June 9, 2021
I got to chase a fly today. It was fun. Then my humans left me by myself. All alone…
I slept.
Another cloudy morning greeted us. Rudy loves it here, he really wants to
explore. Since the street is so busy, my
walk consists of weaving in and out of the RV aisles. The RV park is quite large so you can work up
some steps. I talk to people and manage
to make it fun.
Back at Hannah, we do some cleaning as our friends Butch and
Lynn Weaver are coming from the next Carolina over. It’s about a 4 hour drive and they are
bringing their bikes. Spouse had to
transfer our bike rack from Hannah to the truck. He grumbled and moaned, but did it
nonetheless.
Butch and I worked on the same projects at our respective
Blue Cross plans. When there were
conferences in other cities, we connected.
Then our companies merged. We
visited them when they lived in Ohio, and then again a few years back when they
moved to Whispering Pines, North Carolina. And now they were going to smuggle
us pass the gates onto Kiawah Island. I
love scofflaws!
It’s about a 15 mile drive to the island and we have to caravan because of the bikes. At one point, live oaks line both sides of the road, forming a spectacular canopy with the Spanish moss dangling. It is an amazing drive. We parked in a shopping center and off loaded the bikes. They have done this before so we put our trust in them. The bike trail starts right out of the shopping center and passes tidal marshes. The tide is out when we started. It is kind of easy to sneak by the gates because of the foliage, so off we went. Bwaaaahhhaaa!
First thing of note are the beautiful golf fairways and greens. Nobody was playing though. I don’t get it! There are about 5 golf courses on the island, and the pros just played the Ocean course, where Pete Mickelson stunned the world with a win last week. The bike trail is lined with trees – live oaks with the draping Spanish moss, palmettos, and of course, magnolias. Although it was somewhat humid, the shaded trail was quite comfortable.
There are beautiful homes where it seems they compete for
the most incredible trees. Since any
removal or changing of trees must be approved behind these gates, I think
people bought lots with the idea that the artsiest trees must be on their
property. Then they design their house
around the trees. The plantation style
and colonial style seemed to fit in to the island, but occasionally there would
be a house with a design that just didn’t work.
Butch and Lynn have a friend that lives here so we breezed
into their beautiful home. Bill has
quite the wood shop and built some of their furniture. The pieces were stunning!
No, they were better than stunning. They
were jaw dropping. Beth is quite an
artist also, with oil paintings and quilting.
It is evident that their décor was a true reflection of who they are as
artisans and as people. It was a treat
to meet them.
Back to the trail, tidal marshes weave in and out of the area, with gator warnings posted on signs and written on the sidewalk. When we started, the tide was out, but now the tide was in. Egrets are feeding by the dozens. Spouse did see a gator and some deer as he lagged behind us for a while. At the end of the ride, we ended up at the Ocean golf course driving range where you can see the whitecaps on the ocean. It is pretty windy here, not sure how helpful the driving range would be to anybody! Maybe that is why nobody was there.
When we turned around to head back, we noticed there were
some very angry skies above. Will we
beat the rain? The wind was blowing in
from the ocean so that might hold the storm off… We hear some rumbles. We feel a drop or two but managed to get back
before we got wet. Let’s not talk about
not being able to find our car in the parking lot…We are so thankful to Butch
and Lynn for taking us on this ride. It
was 20+ miles of utter botanical beauty and awesome homes and golf courses. And it is not in any tourist guide book!
We decided to stop at Gilligans Seafood for dinner. It is right on the road home… if only the
traffic would move… The development of
Kiawah Island brought all sorts of people to the area. However, the road infrastructure has not
changed. As a result, the few roads in
and out are clogged during rush hours. It
took almost an hour to go about 5 miles.
At least the food was good.
Butch and Lynn are staying a hotel, and are coming to breakfast in the morning. We said our good night and got home to our beast, who wanted out! Yes Mr. Bitchen… you can come out for a while…
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