A Beautiful Finish

Myrtle Beach The FINAL Day

Day 53

Friday June 19, 2009

It was already hot when we awoke. We realized that we couldn’t spend much time on the beach, and that any time spent there would have to be early in the day. Not like years ago, when we'd get too much sun...aging makes one listen to their body!

We were on the beach before ten o’clock. As we walked toward the beach I was taken by the spectacle of many rainbow colored beach umbrellas against the backdrop of brilliant blue sky and white sand. I had been thinking to myself that the sun was going to feel like we were under a broiler and that in the shade of an umbrella, it would be fairly comfortable. Then it dawned on me that we’ve never owned a beach umbrella, never.

I turned to Jim asking, “Why don’t we have a beach umbrella? It would make it so much more comfortable.”

He wrinkled his brow for a second and answered, “I don’t know….why don’t we? It’s taken us 43 years to realize this?”

We both laughed at our ‘DUH’ moment. In all fairness, we’ve had pools for so many years, we could always duck out of the sun and before that we lived in RI where every ray of warm sunshine was much appreciated!

We’re going to get a nice beach umbrella…soon.

Beach at the Apache Campground

It's called the 'Grand Strand' and it is grand indeed




Colorful umbrellas by the Apache Pier

Packed in, but only three sites from the ocean

We lasted about an hour on the beach. Don’t suggest that I keep cool by taking a dip in the nice, refreshing ocean. I don’t do salt water anymore. Remember, my son is a commercial fisherman….he tells me too many things about what lurks just below the surface, yeah he does. Besides, whether it’s a hunk of seaweed or a great white shark that touches my leg while I’m in the ocean…I will react exactly the same way. I would hope that someone, anyone would catch that moment on on video for YouTube when I,d prove to the word that Jesus wasn’t the only one able to walk on water. I’d do Him one better…I’d be RUNNING on water!

Guess I took too much time taking pictures....he came looking for me!


I could get used to a view like this...



The beach was great, but the hour plus we stayed was our limit. After a cooling shower, we headed off in the Jeep for lunch. On the way we took a little detour to view some of the area where the forest fires occurred earlier this year. Huge fires of this sort, are quite rare in the area. We drove by miles of blackened forest, and that was only what we could see from the highway.

By now it was a lunchtime and I remembered that we’d passed a Cheeseburger in Paradise on our search for a bank ATM last evening. As usual, Jim was questioning my navigational skills, but as usual, I was right. The restaurant was decorated in a casual, beach decor and felt perfect for the area. The burgers we ordered were excellent, and our waiter named Smoke, was well polished. A good eating experience.

We kicked around how we should spend the rest of the day. The weather was SO hot, that the thought of anything outdoors wasn’t too appealing. Even going to the popular shopping places locally, such as Barefoot Landing or Broadway at the Beach requires a good deal of walking outside in full sun. That and we really couldn’t think of a blessed thing that we wanted or needed at the moment! Going to the movie was an option, but then again, there really wasn’t anything that appealed to us in theaters this week.

So…what to do? The saying goes, ‘Do what you know best'. Apparently we’ve not DRIVEN enough in the past eight weeks so after checking on the dogs we headed north, up RT17, back toward Wilmington. We took the Southport Ferry which saves miles but not time…especially when you miss the last one by minutes and wait 45 minutes for the next one. But on this day, saving time was not important, it was more of a nostalgic ride back to a different time. Southport has grown by leaps and bounds, sometimes not for the better. But the heart of the town is still frozen in time and beautiful.

Southport/Fort Fisher Ferry







Hey Smiley!

Norman on the Ferry

The good part of missing the previous ferry is that you get the ‘front seat’ on the next one. It was much cooler on the water, even the moist wind felt good. The ferry docked at the very end of Cape Fear and we drove up RT 421 past Fort Fisher, Kure Beach and finally Carolina Beach. Jim’s mom and dad had retired to Carolina Beach where his aunt and uncle had lived most of their lives. So it is a place with many memories and their neighborhood really has not changed much over the years. We drove on to Wilmington, stopping for a Dunkin Donuts coffee along the way.

The sun lowering as we drove the 75 miles toward Myrtle Beach. We detoured off RT17 for a bit, taking the old RT17 through a tiny town named ‘Bolivia’ that we had made fun of over the years that we drove the 200 miles from Charleston to Wilmington. The angle of the sun bathed the landscape in a stunning way, highlighting the cornfields, marshes, forests and shoreline with buttery tones. Beautiful.

