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National Christmas Tree
After our return from our European trip, we settled into the
condo in MD for a while. We needed one last trip to Lewisburg, WV to do the
final clean out of our garage there. We went down Thanksgiving Day and on the
return trip we spent a night with Bob and Wendy near Lynchburg, VA. Shortly thereafter,
our friend Stan Talbott retired from WSSC after 47 years of service. Stan
provided excellent process control support to help the treatment plants work effectively
and efficiently.
 | | Stan and Deb |
We enjoyed Carol and Cordale’s annual Christmas party along with
our friends, Tom and Julie and Susan and Windsor. Linda hosted the
Potter/Topper Christmas dinner. The surprise gift was that Jen was pregnant and
due in June. Jen had just opened a flower shop in PA, so we went over for a
visit and we were quite impressed. Her husband, Patrick, is co-owner of a bar
in Philly, so we went there, and had fun playing games and tasting their latest
batch of craft beer. We had dinner with Barb, Sharon, Trish and Scott on
Christmas Eve in Towson, and continued the celebration at our home on Christmas
Day.
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| My Family: Scott, Trish, Barb, Sharon, Pat and Don |
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Canoeing Lynches Creek, SC
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On
Jan 7th we loaded the RV and headed south. We quickly found out that
our RV water pump was not working. A few days later we picked up a new pump in
Fayetteville, NC and I installed it. Our first outing was a canoe trip on the
Leaches River in SC. We hiked in Congaree NP and saw wild pigs, four types of
woodpeckers, including two Pileated Woodpeckers fighting over territory.
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| Pileated Woodpecker in Congaree NP, SC |
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Where the Swamp Creatures Live
On the way to our next campsite, we made a
wrong turn (thanks, Garmin) and ended up at the entrance to a military base.
The guard told us to make a U-turn just past the guard house. Unfortunately,
the turning radius of the RV was wider than the road space available to U-turn and
since we were towing the car we could not back up. We ended up blocking the
exit road from the base until we could unhook the car from the RV. Once
disconnected, we could back the RV up. When the car and RV are aligned and on level
ground, you can disconnect in a couple of minutes. However, we were on a slope
and not properly aligned. The connectors were jammed like I never experienced
before. We broke out the tools and started hammering on the connecting pins, to
little avail. We got some help from one of the soldiers waiting to get out. I do
not know how long it took to get disconnected, (it seemed like forever) but the
exit lane was backed up quite a way before the pins finally broke loose. Of
course, later we found out that had we ignored the guard’s direction and proceeded
100 yd further pass the guard house on to the base, there was a traffic circle!
I forgot to thank the guard for his guidance.
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The Angel Tree, Charlestown, SC
While we were in SC, Barb went to the hospital with chest
pain - fortunately it was diagnosed as a pulled muscle. We went to McLeod
Plantation and took an excellent guided tour of the grounds with emphasis on slave
life on the plantation and local history. We had a very big meal at a Gullah
restaurant nearby.
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Cypress Knees, Ebenezer Creek
We went down to Georgia. Linda Erby had recommended canoeing
Ebenezer Creek, so we headed there. The creek was at flood level so it was actually
more a swamp than a creek. From the put-in, we wondered into a dense cypress
and tupelo forest, but with no current, visible landmarks, or sun, it seemed
like an easy place to get lost. We turned around and meandered our way to the
takeout several miles away.
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Water Snake, Ebenezer Creek
We toured around Wormsloe SHS and drove down their entrance
road lined with Live Oak Trees. The park was full of joggers participating in a
30 hr Yeti race. The goal was to see now many miles you could rack up in 30
hours. I missed the Yeti connection - do Yeti jog or just walk too fast to be
caught on film?
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| Hemlock Falls on Moccasin Creek, GA |
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| Panther Falls on Joe Creek, GA |
After a few days of exploring around the Savannah area, we
headed to the mountains in NW Georgia. With some recent rainfall, the
conditions were good for hiking to waterfalls. After 3 weeks of RVing, we winterized the RV
and headed to a timeshare in the mountains near Sapphire, NC. From here we had
easy access to the Nantahala National Forest and other scenic areas. All week,
Pat had been commenting that she was hearing strange noises from outside our condo.
I thought it was a cat. On our last day we called maintenance in to
investigate. We were surprised to find that there was a bear with 3 cubs under
our front porch! The staff discussed
having Fish and Wildlife relocate the bears, but we suggested leaving them
there and leave the condo empty after we leave. Since it was the off season,
they agreed.
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| Armadillo, Gorges SP, NC |
Our next stop was Boone, NC and on the way north, we
rendezvoused with Floyd and Lauren in Marion. Having sold their house in PA last
summer, they were renting near Charlotte and planning to move into their new
home the following week, also near Charlotte. In Boone we had good access from
our timeshare to the trails off the Blue Ridge Parkway. After a week there we
headed back to MD, just prior to an incoming snow storm. We stopped in Fredericksburg
to have lunch with an old friend and former neighbor, Ann Chab, and still made
it home in time to see the Super Bowl.
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| Whitewater Falls, NC |
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| Dry Falls of the Cullasaja River, Highlands, NC |
Linda scheduled a Baby Shower for Jen in April, but since we
will be on the road then, we had a Baby Sprinkle for Jen in March. (I thought I
was being cute, coming up with Baby Sprinkle, then I found out it is a real
event)!
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| Jen, Patrick and ??????? |
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| My Friends: Grant, Ron, and Eldon - Explorers and World Class Canoers |
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Tom in a dugout canoe in the Amazon
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Recently a good friend of ours, Tom Remy, passed away. We
meet Tom and his wife Cornelia on a trip to Costa Rica in 1998 and have been
friends ever since. We took many trips together, and Tom was always there with
a big smile, ready to play cards, or share some interesting titbit he had
stashed away in his brain. He was a welder by trade, and a Mr. Fix- It when
needed, but he really enjoyed cooking, especially steaks on the grill, with blow
torch in hand. Tom and his boisterous personality will be greatly missed.
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| Cornelia and Tom |
