Trip Diary for April, 2009

Apr. 1-2; Beaufort, SC: Overnight rain totaled .9 in.  Needing to cover only 53 mi. allowed us to leave Savannah at a civil 8:35 AM Wednesday and cruise at our normal 8-9 mph.  The morning was a cool 63 degrees with intermittent light rain but only 5 mph wind.  Thus, waters were flat except for 1-2 swells on the huge Port Royal Sound.  Cruising at our usual 8-9 mph and aided by more favorable tide currents than unfavorable, we reached Downtown Marina by 2:40 PM.  After rinsing salt off the boat before walking to the Post Office, we drove the marina's courtesy car to an early dinner at McDonald's followed by ice cream at Bruster's.  The law of averages began catching up with us Thursday; after 4 months of almost no rain, we had 2.25 in. overnight with more forecast through Friday.  The day began with a 4-block walk for brunch at Blackstones; rain resumed as we returned.  Larry purchased a new house battery and replaced the old, tired, 90-lb one with the help of dock staff.  It continued raining all day until almost midnight. We received 5 in. in 14 hrs.; the widespread SE drought, except for S. FL, has definitely been broken!

Apr. 3-9; Charleston, SC and AGLCA Rendezvous: With the help of two other boaters we managed a dicey, but successful undocking at 7:40 AM Friday in sunny conditions.  The challenge was three-fold: boats too close together on the dock, a 2-3 mph tide current, and 10 mph wind.  About 5 mi. north of Beaufort we saw our first loon of this trip!  WSW winds continued building to 15 mph with 20 mph gusts, but this gave us primarily following seas so even the 2 ft. waves on wide rivers such as the Coosaw gave a comfortable ride.  Favorable tide currents for 3/4 of the trip allowed us to reach Charleston City Marina's huge megadock by 3 PM.  Wind and tide currents again presented a docking challenge, but adequate space and good dock hands made it uneventful.  After checking in and showering, we rode the courtesy shuttle to Sticky Fingers to meet loopers Ray and Caryl Houle, Houlegan, for excellent BBQ Rib dinners.  Saturday began with a call to Enterprise at 1500 Savannah Highway for our reserved auto; to our amazement, they declared they couldn't/wouldn't pick us up!  While their rationalization for this bit of false advertizing varied from our phone call until arriving on-site thanks to a special trip by the marina shuttle, we finally managed to pick up the rental for the 180 mi. drive to St. Simons, GA.  The weather was beautiful for driving, but traffic on I-95 was some of the worst we're seen.  It was almost 6 PM when we got back.  After parking one car, we drove to Sticky Fingers for their two-person sampler dinner before walking 3 blocks to Kilwin's for a finale.  Historic downtown was especially crowded due to the 31,430 participants in the morning's Cooper River Bridge Run.  After showers Sunday we drove to the 11:15 service at Trinity UMC, the second oldest Methodist church in Charleston with a fascinating history. Following a fine Palm Sunday service we drove both cars 120 mi. to the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club and Marina in Little River, SC, leaving the Lincoln there for our arrival at the end of the week.  We were surprised to see Houlegan dock for fuel 5 min. after our arrival; Ray and Caryl were just as surprised when Larry greeted them as they fueled.  Only 13 mi. of the trip was limited access highway, but the remainder was all four-lane.  In contrast to yesterday, traffic was light except for 10 mi. near Charleston and 20 mi. by-passing Myrtle Beach.  On the return we managed to find a Bruster's before stopping for dinner at On the Border in Mt. Pleasant.  We returned at 8:30 PM with light rain starting.  In order to have drop-off services, we returned our rental Monday to a different Enterprise store in the historic district.  Occasional showers occurred in the morning as SW winds built to 20+ mph before shifting to W as a cold front arrived.  At 3:30 PM a bus came by the marina to take us to the Town and Country Inn for AGLCA registration and the first evening's dinner.  Returning at 9 PM found 20-25 mph winds and temperatures of 55 and falling.  By 7 AM Tuesday it was 45 with 20 mph W-winds.  We boarded the bus at 8:30 for a full day of AGLCA seminars.  The day included a TV interview with the local NPR station.  Wednesday's 7 AM temperatures were similar to yesterday, but the wind was only 10-15.  It was another day of excellent seminars, but no evening dinner.   We returned to the boat at 3:30 for boat crawls.  While having a vessel safety check, Suzii DuRant from the boating publication Soundings interviewed us about our cruising experiences.  Harold and Cheryl Lovell, Victory, invited us to join them for dinner at their Charleston friends' home.  Thus, we had a delightful evening and wonderful dinner at Glenn and Brenda Young's, Young at Heart, beautiful home.  Glenn is a '62 Purdue EE grad.  Thursday was again sunny, about 10 degrees warmer with 5-10 mph morning winds.  The day's seminars included the topic of the Down East Loop, a side-trip down the St. Laurence River, Nova Scotia and Maine we have been considering; it didn't convince Lola that such an adventure was needed.  Larry won a Skipper Bob's cruising guide and a free registration to a future Trawler Fest meeting in sponsor-prize drawings.

