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Published: November 3rd 2010
Dunkin Donuts
Rene loves this coffee Oh My Goodness........... as I look back at my last blog, I see that it was already 2 weeks ago. I have so much to share and blog, so I guess this one is going to be a long one. We have met so many great people and have seen so many new things. Come and join me on the next weeks of this journey.
So......
Tues- Oct 19, 2010
Woke up to Kinda cloudy and overcast weather in Ocean City Maryland, so we just hung out in the room until about 10:30 am. The sun came out and away we went. We decided we were not going to go far and wanted to stop for the day at Virginia Beach, Virginia. After riding for a couple of hours and came to the Cheasapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnels. Now we thought Confederation Bridge was something, and really it is, bit this bridge is about 16 miles long with 2 tunnels under the water. It just seems to go on for ever and ever. Even if it's not a windy day, it is always windy on the bike when crossing over a bridge. What a fascinating bridge!!!!
And then.....just on the
Outer Banks
Sand blowing over the road other side is Virginia Beach an another resort city with tons of hotels and at this time of year cheap, cheap prices. Hotel again, yeah!!!! Rene wonders if we will ever use our tenting gear again.
Truth be told, I'm kinda liking the whole hotel/hostel thing. Tent be gone!!!!! Actually we both really like the hostel thing, but there seems to be no, or very few hostels in these last few states. I guess we'll see what happenes in the next weeks and make a decision about the tenting gear.
So we arrived at Virginia Beach around 3:00 and settled on our room over-looking the ocean. We had something to eat and walked for a couple of hours on the boardwalk. Beautiful sunny warm weather.
We had made arrangements with our friends Mark and Tracy and Steve and Sue to connect on Skype, so at about 7:30 our commputor rang and we spent the next hour chatting with our peeps. Oh how I love technology!!!!!
So great to connect with them, to see their faces and hear their voices. Thanks friends.
Wed Oct 20, 2010
Woke up to another overcast morning. Rene had been worried about a back
Outer Banks
Dolphins following the ferry tire again for the last few days and since the weather didn't look to promising for sun, he called around and found a cycle shop that had a tire and could change it that morning. So off he went to get a new back tire. I stayed in the room and did some computer work and watched T. V. Rene got back just after 12:00, so we went for another long walk and then we really did nothing else except read, watch some T.V and I of course worked on the blog. It really didn't rain all day and although the whole day was overcast it was nice and warm. We went for a couple of long walks along the boardwalk and on the beach. really just a do nothing kind of day.
Thurs- Oct 21, 2010
Woke to a wonderful sunny day. Would have been kinda nice to have this weather yesterday when we could lay on the beach in the sun. Oh well, great weather for riding as well. We rode south along the coast of Viginia and into North Carolina. What an amazing ride. Like nothing we had seen yet. On a road with the big
Hatteras Island
House on stilts wide ocean on one side and the sound on the other. The only land was the highway. The Wright brothers' first flight in a powered, heavier-than-air vehicle took place on the Outer Banks on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near the seafront town of Kitty Hawk. I know why they invented flight here!!!!! Crazy windy!!!! We rode over a bridge to Hatteras Island to an area called the Outer Banks. The Outer Banks is a 320-km long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, beginning in the southeastern corner of Virginia Beach. They cover approximately half the northern North Carolina coastline. Very interesting landscape and housing. Most homes are built on stilts for safety from hurricanes and tsuamis. It also is a huge resort area. Lots of huge homes that appear to be for rent. Only about $3000.00 a week we heard. All along were kite surfers. Kites and their riders on the water everywhere. At points along this ride the sand was blowing across the road. Yes I said sand, not snow!!!! We then came across a short ferry ride. The ferry ride was about 45 minutes, just a little hop over a
little piece of water to the next part of the island. As we were waiting for this ferry we met another couple on their bike. We spent the waiting time and the time on the ferry chatting with Curt and Kathy. Welcome Curt and Kathy to our journey. It was so great to meet you and spent time with you. We went for a quick cocktail with them and had to quickly leave to catch another ferry from the town of Ocracoke to Cedar Island. That ferry ride was about 2.5 hours. We arrived in Cedar Island about 6:00 pm and it was just starting to get dark. We rode until about 8:00 pm and stopped for the night in New Bern North Carolina. Probably the worst room so far. Scary!!!!! We just closed our eyes and crawled into bed with our clothes on pretending it was a 4*.
