Day 1 of 4 as we drive to Sarasota, Florida for a Pleasure-Way Owners Rally. We try a Hipcamp site for the first time tonight.

1010 68,991  68°F  Leave Home

With lots of relatives in Florida, we do the trip from NC to southern Florida several times a year. The goal is to find new places to stop and different routes to make the journey more interesting. 

1225  69,072  76°F  Aberdeen, NC 

City Park for lunch

Walked about a mile on a nice trail around this pretty manmade lake.

Several trees in the park had these large burls.

1338 Leave Aberdeen

1418  69,098  80°F  Hamlet, NC

Stopped to stretch and walk around the historic railroad depot.  Two railroads cross here.

The depot design reflects the track crossing with two symmetrical sides joined by a rounded entrance.

The station’s back side isn’t as interesting, but does have a halloween visitor.

These wavy window panes were made before plate glass was available.

A docent noticed us peering in the windows. Despite the museum not being open, she let us in and asked us to pull the door closed when we were done.

Residing inside the depot is an HO scale model of Hamlet as it looked in 1952.  You can see the station and rail crossings here.

The Southbound Model Railroaders of Winston-Salem, NC built the detailed model in 2005.  The railroad and downtown buildings were built from scratch based on research and interviews with residents.

The turntable and roundhouse were torn down after the railroad switched from steam to diesel locomotives.

This downtown building, across from the depot, is available for purchase.

1451  Leave Hamlet

1600  69,139  80°F  Hartsville, SC

Dennis & Melissa’s Hidden Creek

Our first Hipcamp experience.

We camped on the hill between the cake shop (shown here) and a cattle field. Parking with our windshield, which we cover, towards the shop allowed us a better view of the friendly cows.

Moved around in the site to get down to a 2° tilt. 

The owners were friendly and invited us to explore their property, as long as we closed the cattle gates behind us. In addition to farming, Dennis builds drums at Ludwig. I didn’t know that the company moved here from Chicago.

The walk to their pond and a creek was fun. This old barn along the way caught my interest.

Camping here for star gazing on a clear night would probably provide a view with very little light pollution. 

The Hipcamp experience was interesting.  At $42 it was more expensive than most of the state parks we visit and had fewer amenities.   The program does give us another set of options as campgrounds, especially on weekends and busy holidays, are getting harder to book. If you are interested in Hipcamp, click here for a link that includes a $10 credit towards your first stay. 

If you do visit Dennis & Melissa’s, be aware that the access roads are deep sand and dirt. The southern approach is shorter and better maintained than the northern route.

Today’s Route

Avoiding I-40 and I-95

148 Miles

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