There was traffic, so I couldn't get a picture myself, but saw this sign along the way.



I think Alfred sold out.

Nice pics even sans bear.

You grabbed the last beer out of the tourist cooler. The fresh stuff is behind the wall!

Grats on #50. I am lacking Hawaii, but I'm not particularly motivated to get it.

fun stuff goldie...continued safe travels.

Thanks guys!

Not much to write about today. Stayed in Table Rock Lake SP in SC. They have primitive tent sites, or full water/electric hookups. I like camping, but don't want to go that far.

Upon arriving, I see the site is a gravel pad (makes sense, they're thinking a camper will use it. Not much of a place for the tent. I'd already taken it down by this time, but imagine the tent being in the area to the right, crammed between that 4x4 and the fire ring (behind that first tree).



It was a nice campground, but didn't cool off for quite a while, so not great sleep. Hardly the end of the world. Up, shower, breakfast, pack up, down the road.

This is Grant Meadow and Table Rock.



Kind of cruised across the top of SC on (mostly) state highways. Nice scenery, but nothing jumped out.

Stopped in Rock Hill for lunch at the park, and came across Casey.



No explanation given why. There were ballfields at this park, but I don't know if there was some deeper connection.

Trundled along, up into NC. Got into a little rain. Came across Rockingham raceway. One of my friends from the midwest is a NASCAR fan, so sent him a pic



The point of this was to get to Pinehurst.



My nephew is in a golf course professional program at Florida Gulf Coast, and doing a summer internship at Pinehurst. Fortunately, it worked out that I arrived shortly after his workday ended, so we went for a couple beers.

Good to see him again. Sounds like things are going well, he should be done in May.

Then went up the road a bit. Since it's rainy, got a hotel for the night. Tomorrow's turn around day.

Oh yes, it was surprising to me to be asked, "smoking of non?" when getting a hotel room. I don't think I've heard that for 20 years or so.

Guess that's still a thing out here. Didn't notice if some food/beverage places still had smoking. I did notice a few specifically prohibited it, so I assume so.

North Carolina is the home of big tobacco.

I’m really intrigued by the idea of driving around and camping when I get a bit older. The thing that concerns me is the bed. I’m recovering from a slight back issue where I strained a muscle on my lower right side doing of all things preparing guacamole on a too low table. I’m afraid these type of issues might happen more as I get older.

Is it possible take a pic of your bed setup?

there are a wide variety of inflatable mattresses out there nit, most likely you could find one that worked for you.

How many more beers with your nephew would it have taken before you might have been tempted to try to set up your tent somewhere on Pinehurst property?

pic of guac setup so i know what to avoid?

Don’t do food prep in a folding table. It was some type of team building crap where we had 30 minutes to work in teams to make the best guac and margaritas.

na_nit sleeps hot

once dated a woman while her father was a greenskeeper at pebble beach.
at the time her mother's parents also lived along 17 mile drive, so we pretended we were visiting and didn't pay to get through the gate late that saturday night.
not sure which specific green it was but my bare ass has rubbed upon poa annua

Fun story!

But autocorrect seems to have mangled "Po' Anna."

I'll try to remember, but it isn't much. As Red said, an inflatable mattress which just fits in the tent.

On that, I throw a cheap mattress pad & sheet. A couple old pillows and a fleece blanket or sleeping bad, depending on temp.

I've considered bringing a cot, but so far this is working ok.

It was raining, so wouldn't matter.

If not for that, I bet rhe 4th fairway is secluded and soft.

Turns out, they have a bunch of courses. He's working at the newest, which I believe he said was #10.

Oh yeah, I'm somewhere in BFE SW WV. Gilbert I think.

Didn't see things open along the way (Sunday afternoon). Figured I'd better grab something to eat when I saw a place, and it had wifi.

Strange to me, in Denver, wifi is ubiquitous. Out east, it's not rare, but also not common.

located in Mingo County, a european word for those who speak Iroquoian languages.
funny thing, maps i've seen suggest the Iroquois didn't make it quite that far into southwest wv, yet it became the coy name of a county
why is that?

you're 70 miles away from New River Gorge National Park
may be backtracking a bit but would enjoy reading a trip report if you happened to go
place looks amazing

I’ve had terrible luck with inflatable mattresses maybe I need to give it another go.

i really like inflatable mattresses, do not understand why so many people hate them

lol only time i ever had a serious back issue was caused from washing dishes in a sink for midgets

Went camping with my wife once. Thing was under inflated so that my fat ass was sleeping on hard floor and her side felt inflated.

have you tried not being fat for the air mattress benefits?

Hey dragon, welcome to the thread!

Sorry red, didn't see the post about New River til now.

First things first. This is all I do (except put the rain fly thing over when it cools off a bit).



Not sure how much you can tell, but the mattress almost takes up the entire floor.

I took this angle because I wanted to highlight something important. In the upper-right corner of the tent, you'll see a little mesh pouch. Make sure any tent you get has similar space(s). Super handy for putting stuff like glasses, car keys, flashlight, etc.

Also note that the mattress has about six inches of space along the bottom. That's good, in cooler weather I'll throw a hoodie/sweats/beanie in there. Too hot to wear initially, but nice to have handy later in the night. So hint 2 is make sure your tent has a least a little free space.

Hint #3 is to create a 'tent bag'. Mine's just a small ziploc with things like eyeshade, noise dampening ear plugs, mini LED flashlight, etc. Keeps the stuff you're going to use every camp night together. Easy to throw in my 'camp bucket', and pull out after setting up.

If anyone else has interest in various camp things I've learned, or has hints for me, all ears.