We had about a 3.5 hour drive to our next campground on Tuesday. Everything went smoothly when we left Virginia – got our propane tank filled, hooked up the car, and were on the road pretty quickly. The drive was smooth and easy – hardly any traffic, which is especially wonderful when we are towing and can only go about 63 mph even if the speed limit is 70. We arrived at the KOA in New Bern, NC shortly after 2pm and we’re really glad we got here so early, since things didn’t go so smoothly with our setup. When Mark connected the electricity, the GFCI outlet was tripping constantly, making a horrible clicking noise. So frustrating – it had worked fine from Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning, and now it’s going to start acting up again?!?!? He tried the 50amp outlet, same thing. He tried the outlet at a neighboring empty campsite. Same thing. Ugh. Likely not a campground power issue like the last time. We decided to use the technical support phone number we have through our extended warranty, to see if they had any suggestions. After a VERY long process to get to technical support (the guy couldn’t find our account, took forever to get that straightened out), the person Mark spoke with said to turn off shore power and run the generator to see if the outlet worked okay. And sure enough, it did – GFCI was fine. So, it seemed like it really was the campground’s issue – maybe an underground line affecting multiple electrical boxes. But as soon as Mark hung up with the tech support guy, he plugged in the space heater, and it tripped the GFCI. UGH! He was kicking himself that he hung up so soon.

We walked over to the campground office and they sent someone over to take a look. He didn’t like how one of the wires looked, so he changed out both the plug and the circuit. We were hopeful but not too confident it would do the trick. And it did NOT do the trick. Same issue. At this point, there were four campground employees here looking at our electrical box, each offering their opinions and ideas. One guy said he had a heavy duty GFCI outlet we could install, in case it was our GFCI that was the problem (we hadn’t shared the details of our last campground, and we did think all those issues could have fried the outlet…but the fact that it had worked for two days didn’t seem right). So, Mark dusted off his electrical skills and got to work installing the new outlet (of course, ours was brown and the new one is white…but whatever…we just wanted it to work!). As per usual, the design of this made it nearly impossible to access the wires to install it (recall batteries in step that were impossible to get to!), and Mark couldn’t put it back exactly the same way it was…but he finally got the wires connected, flipped the breaker, and SUCCESS! Phew! All the issues in Virginia must have caused some damage, and it just took a couple days to fully destroy the outlet. He has some ideas on how he can make it a little better, but for now, it’s looking a bit redneck, without the plastic encasement and covered in painters tape. At least it’s safe to use (near water, no less!)

So, if we had arrived much later, it’s likely the campground employees wouldn’t have been available or wouldn’t have been so helpful (y’know, anxious for quitting time) – they were truly wonderful and we’re so grateful they were here to help out. The rest of our evening was more relaxed, and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset – the campground sits on the Neuse River and we have a wonderful West-facing view of the water!

On Wednesday we decided to explore New Bern a bit – “historic downtown New Bern”, according to the signs. It’s a beautiful little town – population about 30,000 – and was settled by immigrants from Germany and Switzerland who named it New Bern after Bern, Switzerland. It was the first capital of North Carolina. The Neuse and Trent rivers come together at New Bern, so there are several marinas, lots of beautiful boats (yachts!), and a delightful riverwalk and park. We enjoyed a walk in the sunshine and warming temperatures.

Thursday and Friday forecasts looked amazing, so we decided to take a road trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. It’s about a three-hour drive, so we booked a hotel there and planned to spend Thursday night, and make our way back on Friday. It’s off-season so hotels are empty and inexpensive, making it more feasible to pay for both a campground and a hotel. The hotel upgraded us to an oceanfront room, so the view from our balcony was gorgeous. We enjoyed a long walk on the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach, taking in the beautiful weather and scenery! The wooden piers are really cool to look at. I’ve never been to MB before, and I can only imagine how crowded it must be during peak season.

We headed to “Wheels of Yesteryear”, a car museum in Myrtle Beach that specializes in classic and muscle cars. They have a really interesting assortment along with tons of car-related memorabilia, signs, etc. It was a fun way to spend an hour. Apparently they rotate their inventory annually, and had just completed that task last week – what a job, given how tightly packed the cars are!

Spotted this sign on a corner in Myrtle Beach. Apparently, spelling rules are a bit different down south…i before e except after d?

On Friday, we drove north out of Myrtle Beach, to Southport NC, near where the Cape Fear River meets the Atlantic Ocean. I saw the movie “Cape Fear” tons of years ago and remember very little about it except that it was REALLY scary. The town was not scary at all – in fact, it was a really cute little town full of shops and restaurants, and we ate lunch at Waterfront Park, enjoying the view of the pier and river, and saw a tugboat pulling a barge out to the ocean.

From Southport, we headed north along the Cape Fear River to our next stop, Wilmington NC. This town is so full of history…the National Register Historic District is over 230 blocks! Almost every building has a placard describing its history and significance, and there’s so much gorgeous architecture (one of my favorite things to photograph)! There’s a wonderful Riverwalk, lined with restaurants and shops. And, again, we had beautiful weather which made it easy to enjoy just being outside, walking along the river and through the historic district. This is exactly why we came south for the winter!

We were back in New Bern for dinner, and watched another stunning sunset from our campground.