Saturday, August 25, 007

Bob's Blah Blog:

Hello! We have little success in finding wifi or phone access for internet connection. Fortunately, I have been keeping detailed notes of our activities and will share them with you. Don't read this blog until you've read the Saturday, August 18 blog.

But first, for all you retirees, when do the dreams about work end???

Ok, we left bright and early on Friday morning (a week ago) for Greenville, SC to meet up with a friend of ours from Munich, Germany. She has been here in the states for the past year teaching german to american kids and english to german kids. Their parents work at the BMW plant in SC. We had a pretty uneventful trip to Greenville although someone (and I mean Corinne) slept thru the Great Smokey Mountains as we merrily drove along. Thankfully, she was not driving at the time. I, however, have perfected the ability to sleep and drive at the same time. Used to do it on our way to Lakeside, AZ when we went thru the Salt River Canyon. Had to be good cause there's a big drop off on one side of the road.

When we finally got to Greenville, we set up camp in a park called Paris Mountain State Park. It is about 4 miles outside of G-ville. Nice campground, clean, lots of pine trees, a lake, and friendly neighbors. Some guy even asked me to back his 5th wheel into the space because he was new at this stuff and all, and needed an old salt like me to do it....boy, was he ever mistaken asking me. Anyway, I got it parked without any problem.

We went into G-ville to meet with Babs, our German daughter. We technically are her american parents and are proud to say so. On Friday nights, they close off part of downtown and have bands and beer and wine and social stuff and restaurants to draw residents and vistors (us) downtown. We had a good time and ate at a restaurant there. I had Grits simmered for like three hours then they piled shrimp and andouille sausage in it. Talk about good...well, I couldn't talk about it because my mouth was full of it. Corinne had fish and shrimps and Babs had something called She Crab soup.

The next morning we met up with Babs and her boy friend Corie for lunch. They came out to our camp to see the coach then we followed them back into town. After a tearful goodbye (actually, I think it was sweat from the heat and humidity), we let her go so she could finish last minute details to leave for the homeland the next morning. We last saw Babs in Munich just a day after the 9-11 attacts when we were in Europe. We will just have to go see her next year. I was surprised how gut mein German was after all these years. Babs understood everyword I spoke. I cannot say as much for the poor soul who listened to her voice mail at her old phone extention at the school. Hehe.

The Queen let us down a few times while in Greenville. She always got us to where we wanted to go, but we sure saw a lot of scenery getting there. Over hill and dale and back again. Seems there is no straight line from point A to point B in G-ville. And, just try to find a Post Office!!

We went to see the Boring Ultimatum starring Brad Pitt or Matt Damon. Not sure which one. The constant moving of the cameral made me not feel so well. Why do directors think they have to do that? I didn't understand the first two movies, so this one was like Lord of the Rings in my book....SUCKS.

We left G-ville to head to Charleston, SC and Edisto Beach State Park. We didn't expect to be able to camp on the beach because our research indicated they were all booked up. But, when we got there, I asked the park guy (I call him park guy) if he had room for one more. He said "no, but would check anyways." He found space #8 was available for two nights if we wanted. Well, of course we wanted. The trick was getting the truck and trailer thru the trees and undergrowth. It was a challenge, yessiree, Bob. (that's me...Bob). Our spot was like 50 feet to beach and it was pretty nice. People were friendly here, too, not like in Iowa. The liked our Little House on Wheels, as Corinne likes to call it.

We made a side trip up to Charleston just to explore. Of course, we made the obligatory stop to the house of Costco to get supplies. We went downtown and saw Fort Sumter way off in the distance. What a neat place this was, except getting tossed out of the visitors center because it was closing time. I told some lady "I've been kicked out of better places. Fact is, I wouldn't go into a place that wouldn't kick me out."

On our way back to Edisto Beach, we stopped to take a photo of an ice dispensing machine like we used to see when we were kids. Never did figure out how that guy got inside the machine and knew how much ice to send down the chute when the time came. They called the machines Twice the Ice, and they had penguins (Hey, Susan and Gary) painted on the side. We took a couple of photos and someone (and I mean Corinne) was hungry.

