The Old Man and his Dog - Jordan Lake - North Carolina

It had been pouring rain for two days, and on the evening of the second day, we were desperate for a walk. On goes our rain coat, rain pants, and boots, and being that it was dark, we take our flash light with us.

After a short distance, we see another flashlight shining and a dog (big dog) barking, barking, barking. Someone calls hello to us on this dark foggy night and with caution we approach.

An older man with his older dog are also out for a walk. We stop and talk. He is a former fisherman from Morehead City. That is Morehead City when it had only 7,000 people. Now says the old man with 70,000 people it is much too crowded for him and his dog.

While a commercial fisherman, he fished the waters off of New Foundland and decided it was one of the most beautiful places he had seen and decided to buy some land and a cabin and has been spending his summers there for the last decade. He was here to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with his daughter in Durham.

What was unusual was that he camper was a converted horse trailer. He asked if we would like to see it and come in for a bit. Now you have to remember it is raining, it is foggy, it is dark, and not a cricket or other living animal to be heard. The wind is blowing, the dog is barking, and we have yet to see the face of this stranger. We missed a great opportunity to hear wonderful stories of this man's life because caution prevailed. We thanked him, but we needed to get on with our walk.

The next day, we really regretted our decision. Not only would he have been very interesting to talk to, but I think he was a bit lonely after spending two rainy days in his horse trailer with his pal. We passed by his campsite, but he had gone to Durham.

tg

Thanksgiving - Jordan Lake - North Carolina

Home for the holidays and sharing a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family.

The biggest surprise was the happenings at the campground.  We thought we would be the only people there over Thanksgiving.  Were we ever surprised.  We arrived 8 days before Thanksgiving and found only one other RVer plus the host couple at the campground.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, the campground began to fill up with people arriving for a weekend of camping, fishing, and boating.  I would never have thought people were still camping here in November, but they were and having a great time.

By Monday prior to the holiday, the campground had only a few RVers, but come Wednesday before Thanksgiving every site that had electric and water was filled.  We were in section B of Loop 4 with section A closed, but section A was opened for the Thanksgiving holiday and also began to fill up.

Thanksgiving was a very festive day here.  We, as others, had family over for the Thanksgiving dinner.  Others were gone for the day at relatives homes, but the big surprise was how many families were here having Thanksgiving dinner at their campsite with just their immediate family.  There were other families taking up three or so sites together and each family had their own RV and spent their holiday camping.

As we took an afternoon walk around the campground, we saw many people playing games like horseshoes, sitting around a campfire with their family, and in the air the smell of roasted turkey.

It was really amazing as there were many tents with no electricity or water and many pop-up campers that have a good amount of canvas and probably not tight when it comes to keeping out the cold and dampness.

During our time here, we experienced a few days of fall, then a few days of rain, then a few days of winter, and finally a few more days of fall.  By Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving , we and the host were the only RVs in the campground.  Marc and I took Wubie for a walk around the campground and it was so quiet.  We could here birds, crickets, and the wind blowing through the trees.  The lake was shimmering in the sunlight with the sound of water lapping against the shore.  What a great ending to our visit here.

We spent time with family, friends, had appointments with our doctor, eye doctor, and dentist which made these two weeks go by in a flash.  It was a great recharge to see those who mean so much to us.

tg

 

 

 

 

Brookgreen Garden - South Caroliina

We rode our bikes through Huntington Beach, across busy Route 17, to Brookgreen Gardens. Sometimes you plan an excursion and get surprised--that was Brookgreen Gardens. It was 100 times better than we ever imagined. Gardens is a misnomer as it is a garden, but much more. The so called garden is a collection of South Carolina low country flowers, bushes, and trees. They are interspersed with over 900 sculptures by famous American sculptors, and many water fountains and ponds. Along all the paths, there are benches where you sit and enjoy the wonders around you. The area is filled with massive live oak trees with Spanish moss hanging from the branches. These live oaks are over 250 years old.

This land, in the 1800s, was made up of tree separate rice plantations. Once slavery ended, the owners of these plantation went bankrupt, and the land lay fallow; eventually turning into forest, fields, and marsh land. In the mid 1930s the Huntington"s from New York (a very wealthy couple) moved to the area and purchased the 9,000 acres that had made up the three plantations.

They wanted to preserve for future generations and they did this by having the gardens represent the plants and trees common to this area at that time. They set up another large area where you can take a pontoon ride out onto the river to see the remaining rice fields along with today"s alligators and sea life. This area also contains domestic animals common to the 1800s. There is another large area where there are modern habitats for wild animals common to the area at that time.

As we walked through the gardens, I felt like I was for a short time in another world, in another period of time, and with the beauty of this setting, I felt tears well up in my eyes and a knot in my throat when I realized all the lives and all the history that has happened on this land that today is in repose from years gone by and now reflects only the beauty and endurance of time.

tg

Fog at Huntington Beach State Park, SC

Yesterday during the late afternoon it was low tide.  So we took advantage of this more than 100 foot  wide beach and rode our bikes on the beach to the jetty which is about 3 miles from our campsite access to the beach.  We had never ridden our bikes on the beach and what a thrill to ride on this very hard packed sand that had relatively few shells.

The waves were gently riding on the beach, terns were making their sky high dives for fish, and a gentle breeze was at our backs.  As we walked up to the jetty, we could see lovely houses along the beach front among the tall sea oats just across from us.  As we walked along the jetty, we saw a loggerhead turtle swimming near the rocks.  It raised is very large and muscular head and neck up out of the water while its flippers were gently following the waves out to sea.  What a moment!

On our way back we noticed a fog bank forming and slowly moving towards us.  A mile or so from the jetty, we could see the sun being encased by the fog bank.  Within a mile of the boardwalk to our campground, the fog overtook us.  We could barely see 30 feet in front of us and the folks we just passed on the beach could no longer be seen.  Our skin felt wet.  It was a spooky feeling.  We could begin to feel what it must be like to be out on the ocean with water all around you, hearing sounds, but not seeing anything.  At times we were completely alone on the beach as we could not see anyone around us.  Finally, we spotted where we thought the boardwalk was, and yes, it was there, and within minutes we were home in our rv. 

tg