April 5,6,7,8,9 and 10

April 5, 6,7,8,9 and 10th

I have been waiting for the cold weather to go away and while doing so I have been tied up at the Keller’s boat basin in front of their home on the waterway. I can’t believe that it has been in the thirties for so many days at night. I have been enjoying the comfort of a warm bed in their home and am very appreciative that I was able to do so. I have done some things on Shorty and had Bob’s help completing a couple of other things. Since it was so cold here we left the boats tied up in the basin and I went home to Mebane to spend Easter weekend with them at their home there. When we finally do get back in the boat and get ready to go hopefully it will be for a continuous move up the east coast. We are 230 miles from the end of the intracoastal waterway in Virginia and then it will become available again in New Jersey. But that may change because I understand that they have not taken care of it the way they should. If that section is not available then I will be going outside in the Atlantic Ocean up through New York City and then on the Hudson River as we continue northward. Being shallow draft I may be able to use the intracoastal in New Jersey.

Bob and I came back to the house at the coast today and if my taxes show up tomorrow and we are able to get the boat loaded up we will leave here on the twelfth for Norfolk, Virginia. This will be a new stretch of water for both of us and that makes it exciting to be able to see new things and have company. As we make stops in the upcoming days I will begin to write more often. It was really nice to be able to compare the countryside from the coast to Mebane which is near the Raleigh-Durham area. We went up hill so gradually that I did not realize until coming back today just how far we had climbed in the trip up to Mebane. All the dogwoods were in bloom and along with them the azaleas. As in all of the states I visited the trip there was also filled with historical places and sites to see. We went to Hillsborough which has a number of old buildings dating back the the 1700 and 1800’s. The old courthouse had the original panes of glass which are wet looking. The sidewalks were also hand laid stones of different colors and textures. Just one more place that we need to see on another vacation in the area. Bob also took me on a drive through the area around Swansboro and Morehead City and Beaufort to see the cities before we go through them on the waterway. From the house we could see the breakers in the Bogue Inlet today as you watched the strand of sand at the inlet and also saw a couple of boats entering the inlet from the ocean. There were a few more boats that went by headed north on the intracoastal waterway.

I was also able today to visit with a friend of Marilee’s who is stationed at Camp Lejeune here in the Swansboro area. Jo Beth is in the reserves and has a little more time down here before returning to her home in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.