Travelin' Tiff Diaries

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Weekend on the Water! July 4-6, 2014

Hurricane Arthur passed through Harkers Island, NC at 100 mph very early Friday morning. My friends here rode out the storm! Luckily everything was pretty much okay. The power was out until about 6pm Friday evening, a few trees down on a side lot and a little screen repair is needed, but overall, very lucky!

I arrived about 12:30pm Friday. It was a beautiful day after the storm! Water was sparkly and I immediately took "the view from the house" photos:

Beautiful isn't it??

My hostess had two friends here, also...Kim and Dominique. Very nice ladies! We hung around catching up and getting acquainted, then off to historic Beaufort, NC for a great dinner at "Aqua". Very nice restaurant...excellent meal...excellent service! A real treat after boondocking for two weeks!

On Saturday we all got up early and went for an 8-10 mile bike ride around the island. Two other friends joined us. It was another nice day and still cool-ish in the morning. Great for a bike ride! My Schwinn Varsity was a pedaling breeeeeeze!

Around noon we went out in our hostess' boat for a wonderful day on the water! Went over to Cape Lookout. Cape Lookout National Seashore is part of the U.S. Park Service. The lighthouse is a 163-foot high lighthouse located on the Southern Outer Banks of North Carolina. It flashes every 15 seconds and is visible at least 12 miles out to sea and up to 19 miles. We dropped anchor at an opposing shore.

Don't these umbrellas just scream "summer on the beach"??

We relaxed on the boat...had a great packed lunch, got in the water, which was a pretty decent temperature and walked along the beach looking for the perfect shells. We stayed all afternoon,got a little toasty and had a great time!

We decided we wanted some "real" Fourth of July food for dinner back at the house so we madeup some WHOPPER hamburgers for the grill with lots of "additions" to them, plus some corn on the cob. Yum, yum, yum! Mighty good! There was a beautiful sunset looming, so we grabbed our cameras and headed to one of the three decks on the house which face west. The sunset horizon is the same as the "view" photo above. We were NOT disappointed! It was a spectacular sunset..... yep....more sunset photos, everyone!

Around 9:00pm, there were fireworks going off in three different locations across our view. Unfortunately, too far away to get good photos, but fun to watch! After the light show, all of us were wiped out fromthe water and sun so we called it an early night.Sunday morning brought another beautiful day and a big breakfast! Around noon, the water was calling us and we went out on another boat cruise for a couple of hours. We decided to cruise over by Morehead City, NC and on the way back go through the Beaufort, NC channel.

Heading out....

Morehead City is a larger port, so seeing cargo ships, etc. wasn't unusual.

Morehead City shoreline

Sail boats...

Fishing boats...

Bridge into Morehead City

Beaufort, NC is an historic town. Very quaint...established in 1709, it's the third oldest city in North Carolina. Hopefully I can show you around town after I leave Harkers Island. But, for now, here are views going through the channel.

Just as we were nearing our home dock, several small pods of dolphins appear! Very cool! They darted up and back under the water too quickly, tho', for any pictures. But what fun to see them!

Back on land, we say goodbye to Kim and Dominique. They had to head back to Raleigh. Our hostess also had to head back for the work week, but not before so graciously saying I could remain parked at their house for a few days...or more We'll just see what happens with the time, but I will definitely be here at least a few more days. Plan to bike around the island taking photos and checking out some cemeteries. And, of course, just enjoying being "on the water"!

A BIG THANK YOU to Laine, our hostess with the mostest, for opening her house to the girlfriend clan! It was a great girls' weekend. Great friends, great conversation, great food, great location!

Next up...more of Harkers Island, then....who knows????

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Airing My Dirty Laundry - July 3, 2014

The forecast for today said "rain", and it started out looking rather ominous, but it's another sunny (so far), sweltering day in Boydton, VA! Good day to do laundry!

So, I'm not really airing dirty laundry.... it's clean now! Thanks to my handy dandy $39 Wonder Washer! Hadn't used this new RV toy yet but it had gotten great reviews...(see my solar shower hanging there, too?? Another super item!)

I'm posting this primarily for those who might be considering the RV life...or if you go on extended camping trips.

For two "loads" of laundry 1) 3 prs socks, unmentionables, and 3 t-shirts; 2) 2 shirts and 2 pairs of jeans I used a total of about two gallons of water and about 2 tsps of a great laundry detergent that my sister made up for me (recipe to follow). All you do is put in the water/detergent, then the clothes....put on the cap...turn the screw knob on the top to pressurize the tank and turn the crank for about 2 minutes. Drain out the water with the convenient tube, add rinse water... crank another 2 minutes, drain, wring out your clothes and hang them up! That's it! Took a total of about 20 minutes for both loads....and very little water. Everything came out great!

