Follow the sun.: How it all started

George and I have both been retired for six years now. Experience has taught me one thing about our retirement. We found out that just because we retired the rest of the world doesn't retire with us. Most of our friends are still in the working busy no time for us class. So we retired sat home and waited for something magical to happen, when nothing happened we ended up sitting home doing nothing. . We knew we needed to change our lives, however with change brings fear. But change also brings growth… So we just had to be willing to give up the life that we had so we can start new plans and a new life that was just out there waiting for us.
So now I'm testing the waters one toe at a time. I'm not quite ready to jump in with both feet yet. What I mean by that is ...I am not ready to give up my house and all my worldly possessions to live full time in my RV. However life on the road is calling out to me. So with my husband and two collie kids in tow, I have set out on an adventure. We will take the next couple of years or however long it takes, live in our RV and just explore this great big country of ours. What will we do? Where will we go? What will happen? Who knows! I do know one thing though; "I am too old for a paper route, too young for Social Security and I'm to damn tired to have an affair." Erma Bombeck
I couldn't have said it better myself.

We went to the Internet to check out how others were doing it. We found out we're already one step ahead of the game. We already own a 5th wheel and a truck to tow it. So that saves all the searching and comparing to see what would be the best rig or truck to buy. It was George who actually came across work camping. We loved the idea that we could work again without all the responsibility of the corporate world jobs. We could do a few hours a week, a few months at a time and then change to another job in another province or state. We wanted something a little close to home, just in case it didn’t work out for us. We wanted a smaller campground so it would be easier to learn the job. We wanted great people to work with since it’s been six years since we worked with anybody.

We applied to a few campgrounds and heard back from almost all of them. After carefully screening them we finally picked one.
We picked Spartanburg/Gaffney South Carolina KOA. So on March 27th 2010 we left Fort Erie Ontario Canada for a 12 hr. drive to the KOA that we will be working and living at for the next 6 or 7 months.

On March 28th we arrived at the KOA and met the managers and owners for the first time. Bobby and Elizabeth are the managers, and Ralph and Martha (Marty) are the owners.

We settled in unpacked and explored the area. The first point of Interest I found was the Gaffney Outlet Mall.

Then The famous Peachoid. This is a 4 story 150 foot water tower in Gaffney S.C. It holds 1 million gallons of water. The Peachoid was built in 1981 by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company, of steel and concrete. An overlay stem and leaf were laid across the structure, an enormous "cleft" was created with steel paneling, and Peter Freudenberg, an artist who worked with macro-art, painted the structure to realistically pass for a peach. George and I often joke about how it looks like a giant ass with a hemorroid.

We also found another piece of Gaffney History. Possum Trot School that was built in 1880 by Jimmy and Tom Pettit and a few other residents of Cherokee County. The school had 225 students and went to the eleventh grade.

This is a well outside the school. Must be where the children brought the water in everyday.

Now Gaffney is almost like it is separated into two sections. It reminds me so much of my home town of Fort Erie, Ontario. Fort Erie has two sections as well, it has Jarvis Street and Garrison Road. Now Jarvis st. is the older part of Fort Erie and at one time was the main area for shopping and businesses. Then they built up Garrison Rd. It has a Walmart and some restaurants and a few businesses. Well Gaffney South Carolina is very much the same. It has an older section of town, and a newer section complete with a Walmart. The Pictures on the left are of the old area of Gaffney.

This is another view of the older section of Gaffney.
This is a very clean and pretty town.

Now in the middle of the old town is an old house that is the Michael Gaffney House. The house is historical so it sits in the middle of the town and they built all around it. It is so funny to drive down the street and see this house. Looking at this house and reading all about it I just can't help thinking how spoiled we are today. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1797. He purchased 805 acres of land in 1804 and built a house for his wife and family. It also served as a trading post and a store. It was built right where it sits now at present day.

This is the Michael Gaffney House. Imagine he had 806 acres and this is what he built. Hummm maybe he should have taken a drive down the blvd. in Fort Erie and copied some ideas from those big mansions.

Complete with socks hanging to dry. Now this is a home in the middle of the town. All this stuff sits out year round and nobody touches it, or destroys it, or even steals it. Now that's amazing!

Not far up the road from us is Spartanburg South Carolina. It is much larger than Gaffney but still has the small town flair. People still stop to talk to us strangers. George and I were driving back to the campground the other day and as we came up the back road leading to the camp everyone seemed to be outside for some reason or another. but the funny thing is everyone gave us a friendly wave as we drove by. This is one of the reasons I love the south.