Tuesday Runarounds

The list is endless.... the tile guy came by this morning, and made his bid.. now we have to go out and get the tile. We also decided on a new toilet, (a senior one) and the Commander is also talking about new sinks and faucets..... Nothing wrong with the old ones.

Also several other little stops to make... papers, Publix for stuff we forgot yesterday, Home Depot for stuff, and I envision Chick Fil A for lunch. The routine is really getting to be a routine!!! Spend money like a madman from 10-2, the rest for the next day.

We put the exercise bike together today, and blew up the tires, we'll see how long that lasts.......

We're basically waiting to get slammed from the winds and rainstorms from the former tropical storm that is on its way to us.... 77 and bright sunshine just right now.

Met a documentary producer of military things at breakfast this morning, and he indicated that he would be looking forward to having me on the team... waiting for the follow up email to report on that.

Off we go........

Another terrific Saturday here in Coquina- started out with an early morning visit to the new McDonald's on our side of town, then we headed over to the St John's Flea Market, which is back up the street a tad. We love browsing the shops every so often, and we always find something. Today was Bette's day, she found a quilt bag, a skillet, and we also found a piece to display our lighthouses, thanks Dan and Kippy for finding it- she also got 5 cookbooks, and some frames. We ate a light lunch, then headed home. It takes professional shoppers to spend almost three hours there, but we managed.

Tonight, we're off to the new Epic theaters in town to see the movie Amelia, about the lady flyer Amelia Earhardt. Then we're headed out to eat.

Hornets win 5th Region title in a row, Rebels win too!

My pal and former student Josh Babb, who is in the shot to the left on the sidelines of last nights game, texted me the scores as they happened, and Ware Shoals won their 5th straight Region 1A title last night- beating our arch-rival 96 16-9.

Also learned from Facebook that Mid Carolina beat Newberry for the third time in a row, 20-19. That is quite a feat for the Rebels.

Miss my football sideline actions!

A sign we are off the road for a while...

On the checklist for our return to Florida is to give the Malibu a head to toe cleaning- she was a mess from having been towed for the last two months. We took the car down to the high dollar steamboat car wash in town and $27.00 later, she is almost showroom new! They even sprayed some car freshener too.

CoopMan saying goodbye on our way to Florida..

Got a quick shot of the Coopman as he was leaving for school Wednesday... Tried to get Brandon but he would have none of it. Bye Coop, be good, study hard, and see you Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Dan!

Left Coquina this morning around 1030 to drop off the coach in storage down at Flagler Beach- had a bit of a tussle with our spot, seems they gave it away, along with any vestiage of customer service, or truth telling. We then headed over to the beach to our favorite cafe, the Golden Lion- I had the fish tacos, as I always do, only this time I made sure they didn't "blacken" the fish. They were yummy.

Here we all are, Dan, Kippy, Bette and me- That's the Atlantic Ocean over our shoulders- and it was about 85 degrees and sunny today- Had a beautiful drive back up A1A, will now crash for the afternoon!

Back to Coquina Crossing, our Florida Home Base

Tale of the GPS:

369.2 Miles total
56.6 mph moving average
73.3 Max speed- Bette for sure
7:34 Total travel time
6:31 Total travel moving time
1:03 Pit stops 2 Driver changes, Fuel Stop at MM 29 on I-95 @ Brunswick Ga, Lunch at Subway.

We varied the route today, ran 221 down to I-20, then over to US 25, down to I-16,to Savannah, then down I-95 to St Augustine. Nice trip!

We'll take the motor home back down to storage tomorrow, then planning on taking Dan and Kippy out to lunch at Golden Lion to celebrate Dan's 84th birthday....

Stopping off at Greenwood in the crappy rainy weather

Left Harmony NC (exit 65 on I-77) this morning at about 0815, and motored on down to Greenwood in the driving soaking rain. Ugh.

Tale of the VCR:

205.9 Miles

55.7 mph moving average

72.3 Max speed

4:22 Total time

3:41 Moving time

40:47 Pit stops.

We'll be here tonight, doing laundry this afternoon, loading up the coach for a five-month Florida stay. Have plans for some mini-trips while we are in Florida, and of course, there is spring baseball yet to come, plus fishing!!!!!

Many thanks to Rosemary and Capt. Lee Hebbard for their hospitality and chaufering while we visited- See you guys down in Florida, we hope...

Wanted for professional shopping and gossiping

BOLO for these two oldsters, posing as little old ladies, who have been know to prowl Wal Marts, Goodwill Stores, and Flea Markets until they drop. Frequent fancy eateries, ice cream stores, and finer restaurants. Have been accused of having terminal high maintainence needs. If seen, do not befriend- they are dangerous to your pocketbook.......

Lunch at Pepper's

Lunch today at a locally famous place, Pepper's in Boone, NC. Very nice food, special onion rings, thanks, Rosemary!!!!

