The boys and I were still at the club while Brian and Bill were enroute bringing Non-Linear back from Florida.
Jim and Joni took us on a day trip to Morehead and Beaufort,NC.
We stopped at a consignment store and the boys found a rip stick. It is like a skateboard, but with only two wheels. Much more balance needed. A friend from Kinston has one and they were excited to find this one.
They practiced in the parking lot and along the shops in Beaufort while Joni and I popped in and out of the stores.
Last stop was for ice cream at the General Store.
Friday, June 3
With rainy weather, it was a quiet evening in the clubhouse.
Charlie had left the boys a bag of cookie mix, so they made those together, then we made personal pizzas for dinner.
Saturday, June 4
That afternoon, Andy and Sally picked us up and drove us back to their house for a cookout.
They generously let us bring our laundry to use their machine.
They taught us to play chicken foot dominoes, a very fun game!
Dinner was a delicious blowout of burgers, potato salad, baked beans, chips, and brownies for dessert.
After that big meal, Sally, Caleb and I went for a walk. When we returned, this is what we found.
Andy and Nathan reclining and watching original Incredible Hulk episodes.
Sunday, June 5
Brian called early in the morning, saying they would arrive around noon. They made amazing time coming back.
They had left Vero Beach, FL on Tuesday afternoon. They went out with the tide at Ft. Pierce, did three overnights on the ocean, came in at Cape Fear, back out at Masonboro, and in again at Beaufort, and back to Black Beard Sailing Club.
Between Masonboro and Beaufort, they trailed a fishing line and caught this Crevalle Jack Fish.
Bill processed it, and brought us the fillets to cook.
They arrived an hour early, at 11am.
Monday, June 6
With Brian back safely, we pulled anchor about 11am and headed up to New Bern. We anchored off of Union Point around 2pm.
Tuesday, June 7
It was a rainy morning, so we just stayed on the boat. That afternoon we moved over to Persimmons for fuel. The store had gotten struck by lightening the night before, so the pumps were out, but they let us stay tied up while we went ashore to grocery shop.
Sally picked the boys and I up and dropped Nathan and me off at Wal-Mart. She and Caleb went to Betteries Plus to drop off a couple things. They met us back at WM, we finished, got an ice cream cone, then picked up Caleb's phone that had needed the screen replaced.
Back at the boat, we unloaded all the groceries, then motored back to BSC so we could look at a boat that evening.
The boat turned out to be too much of a fixer upper. But the couple was nice and their little three year old son was a cutie.
Wednesday, June 8
Brian gave himself a hair cut and the boys and I did laundry. That afternoon, our friend, Archer arrived back from Ocracoke. He shared his homemade pasta suace with us, so we had spaghetti for dinner.
Thursday, June 9
Caleb washed Archer's boat and dinghy.
We sold one of two bikes on Craigslist.
That afternoon, we left to go back to New Bern after getting fuel at NW Creek Marina.
Friday, June 10
We moved the boat to the free day dock at Grand Marina.
While there, our fresh water pump decided to quit. Brian got on his bike and rode to West Marine to buy a new one. Nathan and I took all the empty bottles and jugs we could find and filled them at the hotel, not knowing how long we would be without water on the boat.
Brian got back and got the new pump installed.
It is a more powerful one than the old one. Because of that, it kept throwing the breaker if it ran for more than 30 seconds. But it was great to have running water again.
That evening we went to a free movie in the park. A local church put it on. They even had free lemon aide, popcorn, and icee pops.
We decided to try a new anchorage, just past the rail road tracks in Bridgeton.
It was a beautiful area, with a small public park near by with a fishing dock to tie our kayaks up to. The water level was low, making it a little tricky to get in and out of the kayaks, but we made it work.
We walked with the boys over to Nelson's Blueberry Farm to the U-Pick section. Unfortunately, they had a big run on pickers the day before and that part was closed for a week to allow more blueberries to grow. We bought a pint of prepackaged and ate them as a snack on our walk back to the boat.
We also stopped at the Redbox and using a free code got the movie Risen to watch that evening.
Sunday, June 12
That morning, Brian and I walked back to the gas station and returned the movie.
Back at the boat, we got ready to pull up the anchor and go to Green Springs to swim for the afternoon.
We anchored closeby and the boys wasted no time jumping overboard and swimming over.
The phone rang before Brian and I could leave to kayak over. Our friends, Jim and Joni were calling to see if they could kidnap me for the week and take me to Raleigh. Brian gave the ok and we made plans for them to pick me up in a few hours.
We went over and swam a while, then I came back to pack a bag and gather laundry to wash while there.
They drove over to Green Springs around 4 and we gave them the grand tour. I gave the boys and Brian and hug goodbye. They stayed overnight and swam again the next morning before pulling anchor and returning to the club, where a mechanic was supposed to meet them on Tuesday to fix the engine's oil leak.
On the drive back to Raleigh, we stopped at McCalls for dinner.
Monday, June 13
I did our laundry and spent the afternoon at the pool with Joni.
Tuesday, June 14
We went to a large thrift store that is run by one of the local churches.
Afterwards, we stopped for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Before going in, Jim and Joni posed by a cool car.
After lunch, we window shopped at the mall until it was time to head to the movie theater. We saw "Now You See Me 2". It was a great movie.
Afterward, they took me to Snoopy's Hotdogs for dinner.
Back at the club, the mechanic started to work on the engine and decided it would be too much and backed out of the job.
