One Year Anniversary on the Great Loop!

One year ago today Bruce Perry and I departed from Kent Narrows in the Chesapeake Bay. What a year it's been! So many adventures on the waterways, so many lasting memories, yet one agonizing tragedy with the loss of Rich Hess. Still, I am thankful for the blessings of so many wonderful changes in my life.

George and I left Beaufort last Monday morning, and cruised straight north for 60 miles to an anchorage by ourselves. It was a beautiful day, but uneventful.

EXCEPT for when we were boarded by the Coast Guard. YIKES! I remembered us passing a Coast Guard base along the narrow waterway and seeing no activity at all. They must have decided it was time to launch their inflatable and inspect the only boat that passed them in hours. They zoomed up behind me with their lights flashing. I put it in idle while they came alongside and three of them boarded me, leaving three others in their boat (they needed six for this?). They said George could keep driving while they did their inspection. I was so worried that they'd find some infraction or two, but NO! I complied with every request! I had everything the "book" called for, other than a sticker saying that we could not throw trash into the water. They gave me one, and now it's all stickered up! The fire extinguishers were charged, the holding tank discharge valve was closed, I had the throwable life preserver ready to throw, etc. Whew!

Our route took us inland from the ocean, and across wide rivers that seemed like lakes. As we had a relaxing happy hour, we viewed this "redneck compound" off to the east of us. Confederate flag flying proudly, junk everywhere. I imagined he was watching us thinking we were tree huggers since we took off in the kayaks.

See? We enjoyed paddling into a natural creek. See how far behind us the Breaking Away is? (That other boat joined our anchorage while we were kayaking.)

That was the night that was so frustrating because we were remote from civilization (redneck country??) such that cell phones didn't work, and neither did the computer. If I knew the cell phones would not work, it wouldn't be so bad; I could just do something else. But my texts to Janet went through the first few times after I arrived, and therefore I kept hoping they would continue to do so. Therefore, I kept hitting "resend" for hours, and eventually one would send, which only gave me hope that one more would send. I'd receive one from Janet, and try to respond and keep hitting resend for an hour. But then another would come in from Janet, so I'd have to change my response I'd been trying to send. Which spawned another hour of hitting resend and watching the screen endlessly. The evils of technology, much as I depend on it!! What would I have done this year if I couldn't communicate with loved ones?

The next morning I continued to have the texting issues, but after departing the anchorage and moving about two miles, I could call Janet and feel right again. What a relief that was to explain what had been going on at my end. She knew, of course.

We stopped briefly at the town of Belhaven to mail postcards and see the charm of the North Carolinians. Attractive homes, friendly neighbors.

The day continued again uneventfully. We headed northeast through a 22-mile cut canal connecting the Pungo River with the Alligator River. We had planned to stay the night in the Alligator River just before crossing the "dreaded" Albemarle Sound, but the weather forecast caused us to want to cross the Sound before thunderstorms hit the next day. So, it became a 12-hour day, 95 miles total and 90 nonstop, our second longest of the entire trip.

As we were nearing the end of the endurance cruise, after we crossed the Sound (potentially treacherous due to its shallow depth and wide expanses for nasty wind waves to develop), we passed this blimp-making factory. During the war the Navy built blimps to help protect our Atlantic shipping, and they have continued to build peacetime blimps here to this day. Notice the huge hanger on the left.

It was a relief to finally dock here in Elizabeth City. It's a free wharf...and famous. I suggest you read this website about the Rose Buddies -- http://www.elizcity.com/rose/
After reading about the Rose Buddies in my Great Loop books, I had been looking forward to being here. Sure enough, people ran over to help us tie up, and started welcoming us and telling us about all the things to do.

Here's the sign they have right here at the wharf.

Here it is in the daylight, with the rose bushes transplanted here from the original Rose Buddy's home after he passed away.

George and I went out looking for a greasy spoon to have a good ole Southern breakfast. We found it here, where the locals meet. We both had eggs and grits and a sausage gravy biscuit. On the menu was "scrambled eggs with pork brains." Ugh!

After breakfast we tried to rent a car to drive out to Kitty Hawk, but the only rental agency had no cars. So we went to the Albemarle Museum, did shopping, computer work, boat maintenance, reading, and hanging around talking to other boaters. The predicted thunderstorm came with a vengeance...for 5 minutes.

The shoe is on the other foot!!! I needed to walk across the draw bridge to buy a part for my boat engine, and I had to wait for a damn boat to cross under. Who do those boaters think they are anyway, to make everyone wait for them?

To celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the trip, we had a happy Happy Hour and then went to a local wine tasting event down the street. All California wines. Pretty tipsy by the time we walked back (at least I was). Couldn't spell a dang word chatting with Janet. She understood!