James Island County Park

We stayed at the James Island County Park campground in Charleston, South Carolina. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice county park.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-03-16
Check out: 2025-03-23
7 nights

Weather:

A mix of rain and partly sunny
High temps 63-73°F, lows 45-54°F
Some wind, gusts to 33 MPH, but sheltered by trees

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Little neighbor noise
Occasional plane noise

Site:

#29, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Somewhat level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 110 feet long by 12 feet wide
50 feet to neighbor on passenger side
25-50 feet to road on driver side
Tall trees between sites
Picnic table
Fire pit
Clean site
Elevation 10 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
75 PSI water, conveniently located
Unthreaded sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 50 Mbps down, 6-13 Mbps up, 30-45 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: 6 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 90-160 ms ping
T-Mobile: 13-23 Mbps down, 0.25 Mbps up, 70-130 ms ping
AT&T: 30-270 Mbps down, 0.1-0.3 Mbps up, 100-220 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 45 ms ping (our SIM has 5 Mbps max)

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters and recycling
Water park

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice park close to Charleston

This campground is in the middle of a large county park and close to everything Charleston offers. Our site was unlevel side-to-side, but not too bad. The tree cover made getting Starlink reception tricky but not impossible, and it was the best coverage of any of the cellular networks. The roads to the park were a bit dicey for a big rig–very narrow and with lots of big trees close to and over the road. We camped at Campground at James Island County Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

Park map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site, a very long pull-through amongst trees:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Other sites; there was an Airstream rally going on, so there were a lot of them around:

Other sites

Games:

Games

Bathrooms with outside laundry:

Bathrooms with outside laundry

Bike hire:

Bike hire

A nice park. We’d be happy to stay here again.

Video

Video: Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 214 miles from Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina.

Travel from Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina

We drove our coach 214 miles, about five hours of driving, from Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:

Route map

An interactive map:

Joining I-95 North:

Joining I-95 North

Bridge:

Bridge

Buc-ees under construction:

Buc-ees under construction

Rest area:

Rest area

Paladin on the driver chair:

Paladin on the driver chair

Rainy:

Rainy

Having a snack while watching the map showing lightning nearby:

Snack and lightning nearby

US Air Force plane outside an Air Force museum:

US Air Fore plane

Heavy traffic:

Heavy traffic

Welcome to South Carolina:

Welcome to South Carolina

Rest area:

Rest area

Charleston exit:

Charleston exit

Arriving at James Island County Park:

Arriving at James Island County Park

Check in:

Check in

Arriving at our site:

Arriving at our site

Override Tecma macerating toilet controller with this one weird trick

Last year I posted about replacing the controller in our Tecma macerating toilet. I concluded the post saying that it failed again even after replacing the controller, and I suspected the pump might be the fault.

To test this, I rearranged the wires, so the power wire to the toilet and the pump wire could be reached at the back of the toilet without having to dismount it again. Conveniently, they both have the same style plug, so it is possible to connect the pump directly to the power supply, bypassing the controller, so it runs continuously — obviously only briefly, before disconnecting again. That was enough to get the pump moving again. It has been working flawlessly since then. But if it were to ever stop again, I can easily repeat that process.

Toilet

Toilet wires

Crooked River State Park

We stayed at Crooked River State Park in Saint Marys, Georgia. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A pleasant stop on our way north.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-03-09
Check out: 2025-03-16
7 nights

Weather:

Partly sunny, some rain
High temps 62-76°F, lows 48-62°F
Some wind, gusts to 32 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Little neighbor noise

Site:

#62, back-in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
Mostly level site; a little high on rear passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 20 feet wide
30 feet to neighbor on passenger side
75 feet to road on driver side
Trees and shrubs between sites providing good privacy
Picnic table
Fire pit
Lantern hooks
Tall trees
Clean site
Elevation 20 feet, front facing due West

Utilities:

50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
45 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 28-38 Mbps down, 9-10 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
AT&T: 115-127 Mbps down, 13-20 Mbps up, 50-85 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping (our SIM has 5 Mbps max)
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
River

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Lovely state park

Not all campsites here have full hookups, but we were lucky enough to get a reservation for one. Our back-in site was plenty long enough for our 40-foot motorhome and tow vehicle. All the connections were good, and the campground hosts were on the ball, cleaning sites as soon as they were vacated. The campground is peaceful, with lots of nice, easy trails to enjoy. Note that the boardwalk has been removed from the loop behind the nature center, and we had to hop around some very large puddles to get around. Despite signs warning of snakes and gators, we saw neither, but we did see an armadillo, which was exciting as I’d never seen one that wasn’t roadkill. We camped at Crooked River State Park in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Jekyll Island (Driftwood Beach) and Fort Frederica National Monument are both worth a daytrip. Locals Dockside had excellent seafood, and historic St Marys is a cute little town.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Pollen on our truck:

Pollen on our truck

Other sites:

Other sites

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

The first time we’ve seen a live armadillo:

The first time we've seen a live armadillo

Venomous snake country:

Venomous snake country

Little library:

Little library

Mini golf:

Mini golf

Cabins and screened picnic area:

Cabins and screened picnic area

Shelter building:

Shelter building

Dangerous cliff:

Dangerous cliff

A nice park; we’d be happy to stay here again.

