Crossing Through North Carolina

We left Washington DC on Monday, December 28th at 9 AM, and after one break for lunch and several gas fillups (we only average 9 miles to the gallon or less with the trailer behind us), we pulled into Walt & Honoree Cooper's driveway at 4:15 PM - long day.  They live on a tree farm with their own pond in Cameron, NC, just south and west of Durham. We got a warm welcome from these cruiser friends we've known since our first visit to Trinidad in 2006. Since then we've traveled together to Peru, France, Italy, Holland, and Norway, plus several visits to each other's homes. 

We spent 3 nights with them enjoying hikes, their hot tub, great meals, and wonderful conversation. But when the weather turned colder and rainy, we decided to go over to the coast where it was warmer. On one of our trips south in the fall many years ago, we ran from an offshore hurricane up the Cape Fear River and enjoyed several days in Wilmington on the town dock. The KOA RV park there was super nice and it was 70 degrees and sunny - Scott got into his new Hawaiian shirt and we got out our chairs for the first time. 

Over the next couple of days, we walked all over the historic district, the river walk, and Wrightsville Beach. Our last night we had drinks and appetizers right on the river - outdoors just after it opened with only one other couple there. It was lovely.

Today we left Wilmington at 9:30 and made one stop in Myrtle Beach to have lunch in our RV and visit with our Guatemalan cruiser friends on our weekly Zoom meeting at Noon. We're staying at the Oak Plantation Campground about 8 miles out of the center of Charleston. Tomorrow we'll spend the day in the city walking around and hopefully enjoying lunch outside. On Monday we're off to Savannah, Georgia.

Honoree & Walt have a lot of acreage with their own beautiful pond. They have cleared the land and
planted thousands of longleaf pine. They have built their own home and barn and are now contemplating a guest house! 

They have their own pickleball 
court but also play at a local gym
with friends.

We had drinks at sunset beside the 
pond with a fire pit for warmth.

The view out our trailer of their home.

Their land is surrounded by an Equestrian Park
Development so we saw horses and this old
fashioned carriage on our hikes.

Scott in his new Hawaiian shirt enjoying our 
chairs for the first time in Wilmington NC

Our first restaurant visit - outside by the river.

These were the only other guests there and you
can see the lovely view down Cape Fear River.

Christmas and Hanukkah lights on the waterfront

One of the historic homes along the banks above
the river.

One view of the harbor walk that extends along
 the historic area river front.

This old wooden boat looked like it was on it's last
legs but we met the group of young people who
were living aboard and leaving a few days later for
Texas!

As you can see, it was cold walking Wrightsville
Beach on Friday

We walked down to that pier and found a big group of people of all ages getting ready for a New
Year's dip! They weren't in the water for long...

A Very Merry Christmas!

Our son James, daughter-in-law Morgen and grandson Kolya
 joined us for lunch and time in the playground at our RV Park.
Our dinette sat 5 for lunch - big surprise.

What a treat to spend the holidays with our son and our daughter-in-law's family. To do this we all made a commitment to quarantine and then were tested. It was a wonderful week and we are so grateful for it. It has been cold though, below freezing at night. But our trailer stays warm with the combination of propane and a little electric heater.

We'll be off driving south again on Monday, headed for long time friends Walt & Honoree Cooper, formerly of S/V Will O' the Wisp home in Cameron, N.C. We'll stay there until 1/2/2021, celebrating the much longed for New Year. May it bring a better year for all of us. Happy New Year everyone!

Kolya loved the play structure

He is a happy kid as you can see with red
hair like his father and our youngest son.

Everyone had dinner together on Christmas
Eve at Morgen's sister Claire's home near
theirs in Capitol Hill.

And now a view the other direction at the adult's
table. The family tradition is cheese fondue with
fruit salad for dinner.

And for dessert, a Pavlova made by Claire's 
husband Bill's parents.

 

Morgen's father Karl gave out the presents. 
Stockings were before breakfast and the rest of the
gifts afterward. We stayed the night at Kris & 
Karl's home in Gaithersburg, MD with James,
Morgen & Kolya. Otherwise, we slept in our
trailer.

Morgen's mother Kris and Kolya - I should have
asked about the pajama protocol. Scott and I were
the only ones other than Claire & Bill's
daughters to get "dressed". 