Friday, Apr. 10: We cast-off at 7:30 AM with only 5 mph winds and a 1 mph tidal current; Charleston Harbor was calm after 3 days of high wind.  As forecast, winds picked up in the afternoon, averaging 20 mph by 2 PM.  That produced 2-3 ft. waves on the large Winyah Bay about 5 mi. before Georgetown, SC.  By 3 PM we had covered 66 mi. to reach the newly installed floating docks at Harborwalk Marina (ground facilities were still under construction).  Good dock staff enabled a successful dockage in a stiff crosswind.  Larry washed down salt and we then walked into town, again enjoying beautiful azaleas and historical homes. Lola shopped a bit before we shared a fine mahi-mahi dinner at Dockhouse Tavern.  Quite tired from four days of early starts with late endings and facing another long day tomorrow, we crashed at 8 PM.

Apr. 11-14; Little River, SC: Intermittent thunderstorms occurred from 2:30-5:30 AM Saturday, but dropped only .25 in.  Winds were down to 10 mph as we cast-off at sunrise, 6:50 AM, for the 60 mi. cruise to Little Current, SC.  Winyah Bay had 2-3 following seas for the first 3 mi.; otherwise, we were in protected waters.  We saw dozens of nesting osprey along the way, especially near MM 380 on the Waccamaw River.  With a 15 min. wait for the Socastee swing bridge south of Myrtle Beach, we made the protected and excellent Myrtle Beach Yacht Club by 2:10.  It was nice having a stress-free cruise following so many days of high winds and currents.  After Larry used their dockside pump-out and washed salt off the boat, we showered and washed two loads of laundry.  With our car already here we drove 2 mi. to a locally popular, on-the-ICW shack, Crab Catchers, for excellent, reasonably priced dinners of scallops and of trigger fish with their specialty, fried corn-on-the-cob.  This was topped with ice cream at nearby O'Henry's.  Sunday we drove 10 mi. to the beautiful Sunset Beach, NC Seaside UMC for its very dynamic 11 AM Easter service. Following that uplifting time, we enjoyed bargain-priced, wonderful flounder-n-shrimp lunches at Ella's of Calebash.  Then it was on to Ocean Isle's beach to stroll, look for shells, and just relax to the sound of endless waves gently washing ashore on a sunny but crisp day (65 degrees, 8 mph NW wind).  Monday was a slow start day with the afternoon devoted to shopping in Myrtle Beach, capped by dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise with their Chocolate Nachos for dessert.  Larry attended the N. Myrtle Beach Rotary Club Tuesday while Lola spent the day packing and getting the boat ready to depart on our 1-month visit to IN and IL before returning via Emerald Isle, NC for a week with other loopers.

Apr. 15-16; On the road to IN: We departed Wednesday at 8 AM for Knoxville, TN, a stop along the way home for a brief visit with granddaughter Samantha.  Following her 6 PM exam she joined us for outstanding dinners at Bravo Cucina Italiana.  With a Thursday 6 AM departure for a nursing field trip to KY, we chose not to meet for breakfast.  Instead we slept in, departing at 9:30 for West Lafayette via Wesley Thrift Shop in Crawfordsville, IN to repair a computer terminal. It was an ideal time of year to be traveling through middle America; the many flowering trees and budding vegetation were spectacular.  By 5:30 PM we joined Keith and Sharon Hawks for dinner in Lafayette at Pizza Hut.

Apr. 17-30; W. Lafayette, IN: Friday was an incredibly busy day for re-entry activities: haircuts, nails, car repair and a doctor appointment.  Saturday began with Engineering's Gala Week Breakfast welcoming 1959 alumni/ae.  In the afternoon we attended a memorial service for a retired Agricultural Engineering faculty colleague, Sam Parsons.  After enjoying Sunday's 11 AM service at our home church, First UMC, we ate lunch before driving to Champaign, IL for Agricultural and Biological Engineering's Awards Banquet and to present the inaugural Larry and Lola Huggins Scholarship to Elizabeth Brooks, a senior majoring in Larry's specialty, Soil & Water Engineering.  The trip over and back was in the rain, but it was a wonderful evening visiting with retired faculty and alums.  The time zone change made for a late 11 PM return.  Monday-Wednesday overflowed with numerous Purdue events associated with spring on campus, visits with friends, and other personal business activities.  Wednesday's mid-morning call about the sudden death of Charles Spillman, long-time best friend from our U of I college days with whom we have annually vacationed and boated, resulted in cancelling the week's scheduled activities in order to depart for Manhattan, KS Thursday afternoon.  We paused overnight in Boonville, MO, arriving in Manhattan about 1:30 PM Friday.  We immediately called MBYC to confirm the area's huge brush fires had spared the marina and our boat; all was well.  Visitation was from 6-7:30 PM with the funeral service at 10 AM Saturday.  Larry was a pallbearer.  Following internment, we headed for Lafayette, arriving at 12:30 AM Sunday.  The day was spent recovering from 3 days and 1,300 mi. on the road, a gimpy knee Lola developed, and intestinal flu Larry picked up the night before.  Monday's highlight was joining son John and daughter-in-law Leslie Sharp for a Japanese dinner at Heisei as she enjoyed the evening before neck surgery Tuesday.  We spent that morning at the hospital with John.  Wednesday started our own round of medical appointments, a key reason for our return to IN, with dental appointments.  The month ended Thursday with continued local tasks.

Water miles traveled to date: 3,125; this month: 245

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