As we often do, we got up early in preparation for continuing our journey east. I had gone outside to start packing things away; I also took the opportunity to walk around the campground to see if anyone else was outside at the time. I didn’t see anyone during that short walk, but by the time I returned to our site, Adriene had received notification that her dad had been admitted to a hospital in Virginia. I knew in my spirt that it was time for us to go into intercessory prayer mode. I told Adriene to put on her shoes; we needed to head out on our “prayer walk” together. We headed out from our site, and started to walk and pray; not only that God would intercede on Dad’s behalf, but we also interceded for all of the residents at that campground. We always ask God to arrest the hearts of the people where we are, and prepare them for an encounter with Him. We walked around the campground twice while praying, then returned to our site to get ready to hit the road. I was ready to bring in our living room slide out, and it wouldn’t come in for some reason; It was then that I “built an altar” at our site, and declared the presence of God there; both in the life of Yanita, and the campground residents, and for the manifestation of healing for Adriene’s Dad. The slide out came in just fine after the altar was built ...
Knowing that the hospital Dad had been admitted to was along our path, I began to think of how we could make arrangements to go by the hospital to see him. We had already recognized God’s hand upon the situation, because Dad and his wife Carolyn live in Tennessee, but they were on a road trip to Virginia at the time to visit with family. Come to find out, the hospital that Dad was at, was in Richmond, Virginia, and our journey was to take us right past Richmond a couple of days later. We didn’t know how, but we believed that God would work this out somehow.
I finished preparing the outside for departure, while Adriene took care of the inside.
Knowing that the hospital Dad had been admitted to was along our path, I began to think of how we could make arrangements to go by the hospital to see him. We had already recognized God’s hand upon the situation, because Dad and his wife Carolyn live in Tennessee, but they were on a road trip to Virginia at the time to visit with family. Come to find out, the hospital that Dad was at, was in Richmond, Virginia, and our journey was to take us right past Richmond a couple of days later. We didn’t know how, but we believed that God would work this out somehow.
I finished preparing the outside for departure, while Adriene took care of the inside.
We pulled out of Auburn RV Park and continued our journey heading east. We serve a mighty God; it wasn’t too long on that same morning, that Adriene received notification that Dad was fine, and had been released from the hospital; (Praise God) for answered prayers. Our plan was to go to the hospital to be with Dad, but God moved in the situation so fast, that our visit was not necessary. We just thanked God for hearing our prayers, and raising Dad up.
We decided to make “South of the Border” our destination for the day. South of the Border has a Mexican theme, but it is NOT, south of the US border, it’s just south of the North Carolina border, in Dillon, South Carolina 😃 We have been past there many times, but we had never stopped there during our travels in “Destiny”. Years ago, I had taken our daughters there; I don’t remember the occasion, but it was just me and the girls there on a vacation, while Adriene was still in Alaska.
We decided to make “South of the Border” our destination for the day. South of the Border has a Mexican theme, but it is NOT, south of the US border, it’s just south of the North Carolina border, in Dillon, South Carolina 😃 We have been past there many times, but we had never stopped there during our travels in “Destiny”. Years ago, I had taken our daughters there; I don’t remember the occasion, but it was just me and the girls there on a vacation, while Adriene was still in Alaska.
South of the Border is actually a “touristy” spot, so we called ahead and made a reservation for the campground there (Pedro’s Campground). As you know, I’m not to big on making reservations ahead of time, because you get locked in “having to be in a particular place, on a particular day”, but knowing that this was a tourist area, we made the reservation, to make sure that we had a spot for the night. Our destination for the night was 428 miles away, so we had another long day of driving ahead of us.
It was a great day of travel; on this trip, I made it a point not to drive through Atlanta, Georgia like I did the last time we were in this part of the country. That was a pretty bad experience in a 42’ motor coach in a traffic jam; not to mention the rear-end accident that we witnessed just ahead of us (you can read about that in an earlier post). This time, we took the 285 bypass around Atlanta; that was busy too, but not nearly as bad a driving straight through Atlanta. We jumped back on 1-20 East and kept on pressing. Once we got on to 1-95, we headed north, and I knew that it wouldn't be too long before we would arrive at our destination for the evening. South of the Border is a pretty popular area; maybe because they start advertising on billboards about 100 miles out, and it seem like they have a billboard every few miles; I could only imagine their advertising budget.
