March

March 15

Our 2-week stay in "Hollywood" turned into a pretty miserable time.  Clara came down with a flu-like cold on Friday, followed closely by me on Sunday.

She had apparently come into contact with someone at her volunteer job at the food pantry who had this extremely contagious virus.  Both she and another lady from here were there the same day and they both came down with it.

Of course, Clara doesn't think she needs to go to the doctor, but Monday morning I'm at the clinic down the street.  The doctor fixed me up with some powerful anti-virus medicine and by Friday (after a few very miserable days), I'm feeling much better.

Finally, the next Monday morning Clara decides she needs to go to the doctor.  They load her up with all kinds of anti-virus medicines.

Now, two weeks later, we're both still coughing a little, but we've survived.

It's really bad to be sick.  We've not gone around anyone for fear that we'd spread this highly contagious mess, so we've missed several events.  Plus, we're both pretty weak from fighting it.

I've been able to go sailing a few times (Clara went with me once) and I've started back swimming.

Sailing with Jim and friends

Wednesday, March 27

It's easy to lose track of time and happenings when I only update my blog every week or so.

Now, we're on the way home - tonight at Markham County Park in Broward County.  We've stayed here a couple times before.  It's one of the nicest county parks we've ever stayed in.

We were not supposed to leave Key West until Sunday, the 31st, but Clara is feeling poorly with an infection and really wants to get home and a doctor.

We moved back to Hollywood Sunday - front row again.  This is our fourth time on the front row - an absolute record.  Next year, we'll probably be back rowing the whole time.

We've had several parties, using the excuse of someone going UTR (up the road).

I had an extension made for my hitch (by a HitchKing).  It's made of heavy duty 2" square aluminum and extends 3 feet with a "T" to hold up the rear of the 18 foot kayak.  It was somewhat questionable that this would work.  But it does.

The car is really loaded beyond the limits.  But we made it home

The reason for the extension.  Having bought the new kayak/sailboat, we needed to figure out a way to get it back to Beaufort.  The first thought was that we'd drive the car separately and pull the trailer.  But the more we thought about it, the less we liked it.  We really enjoy the journey - together.

We came up with various schemes, including hiring someone to pull the trailer back for us.

The more we thought about and talked about it with friends, it was suggested that we could take it back on the top of the car.  At first, this didn't seem feasible - the kayak is longer than the car.  But I finally was convinced that we could have fabricated an extension to distribute the weight (about 180 pounds) and support it.

After talking to the guys at HitchKing, I decided we'd try it.  They did a good job and now, here we are, already 180 miles into the 1000 mile journey, with the kayak (and outriggers and a second kayak strapped to the top of the car.

Jim Mclendon helped me figure out how to strap it to the car.  It is so well strapped down now that in order for it to come off the car, the entire roof will go with it.

And it seemed to really ride well today.  But we do get a few extra stares as we drive down the road.

Tomorrow, we have a short drive to Patrick AFB, the next day a big drive to Kings Bay Submarine Base (where we evacuated from the September hurricane), then to Santee State Park and Sunday, if all goes well, we'll be back in miserable NC weather.

Thursday, March 29

Tonight we are Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, which is about 30 minutes North of Jacksonville, Florida.  We were last here in September when we evacuated for Hurricane Florence.

It was extremely hot then.  But now, we are beginning to see why we really don't want to go home.  Tonight the temperature will be in the low 60's, and that's probably the highest nighttime temperature we'll see for a while.

Last night we stayed a Patrick AFB, Florida, near Cape Canaveral.  Both Kings Bay and Patrick have very nice, full hookup sites.

While walking around this afternoon, I saw one of the couples we had parked next to at Sigsbee.

Tomorrow - South Carolina - Santee Cooper State Park.

Friday, March 30

Well, that didn't turn out like we planned.

Instead of staying at our usual stop at Santee Cooper, we decided to push on a little bit - a couple of hours so that tomorrow's trip will be shorter.

So we ended up at South of the Border Campground.  This our first stop EVER at South of the Border.  We've seen their signs on I-95 for decades, but never had any desire or reason to stop.  But this time, after some research, we found that they have a RV Park a good ways off the highway, so we decided to give it a try - and it may come in handy in the future if it is okay.

And it is.  Quiet, well away from the road, easy in and out, and a restaurant close by.

South of the Border is straight out of the 50's.  Very cheesy looking and well worn.  Not worth a stop for any reason other than the RV Park.

We settled in and found that there is a Peddler Steak House close by.  We hadn't seen a Peddler Steak House in decades - may be the last time we saw one was when we were in Raleigh in college.

But it turned out to be a good meal and nice restaurant.

Saturday, March 31

And we're home.  Nice to be back.  Now the work begins unwinding 4 months of being away - and getting the kayak off the car.