James Island - Charleston SC

My daughter's husband would be out of town for a week, so we planned a camping outing in Big Duck with her and our 2 year old grandson. An on the water outing was suggested, but I'm pushing 70 and I knew that the 2 year old and 2 dogs would make things difficult enough without putting the boat in the water.

The 200 mile trip down was uneventful.

'Packy' in his car-seat, w/ Merlin (right) and Kasey (left) ready to hit the road.

We arrived late afternoon and our camp site was available. There are only a few pull thru sites, but the park is very well laid out and the back in slots are straightforward and easy. There's 30-50 amp and water at every site and most of them are well shaded. As far as I know, there's no cable TV or phone, but there is free wifi.

You won't find a nicer RV park anywhere. The workers we encountered were extremely knowledgeable and sincerely friendly. The grounds are very well maintained. The restrooms/showers were clean and well stocked. The washing machines and dryers were in good working order. The small store has the essentials. There's an off leash dog park with doggie beach.

There's a fishing area. There's a full blown water park right next door, but there's also an on site play pool and well equipped kiddie playground.

There's shuttles to Charleston and Folly Beach. There's on site additional parking and a primitive area and even cottages. The park is locked up at night...you need a code to get back in. There's simply nothing missing.

James Island Park

And speaking of playgrounds, the inside of Big Duck is a playground for Packy and for us it's a playpen that allows him full reign without being able to get into trouble.

Packy looking out the playground/playpen window.

Of course, a 2 year old can take a lot out of you, and make you dog tired...

And, even though we never put Big Duck in the water, we still managed to take out her propeller.

The cable holding the outdrive up snapped and the drive dropped into the down position on I26 on the way back. A road angel cut in front of us and pointed to the shoulder as he pulled off the road - we just kept on going past him. He caught up to us again, blew his horn and made the same gesture, again pulling onto the shoulder. This time we pulled in behind him, almost plowing into him as he stopped abruptly. He came quickly to the drivers side of the van and exclaimed that he saw the cable snap and the drive fall and that as far as he could tell, nothing had yet come in contact with the road. Then he quickly left.

I went to look and he was right. Nothing had touched the road...until I pulled off onto the shoulder and the passenger side tires on the trailer sank into the gravel...that's when the prop, and only the prop got to know the pavement. And I just got this prop back from the re-builder, it had never seen the water.

This trip was a fabulous experience. It showed us that Big Duck now sheds rain, keeping the inside dry even in a downpour. All systems performed well. It was the first occasion to shower aboard and we found the hot water shower to be exceptionally accommodating. Even with the 3 of us for 3 days/nights, the holding tank didn't fill up and the water tank didn't run dry. I am well above the comfort level required to venture off to Lake Powell. And you know, that cable could have let go on our way to Powell, causing a total disaster rather than just an $80 propeller repair.