Fairplay, South Carolina to Charlotte, North Carolina – 25 March 2023

We stayed in the Carowinds Camp Wilderness Resort which is about 25 minutes from downtown Charlotte. Carowinds is a large amusement park with several large roller coasters. The campground is to the side of the amusement park. It was lovely and green with lots of trees. At the time we were there, the campground was full of hundreds of little tree squirrels scurrying around looking for nuts. Jax would go crazy when we walked around, straining to chase after them.

We had a couple of days of rain and as we had quite a bit of work to catch up on, we spent our time working from the RV. We did venture uptown on the second day though to check out the city. I really enjoyed the modern buildings and statues all over town.

Rather relieved we moved on quickly through Mississippi and Alabama with the devastating tornadoes they have been experiencing. It seems the bad weather is behind us – let’s hope it stays that way, and Ontario is no longer under snow when we reach there mid April. In the meantime we visited uptown Charlotte, the capital of North Carolina. A city with modern buildings and artwork. Nicknamed the Queen City, Charlotte and was named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of British King George III during the time of the city’s founding. Charlotte is known as the pimento cheese capital of the world. Pimento cheese, also called the “caviar of the south,” is found on almost any restaurant menu in some form. A Pimento cheese sandwich washed down with some Cheerwine (soda) is a Carolina favourite.

Charlotte is also home of the Nascar hall of fame. Nascar uses the Charlotte Motor Speedway 1.5 mile oval track for racing. The Speedway is the only sports facility in the US with condominiums that offer year round living. The 50+ condos are high above the track, giving a great view from turn one.

We stopped for dinner at a small Mexican restaurant and enjoyed a bowl of veggies and chicken before going home.

The last day in the campground I was hoping to see the Bechler Museum of Art and the Mint Museum but time got away from us and unfortunately it ended up being another day of work instead. Our only outing for the day was to go to Cabellas and purchase a new leash and harness for Jax and some Bear Spray and a horn for those wilderness hikes.