Cooper's Travels 2014, The Carolina's

May 28, 2014

Cooper's Travels 2014, The Carolina's

On April 22, we packed up to go north.

Car is hooked up and slides are in

Freddy is in his seat

Cathy is in hers

Al is his. We are ready.

200 miles and 4 hours we made our first stop, Jacksonville FL. Nothing here to see, just an overnight stop.

I still have to level the coach. Luckily all I have to do is push a button.

Next morning, back on the road.

Thru GA

on into SC. We stopped in the little town of Canadys. We will be here 6 nights.

During WWII, the army operated an air base near here in the town of Walterboro

And a few years ago this memorial was place here.

This base was used as an advanced training base for fighter pilots heading for Europe.
The most notable were the Tuskegee Airmen.

They trained on several aircraft but flew P51s, escorting B17s over Germany. They have the distinction of NEVER losing any bomber they were escorting.
They had the tails of their planes painted red so the Germans knew who they were.
A little known fact, not all of the Tuskegee pilots flew fighter planes. There was a squadron that flew B17s that trained in Columbus IN. We went to that museum a few years ago

The base was also a WWII POW camp and a camouflage training center.

Just to show that I also drive a car sometimes.

On April 29, we arrived at North Myrtle Beach for a RV rally. We had 19 coaches there. We know most of them but had a few new members.

One night we visited Dolly Parton's dinner theater for Pirates Voyage.

We had a good meal and show.

When we got back to the park, this sunset was waiting for us.

We had a "Kentucky Derby" party on derby day. Some of the ladies wore their "Derby hats"

The rest of us just enjoyed ourselves.

While at the rally, we had good catered food, entertainment, fun happy hours and lots of catching up with friends.

On the day after the rally, Cathy and I went to the "Calabash Restaurant" It is claimed to be the inspiration for Jimmy Durante's signature show :sign off", Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, where ever you are".

On the road again. Starting to get into the hilly section of NC

We are in Advance NC. It is just north of Charlotte and close to most NASCAR shops.

South of us in Concord NC, home to Charlotte Motor Sports race track.

Also home to Hendrick Motor Sports.

Hendrick MS has cars currently driven by Dale Earnhart Jr, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson and Kasey Kahne. A must place to visit.

I started at the museum.

One of Jimmy Johnson's Daytona 500 winning cars exactly as it was in winners circle. The champagne on it caused the graffiti to stick. The front splitter was torn off during celebrations.

Jeff Gordons Jurassic Park car

and of course Ken Schrader's 1995 Talledega car

exactly as it finished after flipping end over end several times.

This was caused by teammate Jeff Gordon bumping him in the rear.

Thats racing.

A car with template on top. The cars have to pass this template to pass inspection at the tracks.

A lot of people do not know that Tony Stewart drove one Nationwide race for Hendrick

Tony "Smoke" Stewart's car

A pit box used by Johnson's crew

Hendrick MS has two race shops. One for the 48 and 88 cars, driven by Earnhart Jr and Jimmy Johnson;

Johnson car

Jr car

note the clean floors and the guy in the foreground. He moved from spot to spot cleaning.

All shiny now.

Now to the shop for #4 and #24, Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon

The #5 has been around for a long time. Here is one of the cars Terry Labonte drove during a championship year.

When NASCAR decided to have a truck series, Rick Hendrick decided to build one to drive himself.

Rick drove it for one race then hired Jack Sprague, who later won a championship with it.

Another car in this shop is "Blacker", one of Gordon's favorites. It is the most successful car in Hendrick MS history, 6 poles, 12 wins and over 1.5 million earnings.

It was painted with Duponts ChromaLusion paint, $250.00 per PINT. It changes color according to the light. I have a Diecast of this car and it changes colors also. It may be light yellow in one light and change to deep purple in another or any color in between.

.

Their shop.

Now to Richard Childress Racing.

His early mission.

We have been to the museum here before but not the race shops.

This time the shops.

The hauler truck garage.

Sprint cup garage

The Nation Wide garage. In this garage, visitors are actually allowed on the garage floor and can talk to mechanics.

Richard Childress also has a local winery with a very good Bistro

He does grow most of his grapes.

another view

Then we found out that Cathy had to see her Doctor. She made an appointment and we had 2 weeks, so we decided to spend one in South Carolina.

We decided on the little town of Yemassee, SC.
In Yemassee there is a restaurant that was converted from a gas station and garage called "Harold's Country Club".
They are only open Thur, Fri, and Sat nights.

Sat night is steak night, a 16 oz sirloin for 2

, 2 baked potatos, 2 salads, rolls and iced tea, $25.00 including tax.