Fri- Oct 22, 2010
Woke up and got going again with our eyes mostly closed, so we still didn't really have to see how bad the room was. We were on our way to Arden North Carolina. You see, we belong to a group call the Motorcycle Travel Network. This
Gary and Jpy
New Friends!!!!!! is a B&B just for Motorcyclists. We have not used the network until now, but decided that now was the time. We had called Gary and Joy in Arden and they were willing to host us for one or two nights. We arranged that we would arrive at their home at about 6:00pm. That meant we had to give 'er, cause from New Bern to Arden was almost 600 kms. We took the interstate the whole way and arrived at Gary and Joy's at about 6:30. Chatted with them for a few minutes, settled onto our room in their home and went out for Pizza dinner with them. Had a great visit with them over dinner, back to their home to visit some more and fell onto bed exhausted at about 10:30 with plans to go out with our hosts for a ride the following day.
Sat- Oct 23, 2010
Had great sleep in a great bed after great company. Life truly is good!!!!Gary and Joy ride a Yamaha sport touring bike. Gary was raised riding and racing bikes and loves riding the twistees FAST!!!! We had no idea what the twistees were, but soon found out they are twists and
turns on the mountain roads. We did hundreds of these twistees over the course of our Saturday ride, that twisted through, around and over the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, passing into South Carolina. Rene did absolutely wonderful for a twistee newby. Totally different riding when you have to shift, break, lean, give more gas, shift, break, lean. We stopped at this little lunch resturant and met a couple from Canada. Meryl and Maryellen from Ontario out to a car show in South Carolina. We invited them to have lunch with us. Had another great visit with other adventurers and back out to conquer more twistees. About 7 miles from the end of our day, we ran out of gas. We thought we had enough for the day, but with the different kind of riding we ran out. Gary ran into town for gas and within 1/2 hour we were back on the road heading toward home. We decided we wanted to experience an authentic North Carolina BBQ, so the 4 of us went to the Fiddlin Pig. A live band played some great Bluegrass music and anyone who wanted too got up and did some dancing. Like square dancing, but a
little different. Great food and fun entertainment. Came back to the house, chatted for a bit and went to bed totally spent, but so pleased with our day. Gary and Joy, you came into our journey at the exact right time. We are so thankful for your great hospitality and kindness. Keep chewing up the twistees guys. We hope we will meet again one day. Maybe in our backyard?!?!
Sun - Oct 24, 2010
Gary and Joy belong to Biltmore Baptist church and invited us to join them for their Sunday Church. Biltmore Baptist Church has a congregation of about 4000 people. Huge church and loads of people everywhere. The church pays the local police force to direct traffic after the 2 services otherwise people are stuck in traffic for hours. Crazy eh?
After church we came home, packed the bike and took off again. We were headed to the Dragon's Tail ride. (one of the legendary rides for motorcycles) Gary told us a scenic road to take and we ended up on even more twistees. We are still following the fall colors and they are still so amazingly beautiful. Along the way, we encountered a couple of emergency vehicles.
BBQ
Enjoying good food and music at an authentic BBQ There seemed to be some sort of accident ahead of us. As we got closer, we were stopped and just about 1/4 mile ahead was a motorcyclist who was sitting on the road with the paramedics around him and his bike off in the distance. Appears he was maybe TOO BUSY leaf looking and lost control. Hmmmm.... little bit of a lesson and reminder for us to take care. The biker was not badly hurt, so the scene was cleared up quickly and we were off again. Gary also told us about this great motorcycle lodge and campground, just a couple miles from the Deals Gap, where the Dragon's Tail is. We pulled into the Ironhorse Lodge and Campground at about 4:00. What a great place!!! Totally geared to bikes and all that bikers need. They also serve meals, so no one needs to cook or carry food and cooking supplies. It was a beautiful day, so we threw our gear into the lobby of the lodge and off we went to "slay the Dragon". This ride is 318 turns in 11 miles. YIKES!!!!!! Need to pay real close attention on that ride. Had a great time and did indeed
cutso vine
Imported vine from China that nobody likes as it is taking over so much landscape and impossible to kill Slay that Dragon. A whole lot slower than most, but conquer it we did!!!!! Decided to pull out the camping gear again as we haven't camped now for almost 2 weeks. Great camping sites under these great big colouful trees and beside this babbling creek that runs through the property. See campiing isn't so bad.... or is it??
Mon- Oct 25, 2010.
