Table Rock, South Carolina

I have no idea how we ended up in Cleveland, South Carolina. My mom sent us a map of the most beautiful waterfalls in South Carolina and we thought we were headed there, but we didn’t see any of the waterfalls on the list so who knows. 

Anyway, we pulled into Palmetto Cove RV Resort at about 6:00 at night. It was almost dark and about 40 degrees. A bearded man met us with a golf cart and told me to hop in and pick our spot. We finally made it to a place with a pull though spot! 

(My dad said we would rarely have to back up with the camper, but this was our first pull thorough spot and we have been gone a few weeks.) 

Delmas, my guide for the evening, was parked next to the spot we chose in his 1957 renovated Grey Hound bus. Another older man, we didn’t catch his name, came over and watched us pull into our spot with very judgmental eyes. 

I am starting to learn that some RVers can be kind of snobby. 

As we got hooked up the other man asked us if we had a water regulator. He was obviously eyeing our weird faucet sticking out on the side of the camper. 

We also don’t know what a water regulator for a camper is. 

So we said no. Oops. 

He quickly responded with: “Well do you have water?” 

…….

So, earlier that day as we are driving down the Cherokee Scenic Highway, I looked up the Palmetto Cove RV Resort and called to reserve our spot. The lady on the phone asked if we are “self contained.” 

Now, please remember that we are very, very new to this whole RV life and I think that “self contained” means we aren’t in a tent. Kaitlin said we should look it up but I was like “nahh, we’ll be fine.” 

We should have looked it up. 

Self contained means you have working plumbing and shower. 

So we were asked to leave. 

Delmas, being the nicest guy ever, asked if we could stay the night because it was almost dark at this point. The guy begrudgingly agreed and told us we had to talk to the president in the morning. What is this place?!

Come to find out they don’t have showers and it is a South Carolina State law that you have to be self contained if there is not a bathhouse on the property. So they kicked us out. 

The only place to get service to look up another place to sleep was halfway between our camper and the bathroom. 

Listen, this whole water extravaganza had to be the scandal of the park because another man who “worked there” asked us if we had water and said “Well, there is always a Walmart parking lot.” 

We aren’t self contained, jerk face. so what makes you think we can sleep in a Walmart parking lot?

One lady said she was trying to train her little poodle to walk past other dogs but oddly stood staring at Trudy for a long time. Her dog was cute so we let her slide. 

Delmas and his friends, Dan and Karen, tried to talk to the office and let us stay but they didn’t have any luck. So we packed Trudy up and headed to Aunt Sue’s Country Kitchen for some chili and grilled cheese. There is still no service. 

We used the car's GPS to find a Wally world— not to sleep of course, but we about froze our asses off the night before so we needed some more blankets and an pot that worked on our electric stove.

It put us right in the middle of Pickens, South Carolina, a super cute little Winter Garden-esque town with a great coffee shop. We got lucky and found a parking spot in an empty lot, grabbed some coffee and reserved a spot at the Table Rock State Park. 

The State Park was amazing, we had a great little back-in spot with lots of privacy and right next to the brand new bathhouse. 

The park was huge and had a gorgeous hike up to Table Rock where you could look out over the park. The lady at the front desk said we had to have 3 liters of water per person. Now, Kaitlin and I hiked Trolltunga in Norway and this hike was only 4 miles so we were curious as to why we needed that much water. 

If you find yourself at Table Rock State Park hiking the Table Rock trail, take 3 liters of water. 

This hike is 4 miles straight. up. hill. But the view is definitely worth it. 

We were thrilled we were not still at the Palmetto Cove where we would have to take a whore’s bath with baby wipes. Here we could take a hot shower right next our camper. Our legs were shaking and we went to bed at 7:30 after starting Eat. Pray. Love. and not even making it through the credits. 

I think we will be good on hiking for a while.