1700 mile road trip

We decided to visit Sue’s uncle in Ohio sooner, rather than waiting till later this year.  So we rented a car from our friendly Enterprise dealer, checked our maps (to find that we can’t really get there from here), and headed north.  We crossed the mountains in North Carolina, Virginia, & West Virginia and saw all the leaves changing colors.  (I read that West Virginia is actually the biggest state in the country, especially if you flatten out all the mountains.)

With my Aunt (on my mother's side).  I hope I'm
as energetic as she is at 86 years

We spent a couple days in Ashland OH visiting Uncle Dallas, who seems to be doing well – much better than last year.  While in northern Ohio, we also got to see my Aunt Barbara in Huron, who is a spry 86 years young, still living by herself in her home.  We’re looking forward to next summer when we’ll have the boat on Lake Erie, and be able to see all these relatives (and several more) when both Sue & I get back in our old “stomping grounds”.

Bill Bowman's 70 foot Burger yacht.  Burger yachts
are all custom built, and about 20 steps above our boat.

We then pointed the car east, past Washington DC, back to our old marina in Colonial Beach on the Potomac.  We were staying only one night to retrieve our car, so the owner of The Boathouse Marina, Mr. Bill Bowman, invited us to spend the night on his yacht.  We reciprocated by inviting him to one of the better restaurants in town, where he and Sue shared a 3# grilled flounder, which Sue claims was one of the better meals she had ever eaten.  Mr. Bowman has been a prince of a gentleman each time we’ve been to his marina, making us feel very welcome and special.

Sue and Bill Bowman about to devour a perfect
flounder meal

We drove both cars back to Myrtle Beach, watching the changing colors of the tree leaves all the way.  By the time we arrived “home”, we had driven over 1700 miles in less than a week.  Yes, our butts were sore from sitting so much.

We’ll have about 10 days here to do some chores around the boat, and to act like tourists around Myrtle Beach, before we pack up the horses again to head to TN for Thanksgiving and the family reunion.