Ocean Water and Firestone

The next morning, we bid Margaret farewell as she left for work before collecting our things, taking one last shower, and hitting the road again. We set our sights on the Atlantic coast and headed down the interstate towards Charleston, SC. We really wanted to stop by Congaree National Park in the middle of South Carolina; unfortunately, damage and flooding from hurricane Helene meant the park was closed for the foreseeable future. Along the way, we stopped at a college library to do some work and kill a bit of time before arriving in Charleston. Once in town, we headed towards a quiet neighborhood where we made dinner and spent the night. Although fall might have started elsewhere, it certainly had not in Charleston: it was a hot and humid night that was anything but restful.

We got up early the next morning and headed to a coffee shop where I spent most of the morning and afternoon while Faith ran some errands and explored town. After I was done working for the day, we headed into the town’s historic district to see what it had. We found a parking spot along the shore and wandered through old (1700s!) streets and let our eyes feast upon beautiful colonial architecture. After finding some historic buildings and civil war monuments, we meandered back to the van and continued up the road. As the sun fell, we were headed north up the coast to find a place to sleep… or so we thought. Just as we were getting out of town, our check engine light started flashing. Uh oh. We pulled over, made a few calls and did some internet research on what was probably the issue. We determine it was likely an issue with either the ignition coils or spark plugs and, though it didn’t feel good, we could drive it if absolutely necessary. Since we have AAA, I submitted a towing request to be brought to the nearest auto shop. Then, we sat there and waited… and waited… and waited until I had had enough (>1 hour with no sign of help) and drove us slowly back into town. We stopped at an AutoZone and had them read the codes: sure enough, it was a faulty ignition coil. Faith and I figured we might be able to do it ourselves, but an initial examination of the issue revealed it was beyond our capabilities. So, we parked at Kohl’s for the night and waited until the nearby Firestone opened in the morning. It wasn’t until 1030, over 2 hours after I had submitted the tow request, that a AAA employee called us. I told him to not bother trying to pick us up and promptly fell asleep.

Firestone opened at 7 AM, and we were through the door at 7:01. They said they were pretty well booked but would try to get us in, so we plopped down at a nearby coffee shop and worked for the rest of the day. Afternoon approached, and we hadn’t heard a peep from Firestone, so I gave them a jangle around 4PM.

Me: “Hey, have you had a chance to look at our vehicle?”
Employee: “Uhh, no…” <brief pause> “They’re pulling it around now.”

The lady called me back shortly and informed me that they probably wouldn’t be able to service it that day.

Me: “Why not?”
Employee: “We don’t have the parts here.”
Me: “I know the parts are just down the road at AutoZone; it’s like a 3 minute drive.”
Employee: “Well, the problem is finding a driver.”
Me: <sigh> “Okay, we’ll bring it back tomorrow.”

So, we picked up our vehicle again about the time they closed at 7PM (3 hours after that call) and spent another night sleeping in the Kohl’s parking lot.

The next morning, our third day in the Charleston area, we got the faulty ignition coil and spark plugs replaced and were going down the road at around 10 AM. We had lost a lot of time to the repairs, so we were planning on spending the majority of the day driving to make up some distance. About an hour down the road, we got a call from the Firestone.

Employee: “You need to pull over and come back right now.”
Me: “Uhh, why?”
Employee: “We just found your engine oil cap.”
Me: “We’re an hour away, we’re not coming back. We’ll get a part from an auto parts store and you can refund us.”

The lady agreed, and we spent the next few minutes checking our oil levels to make sure they were okay before heading to a nearby auto parts store. Thankfully, only a little oil had spilled and we were able to get a new oil cap without issue. We had no work done that would require that they take the oil cap off, so why they had removed it is beyond me. Without further ado, we kept driving up the coast and soon found ourselves at Myrtle Beach. I still had stuff to get done, so we stopped at a coffee shop for a bit before seeing what the town had to offer. We were pretty hungry, so we decided to stop at a local seafood joint and get some freshly fried fish, green tomatoes, and potatoes. It was a tasty if heavy meal that we followed up with a walk along the beach. If you didn’t know, Myrtle Beach is known for the many shark teeth that wash up on the shore. We didn’t know if we were going to find any, but we certainly were going to try. After searching for a while, I found something that didn’t quite look right. Upon closer inspection, we realized it was a shark tooth! Once we knew what they looked like, we started finding them left and right. As night fell, we joyously took our haul of teeth back to the van and found a nearby spot to sleep. Similar to the past several nights, it was warm and humid, making for a fairly restless night.

Stats

• ~325 miles driven
• 2 days at the car shop
• 20 shark teeth found
• 3 hot, humid, uncomfortable nights

Animals Seen

• Dolphins
• Blue crab
• Sea gulls
• Cormorants
• Pelicans