“USA 🇺🇸 North Carolina ~Monthly Blog Series of….It’s Never Dull!! ~SEPTEMBER 2024”

• September 23, 2024
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

***Sending prayers out for all those impacted by the two major storms, in two weeks, during September, including Hurricane Helene that over all, impacted every part of North Carolina; causing a State of Emergency.  It’s catastrophic and dire, and life-changing for too many good folks.   🙏💔🙏💔

Making It Happen!

Daryl and I absolutely rocked, the first day of September. We are pleased with all our effort, over the last month, to finally get to the home stretch!

Before it got too hot in the day, and before the rain came, we moved all food stores and supplies, out of the secondary bathroom! That room had become what I called  “The Shift Show,” since the very beginning. It was our pantry, (not used as a bathroom) but of course we were on the road for three years, before we stopped in N.C. So the items would shift and fall and would require some picking up, because of life on the road, and all, but other than that, it was great, while on said road.

Before

After

Daryl texted me from the shed, after the last load we moved, and I replied:

Daryl continued to work on our cute red shed. He decided it needed some trim, and it is all done!

Now that the trim is done, Daryl is building an addition on to the shed. This will give him a locked storage area for his tools and a small work bench. It’s a work-in-progress, but the sun did come out again, so one makes hay when the sun shines, and all.

We have another critter, Daryl calls “Lizzie.” It lives under the shed and we really hope he gorges on ants, often.

As a precautionary, we put a few mouse traps in the shed, since we now have food out there (we have never seen mice or rats on the property) …anyway, the ants ate the bait! We learned a trick though. Gotta get to Tractor Supply and buy some chicken house nesting mix. I guess the mice love to collect this material for their own nests, so it makes great bait. We shall see. I really don’t want to harm any mice, but we don’t have a cat, so we have to be smart about our food stores.

Speaking of growing things…. My summer plants are just about done, so in preparation, Daryl got me a few “Mums,” which will be perfect for the fall.

Thank you, honey. 💕

MORE ONSLOW TIME 

Nope. We never tire of our time on this beach. I also never tire of hanging out with my daughter!

Chels and I had a beautiful day. It was still hot, but not like it has been. The kids are back in school with the new fall routine, well established, by now.

We thought we were done around 11AM, till we discovered a gate was open that is NEVER open….. (road access to the part of the beach, beyond what’s normal, anyway). While we have been at that part of the beach. via beach, during the dark thirty times, and have had good luck, it was daylight on this day. We had been searching for about 40 minutes, before some Marines told us they were locking the gate, so we had to go.…. I found a small, worn Meg and two Angustidens fragments… super fun!

Also, I heard reports that the turtle nests are hatching. With the King Tide coming, I have some concern for the remaining nests, though.

The beach should be good to search, after the King Tide, for sure…

Little did I know, at the time I wrote this part in this blog, what was coming our way. We continue to be in Hurricane season, till November 1st, and it happens to be a very hard season this year. This one coming at us is “un-named. ”Lucky us!

Terminix 2.0 🙄

We had no change, after Terminix did their thing, so had to call and complain. We had cockroaches and ants in the shed, big time! Ugh. So, they came out a second time; hassle-free and sprayed again; and since The Whale was much improved; as in NO cockroaches or ants, but I’m wondering if they even sprayed the shed. I was indoors when they were outside, so did not supervise the situation. Daryl, God Bless him, is quite social and can be a huge distraction. 🤣  Anywho, I watched them spray the shed this time, so hopefully we will be good, now, since we had put out mouse traps in the shed, as a precautionary, and the ants ate the bait 🙄

Now For the (continued) Air Conditioners and More Projects 

Our mobile repair crew returned, to get up on the roof of The Whale, to see what we needed, to get the fix. The A/C’s always have worked, but the exit water was not exiting where it should. 

As it turned out, two out of the three pumps on the A/C /Heater units need replacing. $70 for inspection and $125 each for the pumps, so far. The good news is we are in pretty good shape, going in to winter.

Our repair guy returned with our new pumps, but even though the order numbers were exactly correct, he wasn’t able to install them, because they are not the right fit, for some strange reason. So, he is taking the pumps home and retrofitting them, so they will work. (that sound like money to me) 😩

Anyway, we learned something very interesting by this point of repair. Apparently, who ever owned our coach before us (only one other owner) had unhooked the pumps, when they quit working, instead of replacing them. So the entire time we’ve owned The Whale, two out of three pumps never worked. The pumps do not run all the time, and aren’t part of the a/c actually working, thankfully, but their purpose is to push the exit water out the installed tubing. The previous owners took excellent care of the coach (quite evident to us) and provided a lot of documentation for anything they upgraded or repaired. I’m guessing one or both of the couple became ill, or there was a death and they had to sell the Motorhome; which they did, to La Mesa RV, which is who we bought it from.