Brian had another club member and mechanic, Bill Zlobl take a look. He was very encouraging and talked Brian through what parts he needed and how to do it himself.
Brian got the parts on order.
Wednesday, June 15
We mainly stayed around the house. Later we did a Costco and Kroger run for dinner supplies.
We had shrimp cooked in beer, old bay, and water; corn on the cob, and a tomato/avocado salad.
After dinner, Joni was about to dump the cooking liquid and I jumped up and stopped her. Too much flavor in that to waste! We challenged each other to come up with a recipe together to use it the next night.
Thursday, June 16
Joni took me to some of her favorite shops in Raleigh. A giant shoe warehouse, and a top of the line consignment clothes store. We had fun trying on shoes and outfits, but didn't end up buying anything.
For dinner that night, we decided to use the shrimp cooking liquid to boil pasta in. That really infused a lit of flavor. Then we added cooked chicken, olives, dice tomatoes, feta cheese, butter, and mushrooms.
It turned out better than we thought it would.
We packed up to come back to the club. Sydney, the cat was given her car sickness pill, and was letting it take affect.
In Goldsboro, we stopped at one more thrift store called Second Fling. It is a huge store and very well organized.
We got back to the club close to lunch time. Brian and the boys were upstairs eating. I loved my mini vacation, but it was so great to see them again!
That evening Caleb and Nathan washed our friends, Tom and Ollie's truck as a welcome back gift. They, along with another friend, Doug, were returning that evening after being gone 8 months cruising.
Saturday, June 18
Another member, seeing the boys wash the truck, hired them to wash his van.
Brian went sailing with George, Ken, and Charlie, on Raga, George's boat.
Sunday, June 19
Father's Day!
Brian and Tom Foster ended up making the gasket themselves and fixing the oil leak. The parts on order had still not come in.
That afternoon, Geri brought her boys and our two oldest down for a visit. It was a great day.
Monday, June 20
The boys and I went through the school books in the trailer and pulled everything for the new semester in the fall.
Later we did laundry and hung it out to dry.
Caleb helped Joni attach cleats to their kayaks.
That afternoon, Brian and I went with Jim and Joni grocery shopping and running a few errands.
Geri had brought us an abundance of goodies from her garden, so we shared a much as we could and still had plenty of zucchini to use ourselves.
That night for dinner we had zoodles and shrimp. I also made a mock apple pie, using zucchini slices in place of the apples.
Tuesday, June 21
We left midmorning with Jim and Joni on their boat, Salty, and ours, Grace, to sail down to South River.
We anchored about 3:30pm. That evening, they came over for sundowners and appetizers.
The original plan was to spend one night in South River, then get up the next morning and go on the Cape Lookout. The weather and wind were such, that we decided to just stay put.
Wednesday, June 22
Jim and Joni came over and helped Brian scrape the growth off the bottom of our boat. As far as could be reached from in the water.
There was fun swimming too.
Brian had put together a system for diving under the boat to clean the very bottom, but when he went to start the generator, the pull cord broke. So the rest of the morning was spent replacing that.
With the generator working again, Brian was able to test his breathing tube.
They went back to their boat for lunch and a nap.
That evening we went to their boat for sundowners and appetizers. Afterward, the boys and I loaded up in their dinghy and Brian sailed his Hobie over to an old cemetery.
Thursday, June 23
Rather than head straight back to BSC, we decided to stop in Oriental. We were able to get spots at the free docks. Once tied up and settled, we had lunch and then wandered around town, ending at The Bean for ice cream.
That evening Jim and Joni brought Sydney over for a visit after dinner.
Friday, June 24
It was so very hot, Jim and Joni decided to head back to the club and the air conditioning. The heat was taking a toll on both Sydney and Jim.
We stayed another night.
Brian worked on the engine. I baked zucchini bread for the shrimparoo the next day.
We got tired of blowing the fuse every time we turned on the water faucet, so Brian bought and installed a new fuse. Problem solved!
Late in the afternoon, we packed a picnic supper and headed to the little beach to cool off.
Saturday, June 25
We left Oriental early in the morning about 7:30. Part way back to BSC Brian discovered a major leak, and bailed water a few times in between trying to stop the leak.
We made it back safely around 10:45am.
Turns out the raw water exhaust connector broke.
He got on the computer and ordered a new part.
He also helped Jim fix a water leak they had on their boat.
That is the great thing about our club. Everyone helps everyone. There are so many people who have experience in so many areas, all you have to do is ask and there is bound to be someone with the right answer and willingness to get their hands dirty right along with you to fix the problem.
Meanwhile, everyone was getting ready for the annual Shrimparoo.
This is where as many boats as want to participate, raft up together and climb from boat to boat eating shrimp and whatever side dishes people bring to share.
This year they rafted and anchored around a main raft. People ate and swam and had a great time.
Sunday, June 26
We listened to church on the deck.
I made more zucchini bread to share at the Sunday evening potluck.
Monday, June 27
This was the beginning of the second kids sailing camp. Since we were not planning on being here, we did not sign the boys up. We do our best to stay out the way during camp hours, but in the early morning, late afternoon and evenings, they love playing with friends they don't get to see very often.
Katherine told Caleb about Geo Cashing. He looked up a website and found one nearby. After dinner we all walked and the kids rode bikes and he found it!
I just love this picture of all the kids!
We are slowly getting each little problem with the engine fixed. Just taking things day by day.
