by Judy Handley | Jan 9, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 79, Year 11: Back Home with the Goldstones
Date: Saturday, January 9, 2016
Weather: Overcast, Sprinkles in the Afternoon, High in the 40’s F
Location: At Home with Heather and Family, East Falmouth, MA
We are back home with the Goldstones. It was an easy drive from Nyack to here, but since we didn’t leave there until after 11 am and made a stop at Whole Foods on the way, we didn’t arrive here until late afternoon. We stopped at our storage unit to empty the car, went to a car wash to get rid of some of the Virginia mud we picked up when we drove down that logging road from Mountain Lake, and then went to Heather and Jed’s. The boys were outside playing in the backyard, but they took time out to give us big hugs and kisses. When all three of them run at you at one time, you always wonder if you will survive the exuberant greeting, but we survived and loved the big hugs. Ollie decided to help Granddad unpack what was left in the car and then he came in to entertain us. He showed us the new corner piece that now connects the two sofas and the new coffee table that he more appropriately calls a game table. I then went to the kitchen and Ollie and Granddad played in the playroom. Heather came home about that time and I helped her get dinner started. After dinner, we sat around the table talking. Ollie and Jonah used a drawing program on Mark’s tablet to create some pretty fancy art work and Sam used my computer to show us his final science project PowerPoint presentation that we helped him with when we were here in December. And then Ollie put on a show for us and Jonah joined in. It was really a nice, relaxed evening with the kids. Tomorrow we are expecting rain, so we’ll have lots of time for indoor projects.
by Judy Handley | Jan 8, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 78, Year 11: Last Stop . . . Nyack, NY
Date: Friday, January 8, 2016
Weather: Overcast and Misty, High in the 40’s F
Location: At Home with Ed and Lynne Kirwin, Nyack, NY
We made it to Nyack, New York last this afternoon, the last stop before this ‘train’ heads to Cape Cod tomorrow morning. We are here with our good friends Ed and Lynne Kirwin. Those of you who follow this log have heard their names many times. Windbird and Constance (Ed and Lynne’s sailboat) crossed the Indian Ocean together from Thailand to India to The Chagos Archipelago to Madagascar and finally to South Africa. It was a glorious nine months and was definitely a highlight of our trip around the world. And in those nine months, we became ‘friends forever’ with Ed and Lynne. Mark and Ed are now both battling cancer and that creates a new kind of closeness. This is our third visit here since last summer so we hope we aren’t wearing out the welcome mat. We have gotten to know the Kirwin sons, Frank and Ed Jr., their wives Nicole and Gigi, and the grandchildren. Tonight we had dinner with Ed and Lynne and then got together with the whole family and enjoyed the evening together. Thank you, Ed and Lynne, for your friendship and the hospitality.
Earlier today we made a stop in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to have breakfast with another cousin of mine. Sidney Jane Shingleton and I grew up in the same town, but it has been 15 years since we last saw each other. We had a great visit this morning. We will leave here after breakfast tomorrow morning and should arrive at our daughter Heather’s home sometime tomorrow afternoon. We can’t wait to see Heather and Jed, the three Goldpebbles, and the newest additions to the family—Max and Mortimer the guinea pigs.
by Judy Handley | Jan 7, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 77, Year 11: Reconnecting
Date: Thursday, January 7, 2016
Weather: Sunny, High 51 degrees F
Location: Ramada Inn, Strasburg, Virginia
Today was dedicated to reconnecting with the past . . . with family members I haven’t seen for way too many years and with places family members lived long ago. We started at Aunt Ethel’s. By the time we got up, she had the dining table set with china and silver and was ready to serve a breakfast featuring her ‘famous’ stewed apples. She also served bacon and eggs with grits. What a way to break the fast. After breakfast, I made calls to phone numbers Aunt Ethel and I had searched out last night for two cousins who we hoped still lived in the Roanoke area. Aunt Ethel used to communicate with one of them but had lost contact. So I matched phone numbers I found on the internet against a very old phone book Aunt Ethel had. Unfortunately no one answered at either number. So we said our farewells to Aunt Ethel and drove to the first address. No one home. I walked to the neighbors on either side of the house and again found no one home. Then I spotted a woman walking to her mailbox. I ran to catch her to tell her my plight. She didn’t recognize my cousin’s name, but when I mentioned her son’s name, she said a man by that name used to live there, had divorced, and left the wife in that home. So close, but no cousin there. We then drove to Salem, which is the town next to Roanoke, to the second address. Again, no one home. Again, I knocked on neighbors’ doors and found no one home. I walked across the street and finally found someone home who confirmed that my 85 year-old cousin still lives in that home. So I returned and knocked on the side door. Still no answer. Then a car drove into the drive-way and I felt like I had hit the jackpot. Both cousins were in the car. We spent the next two and a half talking with Louvena Anderson and Ama Lowe Reid, the oldest daughters of my father’s brother. Louvena’s son has done an amazing job of documenting much of the Martin family history on Ancestry.com, so hopefully on my next trip through that area I will get to meet with him. By this time it was mid-afternoon and time to move on. We had to backtrack a bit as I wanted to drive through an area called Clover Hollow one more time. This is where my grandmother was born. We didn’t have time yesterday to finish the complete circuit of the area and I wanted to give one more try at finding some clue to just where in the hollow she might have lived. This time we ended up at the top of the mountain at Mountain Lake Lodge and we drove on a logging road down the north side of the mountain where my father’s father might have been born. That was an interesting drive on a dirt road barely wide enough for one car and with a few wicked hairpin turns and ice and snow. Not sure when it snowed, but obviously it doesn’t melt very quickly on the north side of the mountain. This road led us down the mountain and through a valley along Pott’s Creek and passed the house where my father and his brother grew up. As I continue my family research, I now have real pictures in my head of the places where the people I’m researching lived. It gives a whole different dimension that will eventually help me reconstruct stories from the past.