We stayed in dry climates with minimal rain, till we went to Alaska. Then, we became stationary in North Carolina, with an abundance of rain, plus high humidity. So, the water has just been collecting in a strange places it shouldn’t.

While we wait for our new pumps to be worked on, the repair guy drilled holes in the old pumps, so the condensation water will not collect anymore, and run down the side of the coach. This is a good temporary solution. Once the new pumps are in, the exit water will be pushed through the tubing, and out the back end, the way it was designed to.

Back Splash

A few years ago, we had some metal backslashes fashioned for our kitchen counter, while in San Carlos, Mexico 🇲🇽 The original kitchen counter in The Whale had a beautiful in-layed drawer set-up in the back of counter. While it was pretty, it was not functional. Actually, it was a complete waste of space, so Daryl removed it all.

We had to get a back splash put in, in its place and get it all sealed up. By doing so, we got so much more counter space, behind the cooktop and sink.

I love copper, so I had picked a color for the fashioned metal that I had them hammer, a bit. The color was not what I thought it would be; after I painted it (way too dark) and then we ran out of time, being on the road and all.

So now, we pulled the backsplash back off (we never did caulk it) and I got new paint. I’ve treated the back space, after removal, for mold, just in case, even though I did not see any.

Pic shows the panels removed and just bare space, where the drawers used to be.…Only thing is, I do not have an indoor space to do the spray painting, since it’s been raining a lot, lately. In comes Chelsie to the rescue! She loves doing these kind of projects.

I cleaned the metal pieces, (Chelsie cleaned them better), packed them up, along with the paint and sealer and passed it all to Chels. So far, she said the color of paint is much improved, in her opinion; as in, it pops like I originally wanted it to. She said the photo doesn’t show how pretty and bright they turned out, in real life, and this is before the sealer gets put on.

I’m so excited to get the panels back, so we can put them in place and get them caulked, and my counter space items put back in place!

Now, we have a completed project. The panels are shinier than the photo shows, and we are very happy with the results!

Hurricanes Francine and Gordon

About a month after Hurricane Debby, that hit hard for us on the east coast, in came Francine and Gordon. We got lucky in North Carolina and dodged both of their bullets, this time, though Texas and Louisiana were not so lucky.

We were so relieved for many reasons, but mostly since we rescheduled our get-together with dear friends, after having to cancel last month, due to that damn Debby Storm!

FRANCINE

GORDON

The best news, is Gordon kept his dust-up over the Atlantic, to himself, and then fizzled out; not causing any damage. We could use more Gordon’s!

We are steadily working through the 2024 hurricane alphabet, in the Atlantic Ocean category, unfortunately, Helene will be the next one.

We really don’t want to spend another hurricane season in an RV, so we will need to come up with a plan, by 2025.

Speaking of weather, the second week in September brought back some very cool temps (temporarily) for nighttime (60’s) and lower humidity during the day, in the low 80’s. We are not running the A/C full-bore, and we can enjoying sitting outside in comfortable temps in the AM and PM times, again. This might be actual fall weather, since we are only weeks away from it, being official. I hope it stays, though my flowers are not happy, and this also means the campground pool will now close.

I dug my fuzzy slippers out and got an eyeball on where our two small portable heaters are. We use them, just to take the chill off our feet, as fall turns into winter, in early mornings… it’s been a very fun-filled summer, but I just love the fall, so much!

Road Trippin’ Columbia, South Carolina

We finally got our trip in to South Carolina, that we had to cancel last month, due to Tropical Storm Debby. BUT, unfortunately, a  day before our re-scheduled dates, we were unlucky with an “un-named” storm that was to specifically hit; N and S Carolina (in our area), exactly on the days we were to be gone; this time, too. NO!

It’s not like the “named” storms aren’t enough to deal with. Actually an unnamed storm can be quite fierce, too and they can be even more unpredictable; making them super concerning, too. They get the un-named term because their center never fully closes, like hurricanes, and tropicals do.

We did not want to cancel again, so with very little information available on this system, other than it was not a Hurricane, we took a gamble and left; refusing to be captives to this storm. ….but not till after securing all our outside yard items again, plus closing up the slides on The Whale, securing the boat and of course Jonah was all buttoned up. It’s a ton of work prepping for storms, and putting everything back again, when it’s over; in all the humidity, but one dares NOT to do so. We are just grateful we had “stuff” to put back, when it was over!

As it would turn out, and nobody got advanced notice on this storm till it hit, we would end up getting record rainfall in less than two days; as in what they called a 1,000 year record rain, causing unbelievable flash-flooding on the interstate, which was closed down for days, plus many rescues were necessary to get people out of their vehicles. On the side roads, the flooding caused roads and bridges to collapse, in many places.

The area that was hit the hardest was jud south of our location. These areas would be the beaches that I took Chelsie to on her birthday road trip, in July. It was a lot of damage and flooding in the coastal beach towns, including a pier. It will be a long time getting the beach towns and their beaches repaired. It’s also very sad for the endangered turtle population, as many nests were destroyed.

