Taking on a short job assignment in eastern North Carolina during the spring "Rockfish" spawning run, "Rockfish is also known as sea run Stripper, large fish that come up the river in the spring to spawn. The campground I was in was the favorite for the fishing guides. They come from several mid-Atlantic states to spend 7 weeks here guiding fishing charters for Rockfish.
Because the job assignment turned out to be much more time consuming than normal I did not get time to fish this time. I did get to talk to the fishing guides and a man who provided bait for them. Good stories of fish caught! The bait tanks kept right on the campground, the guides would pull their boat up alongside the bait tanks and net out what they needed for the day then head to the river. Cool operation!
A town 10 miles away Halifax is a good touring spot for a few hours, Tanya visited one weekend and we went to see it. Halifax was the first colony to support a resolution for the independence of the United States and drafted the North Carolina state constitution.
At that time Halifax was a strong commercial seaport providing goods along the eastern seaboard. Supporting the confederacy during the Civil War and then as railroads were built and waterways became less of a commercial trading route the town began to diminish. Several of the buildings are open for tours and it is worthwhile for a few hours.
Finishing my job I go to meet my Rialta friends in Florida. Always a good time to reconnect, share with other Rv'rs about our travels and experiences.
Near Tallahassee, FL is the site of a former indian village with great information of how the early spanish explorers interacted with locals. This location is remarkable for the soil is extreemly good for farming and at the top of a hill they built their village with a view of 7 miles any direction for they had cleared all of that land to raise crops. They would trade their crops for other items all the way to Virginia. So when the Spanish arrived they viewed it as an opportunity for additional trade.
This is the council lodge where they meet for events. It is huge!
Spending a week at Fort Pickens and a week in Foley, AL it is warm spring weather, I walk the beach at sunrise alone during the week and weekends there are early fishermen on the beach. Then riding the motorcycle around Pensacola, I find Historic Pensacola, there the buildings were older and interesting, but the inside is tourist shops, a little disappointing to me but I'm sure others that like to shop enjoyed it.
Happy Hour is 4pm with this group and we have snacks, wine and allot of conversation. I truly enjoy these friends and that keeps me coming back every year. This is only the second time I have been able to stay all week for the last 5 years I often had been working during this time and fly in on weekends to see my friends. I'm glad I'm giving up work for this is a strong part of retirement to catch up with friends.
I rode the motorcycle up to Foley, AL for the balloon festival, arriving on Saturday morning I wait with a few others at OWA and there is no sign of the balloonists? Catching up to a police officer he tells me that they put up a weather balloon and decided to launch 10 miles southeast from OWA to land at OWA later in the day. He could not tell me where they were, so I used the GPS to identify large areas of vacant land (farm fields) and started riding around. After 30 minutes of cruising about I see a balloon, follow around to it and find 30 balloons lifting off from a farm field. The sun was already up so there was no "glow" when they first take off, so cool to see so many lifting off! They rose up about 150' the as most were airborne they lowered to 50" catching a different wind to move them in the direction they wanted to go. Trying to follow them I soon lost sight for they don't follow roads but air currents. I did enjoy what little of it I did see though.
The Foley, AL Rally there were quite allot of new people with Rialta's. Still many of the original group too. Cocktail hour still begins at 4pm and good time is had by everyone. The Rally had a different event each day such as Ice Cream Social, Tech Talk, Open House (tour each others RV), Root Beer Flot, Pot Luck, Lamberts Dinner (they throw dinner rolls at you), Pizza Party. The campground had a pool and I did use it a few time. This is late spring in southern Alabama so the days are getting quite warm now.
A small town nearby called Magnolia Springs had a boardwalk out to the river and these cute pictures were posted. I didn't see any gators here.
All too soon the fun ends and everyone heads out, some back home, some starting a trip, some continuing on original trip. See you next year!
Leaving the rally I intend to travel the Blue Ridge Parkway north all the way, I had done small pieces in the past but never the whole thing. Thoughts changed as I was near Atlanta for the weather showed fog in the mornings, rain in the afternoon. So I continued up I-81 to MD to see Tanya. Along the way I stopped to see Andrew Johnson home He was the 17th President of the US. He was the Vice President under Abraham Lincoln and when Abe was assassinated Andrew became president and was faced with the aftermath of the Civil War. Tough job to say the least! Not allot of pictures but it is a very good tour.
A little farther north is the town of Blountville, TN. My namesake so I stop and discover there is not one business, street building named Blount! Somewhat disappointing. I google and find back in Knoxville, TN is allot of Blount buildings, too bad I am too far north now to see, another road trip someday? There was a collection of log homes that an individual had and it was available to see.
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