On Wednesday, we left River Dunes, and
headed 42 miles to a small marina at Belhaven, NC. There are only about
20 slips and the owners live in their motor home on the property.
They hitch their trailerable boat to the motor home and head to the Keys in the winter.
I started washing the salt off the
boat and my roll up garden hose blew up. As I really don’t have room to
store a regular hose, that roll up hose is a life saver. The marina
owner pointed across the street to the Ace Hardware, and said that was
about the only store in town that might have one. No luck, so I bought a
cheap regular hose, as we need something to wash the boat down with,
and add water to our fresh water tank.
As I was finishing up, the boater behind
us, who we had been following for the past few days, stopped to chat,
and noted he had seen my hose blow up. When I told him I would really
miss that roll up hose, he told me about a “catch all” store he had just
wandered through while riding his bicycle through town. He pointed at
the medical clinic on the other side of the small bay, and said “Just
walk down the street in front of the clinic, and you can’t miss it”!
The proprietor was just finishing up with an older gentleman who was getting some parts.
When I explained what I was looking for,
he scratched his chin, thought a while, then proceeded to tell me that
he was sure he didn’t have what I needed, and was really sure, because
when he had finished cleaning up the 8” of water hurricane Irene
deposited in his store this past spring, he didn’t remember seeing any
garden hose. He then looked at me, and asked if “I was from these
parts”. When I told him we were from Burnsville, MN, and traveling the
Great Loop by boat, I thought he’d fall over! He pointed around his
store. “A lot of this stuff I get from Northern Hydraulics in
Burnsville”! I told him I was familiar with Northern Hydraulics, as they
were just a few miles from us.
The older gentleman piped up, and said
the farm supply store on the edge of town might have what I needed. The
proprietor called them, and sure enough, they had a 50’ roll up garden
hose - just what I needed. When I asked directions to the store, and
found out it was 2&1/2 miles away, I said I’d have to see if our
boating neighbor would let me borrow his bicycle.
Then the older gentleman piped up, and
said “I could give you a ride, but I just have an old small pickup. The
lady can sit in front, but you’d have to sit in the back. Pat said she’d
just head back to the marina, and Ronald & I could go to the farm
supply. That’s Ronald pictured above.
Ronald
insisted he would not take any money. I told him I wasn’t reaching for
money, but a boat card so he could follow our blog! I told him I’d make
him famous on the internet!
Pat & I often comment to each
other about how friendly and helpful the people we meet are. Everyone
offers a helping hand, advice, a ride if you need it!
They just make you feel so welcome to their little part of the world!
We ended the day with docktails in the gazebo, Pat & Marc blew the
conchs at sunset, and we headed off to bed, hoping for calm seas for
running the big water of the Alligator River the next day.
Captn Ken
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