Side Note: I’ve learned that money is no object when you are operating in overflow; there is alway more coming in than going out. I’m sure South of the Border is operating in “overflow mode".
We finally arrived; once you see the “sombrero tower”, you know that you are there. We took our exit with no problem, but with signs “everywhere”, we passed right by our turn for the campground, so we ended up going to the service station down the road to turn around and call for directions. Once we found the campground, I saw why we missed our turn; the sign was across the street, right there at the left-turn intersection, and partially hidden by a fence when coming off of the highway - no previous signs that I could see. I’ll bet “Pedro’s Campground” gets those “how do I get there?” calls, all the time. I parked at the campground entrance, and went in the office to get checked in; they assigned us to Site 177, which was on the end of the row. That was great that we were on the end, which meant that we would only have a neighbor on one side; well, we ended up not having a neighbor on either side, but the open space turned out to be a thoroughfare for motorbikes and four wheelers. We didn’t know, but Pedro’s Campground is the neighbor of the local dirt bike track, and lots of people choose that campground for easy access to the track.
After it cooled down a bit, we decided to take a walk around the area to check out some of the local attractions. There were lots of souvenir shops, and small businesses, but to our surprise, most of the stores were closed, and very few people were out walking around. I guess it was the time of the year, but when we I visited there with the girls “years ago”, that place was bustling with people. We probably just waited too late in the day to go out. We did visit a couple of shops, doing a little “window shopping”, but we didn’t stay out very long. We headed back to the motorhome and relaxed for most of the evening. This was not a “bad” campground, but our level of expectation was a bit higher for “South of the Border”; we jointly agreed that we probably wouldn’t be booking anymore reservations there, but we will likely go back through there for a day trip and check out more of the attractions.
It was a great day of travel; on this trip, I made it a point not to drive through Atlanta, Georgia like I did the last time we were in this part of the country. That was a pretty bad experience in a 42’ motor coach in a traffic jam; not to mention the rear-end accident that we witnessed just ahead of us (you can read about that in an earlier post). This time, we took the 285 bypass around Atlanta; that was busy too, but not nearly as bad a driving straight through Atlanta. We jumped back on 1-20 East and kept on pressing. Once we got on to 1-95, we headed north, and I knew that it wouldn't be too long before we would arrive at our destination for the evening. South of the Border is a pretty popular area; maybe because they start advertising on billboards about 100 miles out, and it seem like they have a billboard every few miles; I could only imagine their advertising budget.
Side Note: I’ve learned that money is no object when you are operating in overflow; there is alway more coming in than going out. I’m sure South of the Border is operating in “overflow mode".
We finally arrived; once you see the “sombrero tower”, you know that you are there. We took our exit with no problem, but with signs “everywhere”, we passed right by our turn for the campground, so we ended up going to the service station down the road to turn around and call for directions. Once we found the campground, I saw why we missed our turn; the sign was across the street, right there at the left-turn intersection, and partially hidden by a fence when coming off of the highway - no previous signs that I could see. I’ll bet “Pedro’s Campground” gets those “how do I get there?” calls, all the time. I parked at the campground entrance, and went in the office to get checked in; they assigned us to Site 177, which was on the end of the row. That was great that we were on the end, which meant that we would only have a neighbor on one side; well, we ended up not having a neighbor on either side, but the open space turned out to be a thoroughfare for motorbikes and four wheelers. We didn’t know, but Pedro’s Campground is the neighbor of the local dirt bike track, and lots of people choose that campground for easy access to the track.
After it cooled down a bit, we decided to take a walk around the area to check out some of the local attractions. There were lots of souvenir shops, and small businesses, but to our surprise, most of the stores were closed, and very few people were out walking around. I guess it was the time of the year, but when we I visited there with the girls “years ago”, that place was bustling with people. We probably just waited too late in the day to go out. We did visit a couple of shops, doing a little “window shopping”, but we didn’t stay out very long. We headed back to the motorhome and relaxed for most of the evening. This was not a “bad” campground, but our level of expectation was a bit higher for “South of the Border”; we jointly agreed that we probably wouldn’t be booking anymore reservations there, but we will likely go back through there for a day trip and check out more of the attractions.