Roanoke Canal Trail

RV Resort (site #P37)
Roanoke Rapids, NC

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  Not much interesting has been going on.  We are in one of those rv parks just off of I95 so we do have a little bit of entertainment to watch as the Snowbirds come in usually for a one night pit stop.  They start landing here around 1:00pm and the place is almost full by 6:00pm.  At 8:00am the place is half empty and by 10:00am, all of the over-nighters are gone.

On Tuesday we did manage to get out for a nice walk in the woods on the Roanoke Canal Trail.  It’s almost 8 miles long beginning at the dam of the Roanoke Rapids Lake and ending in the town of Weldon.  It sort of parallels the Roanoke River.  We of course, did not walk the whole trail.  It’s divided into a few segments with parking in various locations.  We started at the Roanoke Canal Museum and walked the 1.5 miles to the dam and back for a total of 3 miles.  It took us about 3 hours since we like to stop to find beauty in the ordinary.  Remember those fish statues around town?  Well here’s one at the Museum that looks like a real Rockfish…a really big rockfish!

We didn’t go in the Museum because we wanted to take our time on the trail, but I did get a few shots of some of their outside features.  Many years ago when the Roanoke River was the main highway for the area, supplies came upriver until they reached this stretch where the rapids were just a bit to rough for the boats to handle.  That’s where the Canal and these Batteaux Boats came in.  They were pulled into the narrow Canal Locks to bypass the rapids.

 

 

After taking a look at the posted map, we began our trek to the beginning point at the Roanoke Rapids Lake.

 

It’s a beautiful trail with English Ivy growing on both sides and the bright green of Spring all around us.

 

There are several informational signs posted along the route about the trees and plants in the area along with information about the old Canal and Power Station that were used in the 1800’s.

 

Here’s the Power Canal Bulkhead.  There was a picture there showing the lake formed by the bulkhead that was dated around 1940.  It was drained when a new Hydroelectric Plant was built about that time.  I think it’s interesting how quickly nature can reclaim the land once it is left alone by man.

A little further along we came upon an old Canal Culvert.  At first I thought there were some pieces of black plastic in the rocks but upon closer observation, thought about the Indiana Jones movies.

 

We found a nice bench to sit on and enjoy our picnic lunch at the open end of Rochelle Pond.  We both grew up here and have spent a little bit of time riding our bikes under the power lines as kids so it brought back some memories.

 

Speaking of the power lines,  some of the trail skirts along the edge of the wood line and the power line clearing.  It’s nice that the town can make use of this otherwise unusable land.  An Osprey found a way to use the power lines too.  Gin got a distant shot of one in a pine tree with a fish in his talons.

 

Although the color for the day was definitely green,  we did see a few wild flowers.  Here is some Yellow Jasmine and some Coral Honeysuckle.  As a kid I used to get that sweet nectar drop out of a honeysuckle flower quite often.

   

We managed to make it to the Roanoke Rapids Lake and the Hydroelectric Plant at the dam.  If you notice the Yellow Forsythia on the bank in the next picture, that’s where my brother and his wife live.  Hey Doug and Carla!  Your raised bed gardens look nice!

 

There is a city park here that is closed on Monday and Tuesday.  It has a nice beach area for swimming in the lake and a nice disc golf course.  The Power Plant is all fenced off now but I can remember as a kid that you used to be able to walk out pretty close to the dam.  I guess I’ll just have fun climbing on the old turbine.

 

It was a good day for a walk in the woods but it was time to head back to the car and then home for a shower.  I’m glad we got a chance to enjoy part of this trail.  We may have to try another section some other time.  We did see some other folks enjoying it also on their bikes or jogging with their dogs.  Thanks for joining us!

Something Fishy

RV Resort (site #P37)
Roanoke Rapids, NC

Many towns have some form of public “themed” art and Roanoke Rapids in no exception.  I love it.  There are Bear statues in Cherokee and Pig statues in Lexington NC and the Roanoke Rapids area has Fish.  The Roanoke River Valley claims to be the Striped Bass (Rockfish) Capital kind of like Lexington claims to be the BarBQ Capital of NC.  Here’s a link to some info about the local artwork.  We were able to find 3 of the fish in our routine route between the CG, Mom’s and a few restaurants.  The first one I noticed was at a CCB bank.  Notice the dollar lure in the mouth.

 

Another one that I saw was at the best BarBQ restaurant around this area, Ralph’s BBQ.  This place is close to I95 and has been in business since the 1940’s.

 

The other fish that I clicked on was at the Quality Inn also near I95.  It looks more like a rainbow trout than a rockfish.

 

We’ve enjoyed visiting with my family a lot lately so now we plan to visit with Gin’s folks for a few days.  It has been nice to be able to do this but we plan to go back to the driveway for a couple of weeks to get my final crown (on my tooth, not my head!).  The house has been shown a couple of times but we will not announce any “news breaks” about it.  We know that it will sell some time…

Thanks for dropping by and enjoy each day of your life’s journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.

