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North Carolina
Mountain Road Trip
3rd - 11th November
2005 |
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After a night anchored in the river in Beaufort
(pronounced Byoofort), South Carolina, we moved Anju to a space created on
the dock for her at Marsh Harbour Boatworks. This involved
a spot of precision parking as the space only exceeded Anju's length by a
few inches each end, however the docking manoeuvre was successfully
completed without mishap and we were immediately invited to a lunchtime
barbecue by our welcoming committee of Marsh Harbour Boatworks'
staff! In a shady spot of the nearby yard, we tucked into
a delicious lunch of barbecued chicken and potato
salad.
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We didn't even have time to nap off our
lunchtime snack before our friends Chris and Vivian arrived to whisk us off
to a local restaurant to sample a spot more southern cooking. On
the way we called for drinks with their friend Barbara, our saviour in the
Bahamas earlier in the year, when she'd kindly brought over our new head
gasket in her carry-on baggage.
On arrival at the restaurant, we thought we'd
better check the purpose of the large bucket located in the centre of each
table. When our order arrived it was obviously not a reflection of the
quality of the food being served, merely a receptacle for discarded seafood
shells. That being said, the southern portions were so huge, the
meals wouldn't have been lost if they were served in the buckets!
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Phil, Vivian and the
Chrises debate the purpose of the bucket
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Next morning we managed to fit in yet another
small snack, cooked breakfast aboard Anju, before heading off for our six
hour road trip to Chris and Vivian's house in Little Switzerland in the
mountains of North Carolina. On the way we took a break to
explore a large flea-market in a mountain back wood town and later to
collect important supplies, fuel which was considerably cheaper on the South
Carolina side of the border and booze, which was totally unavailable near
their home in a dry county of North Carolina!
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Our holiday home in Little
Switzerland - not a bad view from our room
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The last section of our journey was definitely
up hill all the way and took us around many hairpin bends as we climbed high
up the mountainside to their home. After six hours of
driving it was a relief to arrive and the views were spectacular, we'd timed
our visit perfectly to enjoy the autumn colours as the leaves
turned.
We enjoyed a peaceful evening together in the
absence of Vivian's crazy Portuguese Water Dogs, Shelly and Zapper who had
been left in the kennels for an extra night! When they
arrived back the next day they certainly made up for it. The breed are
particularly known for their lack of spatial awareness and enjoy stampeding
through the house leaving a trail of destruction in their
wake. Zapper was especially fond of taking a shoe with him
on his travels so it was always wise to ensure your footwear was well
hidden.
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Despite having succumbed to some sort of bug,
Chris bravely endured the trip along the Skydrive to show us the magnificent
views on the way to Mount Mitchell. However, he wisely sent us
alone up the tower on the mountain's summit to the viewing platform for a
buffeting from the strong and icy cold winds!
The mountain was named to honour Reverend
Elisha Mitchell, who was professor at the North Carolina University for
thirty nine years, who unfortunately had died from a fall during his
exploration of the mountain aged 64 in 1857. An excellent
recommendation for early retirement if ever we heard one!
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Our next adventure was a trip to set foot in the
state of Tennessee, another step on the way to our ambition of visiting
every United State. What came as a surprise to us, was
that the trip was to be made in Chris' new toy, a birthday present to
himself, his Porsche Carrera. The boys had great fun
riding up front, the girls got somewhat nauseous cramped in the back but the
trip to Tennessee on the winding roads didn't take long at all and we had
photographic evidence of our visit. We weren't sure, however,
who owned the five hundred yard stretch of land between the two signs,
perhaps we should have claimed it for Wales!
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Of course we've visited
Tennessee!
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Think they spent more on
the sign in North Carolina!
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Sadly Chris still wasn't feeling well and wasn't
feeling like driving any more, which gave Phil the chance to have a drive of
the new toy himself. Luckily we didn't have room for a Porsche
aboard Anju as he was quite smitten!
When Vivian left for a visit to her native
Canada, we were left as Chris' nurses during his recovery. As he
began to feel better we wondered if he'd like to join us on a short walk, to
get some fresh air. He guided us through the woods near his
house to a scenic waterfall and then suggested we take a different route
back to the house from there. This proved to be a mistake when
we struggled to find our way through the woodland and spent quite some time
scrabbling amongst the trees wondering if we were heading in the right
direction at all. Finally we ended up arriving in somebody's
back garden in a house close to Chris' and wearily made our way home from
there.
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It was time to head back to Anju in South
Carolina and Phil and Christine shared the driving for the six hour trip,
while Chris recovered from the adventure of the previous day, resting in the
back of the car. We'd had a wonderful time with Chris and Vivian
but it was time to head south again. After saying our farewells
and promising to meet up again in the Bahamas the following spring, all that
remained was to wiggle Anju out of her tight spot on the dock at Marsh
Harbour Boatworks. Under the guidance of Chris, who'd made
the same manoeuvre often before in his own boat, we awaited the turn of the
tide and then holding her nose against the dock with a bow spring line,
sprung her stern out into the channel. In a single miraculous
move with the help of the current she was off the dock and turned right
around to head back out into the Intracoastal Waterway!
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The view from our own
bedroom wasn't bad either
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