Hunting and Gathering

Dateline:  Charleston, SC

The Bear and I are about to wear out the view through portlights but since the Megadock sees lots of transients, at least the lies told hereon are variable.  I met the captain of a large boat docked nearby today and we compared notes about the mysterious stuff growing in the sea strainers.  One fellow came by the boat with a giant Clorox tablet and suggested I put it in the strainer to see if I can murder the critters taking up residence inside.  Said strainer requires cleaning every 4 days or so and it is not sea grass or stuff like that.  It is some slimy stuff like the Blob (some us you might remember that movie).  So far, it is Blob 2, Bligh ½. 

Since Bear does not leave the boat due to the back thing, it falls on me to designate a shore party (me) to forage nearby areas for variety in our diet.  I have utilized Dobbin (one of our fold up bikes) to range near and far for museum visits but more importantly to hunt and gather.  There is a restaurant chain of sorts in these parts that, we were told offers true chicken fried steak.  The place is called Barbra Jeans.  We confirmed this fact back in the Jekyll  Island area and I noticed one here in Charleston.  Bear suggested that I drag ole Dobbin out of the barn and head over to the place to trap some grub for lunch.  The round trip is about 4 miles yet the day was overcast and the temp a balmy 90/90 (temp and humidity).  I have been doing about 10 miles plus per day on ole Dobbin so we truddled  (not really a word), on over to Barbra Jeans to grab the prize.  I tell ya, that CFC is a good as anything from Texas,  ‘cept for Bear’s  own and well worth it.  It turns out the owner was a Marine pilot in the Nam and as such, did some time in Kingsville, Texas during training.  It was there that he mastered the CFC.  To us, it was like a bit of Texas, the Republic of.  Did I mention the crab cake?  Said crab cakes are made of about 95 % crab, not cornbread.  In short, it was worth a 4 mile bike ride.  How many restaurants can claim that?  Now if we could only find beef BBQ.  That might be worth a 10 mile round trip. 

We are having all of WKs lifelines replaced since the originals are starting to fail.  Supposedly, they will be done on Monday.  ORC rules call for bare wire life lines thus we will depart from the vinyl coated white variety.  Folks were right about stuff getting easier to acquire, parts wise, the farther north we get. 

Getting some good ideas from the BB Captains since we have been here nestled amongst them for a couple of weeks.  They sort of consider us a novelty since we have a mast and speak of 60 mile days the way they speak of 150 mile days.  The BB plans revolve around the Chesapeake and north for summer and the islands or Fort Lauderdale south in winter.  However; the can make the distances in a few days but are excluded from some areas in the ditch due to shallow water, especially through Georgia. 

This morning a charter boat pulled along side the dock and boarded about 30 or so young adults.  Seems that there is a regatta just south of here that has been conducted the first weekend in August for over 115 years and they are to be part of what has become the largest raft up party along the Atlantic Coast.  The Rockville Regatta takes place on the Bohicket Creek and there will be only about 50 boats actually in the event.  The spectator fleet is expected to be in excess of 3.000 boats rafted up for the party.  I wonder how many will actually see the sail boat race?  The game wardens will have over 50 officers there to “assist” the boaters.