The dogs were overjoyed that we actually returned to them. Undoubtedly, they were sure we would never return from every excursion that we took during this trip. I don’t think shih tzus have any short term memory….or long term for that matter!

As twilight fell, we walked on the beach. The pier had live entertainment (sort of) so we paid the $3/per fee and walked to the end, past the fishermen and then sat and watched the singer, playing along and singing to pre-recorded music. Actually, he wasn’t half bad. We sat to watch the kids dance, little kids just dance naturally…it was cute. We were both thinking the same bittersweet thought – wasn’t it just yesterday that our three children were little like that? Life goes on…

He's soooo going to miss this...


It was our final full day of the trip, and it was a perfect way to end the journey.

Tomorrow: Home James!

Tobacco Road

Roanoke Rapids NC to Myrtle Beach SC 280Miles

Day 52

Thursday June 18, 2009

The light was so bright that was shinning through the cracks on the sides of the pleated shades this morning, that we thought for a moment that we’d overslept! But it was only the sun.

It was steamy and there were plenty of clouds around too, but the sun was a welcome sight as we left Roanoke Rapids heading south. We chose to take the ‘scenic’ route today because we didn’t have too far to travel. Jim’s mother grew up in this tobacco, cotton, corn and soybean growing part of the state. He spent time during the hot summers here. The city kid on he farm with the country cousins. We traveled past rural farms and small towns where we make note of the required buildings: The church, post office, general store, filling station, movie house, cafe, inn and sheriff/fire dept.

We took RT43 down to Kinston, then RT 258 to Jacksonville and finally US17 for the remainder. Thunder storms were all around us, but we only hit a few periods of intense rain. The frequent showers have this area looking like a rain forest. I soooo prefer the green to the brown of the desert. Although I must admit that we have suddenly become reacquainted with the heat and humidity and we are having difficulty acclimated this quickly. Normally, we have several months to go from winter to summer!

When we reached Wilmington Jim HAD to stop at a barbeque place that he always took his mother to. I’m not particularly fond of the eastern North Carolina (vinegar based) type, but I had a small plate too. This stuff sits like lead and once every year or two is enough for me.

On the way out of Wilmington we stopped at the cemetery where Jim’s mother and father are buried. There were two funerals going on and we did get some strange looks as we drove through the narrow lanes with the big RV dragging the Jeep behind.
We also took a little nostalgia time and drove past his parent’s house and the house his mother lived in after his dad died. Then hit US17 again toward our home state of South Carolina…which we haven’t been in since late April.

I’ve thought to myself how fortunate we’ve been to not have witnessed a serious accident in all these miles, but I won’t say it out loud until we park in our driveway. We almost made it. We were nearing the SC state line on US17 when a car blinked his lights at oncoming traffic. Jim remarked that police might be around the corner. We turned the corner only to see several cars stopped, no flashing lights, or police. Then as we drew nearer we were horrified at what we saw. People were leaving their cars and running back and forth between two cars that had collided. A full size Ford sedan had broadsided a pickup, apparently rolling it several times. A woman was lying, face down on the pavement, about 100 feet from the pickup which was now in a ditch in the median. My first thought was how a fastened seat belt would probably kept her in the pickup, that was badly damaged, but the passenger compartment looked intact.

We managed to ease to our right where we got access to a back road. We had no idea where we were going, but knew it had to come out somewhere. The cars in front of us were going to be tied up for quite some time with the accident, the road would be closed down for some time. There were several cars stopped, and people were trying to help, there was little we could do to help. Needless to say, this upset us for the remainder of the ride, which, thankfully, was almost over.

Yesterday, we called the Apache Family Campground to see if there were any sites available for the next two days. We were surprised when we said yes, we had tried three others. These are the HUGE seaside campgrounds, with mostly permanent sites. I thought with so late a reservation we’d be waaaaaaay back by the highway, but couldn’t believe it when we discovered we are only feet away from the beach! Of course, we’re wedged in here like sardines in a can, but every ocean side campground is that way.

Tomorrow and Saturday the weather is forecast to be extremely HOT, temps nearing 100 with high humidity. Our beach time will be limited….morning sounds good to me. Some people don’t understand ‘too hot for the beach’, but believe me, it can be!

