It is a beautiful gorgeous, sunny day here in Croatan National Forrest, near New Bern, NC.  I am sitting outside and typing away, I have gotten 7 campground reviews done!  Wow!  That’s a lot!  If you’d like, you can check them out by clicking on the 3 lines in the top right corner and opening the pages there. Today is Easter Sunday.  First time being away for this holiday.  We are here with friends, Jo and Craig and we are having a great time, relaxing and checking out the area. We left Sumter Oaks together, heading north to NC.  I was leading the way in my car.  Bill followed behind me and Jo hung back a bit behind him.  She had told me she wanted to be able to see the scenery and not just watch the view of the back of our rig!  She cracks me up!  It did initially make it feel a bit more complicated for me, when stopping I would have to be sure there was enough room for both rigs, not just us.  I had the route all mapped out.  Bill and I communicated with our walkie-talkies like always, but I had Jo and Craig on speed-dial so I could keep them informed of any needed info.

Our stop for the night was at a Cracker Barrel that Craig (the official co-pilot) found.  He even called ahead and made sure it was ok for us to spend the night there.  What a huge help!

We didn’t have as far to go the next day, having done the bulk of the driving day one. Day 2 brought a bit of excitement though, we had pulled into a gas station for a potty break and while walking around the rig, doing his usual checking of everything, Bill found a screw in a tire!  Silly me asked if we had a jack big enough to lift the rig!  DUH!  We have hydraulic levelers!  Thank God I’m not blonde – or that could have turned into a bad dumb blonde joke!

We had reserved sites online, but it is hard to know if they are actually going to be sites you like based just on descriptions and measurements.  When we got here, we found they had “double” sites and we decided that would work better for us.  What a hassle though to change sites – they do not make it easy!  The site we decided on has 2 electric pedestals.  They expect that both rigs will back in, but since we have our car, we decided to pull in and that way our door sides are facing each other.

We got settled in pretty quick and I must say, we really like it here.  We’ve been here over 2 weeks and will be here until we need to leave to go to OBX, where we have reservations for April 15 – May 15.  We will be meeting up with others there.

Some of you might be asking, why move north so early?  Isn’t it still cold up there?  Well, we had our reasons.  First one, is my sister planned a “Celebration of Life” service for her son, my nephew, Andrew, who was killed in a car accident back in December.  (I have written a memorial letter “Dear Andrew” if you would like to read it – it is with the ‘pages’ which are accessed by clicking the 3 lines in the top right corner)  The second reason was we would be driving up to see our daughter when she did her book defense and earned her Masters Degree.  Jo and Craig generously offered to come up with us and kittysit while we went to Pittsburgh.  You don’t find friends like that every day, do you? I drove up to DE on Friday, March 20 for the memorial.  It was a beautiful service.  Shannon did a great job putting together a video of pics and songs.  A few people told stories about Andrew, commenting on what a great friend he was and how much they miss him.  Pastor Mike read some bible passages and also some family letters, mine included.  Shannon had asked for people to bring a single rose instead of traditional flowers and the following morning, she and I brought them down to the inlet and threw them in.

After I returned from DE, the next focus was on going to Pittsburgh.  Thankfully, I wasn’t doing that much longer drive on my own, Bill was going with me.  One of the things I miss about having to drive my own car when we travel is that I do not get to take many pics.  Well, with only taking the car and Bill driving, I got to take some pics – I think these are so cool. We had booked 2 nights at a Hampton Inn right up the street from the college and only a few miles from Michelle’s apartment.  It was a whirlwind few days, but it was great to see her and be celebrating with her on her huge achievement!  We are so proud!  Bill and I have already finished reading her book, which was her final project toward earning her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

  It was hard saying goodbye – as it always is – but we are planning to go back to Pittsburgh later in the summer when it is warmer there.  Did I mention when Bill went out to walk Cocoa one morning it was only 22 degrees?  That is COLD! Back in NC, we have checked out the area a little.  We drove down to see a maritime museum.

Bill and I visited the North Carolina Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores one day.  I just love aquariums and could go all the time.  It wasn’t very big, but was very nice.  Thankfully most of it was indoors, as it was raining pretty bad that day.  I wouldn’t mind going back and seeing the outside area another day. shark jaws

We also took care of some chores, you know, the boring but necessary – like laundry.  Jo and Craig have a washer/dryer in their rig, but b/c there isn’t water/sewer hook-ups at the National Forrest, they have to do their laundry at the laundromat like me!  It was nice having company!

I will end todays blog entry with these last 2 pics – Jo made very yummy jambalaya and Texas toast!  Bill and Craig were VERY happy!

That’s all for today folks!  I am all caught up, except maybe a recipe or two and maybe a restaurant – we shall see, but til next time – thanks for following along!