EAST COAST USA (DAY FOURTEEN)

It turns out that Myrtle Beach is referred to as "The Red Neck Riviera" and after less than twenty four hours there I am inclined to agree. The town was simply crawling with tourists of every description. The traffic was heavy no matter what time of day and it seemed that the nearby roadway was used as the local drag strip judging by all the roaring engines I could hear from the ccamp site. The crowds of people all desperately trying to find some fun in a very chaotic place just made me want to get out on the road again. I never even went to the ocean. My greasy pizza from the night before was not agreeing with my digestive system so there were several additional bathroom stops that got added to my intinerary.
My destination today was Fort Mill, South Carolina just south of Charlotte, NC. My cousin Mickie and his wife, Katie, live there and I really wanted to see them both before heading back north. I rolled in about 3:00 pm and found nobody home so I just grabbed a nice cold Gaterade from my cooler and made myself comfortable on one of the rockers on their front porch. I hadn't been there more than ten minutes when Mickey pulled up. Perfect timing.
He welcomed me into their home and then helped me put my bike and camper in his unusually empty garage. Katie wasn't expected home from work till later so Mickey took me over to see their new house. The two of them have become "empty nesters" and decided it made good sense at this stage in their life to downsize. They found this little 50's era house on a nice quiet street in Fort Mill and are in the process of a major rennovation before they close on August 11th.
Mickey in his own "man of few words" self had not fully prepared me for the full extent of the "renno". From the outside nothing really seemed out of the ordinary other than the huge blue dumpster in the driveway.

 When he opened the front door and we walked inside I was completely shocked. I wished that somebody could have been there to photograph my face at that exact moment. They have literally gutted the house. The only thing left was the shell, no walls, no wiring, no plumbing, not even ceilings in the rooms just the underside of the roof.

 They are closing in 30 days so the clock is ticking. Remarkably they are both handling this with amazing calm. The plumber was there doing an inspection so he could provide a bid for plumbing the entire house. Many of the houses in this neighbourhood are the same floorplan having all been built by the same builder. Mickey has gotten to know the couple  next door who bought the identical house after it nearly burned to the ground. They showed us around their home and it was gorgeous what they've done with it and really demonstrated the potential these little bungalows have.
It was getting late and Katie had returned so we all headed out for a delicious meal at the Blue Taj, this wonderful Indian retaurant in Charlotte. I think it was the best Tiki Marsala I'd ever had. Yum! Yum! Yum!

That night, after two weeks on the road, enduring intense heat and humidity I got to sleep on a real bed in my own air conditioned room. It was heaven.