From Myrtle Beach to Gone With the Wind

I thought I’d give you all a break for a few days. Us too.

Myrtle Beach was so nice, and the weather was cooperating so well, that we decided to hang out for a few days. Mostly we spent the afternoons on the beach where we could see schools of Mullin, (foot-long silver fish) jumping out of the water, sometimes not three feet in front of us. The day before yesterday, as we were watching a tight, dark school of the little jumpers, I noticed a smooth slick of water approaching them. All of a sudden a whale rolled over, not more than fifty or sixty feet from shore.

One night we invited ourselves to our neighbour’s camp, Tom and Wendy,from Raleigh, NC. They were 40’ish and were nice people, but when I mentioned we’d been to New York City, Tom asked me what I thought of the proposed Muslim Mosque near Ground Zero.

I said, “Not much.” He said, “Well I think it’s disgusting. It’s a clear victory for their side if it gets done. I think that people are going to go out of their way to come from all over the US just to paint bomb it.” I said that I’d seen something on Sixty Minutes about it just the other night and that the moderate Muslims see it as their duty to get it done in order to try and bridge the gap between Muslims and Christians in America.

He still wasn’t having it.

I didn't want to press it too much - we were at their campsite - so I replied with something inocuous like, "It's a small planet."

Later of course, I wished that I’d thought to reply that a lot of Canadians refuse to travel to the US because they think that all Americans are a bunch of gun-toting, war-mongering rednecks. Of course it’s not the truth, but the sentiment is born from the same kind of thinking.

On the other hand, on our last night at Myrtle Beach, we invited our female neighbour from Massachusetts over. She’s a retired school teacher who’s been married for years but is traveling alone because her husband is working as a tug boat captain and is away for extended periods. She was interesting, open minded and funny. Just like she described her grown sons, she was a polar opposite to the people from North Carolina.

Myrtle Beach stretches for miles and we walked a good deal of it. We also toured The Strip where everything is garish, outlandish and over the top. You might see a massive man made jungle dedicated to Mini Golf, a volcano spewing smoke and coloured water dedicated to the same thing, two or three twenty-thousand square foot buildings dedicated to nothing but beach wear, all surrounded by numerous restaurants and bars - each of them loudly proclaiming to be the best, the biggest, the cheapest, or the most unbelievable.

I think I may also have mentioned that Janice is now throwing the football around at the beach, which is not something she’d normally partake in. I, on the other hand, don’t like to just sit much, so I entice her by making it into a game of Donkey. That way I can ignite her competitive spirit and she gets involved. So much so that I thought I'd introduce the Frisbee the other day for the same purpose. She beat me the first game.

We also checked out North Myrtle Beach - you'll want to know that it's the home town of Vanna White - and historic Georgetown, which we quickly departed due to the stinky pulp mill. Man I’m glad they got rid of that stink in Kamloops. It’s easy to forget how bad it used to be.

We decided we'd seen enough of Myrtle Beach and so we moved to Lake Aerie Campsite just outside of Charleston. It’s still really hot but there’s a shimmering kidney shaped pool here that takes the heat off nicely.

In the evening we were invited to share S’mores with our new neighbours, Wayne and Kathy. Wayne is an ex Vietnam Vet who is exceptionally upbeat. He declined all the Armed Forces benefits and pensions that had been offered to him over the years because he was still able-bodied. He just retired though and is now able and willing to take advantage of some of those benefits he had refused over the years.

Downtown Charleston is very charming, made up almost entirely of grand, gracious old homes that all carry some kind of historical significance. Did I mention that Charleston is where the Civil war started when the Confedrates attacked Fort Sumner. They took it in 36 hours and it took The North more than four years to get it back.

Pictured are some of the grand old homes and businesses of Charleston, as well as me with what must be the only modern home in Charleston.

Myrtle Beach and another great recipe...

We left the outer cape because the mosquitoes were just too thick, even with the ocean breeze. We drove inland, stooping at a fresh seafood outlet where we were talked into trying some soft shelled crab, which was neither here nor there. On the other hand, the two large prawns wrapped in crab cake and then bacon were excellent.

We set up at Green Acres Campsite near Williamston, NC, Janice cooked the prawns on the BBQ until the bacon was done, which we were told indicates that the prawn ends up cooked through. It was true. Mmmm, good. Janice has already filed that one away to try on dinner guests at home.

Pictured is the road into the Green Acres Campsite along with the over filled pond there. They had received sixteen inches of rain in the couple week prior - the most since Hurricane Floyd back in 1999.




It had clouded over in the morning and was slightly cooler, which made for a comfortable drive to Shallotte, NC where we set up at Holden Beach Campsite. By then the temperature had climbed into the 80’s again so we hit Holden Beach and threw our little football around for awhile before getting wet.

Pictured is Janice playing in the waves at Holden Beach. She was getting a little sore about all the sand getting in her suit though so, in that imitable way of hers, she takes control.





When we returned to camp Janice finished off the Pozole, which she’s been a little coy about sharing the recipe for. I talked her into it on the condition that our friend Jose Lorenzo Zaldo gets credit for the original. When Jose makes it though it‘s a day-long affair where he makes his own chili paste and all. This is an abbreviated version, that’s more practical for RV’ing or, just a really good dinner that tastes like it took all day.

It’s a truly authentic Mexican meal that village women sometimes take around to work sites to sell to the local workers.

POZOLE:
2 large pork shoulder steaks, or, the cheap or hurried man’s version, ground pork.
Rub the pork steaks down with chili powder, cumin, and a little chipotle. Brown both sides in oil.
(For ground pork add spices after you have browned and drained the pork).
Throw in one onion quartered, 1 crushed garlic clove and about a liter of chicken or vegetable stock.
If you have any dried Pasilla or Guajillo peppers add them now. Simmer for an hour or so.
Remove pork and onion, (and dried peppers) shred the pork and discard the onion and dried peppers.
Add the shredded pork back into the stock.
Add one drained can of Pozole (Hominy) that you can only get at Wal-Mart in Kamloops. It’s puffed white corn and some supermarkets carry it in the canned vegetable section. It’s not Pozole without this ingredient.
Adjust with chili powder or chipotle to taste.

Ladle into bowls and serve with the following garnishes.
Top in any order you like…we have our own styles…
Finely chopped red onions, finely chopped radish, shredded iceberg lettuce, cubed avocado,
Tortilla chips for crumbling, and lime wedges for squeezing.

You’re going to love it!

Traditional Pozole does not use cumin…lo siento Jose.

The next day we drove to Myrtle Beach State Park and set up camp before going for another swim in the ocean. What a beautiful beach. The water was still 79 degrees and the beach stretches for miles. Unlike the previous day at Holden Beach, the sand doesn’t get churned up so much that it ends up, well you know…

Just when we’d decided we’d had enough of our amateurish attempts at body surfing the sky darkened and a huge downpour ensued. It’s tropical here though, (palm trees and all) so it passed in an hour, and the sun was back out in time to set.

If anyone’s looking to take a getaway, almost all of the hotels here, (and there are many) are offering Recession Specials of $25 per room, ($40 for oceanfront) and weekly rates of $125 to $175.

Pictured are: Myrtle Beach; a thunderhead appearing and the sky darkening before the storm rolling in.