We left the Isle of Palms and drove an hour south to the Charleston Tea Plantation. There, we took a trolley tour around the grounds where we learned all about how tea is grown. All true tea comes from one single plant. That plant takes several years to mature before harvesting the first tea leaves. The difference between black, green, and oolong teas is how long they are dried. During the tour, we were bombarded by literally thousands of bugs called lovebugs. The love between them and Lauren was not mutual. Thankfully, they don’t bite or anything, they were just so thick that you couldn’t help but get them all over you.

After the trolley tour we went inside and did a factory tour while drinking free samples of their hot and iced teas. They were delicious.

Tea Harvester. One of a kind.

Tea plants

Greenhouse

Trolley

Tea plants

After drinking gallons of tea, we hopped in the car to drive 2.5 hours north to Broadway at the Beach at Myrtle Beach. Somehow we made it there without having to stop for the bathroom. We walked around for a bit before eating dinner at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. We walked around for a while longer and got some more drinks before ending up at Crocodile Rocks Dueling Pianos. We stayed there for a couple hours enjoying piano duets and singing to audience-requested songs. The performers were very talented, and we had a good time. By the time we left, it was getting pretty late and we hadn’t found a place sleep yet. We decided to drive 1.5 hours north to Wilmington KOA in North Carolina. We arrived at about 2:30 am and filled out late registration before noticing that the bathrooms were keypad entry. We tried calling the number but received no answer so we drove to the nearby gas station and hoped it would last us the night. We threw our mosquito net over the sun roof and slept in the front seats. Thankfully it wasn’t a very hot night.

In the morning we went to the office and found out the bathroom code. Apparently the number we tried to call was the worker’s cell phone, and she must’ve not heard it in the wee hours of the morning. She felt bad for us not having restroom access so she didn’t charge us for the stay.

End Day 12.