Oh, Atlanta---OH, Atlanta

I said Hey,
Hey,
Hey,
Atlanta,
I've got to get back to you.

Okay, maybe I'm not as thrilled about Atlanta as Lowell George was, but I'm going anyway.

Butch and I head out to the races in Atlanta Thursday night. We've got some things scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, so we were packing up the van tonight. Hopefully, the weather will be good, and the racing fast and safe, and Jr will win. Course having said that I've jinxed him, I'm sure. Just not that whiny Shrub! I'll be really happy if we get to see Johnny B win in the truck race. But, it is Atlanta, and as his spotter said last year, they wouldn't know what to do if they had a good clean run. (this was said as the drive train was laying in turn 3 and he was in turn 4)
Catch up when we get back!

Maiden Voyage

We took the beach house for a spin last weekend. We needed to open up everything and try it all out to make sure that it was all working. We went up the road about 20 miles to a campground called Twin Bridges. We parked next to another couple named Lisa and Bob, who asked if we'd like to share a bottle of wine with them when we got done kicking all the tires and such. They were from Nebraska and were on their way from Maine to Orlando where they were going to park their motor home and drive back to Nebraska. Sometime in January they were going back and working at Disney World for a couple of months. Bob said he didn't care if he was selling peanuts, that'd be fine with him. They were a great couple and we not only finished off that bottle, but Bob went for re-enforcements and opened a second. They were going to check out the Apple Harvest festival and explore Gettysburg before heading on south. Safe journeys to them!

Only had a couple of issues we found. The Sleep Number bed-well, it didn't hold air....on my side of course. So when we got home Sunday night we took the mattress apart to check it out. (having experience with our home mattress made it a lot easier) I knew I'd heard air leaking after every time I re-inflated the dumb thing. Well, I did. The valve at the top of the air bladder was cracked. We contacted the dealer we bought it from and they got a replacement off to us UPS. A couple of other little things, but nothing too drastic, so it was a good weekend. The leaves are really hitting color here, so that made it even more beautiful outside.

Beach House

We've been so busy since our week on the island and so much has gone on, it's hard to keep up. We got back on that Sunday, and Tuesday we went and signed the papers on the beach house. I told Butch years ago that I wanted to retire to a beach house. He told me then that it was no problem, but that my beach house was going to have to have 6 wheels. Um, not exactly what I was thinking. So we picked up our beach house and brought the behemoth home.

Our Beach House

Butch is like a clam happy, and I'm a wreck thinking about everything that goes along with it. I swear he's going to drive me to the funny farm in this thing. But, it has been our plan, and we've been looking and sizing up what we wanted for about 3 years now. It really is nice, and it was almost exactly what we were looking for- a 2005 Winnebago Adventurer. We bought it used, and the people who bought it new had almost every option you could put on it on it. It only has 10,000 miles on it. This weekend we're going to take it out to a local campground so we can actually open up all the awnings, and try everything out. The thing even has a washer/dryer too. I'll never figure out all the satellite tv stuff. I'll have to get back to you on how it goes.

Portsmith Island-Part Deux

We finished up on the beach and headed off to the village. If you look up the history of Portsmith Island, you'll find that it was once a very prosperous island, but eventually, the port moved and the island started to die off. Life became harder and with no running water, electricity or sewer, you can understand why people moved to the mainland, and eventually, there were just two elderly ladies, and a gentleman left on the island. The gent died and the ladies moved to a nursing home on the mainland after that, and that was the end of Portsmith Island. It is now part of the National Park Service and is maintained by them. It is slowly being restored by both the NPS and also volunteers who come and work to fix buildings that are still there.

The two of us in our little gator.

Established 1753

Population in 1860-685

Today-0

Lifesaving Station

This is the Methodist church taken from the top crow's nest of the lifesaving station.

The church was knocked off it's piers a bit during Isabelle, so it's a little leany.

Easy for us to relate to, since we ran from her on Hatteras.

An Islanders cross

There is an island there that has sunk into the sound. Fort Ocracoke used to be there and is now underwater. Today, it is used as a sanctuary for the Brown Pelican. Thousands nest and breed there. The white ones here do not have flight feathers yet.