Tomorrow morning we will make a stop in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to have breakfast with a cousin from my mother’s side of the family. In 2000, Sidney Jane and I worked together to publish a booklet of the Biggs family history for a reunion. I haven’t seen Sidney Jane since then, so it will be fun to catch up after so many years. Then Mark and I will make a beeline for Nyack, New York, to visit with friends Lynne and Ed Kirwin. On Saturday morning we’ll leave Nyack and head to Cape Cod, ending eight weeks on the road. It’s time for a couple of days of rest.
by Judy Handley | Jan 6, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 76, Year 11: South Carolina to Virginia
Date: Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Weather: Sunny, High in the 40’s F
Location: At Home with My Aunt Ethel in Roanoke, VA
Slowly we are making our way back to Cape Cod. Today we left Windbird in Little River, South Carolina, drove through back-country North Carolina, and then over the Blue Ridge Plateau to Roanoke, Virginia. We are spending the night with our favorite centenarian. In fact, my Aunt Ethel is the only person either of us has ever known who has passed the test of time and is living healthily and happily at 100 years+. She is an amazing woman who lives alone in a split-level home with her cat, has an active social life, and drives, sews, gardens, mows her own grass, and shops. Oh, how she loves to shop. She goes up and down the steps in her home like a teenager. And she still wears stiletto heels. They are not nearly as high as they used to be, but short as they are, I’d kill myself if I tried to walk anywhere in those things!
It should have been a six-hour drive to here from Little River, but it took us seven and a half as we made a little side trip. When we got to Blacksburg, Virginia, instead of heading directly west to Roanoke, we headed north to Clover Hollow. On the way to Nashville we stopped by the Giles County (VA) Courthouse and discovered that this is where my father’s mother was born. My father was born somewhere in Clover Hollow as well, but I don’t know the exact location. On today’s side trip we actually stopped and knocked on a couple of doors inquiring about the location of where the Goodwins lived in the late 1800’s. Of course, no one had a clue. But I had to try. We also visited a cemetery, but had no luck there as well. When we got to my Aunt Ethel’s she was ready to take us out to dinner. We had a wonderful evening and can’t wait to continue our visit in the morning.
by Judy Handley | Jan 5, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 75, Year 11: Winter Has Finally Arrived
Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Weather: Sunny, High in the 30’s F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC
The thermometer didn’t get out of the 30’s here today and it will be in the 20’s F again tonight. Brrrrrr. Winter has finally arrived. But it never stays cold here for long. Things start warming up again tomorrow but the temp will dip again next week about the time we return. So we are in for a little winter ‘experience’ as we travel northward and then return here late next week. We had planned to leave our winter coats on the Cape, but we are now thinking we will bring them back with us. Better safe and warm than sorry.
Today was more of the same in terms of getting Windbird ready for passage. I went through a few more storage cabinets to assess what food items we are missing. I found a few things, so we went to the store in the late afternoon to buy those items. When we got back, we did a laundry and then we called Ginny and Bob and met them at Pizzeli’s for dinner. Ginny and Bob are my nephew Tommy’s in-laws. Bob insisted on paying for dinner and Ginny gave us a huge bag of homemade cookies and candy for us to nibble on our sail southward. My grandnephew Ryan (Tommy and Marilou’s son) works at Pizzeli’s and we got to see him. So it was a win-win evening for us.
by Judy Handley | Jan 4, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 74, Year 11: Provisioning for the Winter
Date: Monday, January 4, 2016
Weather: Sunny, High 46 degrees F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC
Today was a hunt and kill food shopping day. We are trying to have the boat provisioned for the winter (except for the fresh stuff) by the time we leave here on Wednesday morning. I got up early and tried to listen to the Chris Parker East Coast and Bahamas weather, but there was just too much interference to hear him. In the morning I will try again, but this time I will go out and unplug the boat from dock electricity. I’m hoping that will cut out a great deal of the interference. Since I wasn’t able to hear much this morning, I crawled back into bed and we didn’t get up until 9:30! It was a much needed sleep-in after our 2 am bedtime on Saturday night and the drive here yesterday. We ate breakfast, defrosted the freezer and refrigerator, and headed to Costco. Also during the day we shopped at Big Lots, Walmart, and a local supermarket. Doing this makes me feel a bit like a frenzied squirrel gathering nuts for the winter. Regardless, the freezer is now stuffed, as are all of the storage cabinets. Tomorrow we will spend time reorganizing some of those storage cabinets in an effort to fit more things in. So we are getting there. And to reward ourselves for a successful day, tonight we are going out to our favorite little Asian restaurant for sushi.
