OK---I made our reservation at Quality In Mt Pleasant.  We will arrive Thursday and depart Mon morning for Myrtle Beach and Wilson, NC to visit our sons and their families.

It's a 950 mile trip Hot Springs to Charleston---I believe we will stop over in Birmingham on the way down.  

 

I imagine that some folks will be driving through Atlanta on the way---may we can hook up and caravan part way?  Or maybe meet at Memphis?

We need a road trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you meet up in Memphis I can give you lunch/dinner tops as that is my home town.  I am recovering well and hope to spend a little time scouting routes for the Saturday cruise.  How many folks will need things to do on Friday and/or Sunday?

Lane,

Glad your recovery is going well for you. This will make for a nicer Holiday Season for you and your family.

Sharon and I plan to arrive Friday afternoon, so I think you already have that dinner planned for group.  Would be nice for a Sunday morning drive too.  We plan to depart for FL in the afternoon.

Jack,

Great to hear you got your "Tajmahal" room reserved. 

I wonder how many others have arranged their reservations at this, or other property?

Tom L 

Tom---they did have the $144 rate so that's what I opted for.  We will still have motels half way to Charleston and on the way home.   That's in the range we like to pay on the road anyway.  Now the Pink Palace in Honolulu or the Breakers in West Palm Beach---we don't mind springing for those.  Or the mandarin in Papeeti is pretty nice too.  Or the Royal Monceau in Paris.   But $144 for Charleston is plenty.

You and Alice should do a downtown Charleston B&B sometime and do a real in-depth tourist thing sans Speedster.  You might find it worth the extra money.

I bet there are some nice B&Bs there.  Would love a a great room in an ante bellum mansion.

Here you go, Jack - used to be a planter's mansion before the Civil War:

http://www.beaufortinn.com

The restaurant/food is exceptional and the inn is within walking to much of Beaufort.  You can also walk to the National Cemetary to see the grave of Jack Conroy, Marine flyer and "the Great Santini" of Movie fame (I think Robert DuVal played that part).

Ok folks, the holidays are almost over and I am healed, so I can start scouting routes and stuff for Saturday and Sunday.  So far we have:

• Dinner at The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene in Mount Pleasant on Friday night.
• Cars and Coffee Saturday morning, followed by a tour of some of the local plantations.  I will probably take us to Magnolia Plantation and Middleton Place, but I still need to come up with a reasonably entertaining route.  We can have lunch at the wonderful cafe at Middleton Place.
• Dinner Saturday night at Bacco in Mount Pleasant.  Michael Scognomiglio (owner/chef) is one of my track day friends and will treat us right.
• Sunday I will suggest a breakfast gathering at Vintage Coffee and Cafe in Mount Pleasant.  They are car nuts and will probably set up something special for us.
• After breakfast those who are staying can pick from many things to do:
  • Tour downtown on foot
  • Harbor cruise to Fort Sumter
  • Tour of local microbreweries and/or distilleries
  • Tour of the only tea plantation in North America
  • Some combination of the above

To finalize things it would help if I could get a roll call of those who are coming (or hoping to come) and approximate arrival departure times.  I can take Friday or Monday off and act as a tour guide.  For those arriving Thursday or leaving Monday I can make dinner recommendation.  We have a wealth of choices, so we don't need to set that up yet.  So far I know of:

• Alice and Jack Crosby, Thursday to Monday.
• Tom Lorenzo, times unknown
• Who else?

Lane,
First of all, glad to hear you have made a full recovery.
I plan to arrive Friday afternoon and depart Sunday afternoon.
Look forward to seeing you then.

BUMP!!

This event, dormant for the cold months, is still very much alive.  While Saturday is pretty much planned, we may be able to squeeze in a beach run after the plantations tour(s).  Sunday is freeform for those who will be staying.  There are many, many options and we can discuss here or even the night before.  Believe me, there are enough things to d  in this area to keep everybody busy. 

