Who Needs Gas?

This is Marlene in Belhaven, NC where the marina supplies golf carts to those who want them to go into town. This form of transportation is quite common in the coastal cities. They are permitted to travel on city side streets and come in real handy for short trips. Some of the souped up versions are really cool looking.

The home in the background is a Sears Catalog home - no kidding. It cost about $5,000 at the turn of the century, which included an allotment of $1,500 to build it. Since this was Memorial Day, we celebrated dinner there - the first time we have been alone together on Memorial Day. Hope yours was a good one!

On to North Carolina

A quiet anchorage at sunset near the New River Inlet, North Carolina

This is the first post in several days because of limited access and some problems with our laptop air card. In the past week we have covered most of the North Carolina coastline and are now waiting for the weather to improve so we can cross Albemarle Sound. So for the past week we have been plying the ICW with stops in Southport, Wrightsville Beach, Morehead City, Beaufort, and Belhaven. We are now about 100 miles from the beginning of Chesapeake Bay.

Marlene's Time to Blog

There we are on the front seat as we took a horse drawn carriage tour of Historic Charleston.

We just finished a few hours of cruising in North Carolina. It’s beautiful here! We saw the Outer Banks and homes built 3 and 4 stories high with the first level made for water to flow through in case of storm surges. We were on the “Cape Fear River” for awhile. Doesn’t that sound cool? Now we’re at Wrightsville Beach anchored out in a very calm area.

We just passed 7 weeks on the boat and I celebrated. I didn’t make the bed on day 50, but the next day I got myself back under control and made it again! Hard telling how I’ll celebrate in a few more weeks.

Also, I finally had my hair cut. We were in a very small town and I went into a little store where they were doing hair in the back of the store. It was the only place around. I asked for a “haircut and style”. When I came out Madison asked, “How much did you pay for that?” and I said, “$28.00”. It will grow back!

Last week my Dad, 89 years old, and living in Minnesota, fell and fractured 2 ribs. It was hard being so far away from him and things were “touch and go” for awhile, but I’m grateful to our kids for taking over and seeing that everything that needed to be done for him was done. They’re so good to him and that helped me so much. Now he’s back at Legacy Care and doing well again. Thank you to those who prayed for him!

If any of my friends read this, you need to find out how to log on to this site to leave comments. It’s free, but you do have to register. It will tell you how at the site. I hope I’m not talking to myself here. Bye!

Georgetown, SC to Southport, NC

This is a view from the stern of our boat down the Intracoastal Waterway. The longer we are on this 1000 mile water highway from Key West to Cheasapeake Bay the more I appreciated the engineering marvel that it is. If we had had to go in the open ocean all this time it would have been much more challenging.

Today we arrived in Southport near Cape Fear and Wilmington. I had planned to anchor out but the winds are very strong so the marina got our vote. Also, we can watch the American Idol finals on the cable hookup. Who are you for?

Charleston to Georgetown to Myrtle Beach

Just in case you've check out blog and no entries recently, my laptop card went on the blink and a new one will not be here for a week. I'm typing this from the North Myrtle Beach Library computer.

We anchored out in front of downtown Georgetown, SC. A quaint little town with a lot of history too. It's the third oldest town in the state. We toured a home of one of the former plantation owners where most of the furniture was over 200 years old.

As for our anchoring out experience, the boat kept coming loose from its muddy mooring. Marlene and I got a workout resetting the hook a few times. I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of our boat tapping against another. Fortunately it appeared to be an abandoned sailboat - but a little unnerving just the same.

Pictures and more posts will be forthcoming as soon as I get my new laptop air card from AT&T.

Charleston

Charleston

We stayed two days here. Having been to this city rich in history and sights to see, we hit the ground running upon arrival. First a quick walking tour of the historic district. We walked about five miles from the Charleston City Marina which is the best location if you want to be in the city proper.

On day two I had some boat business (needed to buy a new starting battery ) and then we took the horse-drawn guided tour through Charleston. Our tour guide was the best we have had on any tour. A fairly young guy, he knows the town well from almost any angle. In fact, when it was over, I suggested he run for Mayor.

Charleston is the number one place where the slaves were brought to America, both white and black – sort of the Ellis Island for involuntary immigrants. My sense from having been here the third time is that there is still a significant degree of racial tension. So it may take a couple of more generations to get where most of the rest of the country is on this issue.

A real bonus was having the opportunity to see and have dinner with our long-time friend Linda Bright. We both knew Linda while we were still in college in Springfield, Mo. She and Marlene shared an apartment before we were married. Linda is doing very well now in the medical field as a senior practioner in palliative care.

Savannah to Beaufort, SC to Charleston, SC

Like many cars these days, boats also have GPS systems. They are a great aide to navigation but you always want to have the the back up of official charts to be able to confirm where you’re going just in case the little electronic gizmos don’t work like they should. It’s not like a car if you get lost. You could easily wind up on a sand bar or worse.