Not only was this a sneaky storm, it came during a King Tide, and a full-moon lunar eclipse!

Here are some pictures.

We are residing just above Jacksonville, in the yellow and orange.

This was the model from before we left on our trip, to South Carolina. It was not exact, as the storm went over the coast, much wider.

Even had we known how bad this storm was going to be; and it’s 22 inches of rain in such a short time; though not a hurricane, we still would have not left the area in The Whale, because getting back, after flooding is problematic.

As it would turn out, getting back home after our road trip to South Carolina took a long time, but fortunately, we were in our truck, as we detoured along many state highways (interstates were closed) which are very narrow country roads and slower-going. Most of the time we had no clue where we were at, and completely relied on the lady in the maps on my phone, to get us home. Whew!

We were so happy to get home and happier all was well at the campground. Power had been restored, and we actually had some sun to begin drying things out! I told our friends from Georgia, that next time we meet-up it will have to be before, or after, hurricane season!

On a happier note, we did have a fun visit with our friends Laurie and Bill. It only rained a few hours, and nothing stormy about it. We enjoyed going out to eat, together, and just lazing around to chat-it-up and have some laughs!

Laurie made us Tik Tok Cinnamon Rolls, YUM, and the Airbnb was cozy and clean.

….In addition, our drive TO South Carolina, to meet up with our friends, got a little harrowing, about half way there. Here is, in part, my FB post:

Road Trip!

It’s our first one in our new truck, “Baloo.”

We are halfway to our destination, where we will hang out in a rental home, with our good friends for a few days, who are also road-tripping; driving, coming from the Atlanta, Georgia area. Columbia is not an actual destination, it’s just a meet up point. In fact, we looked up “What To Do In Columbia, South Carolina.”  The answer said: “Go to Charlotte.”  🤣🤣🤣 (which is 1.5 hours away) We cracked up over that.  Actually, Charlotte is all that, and we’ve been.

You know it’s never dull, for us….. so I’m actually texting my friend, (Daryl is driving) .. I’m looking down at my phone, when I hear Daryl gasp. I look up and there is a big heavy and wide race car tire, heading right for us, in our lane on the interstate! Daryl said he saw it fly off the flatbed, of the truck ahead of us.

Thankfully nobody was following close behind us, because we had to almost come to a full stop, (on said interstate) as people were passing us in the left lane; angry and all 🙄 (not knowing why we had slowed down).

The tire finally left the road and went into the grass. The flatbed took the exit shortly after, completely oblivious that his tire took flight!

In Orange County, CALIFORNIA News 🔥

We had some reason to be concerned about our home in California, for a few days. It was nerve-wracking for sure. There is a canyon in the area that has caught fire before, many times, but this time there was this and other fires; at one point, as close as 14 miles from our home. Thank the Lord, the winds shifted. I’m always so grateful for the fire crews who save lives, structures, and in this case entire towns!

Also Big Bear, California

Another California fire that is in an area near and dear to me, is the Big Bear area. This has the beautiful Eagle mating pair: Shadow and Jackie, who I’ve followed via video cam at their nest, for years. Their habit is around the lake at Big Bear. The fire got way too close, but finally the weather improved, and the threat lessened. That was a Godsend for sure.

In Random News

We have the cutest squirrel who comes around. We think she has babies in a nest, somewhere. She comes right up the steps of The Whale and looks in the screen door. “Hello, Hello, excuse me, can you throw out some more peanuts for me, please.”

We also have happy bunny’s, still. We put out carrots and leftovers from making salads. It’s been fun, because they never ate any of these items before. They went untouched for a while. Now, they get gobbled up.

Oh Daryl

Daryl found his first Shark Tooth, after being around Shark teeth, steadily, for eight months. He was so proud. 🤣

Truth be known, it was kind of a joke, because he got it from my matrix mix, AFTER all my work to get it ready to pick through, was done. I spend hours getting wet and muddy, hosing off and cleaning; digging through the mix to clear it of rocks, sticks, and mud… lots of mud. Then it all sits out on a table to dry in the sun; 60 pounds of work, to finally get down to about 10 pounds of clean rocks, and hopefully some shark teeth. So Mr Daryl just walked up to the table of drying matrix mix (fossil debris) and picked himself out a shark tooth. Ha! So I told him, you can keep that one, but unless you want to join in on the hours and hours of messy preparation, don’t do that again! 🤣🤣🤣

No Joke About the Yolk

Daryl also got to experience cracking two Double-Yolk-er eggs! This might not seem like a big deal to anybody else, but making a big and yummy, fatty breakfast and hitting up some double yolk eggs; not once, but twice, is a big deal in our family. I’m certain it’s a form of good luck.

I raised chickens and collected my share of large chicken eggs. Chelsie grew up on the farm and remembers the excitement of getting a double-yolk-er too. Daryl has only heard us talk about them, till now.

