If you're tired of seeing pictures of the RV in the snow, think how we feel. Yes, this is North Carolina, the southern part, no less. We're in Wilmington (home town of Sonny Jurgenson, Roman Gabriel, and Michael Jordan) and what this picture doesn't show is that it was COLD, about 15 degrees when this was taken. What it also doesn't show is that the furnace failed to light the night before and we limped through the night with two electric space heaters and a hundred watt light bulb in the plumbing compartment to keep the pipes from freezing. Naturally, being from Maine, we also knew to keep the faucets dripping.
Feeling pretty smug, I closed the biggest slide-out as soon as it started to snow; no pictures of me de-icing this time.
The first RV shop couldn't repair the furnace because they didn't have the part which they identified as the culprit. They did locate the part, however, at Camping World in Myrtle Beach (about 100 miles down the road, mercifully in the direction we were headed) and arranged for us to get the repair done there. So off we went, relieved to at least have a line on a heating fix, particularly since the cold down here (and everywhere else east of the Rockies) just won't seem to quit. Only when we got Camping World, the damn thing worked. And worked. Try as they might, the tech guys couldn't make it fail; the furnace fired up every time and the part passed the bench test with flying colors. It reminded me of taking a kid with a cough to the pediatrician; they'll hack all night, but once you get them in the office, nothing. Well, that was my furnace.
What would you do? A replacement for a part that works isn't covered under any warranty; on the other hand, I knew something didn't work the previous two nights. So I bought some insurance by having them put the new part in anyway on the assumption that if the old one had failed once, it might again, and I just didn't want to go through the light bulb in the plumbing thing for another night. Maybe I can get it covered under the warranty, but if not, it's still worth the peace of mind.
On Saturday (1/25/03), we began to explore Charleston, something of a milestone, since it was one of our original destinations when we first started planning the trip. And it's a beautiful place. The architecture reminded me of my hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, only more grand. Above is one of the many spectacular houses on the Battery, the small park at the end of the peninsula that constitutes downtown Charleston. Turn ninety degrees from this view and you're looking out into the harbor toward Fort Sumter and the open sea.
We did a 90 minute guided tour with Marvin, whose business is called, naturally, "Doin' the Charleston" (yes, the dance was invented here in the twenties). He has a great idea--in addition to driving by the various landmarks and describing their history, he has a TV and DVD player at the front of the bus so you
can simultaneously see interiors of the buildings, pictures of the city's historical figures, or photos of historic events. It was like two tours for the price of one and gave us ideas about places we wanted to return to visit.
These two churches face each other across Charleston's main square; look how tall and narrow the towers are--never was the word "steeple" more literally accurate. It looks like the two congregations were competing to see who could reach closer to heaven.
This is an interim report--we'll have more in a couple of days. Still lots to see and it's warming up!