Well Rene's wish finally came true. You see he has hoped since we left almost 4 months ago, that we would be in the tent and there would be a great huge storm with thunder, lightening and rain. So...... early in the morning it started to rain, then about 6:00 am it started to thunder and then the lightening came. Our little tent was shaking and waving. The lightening was lighting up the inside and we just laughed and had a good time experiencing the storm. O. K, Rene had more fun than I did, but it was kinda a cool experience. We had ordered some breaky the night before, so we finally got out of the tent at 8:30 and ran to the lodge. I had ordered "grits". It is this white mush made of
Dragon's Tail
Just one of the 318 turns in 11 miles corn meal. It is the consistency of Cream of Wheat porridge, but doesn't taste anything like it. We both think it's kinda gross. After breakfast we hung out in the lodge waiting for the storm to pass. We went for a walk/run for an hour, then went into Bryson City. On the way there we stopped at this little roadside stand and bought a 1/2 quart of boiled peanuts and a bag of pork rinds. So what are boiled peanuts you ask? Well, folks take the peanut in the shell and just boil them. Boil them for a couple hours and eat them. We were very sceptical, but when we tried them, we liked them. You put them in your mouth, break the shell, suck the juice out and then open the shell and eat the peanuts inside. Sounds kinda gross, but really they are great. Some peole told us they taste like dirt. If you ask me they taste way better than dirt!!!!! We also bought a bag of the best pork rinds EVER. We were on our way back when suddenly Rene slowed way down and pulled over. Sure enough, the local sherriff was pulling us over. He
Dragon's Tail (2)
another turn in the ride asked for all the usual stuff and then told Rene that he was 16 miles over the speed limit and that he could take his license away, arrest him on the spot and throw him in the "pokey". We kinda dropped our jaws and widened our eyes. I was ready to fake some tears (gotta do what you gotta do right?)and eventually he said he was one of the good guys and was not going to arrest Rene and throw him in the "pokey", rather he was just going to give him a ticket. Gee thanks!!!! Then he says " oh by the way, since I have you stopped can I ask you about Canada's gun laws". Hmmmmm.... I think he just stopped us to ask the question. We should have told him we would only answer the question if he cancelled the ticket. Didn't want to risk the "pokey" though and I guess we were guilty. Came back to the Lodge, did a load of laundry and read for a bit. Had dinner with the other guests and had another interesting conversation about guns and the different laws in the 2 countries. Interesting perspectives. After dinner we watched a
movie about the moonshine history on the 124'' screen T.V. Fascinating documentary, about some of the history of the mountians. After the movie the owners brought out a quart jar of moonshine and the about 15 of is who watched the movie had a sip of the moonshine. OH GROSS. One little sip, burns all the way down. Only about 170 proof!!!!!!
Had a great night meeting and conversing with some more new folks. Another great day in the Southern U. S of A.
Tues - Oct 26, 2010
During our visiting and planning the previous evening, we decided that our new friends, George and Andrew and Rene and I would go out together for a ride. George had been to Ironhorse and the area several times in the past so of course knew all the good rides in the area. We decided to explore the Cherohala Skyway. This skyway winds its way through the States of North Carolina and Tennesee, over and across the Smokey Mountains. What a great ride with more incredible scenery and great new friends. We were out for about 5 hours. For dinner that night, the owners were celebrating with their staff the success
Dragon's Tail (4)
Sitting solidly after the ride of another great year at Ironhorse. They were having a steak BBQ with all the fixins. We were invited to share in the meal (we had to pay for it of course). Had a great dinner with some new friends. Finished the evening off with some reading, T.V and visiting. Went to bed with the rain falling ever so slightly on the tent. This was now day 3 of sleeping in the tent in the somewhat not so great weather at night. Rene thinks it's great fun and "all part of the adventure". I can't say in this blog what I really think!!!!! Just kidding, but I really am not a fan of tenting in stormy, wet weather.
Wed - Oct 27, 2010
Got up this morning feeling rather exhausted from a night of ongoing rain and wind in the tent. I didn't sleep so well, as the noise kept waking me up. I must say though that our little tent is certainly water proof. Not a drip of rain inside. And as for the wind, well all I can say is I'm glad we had stakes in the ground or I think I might have landed in the
Ironhorse
Beautiful grounds land of OZ with Dorothy!!!! Had another yummy breaky at the Lodge and packed up our gear and headed out. Before we headed out we called Rene's sister Marg in London Ontario. Marg had emailed us and told us that Paul, her hubby had been in the hospital for over a week now. After some testing it appeared that Paul has a tumor in or around his spine. He is very weak and in lots of pain. The Dr.s will be performing an biopsy in the following days and will then determine the treatment. Oh my!!! Another scare and worry about someone we love. And again another reminder about why we are on this journey now and not when we are older. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Paul and Marg. As well as with the kids and of course the entire extended family and friends.