Fortunately, we are able to get farm fresh eggs, fresh cows milk, homemade butter, and local honey from nearby farms, which is the next best thing to having our own, at this time. Anyway, Daryl has his favorite place (out of a few choices) to get our eggs, because the eggs are big. Well, we’ve been on a roll, lately, and scored, big time, on yolks.

In the picture are only three cracked eggs…. Bonanza! Now Daryl is part of the club!

Farm Fresh

Speaking of our farm connections, we got Daryl set-up with glass milk bottles and carrier, for when he goes to buy milk. It’s perfect and we don’t deal with wasteful plastic, and get a better price for recycling.

Win-Win.

It’s just ridiculous what this family has to label their milk with, in order to sell it from their farm. If drinking unpasteurized milk was so bad, my daughter or me, would not have survived the years I milked my cow on the farm and served it to my family.

Free!

Oh! I got the best find at a lot sale. Somebody was giving away a weed-eater for free,  and I was happy to give it a home. We don’t have to cut lawn or weed-eat, since it is provided by the campground, unless we want a tidier job around all our yard decor. I’m willing to get a little closer to my items than the workers are, and I get it.

Chels and I Did a Thing

Some mother-daughter time, had us doing “Coffee and Canvas” time at Onslow Beach. (we are way in the back in the photo) How weird it was, to come to this beach and NOT search for Shark Teeth, but we managed.

We will actually try another paint place, in a neighboring town, because I want to compare what  other classes have to offer.

Do you see the baby in the car seat, in the photo? She hung out under the picnic table Chels and I sat at. She was the very best baby for the whole 2-hour class. She never fussed and just cooed and blew bubbles, so her parents could paint!

I failed to get my own photos during class, like I wanted to, because I felt rushed the whole entire time and learned there are disadvantages to doing a painting class, outside:

1. The paint dries out even faster, and was sticky to work with.

2. Gusty breezes.

3. Bugs in the paint.

One gust hit my painting at the end of class, while it was on the table easel and it took flight; landing in a gob of bright blue paint, messing up an almost finished part on my, overall, unfinished painting. I will need to let it dry and sand off the spot, if needed, and start over on that part of the boat, plus finish the entire painting, too.

Furthermore, on the Onslow class, the area provided for mixing paint on a palette was a small styrofoam plate and was way too small to work with for me, as I need way more room when mixing colors, but that’s just personal preference. The brushes provided, however, were worn-out and should be replaced. I’m just being honest, here. $40 pp is plenty of dough, imho, and good brushes are so important.

I liked the teacher, but I was positioned at an end table and her back was to me for every instruction she showed the rest of the class. I saw nothing. Bumner… In the end, I was mostly happy about the class, for the inspiration it gave me.

Chelsie did great, as nothing much ever rattles her and she could see instructions.  I know why I wasn’t in the group photo at the end, but I don’t know why Chels wasn’t. It might be because her painting took flight, too, and landed in some brown paint, and a smaller gob of it. We were both fixing the blobs, instead of posing for a photo.

This is Chelsie’s painting … she did so good, and all during the class time! I love her wood work.

If nothing else, doing this class inspired me to get set-up at home, in The Whale, even though my work space is limited.

My skill level is primarily in oils. I started when was 17 years old, and I’ve only dabbled in acrylics over the years, and haven’t even picked up a brush, since 2014, just before I left to travel the world for a long while! So now, I will self-teach in acrylics, on my own time…. Indoors, with no wind or bugs, and way more time to complete my paintings.

I ordered paints, brushes, some canvases and a book of techniques. Acrylic paints dry quicker, unlike oil paints, which do not dry fast at all, so I need to learn a few tricks, to feel confident, at using acrylic paints, to their fullest abilities; like in double-loading my brush with paint, and moving more quickly, before they dry!

I took the time to actually paint a rope in this painting, that looks like a rope. I don’t care for abstract painting.

At home, I primarily just painted this boat picture over and over, to get the feel of acrylics. I’m so conditioned for oils, it’s a huge change, but I’m getting it! I do not care for red, so my boat has blue. I’m  really enjoying painting again!

I’m a realist painter, so that’s the opposite of being an abstract painter. This boat painting only improved, the more time I put in to it. Now THATS fun!

I’ve done acrylic paint classes, but the paintings were always more on the whimsical side, so realism did not come in to play. Now I know, if it’s not a whimsical, project, I will do the class, but plan on finishing it at home and not stress, because I’m so slow. I might even bring my own brushes and pallet paper, just in case!

Painting Examples:

I painted this Fox, and I used oil paints. It’s a realist-style painting. The Gecko painting I did at home, years ago, and I used acrylic paints. This is whimsical-style.

Onslow-Post Un-Named Storm

🤣🤣🤣

Here are my finds from two days post-un-named tropical storm, with a full-moon-lunar eclipse, and King Tide action, where the water was actually going over the dunes.

