the lid of our Dutch oven and covered with on sheet of puff pastry, and then we pieced enough pastry together to cover the lid. Then place puff pastry on top and cook at about 425 degrees until golden brown.

We used our 12” Dutch oven and it was a good size for this recipe.  It recipe feeds about 5-6 generously. 

Enjoy the pictures!

Suspension Modification

Heather and I love our truck and it does everything we ask it to do.  Our truck is a 1996 Toyota Tacoma, 4 cylinder, 5 speed with over 140k miles on it.  For a 4 cylinder, it is surprisingly strong.  We estimate that when we go camping, between the camper, gear and supplies, we are carrying around 2300 pounds.   The truck has no problem pulling this weight even up mountains.  The problem is the suspension; droopy.

 To solve this issue, I went to my local automotive parts store to see if they could recommend something that would be simple and inexpensive.  They recommended the 1,000 lb. Full-Time Over Leaf Spring Assist for the cost of $44.99.  Will this be hard to install?  I gave my Dad a call and for a cup of coffee, we installed it.  It was very easy.

Place over rear portion of factory springs.

Install U-Bolts, Clamp Straps, Washers and Nuts.

Be sure U-Bolts and clamps do not strike any portion of the undercarriage.

One recommendation that was given to us was to put lock tight on the bolts.  This is like glue for screws and nuts to help prevent loosening over time.

We are hoping to test the suspension modifications soon when we go camping.  We’ll be sure to give you an update.  (To Be Continued)

Tommy & Heather

Edisto Beach State Park




Welcome to Edisto Beach State Park, Edisto S.C.

 













We camped at Edisto Beach State Park in September.  We have never been much for the beach.  When you say, "beach," I think of fake pink flamingos, tattoo parlors, bars, trashed hotels, lights and noisy air planes with an adverting banner attached to it.  Not so here.  This is a very natural beach and feels very much like any other state park with one exception; a HUGE ocean.

Weather during Stay: Cool at night and mid 80’s during the day
Phone/tv/radio: Phone Service, yes,
Elevation/landscape/terrain: Flat and sandy
Light/noise: Amazing Stars
Dog friendly: Yes, the park is dog friendly as well as the beach. I know that there are two restaurants that have outdoor seating that is dog friendly as well (McConkey's as mentioned below and Sea Cow Eatery).

Comments:

There are very little amenities in this park. The office has a couple of t-shirts, caps, and a freezer of ice-cream bars.  We would like to see the park sell a few more items.  One of the things we like to collect are park patches and walking stick medallions.  This would help the park raise more money.  You will probably need to go to town for any souvenirs. The Piggly Wiggly is directly across the street which is extremely convenient.  The store is very small but well managed.  A Piggly Wiggly, what else do you need?!?

The bathrooms are very old and are in need of repair; however, they were fairly clean considering all of the traffic. None of the beach camp site bath rooms are handicap friendly.  For example, the stalls are too small and the showers have a step.  It is my understanding that overflow camping area is more modern and is handicap friendly.





Beach Access Camp Site #53

  












Most of the beach access points are short and fairly easy walking. The fire station has beach friendly wheelchairs for those in need.  The wheelchairs have big wheels and will glide you across the sand.  The waves are surprisingly large and at high tide there is little beach. Once the tide goes out it is easy walking with plenty of beautiful sea shells for the picking. I hear there are large shells at the point; however, we never made it that far.

We ate dinner at McConkey’s Jungle Shack one evening and the food was great as well as the service. It has outdoor patio seating that is dog friendly (How cool is that?)  Buck’s Pizza was okay; nothing to write home about just cheap pizza. We were going to get fresh seafood from Edisto Seafood, however they do not steam crabs. So we chose to go to Flowers Seafood. These guys were friendly and we decided to let them do all the work. The crab legs were the best we have ever had.

Hiking/walking:
The parks website advertises the trails to be ADA; however, the staff does not know what a mobility scooter is (which Tommy uses) and seems to be reluctant for you to use it.  Even the 2 sites we saw that are designated for handicap use, did not look friendly with the exception, they are close to the bath house.  Overall, wheelchair users will be challenged at this park.

Our Opinion:
All in all if you are looking for a quite campground with beach access this is the one.

Site Description:
We had site 53 in the beach campground. This was a good site until heavy winds came in. There is not anything to shield you from the wind and the wind did get rocky. The access to the beach is right there and it is close to the bathhouse. This site is well shaded and very heavy in lose sand. We also had site 55 the ground was much more firm.

Favorite Sites:
Sites we will look at next time: Single: 010, 053 Double: 061 and 008

Most of the campsites in the last loop have no shade.

Tommy & Heather

Beach

Sally sun tanning

Sand Everywhere!

Heather having a great time