We headed towards Waxhaw North Carolina. We started the day out with some clouds, but no moisture, so we weren't worried about rain at all. Well about 2 hours into the ride it started to rain. We pulled over and Rene found this mall overhang to park the bike under. Thte rain let
Ironhorse
Watching a movie about the Moonshine History at the Lodge up some so we got going again, then suddenly the clouds opened up and the rain came down in BUCKETS!!!! We found a gas station to park under, but not before we got absolutely soaked. You see the first time we thought the rain was going to stop, so we didn't put our rain gear on. Served us right!!! Next time maybe we'll stop and put the gear on. Anyway we dashed out of the rain and ended up in a Subway just hanging out for 2 hours waiting for the storm to pass. Finally it did and we got to Waxhaw about 4:30. We were stopping at a campus called JAARS. JAARS stands for Jungle Aviation And Radio Service. It is a whole support system that supports folks who are involved with mission work around the world with an agency called Mycliffe Bible Translators. My parents volunteered with this agency for several winters over the years and of course over the years we had heard all kinds of stories from them. So we decided to check it out ourselves. We thought we would like to volunteer for a couple of days if they could use us, but to volunteer
Sampling the Moonshine
Tastes like rubbing alcohol maybe??!!! with this agency, one has to have gone through the proper channels and checks. We didn't have time to do all of this, so we couldn't help out. Too bad in some ways, but we certainly understand the safety issues involved with volunteers. They also have accomodations that anyone can use if they are travelling through, so we stayed at the campus for 2 nights.
Thurs - Oct 28, 2010
We found out we couldn't volunteer, but we could take the 2 hour tour and have lunch on the campus, so at 9:30 am we presented ourselves for the tour and learned all about how this agency helps missionaries with any Air or Radio services they might require in the field. It was an amazing and very informative tour. I certainly understand why my parents would get so excited each year to volunteer their time and talents with this amazing group of people. We checked out the rest of the campus and visited with some of the people, had a quiet night. Each night we spend some time deciding where we are going the following day or couple of days. We get out the maps, the computor and the
Buying boiled peanuts
What a lot of junk eh? GPS and plan our attack. We have great fun doing this and is becoming one of the highlights of our days. It's just so exciting to see where our journey will take us next.
Fri - Oct 29, 2010.
We had another great sleep, left JAARS about 9:30 am and headed towards our next adventure in Charleston South Carolina. We arrived at the NotSo Hostel in downtown historic Charleston at about 4:00 pm. The office wasn't open until 5 so we started going for a walk. We got about 1/2 block and saw a Barber Shop. Rene had been talking for a least a week about getting his sideburns and his goatee trimmed and there it was the Barber Shop and time to make it happen. IN we went and both the barbers were black men and all of the customers were black as well. They looked at us surprisingly at first, as I think their clientelle is the African American men in the neighbourhood. They were very welcoming and accomodating. Had Rene in the chair within minutes, trimmed up and looking as handsome as ever. The office was then open so in we went and booked a room
for 2 nights. Friday night!!!!!!! Means wings and beer. Off we went to downtown Charleston and found this great little pub. Had yummy, smoked teriaky wings and a beer. We chatted with the owner of the bar and he told us that of the many things Charleston is known for, one of them is the time, energy and creativeness the locals put into thier halloween costumes. He told us that the downtown will be full of college kids (and older) dressed up for both of Friday and Saturday nights. Well, he was right. The streets were FULL of all kinds of funny, crazy and some inappropriate (I thought) costumes. We just sat in the park and watched and laughed as the costumes went by. Later we went back to the hostel and met Mel and Audrey. Mel and Audrey are from Ireland and are travelling around Canada, US, and other places before they decide on their next home and career. Just like us. We sat and visited the night away with them. They sang Happy Birthday to me at midnight and shortly thereafter we called it a night.
Sat - Oct 30, 2010.
The weather is absolutely wonderful. Sunny
and in the low 80's!!!!!! We decided we were going to check out what historic Charleston had to offer. Off we went to the waterfront. First of all, I guess one of the most important historical facts about Charleston is the battle of Fort Sumter. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired. We could only see the fort in the distance. As we walked along we could feast our eyes on the old mansion homes that line the waterfront. Majestic old homes, with some very interesting architeture. Totally different homes again than what we have seen anywhere else. We roamed and walked the streets of the old historic section all day. We got totally lost and in the being lost found the best hidden gems. Big pillared churches, immaculately manicured gardens, hidden unique art galleries and occasionally we peeked on the porch and to our delight would spy a Southern gentleman and his Southern Bell swinging on the porch swing. Just what we wanted to find. Because it was my birthday I got to pick the itinerary for the day. I decided we should have lunch at the
Smokey Mountain Ride
Andrew, George and Rene checking the route Crab House on Market Street. For lunch we had pan fried fish with cheesy grits smothered in a cajun, garlic sauce with whole shrimp. YUMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!! We were a little worried about the grits, as we had them before and they were fairly terrible, but these grits, done totally different were AMAZING!!!! What a great lunch. After lunch we went shopping in the Market and I bought a new ring for my birthday. After shopping we spent a couple of hours hanging out in the park and again in the evening sat and watched the halloween revellers. Finally walked back to the hostel. What a great way to spend my birthday.