Video

Video: Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 273 miles from Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia.

Travel from Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia

We drove our coach 273 miles, about five hours of driving, from Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:

Route map

An interactive map:

A tight corner leaving the campground, made more tricky by vehicles parked close to the road, but we didn’t have any difficulties:

Tight corner leaving campground

I-4 East:

I-4 East

Rest area:

Rest area

Heavy traffic and an RV on the side of the freeway:

Heavy traffic and RV on the side of the freeway

RV on the side of the freeway

Traffic cams with our coach:

Traffic cam with our coach

Passing downtown Orlando:

Downtown Orlando

I-95 North; we appreciate road markings on lanes to make it very clear where we need to be:

I-95 North

Snuggly Paladin:

Snuggly Paladin

Handy rest area truck parking spaces available sign:

Handy rest area truck parking space available sign

Rest area:

Rest area

I suspect they don’t want anyone parking there:

I suspect they don't want anyone parking there

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

$296.20 of diesel, before our discount:

$296.20 of diesel, before our discount

Rainy:

Rainy

The Napoleon Bonaparte Broward bridge aka Dames Point bridge in Jacksonville, lost in the clouds. Apparently some Floridians are scared of this bridge, because it’s so high (and Floridians aren’t used to high places, being such a flat state!):

Bridge lost in the clouds

Thank you for visiting Florida:

Thank you for visiting Florida

Welcome to Georgia, state of inconveniently-placed poles:

Welcome to Georgia

Sub outside Kings Bay Sub Base:

Sub outside Kings Bay Sub Base

Crooked River State Park:

Crooked River State Park

Our site:

Our site

Peeking behind the wet bay

As previously mentioned, I had my wet bay modified to integrate the water filters and water softener, plus add valves and connections so I could regenerate and backflush the softener without having to remove it. Very handy. But it wasn’t hooked up quite right, so I pulled apart the wet bay to investigate. I determined that the pipes were reversed from how I wanted them, but the good news is that I was able to flip the water softener around (so the input and output were reversed), and change the labels on the valves and connectors, and now the system works properly. Yay!

Anyway, I thought I’d share some pictures of the complex hoses back there:

Pipes

Fascinating stuff.

Thousand Trails Peace River

We stayed at Thousand Trails Peace River in Wauchula, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

We had some concerns about staying here, based on reviews, but were pleasantly surprised.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-03-02
Check out: 2025-03-09
7 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny, a little rain
High temps 68-82°F, lows 43-63°F
A little wind, gusts to 25 MPH

Noise:

Negligible road noise
No train horn noise
A little neighbor noise

Site:

#C50, back-in, grass
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Very level site, surprisingly; used hydraulic leveling
Grass site about 55 feet long by 40 feet wide
Just grass between sites
Picnic table
Fire pit
Tall trees
Somewhat clean site; a bottle and a few other bits of trash (TT doesn’t clean sites)
Elevation 40 feet, front facing North

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
45 PSI water, conveniently located
No sewer connection; pump-out service available (one free per week, $15 for extra)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 10-26 Mbps down, 11-16 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
T-Mobile: 290 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
AT&T: 435 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool
River

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Better than expected

We were somewhat skeptical before our stay here since the reviews weren’t all that great, but we decided to try it anyway and were pleasantly surprised. There were sites available in the full-hookup section, but opted for a w/e-only site since they offer one free pump out per week. The full-hookup sites are smaller and at the front of the park, closer to the highway and noise. The sites closer to the river were much quieter and spread out, so the slight inconvenience of no sewer was a fair trade. Since the hurricane that blew through a few years ago, all sites have been upgraded to 50A (the previous lack of 50A was our main hesitation based on earlier reviews). The campground got a bit busier and noisier (up in the full-hookup section) on the weekend, but it was otherwise a peaceful stay. We camped at Thousand Trails Peace River in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site, in the non-sewer section; more spacious and quieter than the sewer section:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

A squirrel on our picnic table:

Squirrel

Towards the end of our stay the waste tanks were getting a little full:

Full waste tanks

We wanted to empty them for our travel day anyway, so we went to the office to schedule the free honeywagon pumpout; they gave us this sign to put in our window:

Honeywagon sign