Our plan was to settle in to a relaxing routine, visit the beach, local restaurants and wander out as weather allowed.
Nov 16, 2013 Friday. Breakfast at the Waffle house (one of my favorites) later we walked on the beach Ruthie would be happy doing this every day. On the other side of the block was an old Presbyterian church made into a restaurant named the Deck House. We ended up eating here a couple of times. Wonderful meal.
Saturday, We had a plan which included a walk on the beach and a movie however a call from Tom and Colleen, they had drove down to the beach house and were checking to see if we would drive down for lunch. Of course we could. We drove to the South end of the island. We were trying to save some miles and time unfortunately the web site I checked had not changed to the winter ferry schedule. We did a U turn headed back up to Williamson over to the mainland and back down the other side. It was nice to see our new friends again. I forgot to mention Tom's parting gift to me when I left their home the other day. Anti Monkey butt, who gives that as a gift? I had just met him! I thought it was a joke at first. Then he started his Anti Monkey Butt praises. Lets hear it from the horses mouth. From their website: Anti Monkey Butt Powder is specially formulated to absorb excess sweat and reduce frictional skin irritation. It is Ideal for butt busting activities such as truck driving, motorcycling, bicycling, horse back riding,(could have used this when I trained horses.) and extreme sports. May also be applied inside footwear, under sports pads, and other areas prone to chafing. Indoors or outdoors, work or play, or on occasions when you sit on your butt all day, don’t let your buns get red, use Anti Monkey Butt Powder instead, plus they have Baby anti monkey butt for diaper rash. Evidently a lot of the long distance motorcycle riders swear by it. I guess Tom had my best interest at heart. We had a very nice lunch at a beach restaurant. It was fun to catch up with them again. We were able to cut through South Port and catch the Fort Fisher ferry back to Carolina beach.
Wednesday, old Farts breakfast, they say the ladies are called fartetts. We were late that's what I get for depending on public transportation, (ferry) another cruise for Ruthie. One of the couples had passed out a brochure at the last breakfast. It invited anyone and everyone to their home .The pamphlet from Lady Dale read: Join us for thanksgiving dinner, who will be there? An assortment of friends who are trying to avoid family members. An assortment of scooter trash we have picked up along the way. (probably us) A few people from New Jersey that are in the witness protection program! Where every table is the kids table. Sounded like a good time for us, and she promised that Mike would make fried turkey, this would be our first.
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When ever a group like this meets there are always stories. Last time Lady Dale told of their motorcycle trip to a Honda rally. She mentioned all these Gold Wing's riding two up and the huge drinking cup mounted on their cycles. (it so happens we have a huge drinking cup on our Gold Wing, so I listened a little closer.). she continued. "we wondered why they all had the huge cups, well, as they pulled out of the lot I seen them take out their false teeth and put in there cups.". First of all their are no false teeth in our cup (however I can't stop but think about it every time I take a drink. As a joke we carried our huge drinking cup and sat on the breakfast table.. Fun group, looks like we will see some of them again at Thanksgiving. |
| Largest Ferris wheel we have ever seen at Myrtle Beach! |
The gardens: Originally four rice plantations for over 200 years was purchased in 1930 as a winter home for a tuberculosis patient. It covers over 9000 acres. . I'm sure others will find the acres of of sculpture gardens, trails and even a zoo will be the focal point. Our interest was in the history of the rice plantations. I had no idea rice was so predominant in our history. Joshua Ward the original owner of one of the plantations was the largest slave owner in America. He owned over a thousand slaves and was called the king of the rice growers.
We chose to do the river tour to learn more about rice growing. Our tour guide Sid was very informative. It was estimated that 95 percent of the original native American population died from deceases introduced to them by the new settlers. At one time the area was covered with bald cypress trees towering over 140 feet tall. The canopy literally blocked the sun. The slaves had to clear these trees using primitive tools. Taking 7-10 years to clear a 45 acre field to prepare it for raising rice. We found that one fifth of all the worlds caloric intake comes from rice. They use a unique system of dams and floodgates to control the water level in the rice patties. It was interesting to find out they used the tides from the ocean to provide the rise and fall of the water level. The ocean tides will change the water level over three feet as far as 40 miles inland. I had no idea our country has had rice farming so early in history. Freedom of the slaves and the loss of cheap labor led to the decline of rice growing. It is hard to imagine the suffering the slaves endured in changing this wild forest land into rice plantations. Cruelty from owners, isolation from family, exposure to poisonous snakes, alligators, and loss of freedom. I only wish we had not seen the movie "Twelve years a slave" yesterday.
On a lighter note Capt Jim pointed out a wood duck to us. Telling us the babies were out of the nest within 24 hours. The female calls them out of the nest which may be over 200 feet off the water, they step out without harm. (don't know why) The next statement he made I have not been able to prove, he might have been setting us up for the punch line. He said a wood duck can fly into the nest at 35 miles per hour, what stops them?? The back of the nest was his answer! I don't know, you decide. True or false?
To time our arrival in time for the ferry we stopped for supper at Jerome's in Shallotte, Ruthie has fallen in love with the salt and pepper catfish.
On the ferry we met a young fellow that just bought a 2014 Indian, says it is the smoothest riding cycle he has ever rode evidently the new company has produced a winner.
We chose to do the river tour to learn more about rice growing. Our tour guide Sid was very informative. It was estimated that 95 percent of the original native American population died from deceases introduced to them by the new settlers. At one time the area was covered with bald cypress trees towering over 140 feet tall. The canopy literally blocked the sun. The slaves had to clear these trees using primitive tools. Taking 7-10 years to clear a 45 acre field to prepare it for raising rice. We found that one fifth of all the worlds caloric intake comes from rice. They use a unique system of dams and floodgates to control the water level in the rice patties. It was interesting to find out they used the tides from the ocean to provide the rise and fall of the water level. The ocean tides will change the water level over three feet as far as 40 miles inland. I had no idea our country has had rice farming so early in history. Freedom of the slaves and the loss of cheap labor led to the decline of rice growing. It is hard to imagine the suffering the slaves endured in changing this wild forest land into rice plantations. Cruelty from owners, isolation from family, exposure to poisonous snakes, alligators, and loss of freedom. I only wish we had not seen the movie "Twelve years a slave" yesterday. 
On a lighter note Capt Jim pointed out a wood duck to us. Telling us the babies were out of the nest within 24 hours. The female calls them out of the nest which may be over 200 feet off the water, they step out without harm. (don't know why) The next statement he made I have not been able to prove, he might have been setting us up for the punch line. He said a wood duck can fly into the nest at 35 miles per hour, what stops them?? The back of the nest was his answer! I don't know, you decide. True or false? 
On the ferry we met a young fellow that just bought a 2014 Indian, says it is the smoothest riding cycle he has ever rode evidently the new company has produced a winner.
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