My daughter called earlier this evening. She and her brother were checking on the house and discovered that it had been hit by lightning yesterday during some very severe storms. YIKES! I am very glad that I took the time to pull every wire connected to my computer out of the wall….surge protector or not. I’m just very, very glad that I wasn’t home at the time of the strike, they said that photos were knocked off shelves, I would have FREAKED!. It went through the vinyl ceiling of the porch and there is a scorched area about a foot long. We’re thinking it’s an exit…so where did it enter? I see an electrical inspection in our near future, I won’t be at ease until the attic is thoroughly checked.

Tomorrow, Myrtle Beach and whatever!

Day 51 Pine Grove Pa to Roanoke Rapids NC 385 miles

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

We thought that by the time we drove more than halfway through Pennsylvania we’d break through the cold front and rain. Wrong. It was cool and rainy when we left the KOA at Pine Grove Pa.

The rain, not good for travel, has certainly blessed this agricultural area. The area is beyond lush. The streams and rivers are full and the crops look good. I don’t think I’ve ever seen greener corn….it’s not too tall yet, but green! There are so many valleys between the mountain ridges and the farms are plentiful. The , old stone farm houses over a century old, if walls could talk…

We knew we were to run into some heavy rain today. It seems hard to believe, but this is the first heavy rain we’ve driven in. The only other severe storm was during the night in Hot Springs at the beginning of the trip. Although the clouds were thick and menacing, the heavy rain period lasted less than an hour.

We traveled I81 through the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, through a small portions of Maryland, and West Virginia and finally Virginia. We like to take a route to get over to I95 and avoid the dreaded Beltway around Washington DC. A few years ago we began to take I66 at Front Royal VA, which runs east/west from I81 to the Beltway. We take it for about 20 miles, then drop down to US17, avoid the Beltway and emerge on I95 just below Fredericksburg VA. This one hour drive is absolutely beautiful, through rolling pastures and thick forests. The farms are from the Civil War period. You can almost imagine Union or Confederate troops marching over the next hill. And avoiding the Beltway is good for the nerves too!

The clouds and showers traveled with us to the border of Virginia and North Carolina. I may go blind when I see bright sunshine again. We are staying in a new campground in Roanoke Rapids, NC. Once here, we started trying to decide exactly where we want to end this trip. We were thinking Hattaras but it’s so far out of the way and the weather is iffy…if we want head home, it’s a long drive. Then we thought of Morehead City, which is very nice, but still a good drive from Charleston. Thought of Wilmington, then finally Myrtle Beach. That’s only two hours away from home. Jim was REALLY pushing Myrtle Beach. They have huge camping areas there but it took several calls to find one that had an open spot. This is the first time on the entire trip that we had to make more than one call for a site.

After all this time and all the different campgrounds I found a couple of ticks on the dogs. Actually, I think it was from the place last night, there was a wooded path at the dog walk. Of course, I should have not mentioned it to ‘city boy’ because he immediately started to swat imaginary insects all over his body while driving down the interstate. Sheesh.

We had a simple take- out meal here in the RV. When we went by the plaza near here to pick something up, we noticed the Applebee's was closed. There were several flower bouquets at the front door. We were told that the 29 year old female manager was found dead inside on Tuesday morning, apparently she was murdered late Monday evening.

Tomorrow we head to our home state…we’ve made a pretty big circle, eh? Hopefully, we can get some beach time in before we return to the real world!

Stay Away from the Chez KOA

Narragansett RI to Pine Grove, PA 348 Miles
Day 50

Tuesday June 16, 2009

Cold and damp as we awoke on our last morning in RI…we’re so outta here! We were paid up until check out on Thursday morning, but the weather was not cooperating. Wednesday is reported to be fairly nice, but we didn’t want to suffer through today to enjoy it.

We were almost ready to leave when we hit a little snag in our plans. One of the last steps is to pull the slide-out room in and secure it with two stabilizer bars. Today one of those bars snapped as he tried to lock it in place. Stop, unhook the Jeep and find someone who can weld this thing before we hit the road. Luckily, this is an area with many large boats so we just traveled down the road until we spotted a welding shop. Luckily the man was able to weld it right away. We only lost about an hour of travel time. Plus a little bonus, while waiting for the welding I turned on the lap top to write the blog on Live Writer and discovered I had a WIFI signal. Yippee, I got to surf a little!

Traveling all day, we never saw the sun. Heavy clouds, but no rain. Apparently the entire northeast has had a very rainy, cool and damp spring. We thought that by the time we drove all this way to southern PA we’d hit the warm weather….not.

Campgrounds are few and far between on I81 in Pa. We found a KOA, six miles off the highway. Most KOA campgrounds are much closer to the highways, but there’s nothing else around.

