HOMEWARD BOUND

May 11th - Cloudy 65 degrees

We were up early and ready to leave Elizabeth City, NC, driving on route 17 to purchase gasoline for the RV, as the base was putting in a new service station and the pumps were not working properly we had to drive off base for gasoline. We found a Seven-Eleven with gasoline at $3.79, filled the tank and we were off.

We had just passed into Virginia and a car came up on the passenger side of the RV and gave me a signal that something was wrong with the car, so as soon as we could stop, Lou pulled off and we found that we had had a flat tire and it was off the rim and we were traveling on the rim. I used our On Star and called for assistance and while Lou unpacked our trunk to get to the “so called spare tire” a repairman was dispersed to our location. By the time he arrived Lou had the tire and rim off. Another kind gentleman stopped by to give assistance and he was kind enough to locate the closet General Motors garage for us and provided us with their telephone number and I immediately called them and told the parts department what we needed and he suggested we come in and see what needed to be done. Thanks to our kind gentleman that stopped by, I programmed the address of Priority Chevrolet into our GPS and we were off. We arrived and were greeted upon our arrival. Lou and I unhooked our car from the RV and a work order was prepared. It was noted that there were two outstanding recalls for our car and that was also scheduled to be done. The rim had to be ordered which they felt would arrive on Thursday afternoon. They assured us they would call us as soon as the car was ready to travel. We left our car and departed for the closet RV camping area and that brought us to Little Creek Naval Base.

We called to make a reservation; however, no one answered so we made the decision to drive the RV out and hope we could get in, so we programmed that address into the GPS and arrived there around 2:00 PM and we found that they only accepted reservations, Lou commented that it looked like they had open spots and they relented and gave us a spot. We backed into a spot and got set up and had some lunch and turned on the television and we both found it hard to believe but we both sat down on the sofa and fell asleep and woke up and found NCIS was on for several hours and we sat there and watched it and enjoyed every minute of it. They were all episodes that we hadn’t seen.

We did fix our fresh peas and potatoes with chicken breasts and did it ever taste good and then I washed the dishes and we went right back to watching NCIS and we went to bed and watched the last episode in bed. Truly a relaxing day after what started out to be very stressful situation.

As you can see in the picture, Estee is in the passenger seat and ready to start on her journey again. Wonder if she knows this time it will be a long ride and the final destination will be home.

Second Day with Aunt Hettie - Museum of the Albemarle

May 10th - Tuesday - 70 degrees - bright blue skies

We were up early and off to pick up Aunt Hettie for our day with her. I always take my camera and take pictures that she wants taken and then once we get back home I make a picture book and send her a short story of our time we spent with her along with pictures. She has problems with short term memory and she tells us this helps her remember the days we spend with her and we are glad to do this for her.

She dearly loves her Bible and this year Lou found a different picture book of the Bible land to take to her and she was delighted with it. She kept leaving through it and telling us, she didn’t think it would look like this, so guess this was a good choice.

Last year, we took her back to Gum Neck, the community that Aunt Hettie grew up in, so this year Lou decided to take her on a tour of the area in Elizabeth City that she spent her married life in and that is what we did and my golly, she sure remembered the details of the way it used to be, she is 92 years of age, and that part of her memory is sharp. As we were driving down the street, she told Lou to pull over, she said “I know that man“, so Lou pulled and sure enough, it was her grandson, what a surprise for her, so she got out and he took her into the shop that he runs and she got to see that, so that helped to make her day special.

We stopped for a special lunch and she decided she wanted a cheeseburger, French fries, hot coffee and of course, vanilla ice cream for dessert. This was at a special diner and everything was prepared as we ordered it, and it was near the site of where Aunt Hettie used to work in a box factory. Great memories for her.

We also took her out to the base where we had the RV parked so she could see our RV, so she would know where we were staying, she kept saying she wished we could stay with her and that way she would know we were alright, so she felt pretty good when she left our RV.

Then we went to a new museum that is located near where her home was in Elizabeth City. Lou found that he could get a wheel chair at the Museum of the Albemarle and she was delighted being able to see all of the “ole timey things”. I have been to a lot of museums, and I have to tell you I was very impressed with this museum. EVERYTHING was labeled and very well displayed. It was divided into three catagories. Out of the Blue - Coast Guard Aviation - City of Elizabeth City - Lighthouses, Railroads, Civil War, Fireman - certainly a very interesting visit and it was free to everyone. A wonderful gift shop. Lou was able to find a book he had been looking for, so he was especially blessed.

After all of that we drove around a bit longer and then returned Aunt Hettie back to her retirement home, tired and happy. We sat and chatted on the porch a few minutes and then we drove back towards the base, stopping at a farmer’s market to purchase freshly picked peas, new potatoes, strawberries, and tomatoes.

Once back to the RV we shelled peas and fixed all of the food to put in the refrigerator to have for dinner tomorrow night as we would be on the road, and that make a wonderful dinner with some chicken we had in the freezer.

We went out to a recommended restaurant for fresh seafood dinner and back home for fresh strawberry shortcake, as I had baked a cake in the afternoon while Lou had shelled the peas. Enjoyed a little television and packed up to get an early start in the morning as we will start for home.

Leaving Camp LeJeune Arriving Coast Guard Base Elizabeth City, North Carolina

May 9th - Monday

It is always nice to be at Camp LeJeune, as I personally enjoy the bright red and gold signs that the Marines use on all of their bases. There was a lot of construction going on at the base especially in the tank training areas. Huge observation towers being constructed.

We traveled along on route 17 which was rather sad, as in years before we stopped at Cherry Point to visit with our grandson, Travis and his family and we always enjoyed that visit and we all had a special place that we liked to go to eat, so we had to drive past our exit and continue on up the road. However, that didn’t stop us from talking about our good times we had shared together.

Once we were settled in at the Coast Guard Base, we drove out to see Aunt Hettie, and she was delighted to see us and Estee, she immediately coaxed Estee to crawl up onto her lap and kept her there throughout the majority of our visit. When we visit with Aunt Hettie, we always sit on the front porch, as that is her favorite place to be, and we have to agree it is a very pleasant place to be. The fragrances of the flowers were wonderful. Lou picked some honeysuckle for her room. We made arrangement with the staff to pick her up at 10:00 the next morning to take her for a ride and out to lunch, so we told her good bye with promises to be back the next morning.

Lou and I left and made the short drive back to the base. We drove around the base and Lou found the road that lead out to the blimp hanger which I found very interesting. There had been a wooden hanger, which was called clam-shell hanger that was build prior to WWII in the Weeksville Community. It houses the blimp and also was used to make repairs to the blimps. It was the largest hanger in the world. It burned to the ground; however, you can see in the pictures, the tall cement structures that remain. You can also see the new hanger that is now used to house the blimps that are used today.

That was an interesting way to end our first day with Aunt Hettie.

Happy Mother's Day

May 8th - Sunday - Mother's Day 68 degrees

We are getting ready to make our way to Elizabeth City but wanted to post for Mother's Day, we are both away from our family, and we were talking about this at breakfast this morning and remembering how much both of our mothers enjoyed flowers so thought we would post some of the pictures Lou and I had taken at the gardens at the plantation and now I notice that we have used one picture twice. I don't remember how Krista told me I could get rid of it, so sorry for the error.

It is cloudy here and we are supposed to have rain, hopefully it won't be bad driving. We have a five hour drive ahead.

Hope all of you have a wonderful day and enjoy your families in what ever activity you have planned. We couldn't go to church, but did enjoy Pastor Stanley on the television while we had breakfast and he had his always inspiring message on raising Godly children. Hopefully, we both have done just that.