Charleston Hold

Fort Sumter

What a place! This is an area that the earliest Europeans occupied in the New World so the documented history here starts in the 1600s. This area declared independence from Britain well before old Tom Jefferson and the boys formalized it. The first shot of the Civil War was fired not more than three miles from our dock at Fort Sumter from a Live Oak island some 2000 yards away. Today, Charleston has several distinct sections. The old town is on a peninsula flanked by the Ashley and Cooper rivers (named after Lord Ashley Cooper, a prominent Englishman). I wonder if our roots cross somewhere in which case, perhaps I might have claim to some of the turf here. Yeah, right. Anyway, the sections of town are designated by such phrases as “East of the Cooper” or “West Ashley”.

Charleston from East of the Cooper

It has been incredibly hot here so yesterday Bear decided to stay in the cool and kick me off the boat to visit museums. That I did. First was the Patriot’s Point area where the USS Yorktown carrier and a post WWII submarine are docked. That took all morning wandering around those vessels. As hot as it was outside, it was even hotter below decks. What a grand ship with a magnificent history.

Not a sight one would want a sea

The next place was Fort Sumter, which is accessible only by boat. The trip across the sound took about thirty minutes but was worth the effort. I always made a point of taking out of town visitors to the Alamo. They always said that they thought it would be bigger.

We await the response from the Spine guys so that we can plan our next move. In the meantime, we have stuff to do to the boat and we continue to enjoy being aboard, though the scenery may not change for a bit. I met another 411 owner yesterday. It turns out to be someone with whom I have corresponded on the 411 website. He invited me aboard for the next Wednesday “beer can races”. We exchanged ideas on modifications to our boats.

Bargain slips at low tide

Bear did lasagna and King Ranch Chicken while I was off the boat yesterday so the bill of fare will be off the chart for a few days. It has been a few weeks since we last had home cooked scratch grub. She said she enjoyed doing it.

Off to more history stuff today while Bear cools it aboard. Gee, I wonder if I set the wax out she might get inspired while I am gone? Taking bets here.