We docked back in Oracoke, at the Jolly Roger, we walked around the island for a while and did some shopping. We were terribly parched and a little bit hungry so it seemed like a good idea to head right back to the Roger, and satisify both needs. When you see signs around your outdoor dining area and they say DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS! it doesn't always mean the drunks. Not long after we sat down another party of about 10 came in and began to make a huge quacking scene. The mallards wandered around under the tables looking for handouts or scraps that had been overlooked. Of course, this was partway through our second pint and our table was the one that they decided to have a girl fight over some boy. Butch got a round of applause when he broke that one up. Course, the flying feathers were all over us. (I did save my beer) .

So, ta-da, that was our adventure on Ocracoke this year.

Portsmith Island-Part I

I know it's overdue, but you know.

We went over to Portsmith Island on Tuesday to do some shelling and visit the NPS restoration of the village. The hardest thing about it....was informing butch that we had to get up at 5AM on a vacation day so we could catch the 6AM ferry. We made it down to the ferry with time to spare, and butch was a little happier once he had actually gotten a cup of coffee from the ferryman. We chatted up with the Terminix man who was going to Ocracoke to do his rounds until we all realized "oh, shit, we're loading!!" and everyone made a run for their vehicles. This is why I had pictures of the beautiful sunrise coming up over the ocean, from the ferry, with a bugs butt in front of me. I know, I could have actually gotten out of the van and walked up and had the "cliche" picture, but at 6AM the fact that we were watching the sun come up over a bugs butt just made me laugh hysterically. Butch having had some caffeine in his system, was actually kind of seeing my humor. (well, maybe just a little-there might have been some eye rolling involved)

So we got into Ocracoke and got some breakfast at the Creekside and met up with Wade (your captain) got all the paperwork filled out and off to Portsmith we went. We dropped anchor and waded in, applied massive amounts of ddt and treked off to the gators. Oh, did I tell you this was an ATV tour of Portsmith? Oh, Butch was all over that.

Notice, he's still carrying a coffee cup? On the boat across the sound and all.

First up, shelling. Man, can I tell you, as much problems as Hanna caused, one thing she did was deposit shells on the beach like you would not believe. I got 2 shopping bags of conch (welk) shells. Whites, beiges, and a bunch of black ones. Left and right handers, which are just different kinds of welk. Butch picked up probably 20 scallop shells of all colors. We even found some Scotch Bonnets. Didn't find a whole one, but found almost a whole one. It was just unbelievable.

Holding up some of the bounty.

You don't find many beaches with this many people on them.

Butch eeking out every bit of power from the atv.

He actually let me drive.

Okay, I jumped in the drivers seat when he was picking up a shell and wouldn't get out.

Part II-The Village.....later.

Damn Lottery

yeah, we're back. Safe and sound with a few extra bug bites that we didn't have when we left.

i'm pissed.

tommorrow morning...
my hair will not be wet,
i'll have shoes on.

i'm pissed.

when the worst thing that can happen in your day is being wiped out by a wave and having a bathing suit full of sand, that's my kind of day at the office.
pictures and what not coming when we get caught up on email, snail, and laundry.

damn lottery!

Hanna and Ike

So, we're at home. Normally, on this Friday night we'd be hopping in the van to head off down the road to Richmond. However, finally, the management at the track figured that it would probably be better if they didn't have 140,000 or so people in their parking lot when hurricane Hanna came through. okay, d'oh! They actually had one come through a couple of years ago and tried to start the race. They had all us idiots schlep up there and as soon as our butts hit the seats it started raining again. They ran 16 laps under caution and then called it a night. Ran the next morning (Sunday) at 11AM.
But the fact that the state of Virginia is under a state of emergency today, it was probably the best thing to do (you think????)
So that means that we're going to the Saturday night race Sunday at 1pm and not getting down to the island until late on Sunday. shit happens....

Butch's sister Brenda flew home today. Right into the path of Ike. They're planning on packing all their stuff up in the back of their boat, and heading to Connies house in Panama City. And here I am whining about having a race postponed. Well, I was a little.

If you just happen to recently retire, the day before your birthday, and then whip off to the Bristol night race, your name might be Pappy. If all of these are you, and you've come back from your hurricane evacuation, could you please email me with your current email addy? I have uncle sam's which I know would be no good, and I don't think I sent an email to the right home addy.