On to App State

Stopped by the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone- Beautiful campus, Rosemary Hebbard went to school here- We have a Greenwood connection in that their starting quarterback is from Greenwood High- Ap State was national champions in football in 2005, 2007, and 2007. They are best remembered for their thrilling 35-34 victory over Michigan a couple of years ago.

This is the new convocation center.....

Mast General Store

We drove beyond Boone to Valle Crucis, NC, which is the home of the Mast General Stores. These places have been around forever and would remind you of a LL Bean sort of, with lots of interesting things inside. This particular Mast is also a working US Post Office, inside the store- pretty cool. We went down to the annex to get some bulk candy- and I got a pin. It's a terrific place to visit once a year....

B eautiful fall colors in the mountains

We drove for about 70 miles over to Boone and Valle Crucis, NC this morning, and the views were beautiful....

I didn't have the camera in the car for the best shots, so these will have to do... Take my word for it!

Breakfast at Burger Barn

Up early this morning, over to the Burger Barn just across I-77 for breakfast with the construction boys and the truckers- then back to the coach to take care of Buster and then head on over to the Hebbards for a daytrip to Boone and Valle Crucis, NC up in the low mountains of NC.

Dinner disaster

We headed back over to the Hebbards for brunch Sunday morning, then came back to the coach to work on our photos from the birthday party and take naps, then we went back over to their home, and headed on down to the Sage Brush Steak house down I-77 for dinner early, so Capt. Hebbard could watch the Navy-Wake Forest football game on tape delay.

We wound up hitting the restaurant on a bad day... Rosemary's steak came out bone dry, and not cooked properly, so she sent it back, and when she did, the waitress said "I'll have them re-cook your steak." I bet the girls that they would do exactly that, recook the existing steak and send it back out, and put juice on it, which it looked like to all of us, that is exactly what they did! Her steak came out almost totally well done, but it had lots of juice on it! They took her steak off the bill, and it took us about 10 minutes, or so it seemed, to have the bill brought to us. Turns out the manager had been there only 4 days she said, and had been sent to "turn the place around." Good luck!

Today, we're going to head on over to Boone and Valle Crucis, NC, up in the NC mountains. The fall colors are really spectacular just this weekend, and we are looking forward to the trip. I'll try to get some photos as we go.

Looks like we'll sign on for another couple of days here at the Van Hoy campground, and head for Greenwood on Wednesday morning.

The secret is out.....

We've been in stealth mode for the last couple of days due to the fact that we were contracted by our dear Maine friend, Rosemary Hebbard, to take photos at a surprise birthday party for her husband, Lee. So we couldn't say where we've been since last Friday. Well- today at 1305, Capt. Hebbard walked through the door and was totally surprised. Way to go Rosemary! I'll post more photos of the happy event tomorrow. For now, we'll be staying through Monday it looks like, then we'll head on back to Greenwood, then load up for Florida.

Happy Birthday, Sir! On top of it being his birthday, Navy beat Wake today.

Our 10,000th Visitor!!

According to my hit counter, at 11:04 pm tonight, my little blog registered it's 10,000th visitor! The lucky person is from Perth Australia, and I am guessing it is my long time Aussie Pal, Gazza.

When we started the blog and counter, we thought we might get a few hits from our family and perhaps a couple of friends, but in reality, we have gotten hits from literally all over the world.. It's really cool.

To all who have visited, and to those who visit on a regular basis, enjoy the blog, and we've got some neat stuff coming up next year, stay tuned!

Coach service and zooming around

Original objective today was to get the coach serviced at Carolina International at Greer. Got up early, and got there by 0930, and they took it in and did a wheel alignment, and then a 100 point checkup that they do. Technician Zane pronounced the coach in excellent shape. While the coach was in the shop, Bette and I zoomed around to do quickies, including Spartanburg Harley Davidson, the Zentrum, which is at the BMWplant, and then we did Cowpens National Battlefield. Pins at each stop!

Shrine, Highway 225 in Greenwood

This marks the spot where a 15 year old son of a SC State Trooper was killed while riding his bike back on September 4, 2005. I was actually able to replace some things that had fallen down into the ditch back where they belonged.

I believe this was originally a hit and run accident, but IIRC, the person who did it later turned themselves in.

2 Death Shrine - Highway 225, Greenwood.

This shrine is located very near us here in Greenwood, and is across the intersection where two folks met their death. The accident was a result of a fellow running from the police with a 16 year old young lady in the car running a stop sign and crashing into an innocent couple heading home- the young man in the other car was killed, and if I remember correctly, the younger female passenger was badly injured. The driver of the car involved pled guilty to several charges, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

This, I believe is the young man's portion, the floral wreath is on a guitar stand.

Believe this is for the young lady who was killed- she was just 16, I believe.