Sun - Oct 31, 2010.
On Friday night, with Mel and Audrey we planned to go together to the United Methodist Church a few blocks from the hostel. Church was another wonderful experience and another great message. After church we decided we wanted to check out another historical aspect of Charleston, a plantation. Since Mel and Audrey are backpacking, we decided to call a cab and go all together. After waiting almost 45 minutes for the cab, Rene and I left on the bike and made plans to catch
Smokey Mountains
Oh the view!!!!! up with Mel and Audrey later for dinner. Off we went to Drayton Hall. Drayton Hall is the oldest preserved plantation home open to the public. It is preserved rather than restored, so there is no furniture or anything in the home, as the society is attempting to preserve this home in it's orginial state. After driving up the Oak Tree lined lane way, we spent the first 30 minutes on a self guided walking tour of the grounds. This plantation was on the Ashley River and was a rice plantation. Most of the outbuildings are gone, but the narrative certainly helped us to see in our minds eye where the different out buildings could have been. After the tour we spent almost an hour with a tour guide talking about the slave trade in general and the slaves of Drayton Hall. Most of the plantations had an average of only about 30-50 slaves. These slaves did all the labour of the farm, from cooking, gardening, sewing, maintaining and harvesting the fields. Supposedly slaves were treated differently by their southern owners and the northern owners. Our guide told us the southern masters were much kinder to their slaves (they still
whipped and beat them as punishment). We learned that in the South came the Gullah culture of slaves. This culture was unique in that the slaves were from all kinds of different parts of Africa, therefore had many different traditions and rituals pertaining to religion, naming of children, superstitions, cooking etc. Because they were all made to live closely together with very little outside influences, they developed this unique culture. Today this culture is mostly gone, but there are a few Gullah words that have made their way into our vocabulary today. Words like "japper" as in japper mouth, "mojo" (religious beliefs) and others. Very interesting information she gave us about the slave trade. I have always been interested in the slave trade culture and remember watching intently the movie Roots, by Alex Hailey and then reading the book as well. A couple of weeks ago, Rene picked up the book at a thrift store and so I am reading it now again. Very interesting and timely book as we travel through the south and see the remains of the plantations and some of the descendants of those enslaved people. After the talking tour, we then toured the main house.
WOW!!! It was a very big and expensive home in it's day. Posh and elegance throughout, and then hidden in the recesses of the house, where no one could see, were the slave stairs and basement where they worked for their masters. Really quite mind boggling. After the house tour, Rene and I took another walking tour through the marshes. Another very facsinating walk. We could see where and how the rice was grown and how thick the marshes were that the slaves cleared so they could indeed grow the rice that made the masters so rich. Lots of palm trees and tons of ferns. Beautiful really.
Anyway..... kinda hard to think about how the slaves were treated and to think that really it was acceptable for so many for so long. Makes me go HMMMMMMMM.
After the Plantation experience Rene and I jumped back on the bike and made our way back to meet Mel and Audrey for a late dinner. Had dinner with then came back to the hostel to visit some more with each other and some others that were staying at the hostel.
So....... some things to be proud of in history and others not
Charleston
Celebreating Halloween so proud of, but part of history never the less.
And so we remain......
In the Grip of Grace
Rene and Crystal
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Jenn
non-member comment
FINALLY a new blog!!
Glad to hear you had a nice birthday Miss Crystal. I was thinking about you lots on Saturday! 2 weeks with no blog was hard to survive so I am sure glad to get this one! Say, did you go to Walton's Mountain while you were in Virginia? I am sure that would be a priority for you!! I have been to South Carolina - spent a week in Myrtle Beach. It is facinating and I love the pictures you have here. Renee, I think about you every time I get up to a cold morning with frost on the car windows. I am sure you are missing the cold weather - though we have not had much so far. Stay safe my friends and keep on enjoying!! No matter how far away you are you are never far from our thoughts. I look forward to seeing you in December! Love, Jenn - Emily said to say Hi too!