On Wednesday, we finally left Yemassee (actually, a day early) and headed for Littleton, North Carolina---a 350 mile trip---where we are scheduled to stay for about two weeks. The trip was not exciting---just long. Our RV park is on Lake Gaston, a huge reservoir built in the '60s as one of a series of lakes created by placing hydroelectric dams along the Roanoke River. Our site is right on the water. Very nice.
The only drawback is that we do not have a sewer drain at this site. We need to have the park people come periodically to empty our holding tanks. We’ve never had this situation before, and were not prepared for the consequences. On Saturday, we had to have an emergency “dump” since our gray tank was full from doing a lot of laundry on Friday.
The night we arrived, we all went to a local Italian restaurant for dinner. I had Chicken Cacciatore (very tasty), half of which I took home---and had for lunch on Thursday. After lunch, we all toured Littleton (not exciting---in fact quite depressed), Roanoke Rapids (20 miles away and the center of local activity due to its proximity to I-95), and Weldon (next to Roanoke Rapids and very depressed). It seems that Weldon and Littleton were once quite important, with cotton mills, railroads, etc., but that has all now gone, and there seems little chance of substantial recovery of the old sections.
On Friday, we toured part of the lake area and had lunch at a lovely and quite reasonable lakeside restaurant (“Watersview”).
On Saturday, we went back to Roanoke Rapids and went on the bike ride from Hell. It was supposed to be a relaxing 14-mile roundtrip along a local canal.
It was hot (91 degrees) and humid, and the terrain was difficult, and I gave up after only 6½ miles. I rested at a big, air conditioned (Thank you!) store (“Riverside Mill,” which used to be a cotton mill) while the gang rode back to the starting point to get the truck to pick up my bike and me. They returned an hour and a half later and rescued me. What a relief.
Sunday was devoted to relaxing and a quick shopping trip to Wal-Mart. I actually got a haircut there. Quite a change from the old days when I was picky about the salons I would patronize. I've now patronized both Supercuts and Wal-Mart salons. For what it’s worth, the haircuts have been just fine.
Monday through Thursday was mostly relaxing and listening to thunder and rain. Not very exciting, but OK. Wednesday was Becky's birthday. I'm not allowed to mention how old she now is. We also did some local sightseeing (including a visit to Halifax, another virtually dead historic town) and had a few campfires and board games with the Wheelers.
On Friday, Becky and I set out to bicycle to the local marina to see about renting a boat---to tour the lake. After six miles of going up and down hills, I gave up and sent Becky to get the truck and pick me up.
On Saturday, the four of us toured the lake in the boat for a few hours---until the rain started.
We saw some wonderful sights, a multitude of very nice homes and some spectacular ones.
We docked at our RV park and had lunch. Becky and I ventured back out in the afternoon and enjoyed fine weather and saw some great parts of the lake.
Saturday evening we were joined by the Wheelers and friends of their son Tony. Mark Kellogg and his wife, April, live in Raleigh. They are newlyweds and very nice to be around.
We all went to Watersview (again) and had a marvelous meal. What a place!
Sunday was another day of mostly rain and preparing to leave for an RV park in Shawboro (near Kitty Hawk) for our next adventure.
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