The reason that I have not said "We'll be doing this" is that there are so many choices.  We don't even have to decide until breakfast.  If cruising in the cars is a big part of what you want to do we can bypass downtown Charleston (narrow streets and limited parking as befits a city dating to the late 1600s) and do the tea plantation (https://www.charlestonteaplantation.com).  Again, there are many options.

Websites for the two plantations probably on the books for Saturday are Middleton Place at https://www.middletonplace.org and Magnolia Gardens at http://www.magnoliaplantation.com.  There's also Boone Hall (near the hotel) at http://www.boonehallplantation.com.  We may want to do that right after Cars and Coffee on Saturday as it's only a couple of miles away.

I sure would appreciate y'all letting me know if your coming.  I have Jack and Alice and Tom Lorenzo.  Still waiting to hear from others (this includes you, Todd ).  Ron and Maddie?  Y'all still coming?

Magnolia Plantation, in March, is.....SPECTACULAR! - But.....

I just deleted about 100 photos of Magnolia Plantation I took about ten years ago, assuming that they were too old and I would probably never get back there, anyway.

I'll poke around on some of my backup drives and see if I can find a few stashed away. The Azaleas, Camellias and Rhododendrons (not to mention the tens of thousands of Daffodils) in bloom there will be amazing for you folks.  Watch out for the Alligators...

Looking from the main house across the reflection pond, mid-March, 2009:

A few random shots of Charleston:

And a few of Magnolia Plantation - It's quite colorful in March - 1,600 acres in blooming shrubs, plus an old Rice Plantation to tour:

I am heading to Cincinnati on Minday to spend 3 days behind close doors for fy17 planning and travel.  For us, fiscal starts in July but my travel planning starts now for the next year.  I will know more then where I am to be and when!

Oh, I almost forgot:  the Donnelly wildlife sanctuary off of RT 17 near Green Pond and the Whitehall Plantation (Tom Berenger the actor from "The Big Chill" - His place).  Great location to spot alligators!

Gordon;

Nice pics. Spring is just around the corner.

The pics remind me, on my bucket list is;  The Augusta. If the Masters is underway, that's just frosting on the pecan pie.

Thanks for posting.

Art

Oooo, thanks for the pics G-dawg.  Just for the reader's information the date was moved to April.  I wish I could change the title.  Can ya help a brother out here Theron?

Gordon Nichols posted:

Oh, I almost forgot:  the Donnelly wildlife sanctuary off of RT 17 near Green Pond and the Whitehall Plantation (Tom Berenger the actor from "The Big Chill" - His place).  Great location to spot alligators!

Looks like a safe place to leave a Speedster parked.

So what is the latest list on attendance?

Lane,

I am making plans for this one.  Likely arrive Thurs sometime, and leave Monday. I take it the Quality Inn in Mt Pleasant is the same things as Patriots Point.  -?-  Will call tomorrow and see about room, ask for Peggy.  Do not much care about exactly what we do, as will trust your judgement to make it cool.  Larger plan is to figure out the towing thing, so I can drive down with favorite right seater.  Figure the tripfrom here to SC  is an overnighter.  So overall the deal for me would be Wed through Tues.  I have no idea yet where to hole-up on the way down, somewhere more than half way, I guess.  I have never been to SC, Charleston, etc. so it's all new to me.  Google maps says it is something like nine or ten hrs ride total, I95 - ugh.

Anybody else from Yankee country heading down to smell the magnolias?  Do magnolias smell??

 

And the date is 4/8-10, right??

Yup, them's the dates, Kelly.  Ok, so Jack asked for attendance.  So far we have confirmed:

• Me
• Jack and Alice
• Tom Lorenzo
• Kelly and his SO

Tentative:

• Todd Rimer (Rimmer?)
• Stephen and Darcie Clark
• Ron and Maddie Mullis
• Leoin Chupp

Anybody else?  Al few of my local friends will probably tag along in some interesting cars.

