Tuesday, 18 July 2023
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was still having trouble lifting my left arm, thanks to falling so heavily on that side a week or two ago. One of the byproducts of that injury is that I can't cover up my windows at night with towels and clothespins, so campground light can - and does - shine in. This makes it hard for me to fall asleep and to stay asleep, which in turn makes it hard for me to stay awake during the daytime.
Today is no exception, but I have reservations at other campgrounds so had to work through it.
Before leaving the Wilmington campground, I stopped at the main building to take a shower and do my laundry. All that took a lot of energy but it's great to have everything clean again. As a result, it was nearly 9:00 before we got on the road.
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| today's route |
First, we stopped at a tire shop, because of that noise I'd been hearing since New Bern. The guy there said the tires felt fine and had great tread, and even if I needed new ones he couldn't do it because his small shop didn't have the right kind of jack. But he said all-terrain tires, like I have, often make sounds others don't because they develop a sort of wavy surface. Still he thought they were safe for me to drive on through North Carolina's terrain.
From there I stopped at a PetsMart - it's incredible how fast those kittens go through food. I know they're still growing, and we all know that growing boys need a lot of fuel. But even though I stick to the recommended feeding amounts, they still seem to really plow through it.
Next I stopped for gas and got a very slow pump. Worse, it got slower as other people around me started pumping into their vehicles. That took longer than I'd expected.
The next stop was at a Dick's Sporting Goods. I've been wearing the same Reef flip-flops nearly daily (except for serious winter) since Anna helped me buy them a few years ago. I like that brand because they don't fall apart - I have to wear the soles down and they still don't fall apart. And wearing the soles down is exactly what I'd done to this pair - they very nearly had holes in them.
Dick's didn't have much of a selection in my size but I did manage to find a couple of new pairs, which should last me a while.
We were by then almost across the street from that dog park we'd visited 2 days ago, and that's where we went next. Several large muddy puddles had appeared since before and some of the dogs today were really happy to wade or lie down in them. Fortunately for me, Dext doesn't like muddy puddles any more than he likes clean ones; in his mind, water is for drinking, period. Today he was the smallest dog - there was a Great Dane, a pair of German Shepherds, a large energetic bouncy dog that looked like maybe a tall thin hound (my knowledge of dog breeds is limited) and a few other miscellaneous breeds or mixes.
Size doesn't seem to bother Dext much - larger or smaller or the same as he is - so he was okay with the other dogs. But today was really hot and humid and Dext was ready to leave after about 20 minutes. I turned on the RV's generator and the AC while we ate lunch. Jimmy had decided to tear up a paper bag while we'd been gone, and it took me a while to clear all that up. We pulled out a little after noon, at which point I discovered I'd forgotten to close the cabinet door I'd opened for the cleanup, and I had to find a place to pull over so it didn't bang around all afternoon.
We crossed the Cape Fear River, followed by the Brunswick River, and started to head west. At that point I figured out the source of the odd sound I was hearing: I'd forgotten to turn off both the generator and the AC and both were running. So once again I had to find a place to pull over and get myself pulled together. I'm going to blame the heat and humidity for my brain malfunctions.
Today I was mostly on US-74, and a sign told me it was the "Future I-74 Corridor." Myself, I prefer US numbered highways to interstates that bypass so much of America.
I saw a fair number of filled logging trucks on the road today.
I crossed the Lumber River, which a sign told me was designated a North Carolina Natural and Scenic River. More than that, it's the only blackwater river in the state to win a National Wild and Scenic River designation from the US Dept. of the Interior. Actually, I couldn't remember what a blackwater river is, but now I can say it's a river with a slow-moving channel that flows through forested swamps or wetlands. And most of the world's supply of these are either in the Amazon Basin or in the southern US. The Lumber River eventually flows into the Little Pee Dee River in South Carolina, and that flows into the Pee Dee River, and that flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
For a KOA, the one we reached at Lumberton was fairly no-frills - even somewhat stark. But our site was fairly level and, because today's a Tuesday, there weren't many other campers here so we had plenty of room to walk.
On one walk, we found a small cemetery that I'm guessing was for earlier owners of the land. The markers were for the Howell family and dated back to 1889, 1895 - like that.
I had an odd experience when I called the CVS in Asheville so they'd have my blood pressure meds ready when we got to town. They said they could fill one of them, but the other was already being filled somewhere else, and they couldn't figure out where. They said it wasn't in the CVS computer so I'd have to call Medicare to figure it out.
I thought that might be a lost cause - calling such a large bureaucracy as Medicare late in the afternoon - but I needed the pills so I gave it a shot. And no problem at all, I got a human being who figured out the Rx was in fact being filled at a CVS in Georgia, and she called that pharmacy and told them to stop it and release the hold. Really nice. And later I called Asheville back and they said yep, they saw the release in their computer and I could have everything by Friday. It took an extra half hour when I was hot and tired and the kids all wanted supper, but I'm glad I took the time.
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