Dreary afternoon at the KOA in Pine Grove, PA

It’s a nice place. They have a large restaurant by the office. We went to at 6:30 and no one was eating there. That should have been a clue…but noooooo, we ordered anyway. I mean…how bad can it be? Oh Lord.

I ordered 1/4 barbecued chicken, green beans and corn bread. I asked the girl for dark meat (thigh and leg) what I got was a wing with about 2 inches of breast meat attached and it was dried out and ice cold on the inside. I ate a piece of the wing and took the cold chicken home to the dogs. The dish of green beans was RAW(not just crisp -RAW, and the corn muffin weighed about half a pound… Never eat anything that is way heavier than it should be, the extra weight is usually grease.
Jim’s sandwich was just okay. Well, there’s a meal I won’t have to worry about gaining weight!

We walked around the campground, which is on a hill so we, at least, got some exercise. WIFI is only at the office….which is quite far down the hill. I don’t need the internet badly enough to make the effort tonight. We’re tired, long ride today.

Tomorrow, hopefully we can find some sunlight! By the look of the weather map we should. We would like to spend our last few days of this trip at the outer banks of North Carolina, or somewhere on the ocean. BUT, if the weather is not cooperative, we may just head on home.

Seems like we’ve been gone forever!

Last Day in RI

Day 49 Last Day in RI

Monday, June 15

Cloudy and cool this morning…see a pattern here? Jim’s friend picked him up for a day of golf. Jim hasn’t played in a couple of months. Before we left the doctor told him to give it up for a time because his shoulder was hurting him. Wonder of wonders…the shoulder stopped hurting. Amazing how things improve when one does what the doctor says to do!

I had the luxury of taking my time for a change. I read the paper, watched the Today show and spent some time doing my hair. Most mornings it’s - let’s go, let’s go, let’s go…

I wanted to visit a friend but when I pulled my address book out, I realized that I have her address, but not her phone number. I normally get phone numbers now from the internet. I didn’t have WIFI at the state campground where we were staying. So off I drove with the laptop (and the laundry) to the Panera Bread a few miles away to try to get her phone number. Jim took me to this place the day before, but I got lost…and by the time I got straightened out, it was getting late. I knew I wouldn’t have time for a visit with her so I downloaded the past three days to the blog.

Now, to get back to the coin laundry, a few miles back. Yep, I got lost again. How does one even get lost in a place as small as RI, you ask? Well, I grew up in the other end of the state and when we visited the beach areas we took a direct route to the beach and back….now, I was off the beaten path. It didn’t take too long until I recognized a familiar place and get myself oriented. I even managed to find the coin laundry and get that accomplished!

The sun was shinning so we ran down to Galilee, the fishing villiage to take some photos of one of our favorite places in the country

Beaches in Galilee, RI

The opposite view from the one above




A few feet away, the beach roses in full bloom

Cold lifeguards in mid June

Another reason why I love this place



Our campsite at Fisherman's Memorial State Park

Spotted on another RV, wish I'd thought of it!

Jim enjoyed his golf game and time spent with his friend immensely. Later that evening we went to this friend and his wife’s home for a wonderful dinner. We’ve known them since the early 70’s. Again, it hardly seems possible that our families have grown and so many years have gone by.

Tomorrow, we unhook and head south. We will be traveling west through Connecticut, picking up I84 across NY and on to Pennsylvania and I81 through the mountains.

Day 48 Rhode Island

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Heh, heh…it poured all night and came down even harder this morning. Of course, with the rain came cooler temperatures, down in the mid 50’s again. We were supposed to go for a boat ride with friends. Too bad the weather didn’t cooperate.
Move on to Plan B. Go walk around Newport.

The rain stopped and it the weather called for mostly sunny so we headed over Newport Bridge.I remember when we had to take a ferry to get to Newport from Jamestown and the building of the bridge was a VERY big deal. In fact, when my daughter was born in August 1968 I shared a room with a girl whose husband was an iron worker who had been injured during the bridge construction. That is how I always remember the age of the bridge.

We enjoyed a couple of hours of walking around this colonial town. Many of the homes are of the same colonial period as Charleston, but smaller, with definitely smaller windows. After all, they wanted to maintain the heat and Charleston wanted to try to stay cool in those days of now central heat and air.

The sun came out and people began to fill the touristy city. Luckily, we were almost ready to leave by the time it got crowded.