I was out of state, so could not go the day after all the commotion in the Atlantic, but I found some nice ones, plus tiny ones with all the variety; which I love about Onslow.

I like finding pirate glass, plus what I think is another Ganoid Scale which is a fossilized fish scale (bottom right) which I find on occasion.

It was interesting to see how the sand was gouged away from the dunes, and causing a ledge to step on to, to reach walkway by this storm, but completely sad for the destruction of a few turtle nests, which hadn’t hatched yet. Totally breaks my heart 💔

Update on the Turtle Nests

September 8th, 2024 Grandparent’s Day 

Got a nice message from my granddaughter, first thing in the morning. This moment solidified for me, the I have a thirteen-year-old granddaughter, who has a phone to text and call me from. She is growing up way to fast, but there will always be special moments with her, no matter how old she gets!

Also, for this weekend, we continued to celebrate being grandparents. Soccer Season through the boy’s school has started. Luke had two soccer games and Rylan had one.

On Saturday, their games were at the same time. In the end, it meant not getting to focus on just one game, and one kid. As a result, missed Luke scoring a goal, but got to watch Rylan at his game. Back and forth we went.

On Sunday, we watched just Luke’s team. They are a very strong team and are winning their games, big time!

After the game, I made open-faced shrimp sandwiches and potato salad for the family. We all enjoyed the goodness, which got gobbled up too fast for pictures, then topped off with ice cream, and then lazed around for a bit.

Next we went down to the water to look for Gators and actually saw the little one. Grandpapa wanted to make a bonfire for making s’mores, this time. A bonfire we had, and as you can tell from the photos, there is a special technique for roasting marshmallows, with such a hot fire.

Chelsie found some decorative wood to take home, including a stick with many faces and shapes to it.

The kids tried to entice the gator with a marshmallow, but that didn’t work. You know what worked? When Chelsie turned on the water at the fish cleaning station to wash hands! That Gator was waiting and watching. It came at Chelsie real fast; practically flying out of the water, skimming along the surface. It thought for sure there was gonna be fish guts to devour. Once it realized there was no fish cleaning going on, it took off; obviously disappointed.

Anyway, it was a fun time, had by all, and we look forward to doing it all again!

Joey isn’t always pictured in all that we do, and I often hear inquiries about it. So yes, he is around, just super busy. While he is retired from the Marine Corps, he began his Paramedic career, immediately following his retirement of 23 years, while also going back to school full-time, to finish his undergraduate, so he can continue on for his masters. In the meantime, he got whoo-ed into a super great job, as a civilian, training Marines for combat, so he’s back on base, working full-time.

For awhile, while working his full-time job on base, he was still working two; 15-hour shifts a month, to keep his paramedic license; that he worked so hard for, but finally life caught up with him, since one needs to sleep, sometime! Since his schooling is most important, plus his full-time job on base, plus watching his kids play sports, plus his motorcycle club trips he goes on, when he can…..yeah, he’s a pretty busy guy.

McKenzie Made the Softball Team

Super proud of this kid, as she begins her season playing softball, through her school. She represents three generations in-a-row, of us ladies playing ball. I’m super proud of this. Chelsie continues to play co-ed softball, and her team started up again, recently, too.

When I was in Junior High, they did not offer girls softball. I liked playing, so I tried out on the boys team and made it. This meant I wore the boys uniforms, and arrangements had to be made on away games for the schools to open up the girls locker room for me. I loved it all and was very glad I got to play. I remember when I got up to bat, all the boys moved closer, in. Boys were quite surprised to learn, girls can bat. I got more home runs that way; you know, being a girl and all.

The other thing I remember, was making a few boys cry, when I tagged them out at second base. Yeah, girls know how to catch, too. Mostly, I remember the boys on my team being supportive of my being there. Once they learned I could really play the game, I was just one of the guys…

By the time Chelsie was of the same age, as I was; back in the day, Girls Softball was offered as an organized sport. Chelsie, like me, loves the game. Now, in comes McKenzie!

I’m super proud I helped pave the way to girls getting to play ball!

Getting ready to bat!

We have the pleasure of not only getting to watch Kenzie play a couple times a week, but, we also get to collect her and get her home on her Monday games, this season. The boys have soccer  practice at different times for this season, so Chels is busy driving them to their practices, plus Chelsie plays her softball games on Mondays, in the evening. We are only happy to help! Of course this can mean randomly stopping for Rita’s ice cream after, for our softball player!

When I was in school the activity buses delivered us home after practices. It’s not that way, now. The kiddos need to be picked up after practices, not just after the games.

Kenzie has plenty of fans for her games. She always watches her brothers play soccer, too.

Sibling love is amazing!

We went to another of McKenzies game and it poured down rain, since Hurricane Helene was making its way to N Carolina. (we had no idea at this point just how bad Helene would be ).

