Monthly Archives: May 2024

Our First Boondock -May 20, 2024, Washington, North Carolina

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Our First Boondock -May 20, 2024, Washington, North Carolina

We drove down to Washington, North Carolina to visit one of our friends we had met sailing – Ben Sr. He had arranged for us to park at the marina where he was staying and boondock for the first real time.  It was expected to be a chilly 50-60 degrees overnight, so we weren’t sure how this was going to work.  After a few beers we all turned in and it was surprisingly warm overnight which was a relief since we were staying here the next night. We didn’t have an “RV Adaptor” cord but knew we could get one at Walmart if necessary.  Another good lesson learned.

It was great to catch up with Ben and we had a nice time chatting with him all evening.  The next morning, he had arranged for us to take the Marina’s courtesy car.  Ben single hand sails a 37’ Pacific Seacraft to the Bahamas each year.  Ben had chosen to bring his boat here because it was the headquarters of Pacific Seacraft, and he was going to have them replace his engine in addition to do a minor refit.  He had an appointment with the owner to review his project and for us to take a tour through their facility!

It was a short 10-minute drive from the Marina and the owner Steve was waiting to meet us when we got there.  He and a member from his team – Kate – walked us all though their current projects which range from refits to new boat builds, to restoration of a historic boat for a local museum.  He has a team of only 15 people, and we couldn’t believe the sheer volume and variety of projects he was currently managing.  I am sure he will fit Ben’s in somewhere!

To give you an idea of what we saw here is a video Steve did and one of the boats we walked through.  It is a 61’ Perry Pacific Seacraft.  It was absolutely stunning and merely one example of the quality of his team’s work.  Other than the Grenada Ferry this is the largest cruising boat Ron and I had ever been on.  We were amazed and it is currently for sale (just outside our pocketbook).

Perry 61 descriptive walkthrough with Steve Brodie/Owner of Pacific Seacraft. (youtube.com)

Thank you to Ben, Steve, and Kate for the opportunity to see your operation.  It was a great afternoon for us.

It was time the next morning for us to start to head west.  Our first stop was about 4 hours west at Arrowhead Campground in Troy, North Carolina.  It had beautiful trails, sat directly in the middle of Uwharrie National Forest.  So, the first afternoon we took a nice 5-mile hike around Badin Lake.  Note to self-next time – wear bug spray.  The gnats this time of year are no joke, and the hum of the HUGE cicada’s was deafening.  Apparently, this year there is a “double brood” of them, and they are here in droves.  We are going to hang out here for the next few days.

Ugly like suckers

A Day at the BMV – Alum Creek, Ohio, USA, May 13, 2024

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A Day at the BMV – Alum Creek, Ohio, USA, May 13, 2024

We have spent the last several weeks in Columbus spending time with family, my parents have come north so we got to see them again, and we also got the chance to attend two daughter’s college graduation!  Exciting times seeing them pass this massive milestone and I know how excited they both were to be done.  One is finishing up her internship and the other has a job at Wright Patterson Air Force Base doing Optics and moved the Ketterington.  We are so proud of all four of them and now they will all be adulting.  Time for us to move…again.

For us to take off we have waited three weeks for out title to arrive (they promised us 7 days – yeah – no).  They ended up sending the title document via FedEx which we picked up then immediately headed to the BMV.  We quickly found out we needed an inspection.  Really?  Well, OK.  In the end we had to go back and pick up the RV, drive it to the BMV, get our inspection, go get our transfer from the title agency, then go back and get our plates.  And as with every government action $200 later, we were legal and able to take the RV anywhere we wanted for the next 2 years.  It took us from 9:00am to 4:30 but we got it all done in one day!  Whew!  Time for beer!

Overall is had been a very busy couple of weeks where we had squeezed in doctor appointments, completely sorted through our storage unit, and moved it to a place that was half price, done the campsite hustle moving to find an available spot for the weekends, laundry, family events, graduations, and then the dreaded BMV.  I truly don’t know when we would have time to work.  The good news it it’s all done, and we are set for another year of being nomadic.  As nice as Alum Creek State Park was with it’s spacious campsites and nice walking paths we were both feeling the itch.  Our last errand was to look at daughter’s #3’s car and change her brakes.  As it turns out when Ron took it apart, it looked fine and even through we drove over to Newark, her car was fine, and we decided to check it again when we came back though in the fall.

All of our land possessions!

We have been brainstorming ideas of where to go and I think we have decided to visit one of our sailing friends Ben Sr. who just recently got back to the USA and is it Washington, North Carolina getting some boat work done.  We will start with a 300-mile 6-hour trip, stop for a few days in Henry, WA and will take off early Wednesday morning.  We had stopped at hocking hills on our way north and had decided to pass through it this time (as pretty as it was) and make a direct jump to Horseshoe Point Campground.  Ben was a good friend whom we had spent time with in the Bahamas and he stayed with us our first year during the terrible Royal Island Storm event we endured.  We tend to chat with Ben via phone every couple of weeks or so and we were excited to see him in person again since it has been a couple of years.  So off we go…on the road again.  By nightfall, we will be setting up camp in Virginia!