Time for a break

When I got up at Pocohontas State Park in Chesterfield, VA the temperature was 28 degrees – 5 degrees colder than my former Connecticut home town.  I was supposed to be avoiding this stuff! We left Pocohontas fairly early and managed to again put down over 300 miles.   We arrived at Ebenezer Park about 4 pm.  Ebenezer Park is a York County SC facility that sits on Lake Wylie.  This is one of the most beautiful campgrounds I’ve been in. 

View From My Door

 
 The park is small at 67 sites and there is a ranger that lives on site.  The after-hours registration process is well explained making it simple and intuitive.  The campground is close to Rock Hill with plenty of dining and shopping options.

Sunset From Rock Hill Cracker Barrel Lot

Again we got an early start from Ebenezer and continued our journey to Elgin Air Force Base.  The strategy of driving to about 2:30 failed us on this leg.  Rather we hit a decision point on whether to call it an early day and stay north of Atlanta or to get south of Atlanta and then look for some place to stay.  We opted for south of Atlanta and we still made it to a campground and were fully set up before dark.  We looked up a nearby park in the GPS and came upon Chattahoochie Bend State Park in Newman, GA.  Chattahoochie Bend is in the middle of nowhere.  We opted to go out to dinner and while the initial GPS position was 4 miles (as the crow flies) but when you put in for directions it goes to 23 miles and 35 minutes to get there.  When I say Chattahoochie Bend is in the middle of nowhere I mean it.  Two-lane roads running through the woods with 60 mph speed limits and no street lights, just signs that say “Hill Obstructs View” – nice!  Other than the remoteness Chattahoochie Bend is a beautiful park. 

Chattahoochie Bend

 The office was manned when we arrived at 4:30 and check in went smoothly.  Once your are checked in the camp sites are still a 10 minute drive into the park.  There are several trail crossings across this access road so you need to procedure cautiously because of hikers and bikers crossing the road.
Lori could tell the road was wearing me down, plus she found a place called Providence Canyon that is nearby.  So Lori found Eufaula Lake Campground in Eufaula, AL. which is only a 124 mile jaunt from Newman. We, again, broke camp early and got to stop at a Waffle House for breakfast.  Crossing into Alabama sent us to Central time so I got an hour back with the time zone!