That's Bill & Claire on the left with their youngest
daughter Nora, James & Kolya

Their oldest daughter Grace inspecting the pile
of gifts - lots more out of view!

Morgen & Kolya with a new puzzle

Bill and Nora

Heather with a present from Sean. He gave me
a new camera - a modern day "Poloroid" to 
document our trip with this display box to show
off the photos. 

The table set for Christmas dinner.

Scott at our dinette on Saturday for
our special breakfast with the beautiful vanocka,
Czech Christmas bread Karl made and 
gave to us.

Here's a close-up! Yum!

Change of Weather Already - Washington DC

 It is rather miraculous that we left our home in Vermont yesterday morning in freezing temperatures and tons of snow and the next day it's 47 degrees with bright sunshine and green grass. I can't believe we actually thought we could take off Saturday afternoon. We barely got started at 9:40 AM on Sunday. There was so much more to do and it took longer than we thought. And we forgot several rather important things despite pages of checklists: Scott's dop kit and sneakers and my plan to bring our favorite cereal/soup bowls. And the tea kettle (from Tall Timbers and packed away for ages) leaks! So we managed to order everything but the sneakers from Target for pick up this afternoon. 

It was an exhausting day yesterday. We had always planned to arrive at our first RV park in daylight as this is all new to us. But it was pitch black when we entered and there were very few lights. We got into a tight corner by mistake trying to find our site and it took a while before we were able to get through. Luckily, a nice resident helped us find our site. There were still pockets of snow there and lots of mud. Poor Scott had a hard time trying to set up the electricity (the post at our site was dead, but he managed to connect to an adjoining empty place).  And we needed water as we couldn't fill it up in Vermont - everything was frozen. We didn't get settled inside until 7 PM. BOY did that stiff drink (gin & tonic for Scott, bourbon for me) taste good. And the Cajan Dirty Rice and Butternut Squash hit the spot. After dinner and checking our emails, we watched some of the Sound of Music on our (live) TV just long enough to make it to bedtime - 9 PM.

This morning was so relaxing. Good coffee and a walk around the Bar Harbor RV Park (lots of RVs, a few cabins, and a lovely spot on the river). But it was cold, gray, and muddy so we packed up and headed further south to Cherry Hill RV Park in College Park, MD. What a change! The sun came out and this large park is spacious, spotless, and free from snow. We're about 1/2 an hour out of Washington, where we are headed next to see our son James, daughter-in-law Morgen and 2-year-old grandson Kolya. We're spending the day with them today but coming back here after dinner. Tomorrow they'll come here for lunch. There is a nice children's playground for Kolya. Then we'll return to their home for dinner. On Wednesday we're all going to Morgen's parents for Christmas Eve and Day. To prepare for this we've all been quarantining and had COVID tests (all negative). 

This is our very nice spot at our current Cherry
Hill RV Park in College Park, MD

A view of the waterfront at last night's Bar Harbor
RV Park in Abington, MD

And this is our site there, we're on the right

This is Bar Harbor management photo of their
site on the river in nice weather!

Kolya a few days ago with his first snow!

Winter Storm Gail Hits Us Hard

 We are buried in snow here at The Hundred Acre Wood! It is at least 2 feet right now and still snowing. Scott is beginning the shoveling process as it's going to take a long time to get down to our garage. Luckily we did not plan to leave until at least Saturday so we and the rest of the Northeast have time to recover. It has been a long time since we've seen this much snow! Here's some photos and I'll send some more later,., (update at 2:30 PM - 3 feet of snow)

I waded in from our covered front door so you
could see the depth

That's our truck and trailer buried. It's going to
be a job shoveling it out, especially after the 
snow plow finishes our driveway.

I had quite a job walking in this much snow so
I could take a photo looking back at the house. 
We'll have to break out our snowshoes later!

Another view down towards the garage.

Looking along the deck from the front door.

The view out our office - snowed in!

Scott makes a start on the shoveling - it's going
to be awhile before we finish that!

This is the entrance to the stairs going down to
the travel trailer. I guess we'll be going the 
long way around!

