Friday, November 24, 2017

N. E. Cape Fear River November 15-20, 2017

Day 1 Wednesday November 15, 2017 We departed about 9:30AM to stay a few days at the river. Lena followed me with the truck and was pulling the trailer with our golf cart on it. We like to take the golf cart when we go to the river so we can use it for some of the maintenance items we do while done there and also like to ride the roads that run along the river. We had lots of small limbs down on the lot from some recent winds so we cleaned all them up and set by the river and read for awhile.

I needed to go to the North Campus of Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington where my woodturning club conducts classes for students of the college. I help with the instructions on one of the classes and tonight was the last class, so the lead instructor asked that the other instructors that could to attend to help any student that had not finished all their projects. We stopped in Burgaw to a restaurant that I found on Yelp but it was closed so we went to KFC to get something to eat before going to the college.

Day 2 Thursday November 16, 2017 After breakfast I took the golf cart and hedge trimmer and did a little trimming along the road to our lot so the limbs would not touch the motorhome on the way in and out. Later I started a campfire and we enjoyed setting on the river bank reading and enjoying the birds singing and jumping from limb to limb over our heads. It sure is quit and peaceful here. We rarely hear any noise except the sounds of nature.

We grilled hot dogs over the hot coals for supper and them went inside at dark to relax and read.

Day 3 Friday November 17, 2017 About mid morning we drove to Brown Dog Coffee Shop in Burgaw to check them out and use their WiFi, since our cell signal is weak at the river. I found them on Yelp. It was okay but you only get 30 minutes of free WiFi. One of the customers was on his phone conducting business with his office and like most people using a cell phone it appeared he had no clue or didn't care how loud he was talking. Personally I think a coffee shop should be similar to a library and the patrons should not be talking in loud voices but that is just me.

After lunch and some time spent reading we took a golf cart ride along the roads.

Day 4 Saturday November 18, 2017 The temperature last night was down to 37 or so but it warmed up nicely to 71 degrees by afternoon. At 10AM I began cooking my “almost world famous” ribs in my Dutch Oven. It takes two hours to cook them and they were tinder and delicious. After lunch we drove to Wallace to watch their Christmas Parade. This is the first Christmas Parade we have attended in lots of years. Then we stopped at the local Mexican Restaurant for a light meal before going to Walmart to get some milk and RV Anti-freeze so I can winterized the motorhome next week, as this is our last trip for the year.

Day 5 Sunday November 19 2017  We awoke to a sprinkle of rain that ended about 8AM. It was just enough to wet all the leaves that had fallen from our trees. And we sure have a mixture of trees, including oak, pine, sweetgum, hornbeam and others. The sun came out and it was a cool but nice day. We relaxed, read and after lunch took a walk and then built a camp fire and later watched the last NASCAR race of the season.

Day 6 Monday November 20, 2017 We packed up and returned home from our last trip of the year. After we got home I winterized the motor home for the upcoming Winter.



We have made 7 trips in 2017 and stayed 102 nights in the motor home.

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Greensboro N.C. 2017 N.C. Woodturning Symposium

Day 1 Thursday November 2, 2017 We departed about 8:30AM for Greensboro, N.C. so I could attend the 2017 N.C. Woodturning Symposium. The symposium is sponsored by most of the woodturning clubs in North Carolina. We arrived about 12:30PM and setup on the asphalt in the parking lot. They have several sites along the edge of the parking lot for RVs that have 50/30/20amp electrical hookups. Later in the day two other members of my club came in with a motorhome and setup beside us. We met 6 members of my club at Darlys Wood Fired Grill for dinner. I guess Lena felt kind of out of place as she was the only female in the group, but she knew about half of the men so she was okay and the food was great.

Day 2 Friday November 3, 2017 I went to the coliseum about 8AM to help my club set up our equipment in one of the rooms for the professionals turners could use it to demonstrate on. The symposium started at 1PM. After attending the demonstrations for the day 35 of my club members and some of their spouses met at Carrabas for dinner and fellowship.

Day 3 Saturday November 4, 2017 The symposium started at 8:30AM today and ended at 5PM. Then at 6PM the banquet began followed by an auction of items donated by the vendors present and several professional turners and some of the non-professionals. In years past the food and service at the banquet has been very good but that was not the case tonight. Our table was the one of the first to be served and the food was barely warm and the coffee was not hot, just barely warm. Some people had trouble getting drink refills, etc. The same company has catered the banquet in the prior years and it has always been good with good service but not tonight.

Day 4 Sunday November 5, 2017 Again we started at 8:30AM and ended today at 2:30PM. Then all the clubs had to pack up their equipment and clean the rooms. I helped my club clean the room and pack all the equipment in our equipment trailer so it was after 3PM before I got back to the motorhome. Lena and I are not going to leave until tomorrow because we would not get home until after nightfall and I don't drive the motorhome at night if I have a choice.

Day 5 Monday November 6, 2017 After breakfast we departed Greensboro about 9:15AM for home. We stopped at a Pilot Truck Stop on I-95 to use their dump station to dump our holding tanks. I had called prior to the trip to verify they had a dump station as many of these truck stops do. It was located between two building in somewhat of an alleyway and there were several maintenance trucks setting in the way so we were unable to dump our tanks. So we wasted time and drove a few miles out of our way to get to the here for nothing.

We stopped again near Wallace to fuel up and I asked Lena to check all the cabinets for items that may have shifted when we hit a large pot hole while at the Pilot Truck Stop. We both forgot to check the refrigerator so when we got home and parked, I opened the refrigerator and the egg container fell out and three eggs splattered on the floor. At least it was not full.