Marines and Ruins

It was a beautiful day in SC today. Last night was mild enough to leave the windows open. It’s been awhile since we’ve slept with open windows. Today we had some household chores to tend to, but when they were all finished we decided to go for a ride. We started heading out towards Parris Island, then we saw a military jet fly over so I checked my GPS for area airports and saw that we were only 10 miles away from the Marine Corps Air Station. Follow that jet! We drove past lots of marsh land and over rivers thru small towns and then we saw it. Yea, right. I don’t know what possessed us thinking we could get on base to take pictures, but we tried. We blamed it on the GPS leading us to make a wrong turn. The MP was very nice about it and let us turn around. I was still able to get some nice pictures of old jets outside the base. We headed toward home and out toward the highway when we saw a sign for the town we’re staying in so we made a right turn down a back road with moss draped oak trees and I’m glad we did. A few miles down the road we saw a historical marker. Out of the corner of my eye I saw ruins of a large brick building. We found a place to turn around and went back and parked. It was the ruins of a church built in the 1700’s, burned by the British in 1779, rebuilt in 1826 and burned again in 1865 by the Federal Army. As you walk through the gate, it gets eerily surreal. The oak trees draped with moss with grave markers peppered throughout the grounds. The burned remains of a brick church, the altar marred with age. Charred brick along the top. It was definitely worth the stop. Pictures can say so much more than words, enjoy them. Thanks for traveling along with us on The Thomas’ Trails…until next time.

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LET’S HAVE A PARADE

On our way south we always like to stop in and see a good family friend, Mrs. Klein. Our families go back as long as I can remember. My mom and Mrs. Klein were best friends and when my mom passed away, she was there for me. Our families always celebrated holidays together and we even went on vacations together. Her daughter, Julie was in my wedding and my daughter, Chrissy was in hers, so when we’re passing through North Carolina we make it a point to stop and say hi. And when we’re coming from the north, we’re sure to bring some NY style bagels! We found a nice Passport America park just 25 min. south of her in Moncure, NC. For $15 a night it was worth it. We decided that we will stay at Dickens RV Park from now on when passing through. One of the highlights while we were there was the Apex, NC Christmas Parade. Two of Mrs. Kleins’ grandsons were marching in the parade so this was a must see. We weren’t there early enough to get front row seats, but we were in the second row. People were putting chairs along the street at 8AM!!! I’m not even up that early. The parade started at 5pm so we got there around 3 and set up our chairs. We walked up and down the street to kill some time and keep warm. All the stores were decorated for the holidays and everyone was so nice. By the time the parade started the street was lined four deep with children on the shoulders of their parents so they could see all the excitement. This was some parade. It lasted almost two hours. There were numerous bands from the area high schools and middle schools, dancing troupes, boy scouts and girl scouts, jump rope teams, classic cars, emergency vehicles, etc. I was very impressed with all the participants. Everyone wishing a Merry Christmas. Afterwards, we all went back to Mrs. Kleins’ condo for some delicious chili and cornbread. It was great to visit with old friends. I can’t wait to go back and see everyone again, but the weather was cold and we were leaving the next day to go to South Carolina. Thanks for traveling along with us on The Thomas’ Trails…until next time.