Crossin' the Border

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Once again, if you have been reading and riding along, you know that my favorite riding partner and I like to ride to State Parks. One of the reasons is to check out potential camping spots. With that in mind, we decided to head south of the border, the one between North and South Carolina, to check out a potential tent setup.

We started south on this Sunday Afternoon down State Road 200, through Locust and Stanfield. We veered to the right on Morgan Academy Road. We were a little surprised the road didn't have a reference to a church in it, since it seemed all the roads around here did. We joined up with State Road just before New Salem.

In New Salem, we turned to the left, and headed down Highway 205. Not any kind of interstate or anything, just country road with a State Number to identify it. We meandered on this ribbon of asphalt until it ran us into Marshville.

We made a little jog in town, and exited heading south on White Street, which turned into Landsford Road. We followed the twist and turns until the road came to an end. We turned left, and made our way down White Store Road. Store seems to be a regular part of names down here, too.

A right turn put us on a highlight of the trip, Union Church Road. It would have been more enjoyable if we weren't on edge by the "Loose Gravel" and "Road Construction" signs that appeared every half mile. We didn't any evidence of either, but proceeded cautiously.

We joined up on State Road 742, and headed south. There was no big sign or announcement of our changing of states, or I would have stopped to get a photo. The next town to pop up was Chesterfield. It would be a left turn, and right turn, and we would leave town on State Road 102.

Along the way to Patrick, South Carolina, we made a brief stop. I was having some GPS Issues, and Kasey need a leg stretch. This was her first long ride in quite a while. We stopped in the shade of a tree at a church. 

We were only about 20 miles from the state park, so we mounted up, and headed into Patrick. We would turn east after crossing the tracks, and head toward Cheraw on State Road One. We passed several tree farms full of southern yellow pines growing in a sandy soil. We noticed about a mile from the border that the North Carolina red clay began to change, and two miles later, we were in the midst of a sandy yellow soil.

We made our way to the park, and cruised to the park office. We met the nicest lady there, and had a great conversation with her, including talking about her trip to Indiana later in the year. We let her know a couple of places she might want to visit.

Next, we took the short trip to the campgrounds, on the other side of the lake. It was up a compacted dirt road, and the grounds were small, only 17 sites, most on the water.

We were pretty happy with our visit to the campgrounds, just a little bewildered as to why there are not more campsites? The area didn't look busy, either.

We rolled back out of the campground, and then headed north up US Highway 52 into the town of Cheraw. By the way, it is pronounced Chi-raw. Part of Crossin' the Border is learning to know how to say things.

Our bellies were groaning, and it was time to grab a bite to eat. Kasey had seen a sign for Huddle House, and even though it is chain, it is not one that is Indiana, so I figured we would stop. I have learned the first hunch is always the best. We were happy with our afternoon meal. 

We continued heading north on US 52 through the rest of town, and then crossed back into our home land. This section of 52 is two lanes, and lined with trees. Just as scenic as the section we have ridden in Indiana, just different scenes, but no wind turbines.

Wadesboro, North Carolina was the next big berg that we passed through. We continued on 52, heading north, until we got to Norwood. We were already back in Stanly County.

We took South Stanly School road west to Aquadale, where the road jogs to State Road 138. These roads wind through and over the hills of Stanly County. It was a pleasant ride full of gentle rises and sweeping corners.

In Oakboro, we saw a group of other bikes taking a break in the shade of a business not open at the time. We head down Main Street, and on our way to State Highway 24/27. This also took us through Red Cross. Kasey thought most of these were areas, not really towns. There are a lot of little communities grouped close together.

We veered from the road plan here, heading on 24/27 through Locust, and to the Shell Station to the fill the tank back up. A pretty good one tank trip, crossin' the border and scoping out some place to camp in the future.