Southward Bound

We're back on the water, headed south. Left Beaufort NC yeserday. Tide Hiker is feeling sassy with a newly painted bottom. Anchored last night at Mile Hammock Bay which is part of the Camp LaJeune military base. Two Osprey (combo airplane and helicopter) flew right over us yesterday - we felt like a target. Four manned and armed military boats came charging upriver toward us at a high speed - again, it was easy to feel like a target. They were scary which is how they should be. If I had been an enemy combatant, I'd be cleaning my pants.

It was a balmy 43 degrees at anchor last night, so the newly purchased electric blanket didn't get a work out. Sunday it will be 27 degrees - we'll see if the blanket is needed then.

We stayed at Tierney's house through Sunday and then on their boat Monday and Tuesday. They were fabulous hosts. And we loved being able to go for a run or walk whenever we wanted, drive to stores, and easily get a Sunday paper. Here's Vicki, Norm and Lynnie. And, Norm after the "turkey enzyme" kicked in.

Being on land like we were at the Tierney's is like a vacation for us. We realized that it's a relief to get away from the day to day responsibilities of the boat. There is a level stress associated with taking your home from here to there on the water - not usually DIStress, and lower than the stress we used to have in our lives -- but it's still a vacation to have NO stress. Sounds odd, doesn't it? Most people vacation by getting ON a boat - we vacation by getting OFF the boat.

We're buddy boating south with Rick and Lynnie aboard Rickshaw. It's been a while since they've been on the water, so we're the lead boat. We had good role models following Jim and Robin aboard Adventures--- we'll try to do them proud.