Kenzies’ middle school is near the Marine Corps base, so those of us who are familiar with this, know that target practice is going on and shaking the ground, and know it’s not thunder, with potential lightening coming. The away team spectators practically started packing it up to leave. Then they got a reminder… oh yeah, Marine Corps Base and the kiddos continue to play ball!

Daryl and I only have a small umbrella between us. 🤣 Our friend Rachael took this picture.

On this same rainy softball game, we only saw Chels and the boys for five minutes, because a last minute plan came into play with the boys soccer team, and it was time for team photos! In the rush, the boys had to change into their uniforms. Because there was no advanced notice on photos, and they were not at home, the boys had to share Luke’s uniform with #57 on it for Rylan, too. Ha! That’s going to be confusing for name association!

Happy Daughters Day, Chelsie Richardson!!!!

I can’t imagine my life without you in it. You are so sweet, talented, kind, big-hearted, funny adventurous, a wonderful Mommy, fun and loving!

You are simply, the best!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Mystery Solved

We picked Kenzie up after her away game one evening, and got her home. Near her house are many acres of farm land. On this particular acreage are plants we’ve watched grow, but have no clue what they are. So, we stopped and Kenz got out to investigate. By golly, it’s a cotton field!

Luke and Rylan Playing Soccer

Rylan is #44 on Team Mutiny: boys and girls

Luke is #57 on Team Falcons: only boys

The games this season are through their grade school, but games are played on Saturdays and Sundays. It gives us a chance to enjoy some weekend meals together, after the games.

Pizza and Cinnamon Rolls, always a hit!

Oh and here, below, Rylan made his first goal of the season!

God Have Mercy

Looks like Hurricane Helene is going to hit N Carolina. This is the 9th major storm, since Hurricane Season started in July; 8 of them on the radar for Hurricane status. We are so over it! Places on the east coast keep getting hit over and over, here and in Louisiana, and of course Florida. It’s heartbreaking!

It’s too early to tell where she will hit and how bad, but we are paying attention. We have to. While we hope it misses us, on the coast, it’s not looking good for Louisiana and Florida, who just dealt with Hurricane Francine, recently.

So, fast forward a few days and this day, on a Friday the 27th, is when Hurricane Helene hit. We were spared in what would be the strongest Category 4 hurricane on record, to date, by being on the far east coast, but we did see winds and rain, where we are.

They are calling Helene, in Western North Carolina; their “Katrina.” The mountains and foothills of N Carolina got hit very hard. To make it worse, hurricanes don’t hit 300 miles off coast at elevations of over 2,500 feet, like ever! A million people or more are without power and that number is going up, by the minute. NC is under a state of emergency and thousands of people are trapped and/or missing and/or dead, from the mudslides and flooding that took out whole towns! Yes, there were some evacuation orders, but some can’t leave: elderly/disabled/those with no transportation. But even more so, the rains that came, before Helene hit were already causing roads and bridges to wash away. People were trapped before Helene arrived, only making things so much worse with 140 mile-an-hour winds! 

For us, during Helene, we experienced far less than the un-named storm, two weeks before. We were already saturated, so very happy we didn’t get too much more.

Winds were 45 mph on average for us, which was about 100 mph, less, than for those in the west. As always, tornado warning are the worst part of hurricane activity, even if lucky enough not to get hit by a hurricane. We just need to get to safety (campground rec center) if we have a tornado at the campground. No place is really safe when Tornados come through. We would be better off getting in the truck and driving away, if the road, out, is not in its path. 

We are in the orange and the tornado warnings make me nervous!

Early on Reports, After Helene Hit…..

I’m already seeing reports of catastrophic flooding in Boone, NC from Helene. It’s a really cool town where we have reservations,  during a road-trip next month. How sad.. it’s all sad. Displaced people, animals and wildlife…

Our last storm (unnamed mid-September 17 ) gave us 1000 year flooding, on the east coast (NC). Devastation

Helene just gave us 1000 year flooding in the foothills and Mountains. Absolute devastation…. It was over 200 years ago that flooding raged through these mountains, and that storm was also called Helene!

Sadly, (and it’s early) 15 people have been injured, and numerous buildings have been damaged from a Tornado earlier this afternoon in Rocky Mount, NC.

We need some peace and quiet in the weather department for a while

As time went on, it would become quite apparent, just how bad Western North Carolina would be hit. Catastrophic, to say the least. Entire towns wiped off the map! 

I am getting reports of folks trapped, buildings collapsing, and mudslides. Unfortunately, historic flooding occurred. While the worst rain has ended, creeks and rivers will continue to rise.

Whew, we are very happy to be done with this storm, now, but the aftermath lingers in the western mountains. It will take  months and years to heal. At the time I listed this blog, there were over 100 dead from Helene. Rescuers are reporting mass casualties.

We are sure thinking about others who were not so lucky and struggling with the loss and damage, and those who are suffering, greatly. It will be the better part of a month restoring power and longer, to replace infrastructure. In the meantime there is no phone service and people are trapped on the mountain, clinging to life as the mudslides continue and the flooding taking away entire towns.

