We had read the reviews for this place, but it didn’t prepare us for how much we would really like it here. Or how much we wanted to stay longer! Travelers Rest/N. Greenville KOA Holiday was planned as Stop #11, a 3-night stopover from June 12-15, 2019, on Road Trip 2019. Just a place to hang out and rest up before we got to another one of our “prime destinations.” We certainly did not expect to fall in love with this campground or this part of South Carolina!
Our experience in the past with a Holiday KOA usually involved some type of tourist destination and a resort-y campground with lots of activities and amenities targeting families, which is fine for the families but a bit overwhelming for us.
By contrast, this campground had everything that pushes our buttons (in no particular order):
- Premium campsites with plenty of space and really nice fire pits and furniture
- Trees to provide a view and some shade, but not to drop limbs or leaves on top of our roof or slide outs.
- Beautiful landscaping
- Plenty of room to walk the dogs
- Peace and quiet
- Friendly neighbors (not that the campground has anything to do with neighborliness, but it definitely adds to the good feelings about a place when you meet nice people!)
- Nearby things to do if we have time
It truly measured up to its name as a “travelers rest” and as a “holiday”. The love and attention that the owners have put into this place is both refreshing and appreciated.
One of the features we liked about the premium sites here, that makes quite a lot of sense, is the use of gravel around the utilities poles. The sewer hose, the power, and the water hose are not sitting in dirt – or even a mud puddle if it’s rainy, which it has been for much of June for us.
I don’t think the regular sites are set up this way, but it makes so much sense. It benefits the RVer because our stuff isn’t in the dirt or mud, and it’s easier to maintain for the campground. Nothing to mow or weed-whack around.
We were a bit concerned that ring of trees surrounding us on all sides would negate our ability to use our satellite dish. It was a legitimate concern. However, they did have cable, so crisis (for Dean) averted. Honestly, we don’t spend much time watching TV, but he does like to catch a movie in the evening to wind down when we’re done sitting by the campfire.
Speaking of campfires, Mimi definitely approved of how we spent our evenings here. After the heat and humidity further south, trekking from Florida to Alabama to Georgia, we had at last found a place that cooled off enough to enjoy a fire each night!
The layout of this campground is a single road leading away from Highway 25. It could get interesting if one RV was arriving as another was leaving because it’s a pretty narrow road. All sites back up against a creek. From our site, we couldn’t see the creek unless we walked over to it, but that’s ok. We enjoyed sitting by the fire and admiring the trees. We were at the end of the long road, which means we had very little traffic passing by. It was delightfully peaceful and quiet here. Definitely a winner!
The throughput for my Verizon data signal clocked in at an acceptable 34 Mbps, whereas AT&T was 17.2 Mbps. I could even live with that if I had to, but faster is always better!
One of the other things that we discovered here is that this is a biker’s paradise. Biker as in bicyclist. Maybe even motorcyclists love it here, too, but we didn’t see enough of them to draw that conclusion. We did see that Traveler’s Rest is set up nicely to accommodate bicyclists. According to one of our neighbors, Greenville is worth a visit with your bikes, too, although we never ventured that far. Maybe next time! And maybe next time we’ll even have bicycles!
Dining Out
After having limited choices during the week as we traveled through Alabama and Georgia, and having more time to explore, we took the opportunity to check out a couple of places that looked interesting from a foodie point of view.
Our first night we went to dine at Restaurant 17, which is inside Hotel Domestique. The hotel is a small, boutique hotel with only 13 rooms and partly owned by George Hincapie, a retired professional cyclist. (There’s that bicycle connection again!) No reservations required. We arrived when they opened at 5 pm, and were the first ones there, but people trickled in over the next few hours.
I must admit that I was intrigued that the address here is 10 Road of Vines. We did see grapevines on the hill above the hotel, but apparently they are not under care at the moment. At least, according to our server, they are just there, but not part of a commercial vineyard.
One of the reasons we chose this place is the presence of deviled eggs on the menu, and they were quite tasty here. As was everything else which is based on what happens to be available locally and in season. Dean had the Carolina shrimp risotto and I had the local peach salad. Delish! For entrees, Dean had the heritage pork chop and I had the Sonoma Valley duck breast. All winners! It wasn’t an inexpensive meal, but we hadn’t been out to any place nice in a while, so we indulged ourselves a bit.
And isn’t this the prettiest dessert? I forget the details now, but it was probably a blueberry ice cream. We definitely indulged on this night!
On a different day, we went into the downtown area of Travelers Rest. We scaled it down a bit on the financial side to try out a gastropub, Hare and Field. Guess what – deviled eggs on the menu! Dean is the burger connoisseur, so that’s the direction he went, whereas I opted for the chicken wings. I had a sensitivity to chicken for a while, but now that I’m over that, I’ve been craving wings like crazy! I added a fennel slaw on the side. The food was fine, but not comparable at all to the feast we had at Restaurant 17. But it was still better than visiting a fast-food chain, which we haven’t done in so long that I don’t even remember when!
If we had spent more time in the area, we would have ventured into Greenville and other surrounding areas. This part of South Carolina was new for both of us, and we definitely enjoyed our short stay here and would come back through here if a future road trip brings us this way.
For now, we’re excited about our next stop which will be a three-week stay at Creekwood Farm RV Park in Waynesville, NC.
