Charleston, SC to HOME!

Oh my gosh, it seems to have been a while since I last blogged. Charleston was nice. The only place we visited was the Maritime Museum at Patriot's Point. This was for my dear Gary to make up for all the Botanical Gardens, Wildlife Sanctuaries etc. The Museum comprised of 3 Navy ships you could go on - an aircraft carrier, submarine and a battleship. Gary said he had always wanted to go on an aircraft carrier. Something else bigger than him, I guess (my words not his!!).  I did tour the aircraft carrier for 3.5 hours with him but opted out for visiting the battleship and the submarine.

                I liked the sign on the golf carts window "my other car is a B17"

                      You could hardly see the other end of the carrier.

A view of the Kingston Rover from the deck of the carrier. The blue blob is our bicycles.

                    I  kept looking for Tom Cruise but could not find him!!

This was the closest I could get to Fort Sumter as we left the Patriot's Point Marina.
We had a fairly good journey from Charleston to Pasadena. We did, however pass very close to several storms. I tried to capture the storms with my lens:

This photo was one of about 30 I took in an attempt to get the lightening. When I finally got one it was, unfortunately not quite in focus.

One of the storms produced such high waves and caused the boat to rock from side to side throwing off many of the supplies we had on the front bed.

Another storm produced a beautiful rainbow.

We also were "attacked" by green eyed monsters and mosquito like bugs.

 Gary was particularly bothered with the green eyed monster below. He was funny to watch as he cussed and swatted at different parts of his body as the little b-----s bit him. They did not seem to bother me quite so much. It is the "No Seeums" that get to me.

The photo underneath reminds me of an airplane waiting for takeoff on the runway.

I finally managed to get some rather decent photos of dolphins.

In the photo above you can see the water vapour after it has been expelled by the dolphin.

 This is a photo of a mother and her baby. Mum must have been a little camera shy!!

As we passed through Norfolk, we again saw many Navy vessels either waiting to be deployed or being repaired.

We also saw 2 beautiful sailing ships. One was of the Lynx from New Hampshire and the other was "Godspeed" from Jamestown.

                                                   "Godspeed"

Gary wanted a photo of the "old" sail boat with the Navy ships in the background.

                                                         "Lynx"
The tugs in the photo below reminded me of the Little Engine That Could or the ant that tried to move a rubber tree plant. It looked as though they were both trying to push the building.

As we left North Carolina we passed some lovely sights. Here are a few of my favourites.

I thought it was interesting how these stumps were beginning to sprout new leaves and branches.

As we crossed the Chesapeake Bay it was like a mill pond. You could see reflections of the clouds in the still water.

The photo below shows storm clouds brewing on the horizon.

 We spent our last night on the boat in Oxford on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Again, we had very still water creating a pretty reflection of the land, water and the clouds.

We passed a skipjack on the Bay. This is a boat used by fishermen for oyster dredging and is only used on the Chesapeake Bay.

Trudy, this photo is for you. Trudy and I think that dead trees make photographs and paintings more interesting.

Well, all good things must come to an end. We returned to our home one year and two days after we left. I would do it again as I enjoyed it so much. It was great meeting old friends, creating new friends, seeing relatives we have not seen for a while, the new sights and all the wonderful people who have helped us on our journey of a lifetime. I thank everyone who has followed the blog and for the nice comments I have received. I leave you with one final sunset picture and wish each and everyone of you the fulfilment of your dreams. Dreams can come true, I know that.

Kingston Rover Loop Map