24 Aug 2025 - Arrived at Weston Lake Recreation Area and Fort Jackson in Columbia SC

 

This morning we packed up and departed in the dark and rain from Raccoon Valley at Volunteer Park campground at 0635 hrs and headed southeast towards Columbia SC.  The journey took us east and south on I-40 then further south on I-26.  There were warning signs about approximately 12 miles of 8 ft 6 in width restriction due to road repair on I-40.  Well, we are 8 ft 5 in so no worries, right?!  I got some intel from another Allie a few days ago and he said it was good and his word is gold.  The alternate route takes you northeast and then south, and adds about an hour of travel.  

The Smokies were pretty soupy this morning with the rain and the fog/cloudiness.  Visibility was not that great but improved as the sun came up.  The 12 miles of narrow, single lanes required focus but was do-able.  We did not swap paint with any barracades or run over any foreign objects!  

We traveled through two tunnels which are kind of fun since we don't have any of them in the Midwest.  My thoughts are about the work required to build them.

We stopped once to stretch, but no puppy pee stops required anymore, so we stop much less.  At 1158 hrs we rolled into the FamCamp after driving 298 miles.  The fuel gauge showed 29 miles remaining so refueling was going to be top priority once we got the RV set up.  

We checked into the office and got our site assignment and then proceeded to the campground area.  This is a really nice campground located in the pine trees.  Hopefully we won't have much sap on the RV and the truck to deal with.  

There is another Alliance behind us and we met the owner after we got set up.  Elton Alfred came over and introduced himself.  He and his wife are from Texas and he is here temporarily for work.

Doreen and I walked down by the lake (Weston Lake) and looked over their cabins which are available for rent.  They look really nice with beautiful porches that face the lake.  

We wanted to check out Fort Jackson this afternoon so we drove to the only open gate today,  Most of the gates are shut down on the weekends except the main gate. 

 Since this is a basic training base, they cater to the families like us that will attend the family day event each Tuesday, and graduation ceremonies each Wednesday.  They have actually painted a prominent blue line on the streets that leads to Hilton Field where they hold these events. 

 We found Hilton Field an it is enormous, but it has to be with the numbers of Soldiers that graduate here every week.  I'm sure it is going to be crazy busy Tuesday and Wednesday.  The good news is the grandstand area in under cover from the sun, so it should be protected from the heat to a certain extent.  

With it being Sunday there was not a lot of activity on the base.  We saw large groups of Soldiers near their barracks  but we did not see PVT Lucas Buehner yet LOL  Tuesday that will happen!

Our daughter Jennifer (Lucas's mom) and her family arrived this evening after a long drive from Battle Creek MI.  We will get together with them tomorrow.  Then tomorrow afternoon our son Dan flys in from Des Moines IA and later tomorrow night our oldest daughter Michelle will fly from Chicago to Charlotte and then drive a rental car down from there.  So she will be a very late arrival.  Tuesday is Family Day and we will get to see Lucas for the first time and spend time with him.  Wednesday is graduation where we will see him one more time, and sometime after that he will ship out to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio TX where he will attend a 16 week Combat Medic Advanced Individual Training (AIT).  Dan and Michelle will both depart after graduation on Wednesday and Jennifer will drive back Thursday.  We continue on with our RV to the Myrtle Beach area for a few days to see our Alliance friends Michael and Donna Pizzi.

With our travels today and everything going on, my 70th birthday today was pretty uneventful, but I did hear from hundreds of friends via texts, messages, emails and Facebook.  I really appreciate it.  We will celebrate later when the rest of the family gets down here.

Thanks for checking in on us.