Mrytle Beach South Carolina and North Carolina Boondocking

This morning we left our site at Honey Hill Campground and drove about 30 miles to Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach is a neat little town that we had to drive by mostly much to the girls dismay as they see the beach through peek a boo views as we drive...not to mention driving by about 25 mini golf places, amusements parks, water slides and more interesting things for 3 and 5 year olds!

There are many beach access spots along Ocean Blvd with parking.

However there is NO ROOM to try to park an RV anywhere. Just as we finished telling the girls we probably couldn't go to the beach here we found a more residential area with street parking.

We parked, had lunch and headed to the beach for a couple hours. The water was wonderful, the sand was perfect and the waves were delightltful!

Surfer girl Sierra riding her imaginary surf board

Tooples by a wave

Aayla prefers to stay near the safety of the shore

We were sad to have to pack up and leave but knowing that we still had a long drive to get to the Croatan National Forest we had to leave :(

We arrived at the forest at about 6:00 and headed to Long Point Boat Launch which has some dispersed camping sites right on the lake. (sorry forgot to take a picture) However these posts were all small and there was no room for us to park, or turn around so Ian had to back down the Forest Service Rd until he could find a place to turn around. Thankgoodness he does the driving...I would have been in deep trouble if I needed to back down that road!

We continued on searching for other spots. The National Forests here are weird...with lots of residential areas so finding a road off to the side and entering in search of a boondocking spot is a bit more difficult.

We did get lucky though. Right in the middle of the Croatan National Forest we found this little lake and enjoyed the wildlife present.

The forest in front of us

then we turn around and you see this

YES that is a Walmart and Yes it is in the town of Havelok which YES is in the middle of the National Forest!!! Since no typical boondocking sites were to be found we were thankful that this National Forest has 4 lane highways with Ford dealerships and Walmarts to camp for the night in!

4 lane highways and cities in the middle of a National Forest???
I say PARDON?

Sierra decided to let Fasty the second go tonight so she pet him for awhile, caught him and let him go by the pond.

Aayla hugging a tree in the middle of the Croatan National Forest..
oh wait that's not a tree...but yes there is a Walmart in the National Forest...go figure???

Sierra catching Fasty the 2nd to let go home to his family

Surprise...he jumped out and landed on her unexpectedly

Bye Fasty we will miss you

As the sun sets in our Walmart parking lot in the middle of a National Forest

We go inside to discover we have our own little stream inside our Forest River Surveyor. (Hey if Forests can have Walmarts we can have stream inside!)

Guess we found some more warranty work...luckily Ian can give it a quick fix so we can have water in the meantime. Can you believe they put a nail right through the water hose??? Thankfully it wasn't through the electrical! makes us really wonder about puncturing the roof though and voiding our warranty to put up solar panels!