After I got back from getting propane and water yesterday, I parked in the same spot, just a little further back into the site. That's why I didn't see THIS until today when I was doing the laundry!
Look closely!

Someone shed his skin! Probably a black racer... 3+ feet long. The word "long" makes me hope he's LONG gone! He only has until tomorrow to show up again, so I'm crossing my fingers that's not going to happen!

Back to toys.....charging my phone right now on this carry-along solar charger....folds up like a little notebook for storage or you can put it open on your backpack and charge as you're hiking (back to the sun)....pretty nifty!

Here's the recipe for the laundry detergent. A little goes ALONG way! The amount she gave me in a plastic container... 4x4x3...could last me the rest of my life! Only need 1 tsp/small load. Much more money savvy than buying store detergent!

1 bar Fels Naptha - dried and grated

1 cup Borax

1 cup washing soda

Later this afternoon, in the distance, I hear thunder rumbling. This is as good a time as any to "break camp". I start bring outdoor things in, roll up the awning....everything needed to get rolling in the morning. I've been here all week! And it's been another great spot all to myself! I look around at my site and decide to move up the lane towards the main road for the night. I didn't want to be walking around in anything (like wet dirt) but grass in the morning if it was going to be raining. I found a good, level, grassy spot even with the lane, so that will make for an easy exit. Of course, there's still no one around here!

Tonight will be purposefully simple. Leftovers on a paper plate. Don't need any mess since I'll be leaving early....but still need to check the island's weather report later tonight.

So, that will wrap it up for July 3rd. Happy Birthday to my nephew, Zack, down in Brunswick, GA! I'll be there at some point!

I'll check in from the North Carolina coast if I can get there, that is! They are saying 100mph winds - Category 2. I've been in hurricanes before, but I don't want to be in one again !

Happy Fourth, everyone! Be safe!

Not All Fun and Games ! July 2, 2014

Just like any house, there IS house cleaning to do! Because it was to be so hot and humid today, I thought it would be a good day to stay around the RV and do some 'maintenance'....dusting, vacuuming, put a hook on that cabinet door that keeps swinging open, clean windows, get the bugs off the front end, rearrange the refrigerator a little.... speaking of the refrigerator, the "needs propane" light keeps coming on, but there's no way I need propane. Not sure what that's all about, but I'll check into a little later. I could also use some water...eventho' I'm super conservative with it, it diminishes. Have about 1/3 tank left in what I think might be a 30 gallon tank. This isn't drinking water...I have plenty of that, but "house" water....for dishes, etc.

My original plan was to leave tomorrow morning (Thursday) and head to Harkers Island, NC for the holiday weekend. But Hurricane Arthur decided he would start the weekend early! Headed right for that spot. My friend, Laine, who has so graciously invited me there for the weekend, heard the forecast was the "hit" would be about 2am Friday morning, moving out quickly, and leaving great weather behind. Behind every cloud there's a silver lining?? Let's hope! So, if that holds true, I'll leave the Dick Cross WMA early Friday morning. Just have to see what happens. Laine is going to ride out the storm on the island! Be safe, my friend!

Anyway, the day started off with a fantastic sunrise...and since I'm pretty sure you don't care much about photos of my vacuum, I'll post extras of the sunrise....

It even warranted a black and white!

Breakfast consumed the last of the peaches and blackberries.... then off to do "chores" !

p.s. Later in the afternoon, I did go over to South Hill, VA - about a 15 minute drive and got propane...only needed 8.9 gals to fill up, so I was far from empty, but better safe than sorry. The refrig propane light eventually went off. The folks at the propane company were soooooo nice! They even filled up my water tank! Productive day! Missions accomplished!

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

What Can We Find Today? Tuesday, July 1, 2014

The day started early....I seem to wake up earlier now, but I'm glad....loving the sunrise moments... and the temps are A LOT cooler!

I make a blackberry/banana smoothie for breakfast....that was good! Do a few things around "the house"....and get ready for a hike down some new pathways... it's a beautiful morning with a nice breeze...but it will be very warm later...

Down this lane and to the right is another lane, so my curiosity takes me in that direction...well, there's another sunflower field down here. I'm thinking the WMA has planted sunflowers for all the birds and insects. And they re-seed, so there's no maintenance. Good idea! So....on down this secondary lane, I run into a BIG, old barn with two HUGE silos!

Pretty cool! Let's poke around!

Appears this was a large horse farm at one time...and also a kennel of some kind....pretty big enterprise if you ask me! I wonder what happened to it? It's definitely WMA land now.

And...with every old barn, there seems to be ye ol' tub! LOL!

Do you think they planned that house to sit exactly there?? It's not old at all...I didn't look inside...looks pretty basic, but made for an interesting photo!

On down the lane I continue....nature hunting again!