DO NOT TAKE YOUR BIKE TO CHARLESTON SC

We set out for a full day of sightseeing in historic old Charleston. We followed the excellent signage to the Visitors Center and pulled into the parking lot in front of the Center. The sign on the lot said NO MOTORCYCLES and a nasty angry parking attendant came out of her booth and said YOU CAN NOT PARK HERE. I got off the bike and said where should I park. She said go inside and ask them in the Visitors Center but move your bike - By this time several cars had lined up behind us all trying to enter the parking lot. I went over to the booth and asked her where I should park while I went ask where to park. She said I should go around back. We got the line of cars to back up and got the bikes turned around in the narrow brick driveway and set out around the block. After circling two blocks we discovered a driveway behind the Visitors Center that had a sign that said that only motorcycles should park in the motorcycle parking spots - this was encouraging. We entered the lot and found all the motorcycle slots fenced off so we parked in a car spot and purchased a parking ticket using a credit card which we placed on Bev's Bike - we hoped it wouldn't blow away.

We went into the Visitor's Center and lined up to talk to a representative of the good city. We finally got to the counter; Bev politely explained our unhappiness with this discrimination against bikers - Dave was too angry to say anything civil . The woman behind the counter explained that a biker had been struck by a gate on a parking lot and had successfully sued the City (for a whack of money). As a result bikes were not permitted in lots with gates. She directed us to a lot several blocks away that had meters and allowed bikes. When we got to the lot we realized that we did not have enough change to park long enough to see anything and so we returned to the lot behind the Visitors Center where we could use a credit card to purchase 2 hr worth of parking.

We finally left the bikes in this lot and went to explore Charleston. When we got to the Market area we saw cars in metered parking spots with boots bolted on the tires. This town is serious about parking enforcement. Due to fear of having our bikes locked up we returned to the Visitors Center every 2 hours to purchase more parking tickets. In spite of our parking woes we really enjoyed Charleston and highly recommend it to fellow tourists who drive CARS.