The following words are from the guy I follow for updated weather reports (without the hype), in NC. It’s well stated and we are all in a bit of shock, here in NC. Life changed, today for so many and so have places. We are all in shock, here in N Carolina. It’s been a lot to take in, over the last few weeks. 

Heartfelt Words: 

Today has been hard😢. For two weeks in a row, parts of North Carolina have experienced catastrophic flooding. I really feel for all my followers and everyone else who has been impacted. Unfortunately, towns and counties will be changed forever, and we don’t even know the extent of the damage across parts of the foothills and mountains. I am in disbelief, and I am hoping for the best outcome.

I’ve received hundreds of messages from folks asking about this town and this community. Unfortunately, there are widespread communication outages across the Western part of the state, and it may be days before some areas are reached.

I hope for the best for everyone. North Carolina is strong, and we will recover together. I am thinking of all the first responders, who are away from their families and risking their own lives to save others.

All the best -Ethan

Sadly, Hurricane Isaac and Joyce are already forming in the Atlantic at this time, while people are dealing with Helene. Atlanta, Georgia was hit for the first time with record flooding. Florida, Louisiana, S and N Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Ohio also got hit.

I’m hoping and praying, any more hurricanes forming, dissipate!!!

UPDATE: Isaac and Joyce did change directions and are not a threat to the USA. However, now there is an un-named storm forming behind those two, and they anticipate it will become Hurricane Kirk. In addition; two more: Leslie and Milton!

We will know more in a few days.

I’m not alone when saying I’m so over the hurricanes, and the hurricane season doesn’t ends, till November 1st.

Later Reports of Helene 

It’s complete carnage and chaos. It’s on going and difficult to get all the information since communication lines are down from above ground, as well as torn out from underground with flooding  This will end up being the largest mass casualty event for a hurricanes Category 4 event

Helene will surpass the record of the deadliest hurricane in half a century. A week later, and people are still stranded and trapped on the mountain. They have no good, water, first aide or medical care. 

On a Happier Note…

Onslow ~Post Helene

Chelsie and I hit up Onslow as soon as it was safe. It was completely wild seeing the Hurricane Helene waves. The energy in the air was intoxicating and the sunset breathtaking….. all wrapped up in an emotional bundle. The atmosphere always feels like the oxygen is being robbed, to breath it. It’s a strange thing about hurricanes.

Before we could see the beach, we could hear the waves crashing and pounding, while parking the car. We walked up and over the steps and the scene before us was incredible. The tide was incredibly high, though it was receding, but only a little.

A lot of the sand that was taken away on the last (un-named storm) got returned with the Helene, today. We had an incredible sunset and we’re at the beach till after 11PM. It helped me feel a bit lighter in spirit, for a while, anyway.

We did not find many items on the beach, but Chelsie did come up with a yellow safety helmet. We laughed and laughed, because I found a yellow safety light during a nighttime treasure hunt. It has a working strobe that works off of solar. It was actively flashing! It floated in from the ocean on to the beach last winter. I still have it.

Chelsie also found fossilized sand dollar! What an incredible treasure! To think how long it’s been floating out at sea, and never broke. They are quite fragile, after they die, so it’s a bit of a miracle, really. We took that a good sign.

NOTE: I’ve had to edit the next part about trips we (were) are planning… I wrote it all out, before Helene hit…. 

Future Trips, Coming Up

LEAF PEEKING

When we aren’t watching our grandchildren play sports, hanging out with them, and doing various projects around The Whale, I’ve been busy researching and scheduling future adventures. Not on foreign lands again, yet, but…..

We just LOVE the fall on the east coast, and still remember, fondly, our Maine to Connecticut Leaf-Peeking camping trip we took, a few years ago. So, after being inspired by our friends Sherry and Ricardo from Texas, who also did a wonderful Leaf-Peeking trip on the east coast, last year, in a different area, we want to do, similar. Also a shout-out to their friend and our friend; a great gal named Robin, who lives on the east coast and enjoys the Parkway area and was very kind in helping me with extra details, that will make our trip, just that much better!

In October, we will be going to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia. We will also drive the Blue Ridge Parkway, in its entirety, plus visit The Great Smoky Mountain National Park; in both Tennessee and North Carolina, for a few days.

We also hope to meet-up with our friends Blake and Brooke from Tennessee, who we met on our Alaska trip, last year, whilst on the Icefield Parkway, between Banff and Jasper National Parks, in Canada.

It took several days, but I got all our reservations made, our route figured out; including hiking, scenic drives and MANY stops at points of interest that appeal to us. Daryl and I both look forward to taking great pictures again, with something besides our cell phones.

We will also be driving Baloo the truck on this trip, too. I am very ready to stay in hotels for a change, to shake things up a bit for us. We will be able to enjoy stopping, parking, and going by truck quite a bit easier and a whole lot faster, on this particular trip, since we have so many miles to cover and don’t want to be backtracking to get returned to The Whale, to move her to another spot, while on the parkway.; which is a LONG Parkway!

