Ocracoke

 Ed and Cathy arrived around noon on the ferry - yay!

 

First up for the day - a little clamming.  The sailing club has  5 dinghies going to the "clamming grounds" about 1/2 mile away.

 

The What If and Sojourn crew!

 

Happy sailors out digging in the sand for clams!

 

Cathy with a prize!

 

Our haul after about 45 minutes.  We stopped at this point since we didn't want to have too many!

Then it was time for a little bike ride.  Getting ready.

 

To Dajio's restaurant to meet up with Gail and Paul.  The restaurant has been completely refurbished after a hurricane 2 years ago (can't remember which one).  It's very nice, but my inner self longs for the old dingy bar with the ring toss, hearing Jamie play guitar into the night...  Oh well, time marches on!

 

Next up was the sailing club gathering - steaming the clams!

 

My goodness they were excellent!!

 

The club pot-luck was wonderful as usual.  The club invited the Park Rangers to join us - we'll be seeing this Ranger tomorrow when we take a bike ride to the "ponies"!

 

Lots of great food and fun conversations.

 

After the clams - fresh Pamlico Sound shrimp were boiled with Old Bay!  Yes, we had too much to eat!!

 

And in the evening, we say another Manta!  Skoolz Out!

The crew - Kathy and Tony came over for a nice chat in the late evening.  Good folks!

 

The view of Sojourn  with fellow sailing club boat The Blue Comet on the dock....
 

And on a very sad note....Richard and Miranda's first puppy - Axle has passed away.  11 good years!  RIP Axle

Ocracoke, NC

 Started the day with dark cloudy skies again.

 

But mid-morning the skies cleared.  We took a nice bike ride - the beach was pretty crowded!

 

We walked awhile up the beach and it became deserted like we're used to.

 

Not as clear and blue as the Bahamas, but pretty in it's own way.

 

Back at the boat, we saw Paul and Gail in their golf cart - I waved them over from afar.  Good to see them - we hope to hook up with them at Dajio's this evening.

 

And the finishing touch on the day was a little meet-and-greet with the SCOO (sailing club) folks.  Nice to see everyone again.

Oriental to Ocracoke, NC

 We woke to a nice rainstorm, so we decided to sit tight and wait before leaving for Ocracoke.  The skies were overcast and the wind was calm leaving our dock.

 

We pulled in to River Dunes for a quick holding tank pump out.

 

Then on our way out Broad Creek - local fishermen dragging a shrimp net.

 

And out of the creek into Pamlico Sound.  Not a lot of wind so the trip started just on one engine as we were in no rush.

 Along the way there were alot of shrimp boat out!  Must be shrimp season!

 

And there are always passing ferry boats heading to/from Ocracoke.

 

The winds did fill in partway thru the trip and we were able to shut off the engine and use sail power alone.  At times going 6 knots but the wind eventually died down/changed angle.  When the boat speed dropped below 3 knots, we fired up one of the engines again.  

The familiar view approaching Silver Lake.

 

The National Park Service docks are crowded - we scored one of the only open spots.  We're off in the background to the left.

 

The passenger-only ferry is running again.  (And taking up precious dock space!!!)

 

We had help with the lines as we pulled into the dock - and had a nice visit with Mark/Kate from Kismet and Dale/Debbie from Dragonfly.  Other club members plus hopefully Ed/Cathy will arrive tomorrow.

Oriental, NC

 Getting one chore marked off the list - our aft air conditioning unit has been cutting off - probably due to a build-up of "critters" - mainly barnacles and debris that gets constantly sucked thru the water-cooled system.  The solution is to flush out the system using muriatic acid.

Duane rigged up this closed loop system and let the pump circulate the acid solution for a couple of hours.

 

Looks like it was sucsessful - should be good for another few years.  Off to Ocracoke for the week!  More later.

Oriental, NC!

Back at the boat this evening!!  All is well here.  Ed and Cathy are back, doing lots of repairs since their lightning strike in Florida.

 Assuming the weather cooperates tomorrow, we'll sail to Ocracoke for several days.

Pittsboro, NC

 More completely non-sailing related days.....

Richard had an old car parked at our house that needed to be disposed of.

So we loaded it up on the tow-dolly and dragged it to the recycle center.

 

It's always fascinating to see what goes on at a salvage yard.

 

Very efficient operation - we were in -and-out in just a few minutes with a check for $275!  Glad to have that chore done.

Pittsboro

 Duane has been busy installing the new tires!  Off with the old.  (These tires were filled with saltwater to add weight to the tractor.  We've owned the tractor for 25+ years and this is the first time we've changed the tires).

 

And back on with the new.  He's not putting the saltwater back as he doesn't feel like he needs the weight - mostly just using the tractor these days for mowing on level ground.

All done!!  (That was pretty much all Duane's labor.....)  Should be good for another 25+ years.

Although, like a lot of times when you refurbish something.....Duane says that the new tires on back make the front tires look shabby.....

Pittsboro - Morganton - Holly Hill, SC - Pittsboro

 We had a very busy day, covering a lot of miles!!

First, in the morning we flew over to the edge of the mountains to the Morganton airport to pick up our neighbor.  He's dropping off his Mooney with the mechanic there for it's annual inspection.

The sky was a bit cloudy on the way over.

We also chatted with the mechanic because we'll be dropping our airplane off in a couple of months for it's inspection there.

 

Time to fly back home with Dick in the back seat. 

 

 

The tires on our bigger tractor were in bad need of replacement.  There isn't really a local shop that sells the larger tires (they're on 28" rims).  So, after an internet search, we got in the pickup to drive  into the heart of SC to a agricultural themed tire shop.  Always get a chuckle as we pass Pedro's South of The Border.  (Not sure we've ever stopped there for some reason).

 

And way out in the country we found the tire shop we were looking for.  They had an enormous variety of tractor tires.

Loaded up the tires and drove the 3 hours back to Pittsboro.  Quite a busy day!