Kelly:  Based on drive time for us when we used to do the I-95 route, it should be about 7 hours and we easily made it in a day of driving.  We would leave Beaufort at 7am and get into the Holiday Inn at the Baltimore airport at about 5pm (70mph).  Beaufort was two hours farther south of Charleston on I-95.  That included one fuel/dog stop (Fredricksburg, VA, so we were fueled through Washington and Philly) one lunch stop and three dog stops.  Run that equation and you get about 7 hours door-to-door for you in MD.

We ALWAYS planned on heavy traffic in the DC-to-Fredricksburgh corridor and were always right.  Once you get below Fredricksburg, everything thins out and is pleasant.  Watch for heavy RADAR on I-95 in VA starting 10 miles before the NC line.  Fuel in NC is 20 cents more expensive than states around it (higher state tax). 

Alternatively once, when we heard about very heavy 495/DC traffic on the CB radio, we took 301 from Fredricksburg up to I-97 and the Baltimore airport - pretty ride.  Slower, a few lights here and there and such, but we kept moving and still arrived at the HI before 6pm.

OK Gordon, txs for the input.  Will discuss w/ Babs. The plan here is to have a mini spring break, with the Southern Comfort Run being the central, but maybe not only, feature. and so hustling from A to B might not be the only reason to go.  Stop along the way, and see the sights?  Still in planning stages.

Kelly, I didn't plan for a lot of exploration of historic Charleston due to the logistics of navigating downtown with a bunch of cool, but vulnerable cars.  If you stay an extra day you can have a lot of fun doing that and I can make suggestions.  Just a thought.

Lane,

Please remind any participants who hope to stay at the Quality Inn with the SOC rate posted earlier, will end on March 14th. 

Any reservations after that date will be on an individual basis without the group rate and subject to availability. 

Tom L

From Tom L:

"Please remind any participants who hope to stay at the Quality Inn with the SOC rate posted earlier, will end on March 14th."

Ok folks, consider yourselves reminded.  Hopefully this'll get those that are on the fence moving. 

Just got off the phone With Peggy at QI, securing reservations for the week end.  She sure is a breathy thing.  Full of southern charm, no doubt.  Now, to figure out how to get me, the car and Barbara all down the highway together.

Do you promise warm and dry weather??

The "warm" is highly likely.  I cannot guarantee "dry" as much as I would like to.

My heavy duty home brewed tow bar should fit your JPS ..you are welcome to use it..I used it on a VS some years ago. I even have a temp light bar available that uses a flat 4 plug... All you need is a small SUV with ball ..

Option #2 is I have a 7 x 14 single axle utility trailer ( 850 empty weight) you can borrow 2" ball and flat 4 plug.

You'll have to get here to get it as I am waist deep in the # 40 build... We can chat and tell lies :~)

Alan, I have just now ordered a hitch for Babs' Subaru, and an EMPI tow bar for VW Beetles.  Hope it all fits together.  I put a similar hitch on my Mazda, and it was more or less easy.  The Video for how to mount the hitch to the Subaru makes it look easy-peasy.  One item I may need is a drop-down ball mount to accommodate the height diff between the tow bar and the hitch receptacle, but I do not know what that diff is yet.  Will have to lash it all up and see where it all settles.  Question: when towing, is it kosher to use the brake and turn lights on the towed car, operated by the lights on the towing car??

Yes you can tie into the towed vehicles wiring for signals, brake and tail lights. 

Alan Merklin posted:

Yes you can tie into the towed vehicles wiring for signals, brake and tail lights. 

Wouldn't that be a bit of a bugger to wire ( figure what / where to tap into ) into a towed vehicle like a basic Speedster's wiring system ?  I think I remember looking into that a few years back and defaulted to mounting a small light rack onto the back of the Speedster and ran wiring forward to the towing vehicle receptacle.

True, I have a short 2 x 4 with trailer lights and flat 4 plug that I used back in the early days