Watching the Weather

 Winter storm Gail is sweeping towards the Northeast starting this Wednesday. We've been watching the weather forecasts carefully to see how it will impact our trip. We rescheduled our COVID 19 tests from Thursday to Wednesday thinking we might get snowed in for a day here. The most recent forecasts show the greatest impact around New York City up to Boston. Our route south takes us south through Bennington over to Albany, down the New York Thruway to the Garden State Parkway and the NJ Turnpike. Our plans are to leave on Saturday so we can get 2 or 3 hours along our route towards Maryland. We would just stay overnight in a Walmart or CamperWorld parking lot south of Albany. On Sunday then we'd have only 4 or 5 hours left for the trip. Hopefully, by Saturday the roads will be good. We could leave on Sunday but that would mean a full 7 plus hour day. 

Our first RV park reservations are near my sister's on the Maryland shore - Bar Harbor RV Park and Marina for two nights, December 20 and 21. Then we'll head south to be near our son James, daughter-in-law Morgen and our 2-year-old grandson Kolya in Washington DC. We have reservations at Cherry Hill Park RV Park in College Park, MD for 5 nights. All of us that will be together on Christmas are being tested and quarantining so we can be inside together. 

Right now the house is a mess with Xmas wrappings and last-minute boxes being mailed. Then there are big plastic containers of food that will go into the truck cab. An inventory of their contents is taped on the top of each. Containers of tools and summer clothes are already packed and stowed away. We could go without a trip to the supermarket for weeks, longer if we didn't want fresh veggies. 

Wish us luck! We'll update you as the situation becomes clearer.

On The Road Again - Land not Sea

 It's been a long time since I've posted, but that's about to change. Scott and I are off on a new adventure. Yes, we know it's in the middle of a pandemic. That's why we aren't returning back to Scott Free this season. Guatemala is having an even worse time of it than we are. They are not only fighting COVID 19 but two destructive hurricanes. The Rio Dulce has recently logged the highest level ever recorded, Constant drenching rain has flooded communities and washed away highways and bridges. Our good friends Tamara and Scott have remained at Tortugal Marina and have kept us up to date with the news and photos. We have a weekly Zoom meeting with Tortugal cruisers (and a few others) checking in from Australia, Canada, the US, United Kingdom, and Germany. Although the docks and some of the buildings at the Marina are underwater, they are taking good care of our boats and Scott Free is safe there until next year.

A number of our friends did not make it back into Guatemala when the virus hit us all and closed borders. They had to leave their boats in Belize and it's been a frightening summer for them with the hurricanes battering Central America and one that went right over Belize. One couple are now in Placencia readying two boats to bring back to the Rio Dulce. Several others have tickets to Belize in December to do the same. On 12/31 all boats there that haven't left will be assessed a temporary permit and charged a percentage of their worth. We feel very lucky that we got back to Guatemala in time last March!

But we did not want to spend the winter in Vermont so - Plan B. Land cruising. After careful research we decided on a travel trailer. A search through RV sales lots around Vermont helped us winnow down the important elements we needed - fiberglass exterior, a separate bathroom & shower, a center queen bed, and a dinette that seats 4. The smallest size we could find that had all items was 24 feet and we found the perfect one right here in Rutland. It's a 2019 Kodiak Ultralite 201 QB - we're the first owners. And the needed tow vehicle was in the same lot - a 2014 RAM extended cab 4 wheel drive black truck. The cost - $19,000 each. 

We leave on December 21 and head to Washington DC for Xmas with our son James and his family. Due to the pandemic, we'll be staying in our RV and managing within the current restrictions for socializing. We have been very careful and followed all of Vermont's COVID 19 recommendations - we are the lowest state in the country for infections and deaths. We plan to continue this was across the country and back again over the next 5 months. 

So come along! I'll be posting regularly from now on...

RAM Marina is underwater - you can't even see
the fuel dock and the restaurant/store is flooded.

Scott and Daphne (owner of Tortugal)

The docks are underwater up to the top of the pilings. Normally the restaurant is way above the water.

It isn't possible to walk out to the road anymore.

One of the cabins, now an island.

Our new travel trailer and truck

Another view in an early snow storm.

Our grandson Daniel is living with us this fall
while he attends both Columbia University and
Edinburgh University Medical School - both
virtually. He's decided to attend the later in 
person next semester. 

We had a wonderful time with him - it has been
a highlight of this year. He loves cooking with
us!

Another highlight of the fall was Joe Biden's election as President. We celebrated with champagne
and friends (masked, outdoors but not socially distanced as you can see - tut tut)