bugsy running on lone rock beach with the airstream and f-150 in the background

Winter trip brainstorming, Part I

This brainstorm was for a trip in early 2017. See Part II and Part III of the brainstorm, and read about what we actually ended up doing!

farewell snowstorm

Because when it’s cold outside, we spend most of our time in our tiny metal tube, so we thought it would be nice to take said tube to warmer climes for a few weeks. Where should we go?

Right off the bat, we saw a few options: Less driving but less warmth in SC and GA; beaches and sunshine in FL with potentially a million other RVers; and a long-distance adventure to TX.

Our trip will begin and end in Central VA, so for any of the options we could spend a night in Charlotte at this centrally-located campground, close to the hipster areas north of Uptown (which is what Charlotte calls its downtown, of course), near four or five breweries. If you’ve read anything we’ve written here, you know that proximity to breweries is one of the first things we check when comparing potential stopover locations.

Trip Option #1 would take us to Coastal South Carolina and Georgia. We could spend a few days at each stop, or pick fewer to be able to settle in for a longer stay at each. Have you been to any of these campgrounds or locations? Do you have any favorites you can share?

[Read about our subsequent visits to Charleston and Savannah!]

Coastal South Carolina

Charleston

James Island County Park Campground

This family-focused county park is 15 minutes outside downtown Charleston, making it a very convenient base for exploration. It’s also under about 40 minutes from the resort island of Kiawah. The Charleston area is about a 7-hour drive from Central VA, and has all sorts of opportunities for eating, drinking, wandering down cobblestone streets, running past seaside antebellum mansions, and soaking up history. For specific ideas, the New York Times travel section has a recent 36 Hours feature on Charleston (those are my favorites for a quick overview of a town).

Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head Harbor RV Resort

Working our way down the East Coast, the next stop could be Hilton Head Island, a resort island known for golf and tennis. You could explore the island on bikes and frolic on the beach, and if you need to escape, Savannah is less than an hour away. (Slightly outdated, but still helpful NYT 36 Hours article here.)

Beaufort

Tuck in the Wood Campground

Tuck in the Wood looks like a serene and lovely spot close to the quaint Southern town of Beaufort. Explore the narrow streets of historic Beaufort and the Sea Islands beyond, or even pop over to Savannah, an hour away. There’s no NYT 36 Hours for Beaufort, but it did make the NYT 52 Places to Go in 2016 list.

Coastal Georgia

Savannah

Skidaway Island State Park

This scenic park on the intracoastal waterway is just outside Savannah, and an hour from the beaches of Tybee Island if you need a beach fix. Savannah has plenty to keep you busy with eating, drinking, and history; here’s a cheat sheet.

Jekyll Island

Jekyll Island Campground

The farthest south point on this itinerary is Jekyll Island, an hour and a half south of Savannah, and three hours south of Charleston. It’s an eight-hour drive home from there. Jekyll was once the playground of tycoons such as the Rockefellers, Morgans, Astors, and Vanderbilts, but after WWII the island fell out of favor with the fancy people and the state bought it to turn it into a park. Now the island is home to a historic village surrounded by beaches, golf, options for outdoor activities such as biking, kayaking, and hiking, and nature preserves. (We ended up visiting Jekyll Island in January 2022.)

Next we’ll look at some campgrounds in Florida!

Comments

4 responses to “Winter trip brainstorming, Part I”

  1. Uncle Jim Avatar
    Uncle Jim

    Go to Charleston, park that hunk of metal and enjoy the greatest city in America for food, wine, night life, girls and all the good things. Forget the other stuff, especially Jekyll Island. Not a damn thing there worth spending time looking at. On the beach in Charleston you can begin your training regimen for the Navy SEAL BUDDS school you will be applying for shortly. Pay attention!!

    1. bugsy Avatar
      bugsy

      I think you might like option 3, too! Stay tuned…

  2. […] brainstorming a winter Airstream trip from VA to somewhere warmer. In Part I, we looked at Coastal SC and GA. Part II is all about Florida […]

  3. […] our sun-seeking brainstorming exercise here, after discussing Coastal South Carolina and Georgia in Part I, and the beaches of Northern Florida and the Panhandle in Part […]

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