Charleston, SC – On our last day at this spot, we had to decide what, of the many choices available, to explore that would also allow us time to do a few mundane things before hitting the road again. Our choice was to see the military museum on board the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, permanently moored in Mount Pleasant, across the harbour from the city of Charleston.
Since our KOA is also in Mount Pleasant, it was only a short hop to Patriots Point, where the massive carrier is flanked by a destroyer and a submarine, all accessible through one ticket purchase. Being early January, we had few other visitors to encumber our explorations, so we roamed freely through the bowels of the carrier, viewing the cramped bunks where seamen slept, checking out the mess (where a chocolate chip cookie recipe was posted that called for 500 eggs and 12 pounds of chocolate chips!), and peering into the dentist’s offices, engine rooms and machine shops.
We also visited the Medal of Honor Museum on the hangar deck of the carrier, where bios and pictures of war heroes recounted tales of valor dating back to the Civil War to the Second World War, Vietnam and beyond. One 12-year-old drummer boy received the honor from President Lincoln when he alone held on to his assigned instrument while others, including much older soldiers, abandoned their arms and fled, unequipped, from danger.
If we felt like a stomach-churning experience, we could have paid to ride in the gyrating flight simulator that was set up on the hangar deck, but we decided to skip it! Instead, Val climbed up the stairs and settled into the pilot’s seat of a TF-9 Cougar fighter jet and let his imagination take flight.
Above board, we strolled the massive flight deck, where more than half a dozen fighter planes of various types and vintages were on display, and observed the busy port across the harbour where, at the time of our visit, a huge container ship was being led in by a pilot boat, and many pleasure boats were cruising around in the pleasant weather.
There were lots of steep, narrow staircases on the aircraft carrier that we climbed up and down, and we walked the full length of the huge decks more than 800 feet long, so when we left it we were content to have only brief looks at the destroyer, USS Laffey and submarine, the USS Clamagore also on display. The sub was in very poor shape, with rust and crumbling holes at water level, but the destroyer had been recently refurbished and looked quite spiffy.
On the way back to the campground, we found a place that sold pay-as-you-go cell phones, so we now have a means of communication with the outside world! We got the laundry all up to date as well. Tomorrow we hit the road again, continuing our journey southward.
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