Excitement At The Apache CG and Leaving Early On Saturday

Williamston, NC.

49 deg. overcast, no wind.
Forecast = Cloudy with occasional rain...mainly in the morning. High 56F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

Friday was another beautiful day at Myrtle Beach, (All of the days we spent there were very nice, but cool,)  Being that it was our last day there, it was decided that we'd just hang out and enjoy the ocean view and sounds.

Well, all of that went according to plan until mid afternoon when all of a sudden there was a loud "woomp" sound outside and then a "crack" and "bang"!!!!!

Jim looked outside just in time to see the big fancy 5th wheel across the street from us being hit by the rear end of a large travel trailer, that was trying to make a swing to get into position to back into a site.

It's the  "Elite Sweets" 5th wheel in the photo above which is one site down and across the street from Nora.

Well, in a few minutes many people were over there and it soon became apparent that more than likely the 5th wheel had sustained some major damage. Besides the front cap of the trailer being broken and pushed in, the hitch being hit with the lip bent up, the whole trailer was knocked off of the approximately 6 inch high blocks that were under it's front hydraulic jacks/stands.

This trailer has a 6 point leveling/stabilizing system, so that when the front jacks were knocked off of the blocks, all the weight of the front of the trailer was  transferred to the jacks under the middle of the trailer. Because the trailer was pushed sideways, these jacks were bent off to the side and hopefully just the jack brackets were bent and not the main trailer frame that they attach to.

There was also a crack in the fiberglass on the far side of the trailer where the overhang of the front of the trailer attaches to the main part.

The people who own the trailer were out on the beach at the time, so no one was inside and no one got hurt. I guess that was the most important thing, but I strongly expect that the 5th wheel trailer has some major damage, possibly to it's frame, which just might total it out!!! :-(

Some men came later in the day and got the trailer re-leveled and stabilized. I don't know if the people who own the trailer stayed in it Friday night or not.  Insurance companies were called and now it's up to what they find. I really feel bad for the owners of this beautiful trailer. :-(

The other trailer was damaged quite a bit too, but I couldn't see the extent because soon after the accident, they moved it farther down the street and into it's site to get it out of the roadway so others could pass.

The original plan was to leave Myrtle Beach around 10:00 or so on Saturday morning and head up to North Topsail Beach, North Carolina and spend a few days up there. Well, because of the weather forecast of rain most of this weekend, Jim got out that big eraser of his again and plans were changed. ;-)

Both he and Linda decided that instead of stopping at North Topsail, they'd just go ahead and skip that stop and drive all the way up here to Williamston instead. Now, this would mean a fairly long day for us, but Jim knew the road and decided that it wouldn't be too much over the 3 to 4 hours that we normally travel.

So, being that rain was forecasted to start mid to late morning, they got up early and started packing things up and by 7:45, we were pulling out of the Apache Family CG in a light drizzle.

Once back on US 17 we followed it up through North Myrtle Beach, into North Carolina and up here to Williston NC and to the Pierce Mobile Home and Travel Trailer Park. It was 236 miles from Myrtle Beach up to here and it too us about 4 hours and 45 minutes to make the trip. (including one "pit stop" along the way. :-)

This was a long travel day for us, but we did run out of the light rain about an hour North of Myrtle Beach. The rest of the trip was under overcast skies on a fairly good road and not a whole lot of traffic being that it was a Saturday morning.

OH, just one more thing. about 45 minutes after we were in our site and set up, the skies opened up and it rained for most of the rest of the afternoon and evening.

I'm sure glad we left as early as we did, or it would have been pretty miserable setting up in the rain.

We're staying here for 2 nights and that will put us at Joe and Nancy's house on Monday instead of Tuesday, but Linda called them and they said that they were happy that we'd be getting there earlier than planned.

I know that this post has gotten quite long, so I'll quit for now. It's only about a 100 miles from here to Virginia Beach and the weather is forecasted to be nice for tomorrow, so it should be an easy trip. ;-)

Did you know that Williamston was the focus of activity in the civil rights movement? Beginning in June 1963, civil rights activists protested at City Hall for 29 consecutive days.

Woof!!!