Across the street,was a little restaurant named Dean's and Family Seafood. Corinne had been jones-ing for some seafood, so we went in. It was a niced mom and pop establishment, moderate prices and good food. At the end of our meals, Dean, came over to ask us if our meal was good and we ended up talking for about 20 minutes about the restaurant, his dad-in-law Marvin the meatman, Dean's spouse Debbie, kids, hunting and making diesel out of used cooking oil, which Dean has plenty of from his deep friers. Fact is, Deb didn't want him ruining their new 5000 mile truck by putting some homemade bio-diesel fuel in it. Fact is, he was pretty unsure he wanted to risk the rath of Deb if something went wrong.

But, one morning when he was sleeping on the couch (as most men LIKE TO DO once in awhile...don't we guys? even if the women folk think they are punishing us, its adventure sleeping for us!) he got up at 4 am and snuck out to put a gallon or two into an almost empty fuel tank. Planning ahead, he put air in the bicycle tires and put it into the back of the truck, just in case. He got down on one knee, asked for the Lord's help and drove for 45 minutes with his fingers crossed. It worked, but Deb later caught him red-handed putting bio-diesel into the truck and gave him hell. But, all was well and he now drives up and down the road in front of his restaurant to get customers to stop in. Seems the diesel exhaust smells like french fries and makes people hungry. I wonder if the E85 fuel made from corn smells like popcorn or cornbread?

At Edisto Beach, they have some mighty fine beach houses for sale and rent. Multi-story, mostly white in color, some with elevators. Ocean view or not. $500K or more. One for timeshare had a built in pool even tho the ocean was just a few hundred feet away. Too Much Money!!!

Did you know they have Piggly Wiggly stores back here? I have a membership card now and can proudly call myself a Piggy Wiggy....wait, that doesn't sound very good, did it? Well, heck, its the truth...deal with it.

The ocean water at Edisto was warm, like bath water. Felt good, but at the same time, with the high humidity and warm temp, it would have felt better 10 degrees cooler. We found some sea shells and I found a nice shell but I forgot what its called. I have always wanted to find such a shell and now my life is complete...but don't take me yet, Lord, I gots other stuff to do still that will make my life even more completer.

Along our travels, we have passed several Jellystone Campgrounds. Someone (and I mean Corinne) won't stay there. Yogi, Boo Boo and Cindy are all there. "Hey, Boo Boo...let's get some picinic baskets." Sure would have been fun to have stayed with my cousins.

Made a stop at the Darlington Speedway in Darlington, SC. Even got to go into the grandstands to see what it looked like. They are digging a big hole between turns 1 and 2 so they can drive the big trucks onto the infield. The banking at the first and second turns is like 23 feet so they really got to dig a big tunnel to get the trucks through. The security officer said the only tunnel they have now is barely big enough to get a pickem-up truck through. If it had KC lights on top they wouldn't be there at the other end.

Needed to buy a new shroud for the a/c unit on the roof. I think it got cracked or something when installed and the wind and grind from going down the road made it finally break apart. The bad news is, nobody stocks the shroud...but they can order it for me. Yeah, like I'm gonna hang around in their town while they wait for fedx to deliver something.

We were in Fayetteville, NC where Ft. Bragg is housed. They say they are the best military base in the country. Guess that's where the bragg name comes from.

We are currently on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We spent last night at a Nat'l Parks Service campground. We had a great camp spot, high on a hill where everyone could see who the alpha dogs were. The only problem was no electricity. My generator quit for some no good reason and it was pretty hot and miserable all night. Fortunately, Corinne remembered we had a power invertor and we were able to tap into the 12 volt system to run our 120v fans. Without those fans, we probably wouldn't have been able to sleep at all. That Corinne, she's the BEST!! (and she said I could say that). We moved to a KOA this morning. Before we got anything else done, we powered up, turned on the AC and went to brunch. We got back to cool digs.

Cannot get the satellite system to work, again. Do not buy a satellite system! Nothing but a pain in the kabasa. I think Corinne is now napping before the NASCAR race starts tonight. We plan to leave the island tomorrow and head for Brandon and Kalina's in Pittsburgh. Don't know what day we will get there, just depends on how hard the wind is blowing and which direction it is going

As Lee Marvin so eloquently sanged...I was born under a wandering star...

Bobo