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Published: March 7th 2012
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The making of an inlet
this water is at the end of my road - my ocean view - high tide, full moon Wednesday March 7, 2012 Myrtle Beach SC Travel Park
My last Snowbird Day. L Bittersweet. I am ready to go home, but I love my life on the road. I am ready for a shower where I can stretch out and a bed that I don’t have to make up every night and take down in the morning, and a little more room for me and Winston, but I love my life on the road. But, I did some reality/budget checking, and it’s time to go home, but I love my life on the road.
Up at 6:15 to see the sunrise again, and I didn’t. It was cloudy and remained cloudy all day. Warm, breeze out of the south, but cloudy. I had a great long walk with Winston and found a few good shells, and what I have been calling Sea Anemones, but don’t really know if that’s their name. They have hard spiny pointy things growing out of them. When dried and the spines removed by hand, and the dead urchin inside removed and bleached, the hard body is bright white and where the spines were attached are varying shades of purple. A lot of work, but beautiful and the result is worth it.
The view I used to have of the ocean before the trailer was thru a break in the 10 ft tall dunes at the end of my road where the beach access is located. I can now understand the power of the dunes. When the tide is high as it was at sunrise, and the moon is full, as it has been, the tidal action creates an inlet at the beach access break. So, at 6:15 I had to walk thru this shallow inlet because the water was coming into it. I can only imagine what happens here during a hurricane. They must pile sand into that hole in the dunes to protect the campground, wouldn’t you think? (picture)
Here are the results of the numbers I crunched.
$750 on gas, average price $3.48/gallon
Total miles, almost exactly 2000 (2011 was 3382 – equal to the 700 miles each way starting and ending in NJ)
Days on the road 63 (3 more than last year; left earlier, and home earlier than 2011, but know there will be no snow in Wilmington and spring is starting to spring)
Average lodging $21.50 (pretty much the same as 2011)
Grocery costs – out of site (this included alcohol and cigarettes)
Dining out costs, minimal (if I add up dining out and groceries, 2011 and 2012 are pretty equal)
Extras, $220 (this includes souvenirs, SeaWorld, RV supplies, chair, paid internet)
Late morning I did my 10 minute rotation. 10 minutes cleaning, 10 minutes walking, 10 minutes cleaning, 10 minutes computer time, 10 minutes cleaning, 10 minutes talking to neighbors. This is a flexible deal for me, if I spend 15 minutes playing I work for 15 minutes, and stick to that for 2 to 3 hours and can actually get a lot done. I took the seatcovers off the driver and passenger seats, a tedious job, but I can wash them as soon as I get home. I vacuumed every nook and cranny, and when I was done the cord actually retracted into the body of the vacuum – something that hasn’t happened since the first week I was on the road. I organized my dirty wash into piles and tied them up according to how I will wash them. I cleaned my shells and took some of the spines off the anemone thingys. I prepacked things I will not use again – my fan and the windshield screen – and relocated some stuff out of tough storage compartments so the rig will be easier to unpack. All in all a very productive day. Winston made a lot of new friends here, most of the dogs here are of the smallish variety, and he gets along with them well. It is still fascinating to me to watch him with a very old dog. He is cautiously respectful and doesn’t bark at them. How can he know that a dog is old from a distance I do not know, but he does. Yes, he sniffs, but he doesn’t attempt to play. He loves Jessie next door, and when he hears her bark (remember, she’s a Schnauzer and they are barky yappy things by nature) he perks up and whines. Whines, not barks. Interesting. He needs a bath and a haircut. Friday. I can’t imagine why any girl dog would pay attention to him, he is dirty and hairy.
To give you a heads up of my trip home. I will get up early Thursday and hope for another beautiful sunrise, and shell pick for a little bit. I want to be on the road no later than 10. I have planned my route so I see the towns of Calabash NC and Southport SC, both have been on my list for 2 years now, and this is the year. I have programmed Garmina to take me to both, and maybe even a nice lunch before I hit Wilmington. Southport has a used furniture store I want to stop at, and I just want to see Calabash – any town named Calabash is worth a drive thru, right?
If I write any more I will get misty eyed. It has been fun having you all along on my ride with me, I have appreciated your comments. I doubt I will write tomorrow when I get home, but you never know. If something happens I need to put into words I will. If it is uneventful, I won’t, it’s that simple.
It’s been real, folks. Until 2013. Slán go foil. Elvis has left the building.
End scene, fade to black.
Kat Out.
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Joanne DeVoe
non-member comment
Happy Trails!
Hi Kat - May the wind be at your back!