We drove over to Westerly, RI, the coastal city sitting on the Connecticut line. At one time, this seemed like another state all together, Westerly was sooooooo far away, almost an hour drive! Now, with the newer highways, it’s a shorter ride, but people still consider it a journey.

These cousins raise shih tzus, as I once did. They had a litter of week old puppies, I miss my puppies now that we don’t breed anymore. How cute they were! We left for a wonderful dock lunch and then they showed us around parts of Westerly and adjacent Stonington Ct, which we’d never done more than pass by before. Imagine, we lived over half our lives and there are places so close we’d never seen. They showed us some amazing oceanfront homes.

We said goodbye and returned to the RV, but not before a stop at the Stop and Shop supermarket to stock up a bit. Somehow, we always find more than we went in for.

Tomorrow, Jim golfs and if I can locate some phone numbers I may visit an old friend…if not, laundry calls!

Rhode Island

Day 47 Rhode Island

Saturday, June 13

SUNSHINE!

We awoke to sunshine, blue skies, birds singing, and warm temperatures today! Yessssss!

The healthy breakfast we ate is about the only meal that is smart lately…this is part of visiting RI. We know that we won’t be able to enjoy certain foods when we leave, so we enjoy ourselves without guilt. We will repent at home, oh yes…we will.

The weather was perfect for a bike ride so we biked down what is called the Galilee Escape Road (built after Hurricane Carol in 1954) toward the fishing docks. Before we got that far, we turned right onto Great Island. Biked over the little bridge and into another world. Quaint. This is what the New England Seaside is to me. At one time these were almost all summer ‘camps’ as they were called. They were mostly summer cottages for people from the city, and some full time residents, probably fishermen and people who worked in the fish processing factory. Now, they are interspersed with some large lovely homes.

Then we biked into the village. The ferry was loading up for a trip to Block Island, about 10 miles offshore. We walked out on the pier and watched the fishing boats dock. I noticed that all the deck hands were smoking…they must be doing well, cigarettes are over $8.00 pack here!
We stopped at a tee shirt shop that I always hit while I’m here. Then on to the end of the village, a beach and some jetties that line the channel between the ocean and the harbor. There is a reconstruction project going on that has taken over the beach and made the jetties inaccessible. This will be a sad summer for some who love this area. The jetty/beach/parking lot area is a place where many ocean loving, but not ‘beachy’ people love to come to sit in the parking lot at the edge of the jetty. There they may pull out a lawn chair, or just sit on the rocks watching boats of all sizes return to port, or to go fishing. Last time we were here in the summertime we noticed some even people tailgating, grilling sausage and peppers (RI is mostly Italian) that smelled so good, while watching the boats. This summer that won’t be happening…

Later we visited yet another cousin and her husband. I actually knew this cousin before I knew Jim. Her large family lived across from my aunt and uncle and their large family. Later I went to high school with her and her younger sister who was my age.

We enjoyed a few hours of reminiscing. Her husband is a few years older than Jim, but they’ve known each other’s families for years and he and Jim talked about the old gang. Back then, everyone knew everyone and neighbors all helped raise each other’s kids. Everyone was poor, and nobody noticed or cared.
After a lunch, many laughs, a stroll down the gorgeous beach at Matunuck and a lot of catching up on lives later we left. All nearing retirement, it felt like just yesterday we were all getting married, choosing careers and starting families. The years fly by, don’t they?

The weather was still great, and there was still a good deal of daylight left when we left at 4:30 so we headed back to the middle of the state (a 20 minute ride…RI is small!) to the city where we raised our family and where Jim had been a cop. We drove a big loop through town, past the two houses and neighborhoods that we’d lived. And also through the areas where Jim had spent most of the time on certain police beats. Many things have changed, many things exactly the same. Sweeping changes around the airport and most of an entire neighborhood gone for airport expansion. The houses are gone, only the trees remain…and they are SO much bigger than we remembered. Trees grow a LOT in twenty years!
Jim wanted some Italian bread to go with his to-go box from last night. We passed an Italian Bakery. If you are familiar with this part of the country, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. I wanted to stay in the car, but he insisted I accompany him into the bakery. Gorgeous pastries, and of course bread. And don’t forget the ‘tomato bread’ pizza strips…we only got one strip ‘for the road’.

Back to the campground, but not before I decided that I was ready for fried clams. Jim enjoyed his veal and Italian bread, I had my fried clams…a perfect day.

Tomorrow, rain forecasted….again…who knows? We are visiting yet ANOTHER cousin in the afternoon!