whew! we have made it to state #12. feel free to celebrate with us by doing a little jig in your computer chair.

((jig))

ok. now that the nonesense is over, here’s the story of how we got here from Morehead City, NC:

Mom dropped us off early morning in Morehead City. As we were packing our boats, we realized that we had left our power chagers and extra batteries at home! Whoops. Mom made sure to send it next day to Bonnie in Wrightsville Beach so it would be waiting for us when we got there in a few days. We then paddled to Swansboro with no problems. We landed at Barrier Island Kayaks, greeted by its owner Lamar. He took care of us and helped us fix our boats up. We headed over to Cedar Point Campground and got out everything to cook dinner and realized that we were missing our Snow Peak stove. Good Grief! Pizza delivery night.

The next day we paddled down the ICW through the Military base. Since we have a history with Military bases, we were nervous. It worked out thank goodness. The ICW was open for transit and we made it through with no trouble. We made it to the New River Inlet and camped for the night.

Things got interesting the next day. We paddled on south and near the end of our paddling day, we ran into a looming thundercloud. Yikes. We pulled up to a landing in Holly Ridge, NC. We got into lightning position on our PFD’s a good distance from one another and settled in to wait out a yucky storm. As if on cue, a man and a poodle pulled up in an old truck. There was a decal on the side of the truck that said “Stump Sound Campground.” um… GOD HUG. He offered to take us back to his house so we could wait out the storm and meet his lovely wife, Martha. We hopped in Preston’s car, next to his poodle Rascal and headed to safety. We actually ended up camping there, eating dinner with them, AND heading out to breakfast the following morning. It was a fine development out of a very gloomy storm. Something along the lines of “Trail Magic”…

After our very very good breakfast, we were able to paddle all the way to Wrightsville Beach, even through wind and rain. Who knew that a bacon egg and cheese biscut could fuel that much positive energy? Sopping wet at the Bridge Tender Marina, we called Bonnie, one of Dan’s friends from college. She came and rescued us. We had dinner and crashed around 8pm.

We took the next day off and enjoyed relaxing. Bonnie took us out to Red Robin, which hit the spot like nothing else could. We also bought a new camp stove, the MSR Pocket rocket at the Wilmington store of Great Outdoor Provision Company. Whew.

The following morning we woke up to a homecooked breakfast keeping warm in the oven, cooked by Bonnie before she headed off to work. Bonnie’s Bed and Breakfast? I would recommend staying. It’s pretty exclusive though. We were very happy. Bonnie came back with our forgotten chargers and batteries and we were off to the marina to get back on the water. The paddle was slow because we were going against the tide almost the whole way, especially 1 mile north of Snows Cut in Carolina Beach… one mile, one hour. ugh. Thankfully, Ethan, a member of Christian Surfers, picked us up in his new truck, (which we promptly dented  with our boats… major oops)(SORRY ETHAN). He cooked us a yummy meal and we slept like babies with the ocean breeze coming in out windows.

Carolina Beach to Oak Island might have been one of the easiest paddles of the trip. Gotta love days like that right? We pulled up just north of the Oak Island bridge at the South Harbor Marina and my great Aunt and Uncle came and picked us up. We enjoyed a night of Country Club life watching my 85 yr old great uncle break it down on the dance floor, and enjoy some fun karaoke. I was tempted to partake but could not think of a song to sing. (Any good ideas for future times?) We slept well again and then ate a great breakfast the following morning.

Our next place to stay was offered to us via a man named Michael, who found out about our trip voa the Great Outdoor Provision Company Blog! He offered us his beach house in Holden Beach. Once we got there, we met him and his brother Louis, all of whom are huge NC State fans. We felt like we were back at home. (Although we are Duke fans, we understand the hometown sports love). . . Michael took us out to eat at Provisions, which is world famous… atleast it should be. Michael was great to talk to as well as a thoughtful host, not to mention a paddler himself, having paddled a lot of the water around the area. He had good information to offer us about the upcoming days. 

The next morning we set off rather early and… it was chilly. Hopefully that’s not a sign of things to come. We thought we had left that behind up in New England. We waved goodbye to Michael and headed south towards Little River, South Carolina. We paddled past the floating bridge to Sunset Beach and soon got to South Carolina! (what a fabulous feeling let me tell you…) The paddle was nice, the weather was nicer, and we made it to the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club with smiles on our faces. Capt. Charlie and Marianne, my Aunt in-laws, let us use their slip there, and also took us in to stay with them. We went to church with them and met the Kanoy’s, who prayed blessings over us and made me cry… like i always do when people pray for me like that. It was a sweet moment.

We have been resting here today, taking a good rest day before the push ahead towards Charleston… It’s been fun so far.