To make it more exciting, I have found that when one thing goes wrong, there are two or three other things that go wrong at the same time. Case in point: We were about 5 miles from our destination of Beaufort, NC when I saw on the GPS that the screen would not register our channel markers to make sure we were heading in the right direction. We were actually in open waters going across Port Royal Sound, a wide expanse of water at the end of a river just before it empties into the ocean. At about the same time, the waves began to pick up as we moved into less protected waters. Our boat is very seaworthy but it can pitch considerably when going into the trough of the large waves. Things started flying off the tables and shelves as we were trying to make our way into safer waters while not running aground. Marlene took a Meclazine while we were both trying to read the charts. I should have been more prepared to read them. As it turned out, we made it fine. I later discovered that it was my error on the GPS (I had it zoomed out too far).

Beaufort is a quaint little coastal town but we used it mainly as a stopover to get to Charleston the next day. The Beaufort – Charleston leg was about 75 miles in all. But we made it by 3:00pm in time to begin our tour of this town rich in history and tradition. More on Charleston in our next posting.

Another Must See - Savannah

One of the values of my bus driving for the Sara Groves tours was getting a sense of how to get where in the various cities and towns we visited. So when we knew we had four days here in Savannah, Ga., we figured out how to make the best of our time here. Among the highlights of our visit to this beautiful city were a complete guided tour of historic Savannah, Georgia. Lots of history going back to the 1700's and the revolutionary war. Makes you appreciate what our forefathers went through to make this nation what it is. Without going into detail, just Google Savannah for the places to see and we probably saw it.

Also, this morning we celebrated Mothers Day as Marlene opened her cards and gifts and received telephone calls. We really enjoyed the worship and the pastor's Mothers day message at Southside Assembly of God. It turns out that the associate pastor is one of those first generation Christians -- so I am excited about getting his interview.

Following church, we decided to drive to Hilton Head Island, only 30 miles away. Our good friends Jim and Sandy Robertson have been going there for 7 partial Winters now and we can understand why.

Tomorrow we head for Beaufort, S.C. The weather has been acting up a bit, but it looks doable right now.

Greetings from Marlene in Georgia

After 5 weeks cruising all the way around Florida, we have arrived in Georgia. If you wondered, now you know why this trip is going to take 9+ months to complete 6000 miles! Tomorrow we reach Savannah and will stay a few days. I’ve never been there and am really looking forward to it.

We’re 36 days into this trip, and I must say, we’re doing quite well! I think it really helps to have separate baths, showers and closets at opposite ends of the boat. Plus, the Captain has to be really nice to me because he needs my help every day with getting us into and out of Marinas and Anchorages and steering the boat while he tries to find out where we are. We’re having fun! (I read 11 books in April!)

Last weekend was so great because we had Kyle and Josie with us! Ask them how crowded it was in the V-Berth! It’s a good thing Josie was short. Hopefully, we’ll get to see all of our kids in the next few months.

Madison is out on a bike ride just now and after he checks out the area, I may take my bike out again. All of my cuts and bruises have healed after my fall into the Bougainvilleas on my first time out! I did really well on the empty, open parking lot, but not so great when I had to maneuver myself on narrow sidewalks where there are people! I became acutely aware that I hadn’t ridden a bike for 50 years. Yikes! - At just this point in my writing, Madison came in and said it was beautiful outside and he wanted me to go for a bike ride with him, so I did. And, I didn’t even fall. There were no people or cars around, just rural Georgia. I look terrible in my helmet, but it does have Hawaiian flowers on it!

Now we’ve had a salmon and baked potato dinner which isn’t so bad for on a boat. Tomorrow night we’re going out to eat in Savannah!

Thank you to everyone who has written and said they’re praying for us. We greatly appreciate it as we continue on this journey.

Jacksonville and our time with Kyle and Josie

We were so busy I haven't been able to get this message off to you. Here's what we did:

• Jacksonville Beach on Thursday


• Cruise to downtown Jacksonville at the Jacksonville Landing (up the St. John's River) with Josie as our third crew member while Kyle was meeting with a client who also happen to make my Acuvue contact lenses


• Drive to another beach (Mickler's Beach) on the Atlantic Ocean that is more family friendly - lots of kids playing in the tidal pools and enjoying the sun.


• Attended Christ's Church on Sunday morning, a mega church here in Jacksonville where I was also on tour with Andrew Peterson and Sara last Christmas while driving the bus. Kyle got some good ideas I'm sure he will share with the folks back home.
• Josie collected many sea shells and a good bit of sand for her return to Minnesota. Dad said the shells can come but the sand had to stay.
• Saturday night we grilled steaks. The only glitch was an overheated generator quit on us and not all the food was cooked. But we made it work and still enjoyed the evening which also included several exciting rounds of Dominos.
• Kyle and Josie left for the airport last night.

Tonight we are about 40 miles further up the coast at Fernandino Beach, part of Amelia Island. This is a quaint little town with a lot of those unique shops that appeal to the shopping instincts of the Admiral. So our departure tomorrow will be more like noon as we plan to be in Savannagh by Thursday.

The Mystery Guests Arrive....

What a treat to be able to be with our son Kyle and granddaughter Josie for the weekend. Kyle had a business appointment in Jacksonville tomorrow and it worked out that Josie could come too. The picture is of them at Jacksonville Beach. We are docked at a marina about 2 miles away. Tomorrow we cruise to Jacksonville’s downtown area to rejoin Kyle back from his appointment while we have another crew member to help us ply up the St. Johns river for about 30 miles. (Note: as with all these pictures, you can click on them to enlarge the image)