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The Cruise--Details

I didn't include more details in the prior "The Cruise" post for two reasons. 1)  I didn't think anyone would be interested; and 2)  This trip didn't include much of the normal topics:  good beer, good coffee or John-style travel. But there are details, which may be useful to some people contemplating how such a trip is put together. On the first day of the trip, we drove three hours to pick up my mother in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  At 85, she isn't comfortable driving for long distances and hadn't flown for many years. We then drove 3 1/2 more hours to Chicago, where we checked into the Wyndham, where you can get a room that includes the cost of parking for up to 12 days.   We were up early on the hotel shuttle to O'Hare, where we then boarded the a non-stop American Airlines flight to New Orleans. Here, we checked into a Hampton Inn near the port.  My mother was pretty tired, so Julia and I went out for a Cajun dinner and live music.   Rememberi...
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North Carolina State Fairgrounds


As mentioned in the previous post, the record-setting temperatures in North Carolina have been too hot for this northern man  There were a couple of dry camping opportunities in the Raleigh area for less money, but I laid my money down for a bare bones grassy field  with electrical hookups at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds’ campground.

Besides air conditioning, there was proximity to the airport, a dump station/garbage services, and convenient location to laundry, grocery, etc.  The bonus is that some kind of horse show was going on across the street from the campground.


Callie and I took frequent walks over to the exercise pen where we saw many beautiful horses.  My favorites were the high-steppers and the horses pulling carts.  I’ve ridden lots of times but they’ve either been horses on the farm or trail horses.  These were fancy horses at the show.

There are a few things missing at this campground.  There are no showers or even bathrooms on site.  I did get the chance to test my plumbing repairs undertaken this summer and took a shower in the wet bath.  It felt great after a couple of days of dry camping.  I still used two or three gallons of water.  In the long term, that’s not sustainable for two people to take daily showers without frequent refills of the water tank and stops at the dump station. The baby wipes and sponge baths will have to do on some days.

I will have stayed here for three nights when we leave for the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Hurricane Dorian gave a hard blow to the Outer Banks.  Our campground has reopened, although there are some places we probably won’t get to, including Ocracoke Island.  Julia and I have never been to this part of the country.  I  don’t know if we will be back, so we are going to proceed and see what happens.
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