It will be easy-peasy, to just get to another hotel on our way, at the end of a busy and full site-seeing day; each day. We will also spend far less in fuel in the truck, justifying hotel costs, which are no longer $300/nite for a motel 6 level, thankfully, which is why we got into our Tiny pop-up Trailer, to start with.

It’s going to be a great trip and you know there will be a blog, all about it!

UPDATE:

Now I’m not sure about anything for this trip, given the devastation that just occurred in many states, from Hurricane Helene. I made all the reservations, before this hurricane was on the radar. For certain we will not be staying in Boone, NC as planned, or going to Switzerland. The town is under water and historic lodge demolished. So many building are just gone! We are still in shock about the devastation and it’s hard to think about going on a vacation, when thousand are missing and/or are dead. Rebuilding won’t happen overnight. Recovery will take time, both mentally and physically.

By Monday following Helene my brain could function a little better. Less shock had us saying….no way. We don’t want to see the devastation. We will see what next fall brings for the majority of this planned adventure. In the end, I cancelled all the reservations (well the one I could, because a few Inns might not even exist, anymore). What we will most likely, still do, is visit Shenandoah National Park, and New River Gorge National Park. The Blue Ridge Parkway is closed till further notice.

the areas around The Great Smoky Mountain National Park were hit very hard by Helene. We won’t even attempt going. No desire at this time. It’s so very sad.

FUTURE BACKPACKING

Also, since mentioning about being in the Appalachians on this fall trip, next month, where we will get to check out a part of the Appalachian trail and all….. quite randomly I was talking to a friend; Rachael at a soccer game, and mentioned “stepping on to”  the Appalachian trail, for a bit, when on our trip next month; when also quite randomly, she mentioned she wants to hike the entire trail. Then I said,  I want to do that too!  So, we are making serious plans to backpack the entire Appalachian trail! (Georgia to Maine) …not sure now, if we will go in spring of 2025 or 2026.  

This backpacking trip has always been on my bucket list, since I learned about it from a former boss who did the trek, when I was working for Project Adventure, years ago. It’s a big trip and will take three months to complete, and a lot of time to coordinate. Rachael’s hubby was already planning on coordinating his wife’s re-supply packages at various town post offices along the way, so yeah, I’m definitely wanting to do this, and now I know somebody else who wants to, as well! (Chels who is best buds with Rachel would also like to go, but she’s a busy mom, raising children, at this time)

NOTE: Was the trail impacted by Helene? Can’t find any info, but this plan is a ways off, either way.

SCUBA DIVING

Back to another upcoming trip, with just Daryl and I. I want very much to get down to Venice, Florida and scuba dive for Megalagon Shark teeth. I’ve been researching the perfect place for diving and finding amazing teeth, down there. I’ve finally found it! Daryl might not be into the shark teeth as much, but the diving will be spectacular, too!

Yes, there are Megaladon teeth to be found, right here in the Carolinas, but the diving is very deep to get to where they are, in abundance, and requires mixed gas to do it. With deep diving, which I’ve done, you get like 10 to 15 minutes bottom time, for all the effort to get down there, since one still needs air in the tank to do safety stops to get back up, safely. The Atlantic waters, like the Pacific waters, are very murky, too. Visibility is challenging. That just doesn’t appeal to us for hunting, in this case. In Florida we can dive at 20-40 feet and spend close to an hour, hunting, since decompression air isn’t required. Yes Please!

NOTE: We won’t go on this trip, till after hurricane season is over, especially since Helene hit the Tampa area and life is messed up down there, too.

WE ARE SUPER EXCITED ABOUT THIS!

And just when we were feeling settled at our Glamping site, and getting so much done, whilst staying in one place, we got the word this week that another lot is opening up; next month, and if we want it, we can have it! First of all this lot is one of the top five spots in the campground, and honestly we are so honored to get dibs! 

So yes, we are moving, straight down the road, to the back end of the ground, but it will be so worth it, because we will have a water view and will be in a park-like setting with trees and privacy. We will be able to see the deer that come to graze. The kids will have a place to run around a kick their soccer balls ⚽️

Here is a pic from the water, looking over the dog enclosure at what will be our new spot. Currently, the tenants have the light grey with white-trimmed shed (they will take it with them)

It’s a distorted view, because from the lot looking at the water, the dog fencing isn’t very close at all, but it’s just to give the idea of where we will be.

Yes, we will take our cute red shed with us! 

This new lot has opened up, because the #1 lot became available, so it’s just a shuffle of current residents. There is a waiting list for full-time spots in this campground, so our current lot will make somebody else happy. Also, we are excited to get parking for six cars. What a treat that will be!

So, next month, we will be super busy, on our partial leaf-peeking road trip I hope works out, and moving The Whale and all our goods to a new spot!

*************

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