Relisted and Repairs

RV Resort (site #P37)
Roanoke Rapids, NC

Well the house is back on the market.  The prospective buyers are having some major medical issues right now so we certainly don’t blame them for stepping back and taking things one step at a time.  My understanding is that she had a second surgery and may not really be out of the woods yet.  They’ve experienced a life changing episode to say the least.

We’ve been staying busy here during the past week with family time and more doctor’s appointments.  No problems here, just checking things out.  Last week when we were repacking the basement, we noticed that one of the slide topper awnings was not rolling in at all.  The material was just billowing out with no tension.  I knew we would not be able to hit the road again with it like that.  Luckily there is a mobile rv tech that services this park.  I gave him a call to see if he could fix this for us under warranty.  After I called Winnebago to check with them, he came out this morning to make the repair.

 

He took the protective wrap off, cleaned out a lot of leaves, coaxed the center bracket back into the right place, and replaced the wraps.  That seems to have fixed it.  There are some holes in the material where it was rubbing against the bracket but I can go to a Winnebago dealer to have that replaced while it’s under warranty.  After paying Rufus, I sent the invoice to Winnebago for them to reimburse me.  We’ll see how it goes.

We are enjoying some great weather here for this time of year so hopefully, we can go on a hike or a paddle or something.  We like relaxing too.

Thanks for dropping by, and enjoy each day of your life’s journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.

Maybe, but Maybe Not...

RV Resort (site #P37)
Roanoke Rapids, NC

This is not really our kind of cg but it’s all about location.  It’s just a few miles from my Mom’s house and not all that far from Gin’s parents in Rocky Mount.  It offers FHU and the ambiance of an open parking lot but it does have some nice amenities in the office building.  There’s a small pool and hot tub, billiards, and laundry.  It’s an easy on/off of I95 so it gets a lot of overnight travelers.  We went ahead and got a monthly rate since it was a better price than paying for the original two weeks we had planned.

We’ve enjoyed spending time with the family and having many of them come over to see our new home.  It makes me happy because I can tell that they are excited for us.  It’s been very windy here the past few days but the sun finally came out and we reorganized the basement storage today.  Tawanda’s packed pretty tight now!

Some of you may be aware of our house closing situation and some of you know the most recent developments but to be honest, we don’t even know what’s about to happen.  Let me explain.  As most of you know, the sell was supposed to go to settlement in January but it was postponed for a week.  Our buyers were selling their beach condo but found out that their buyer had not gotten financing yet.  They wanted to give them a few days but that didn’t help.  It was postponed again for a couple of weeks but the sell fell through when their buyer was unable to get financing.  So we put the house back on the market and stayed in the driveway for a few days when we got back from Florida.

Imagine our surprise when our realtor called us one night a couple of weeks ago to say that our buyers checked on a few things and want to pay cash for our house and rent out their condo!  Our house seems to be a good fit for them and I know that they like the place a lot.  I think they will take good care of the place and enjoy it for many years to come.  It is close to their daughter’s house so there will be family gatherings there too.  Sounds great but…

The settlement is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday) but it has been delayed.  We got word yesterday that she was admitted into the ICU at an area hospital with a major medical problem.  Today she has been moved to a room so hopefully her recovery will progress smoothly.  He really needs a few days to discuss the house situation with his wife not to mention everything else they are going through.  They have been in my thoughts and prayers a lot today.  We certainly want to have settlement soon but also want the right thing for them too.

Life is what you make of it…enjoy each day because the future will soon be the past.

Time “Marches” On

Rocky Mount, NC

A week has gone by but we’ve still been busy.  On Friday I decided to wax as much as I could.  I took a very nice break in the afternoon however since we had guests.  Nancy and Bill dropped by for a little visit while on their way to Raleigh to take some of their furniture to their daughter’s house.  It’s nice to be able to do that since they have emptied out the house and will soon go to Tampa to get their new MH.

I pushed myself real hard on Saturday and finished waxing Tawanda (all but her rear end which had the bikes in the rack).  It was very windy and cold but we were leaving on Sunday to stay with Gin’s parents in Rocky Mount so I worked 10 hours with only a short lunch break.  I like to have some protection on the paint, not just a good shine.

We have stayed in their house while Tawanda is parked a half a block away on a dead end street.  We walk to it a couple of times a day to run the generator for a couple of hours.  I guess the residential refrigerator uses up quite a bit of the battery bank.  While we’ve been here the past several days, Gin has gone to the doctor for an ear infection, and we have hung up curtain rods and pictures for her folks.  When we helped them move in a few months ago, it was just the basics.  They have a beautifully decorated home now.  It has been nice to spend time with them again of course, and some of Gin’s extended family have come over to check out Tawanda.

Today Gin and I went to Garner for my appointment with the Periodontist.  I had a crown lengthening procedure.  He basically cut my gums back around my tooth and filed off a little bit of bone so that my crown will have more tooth to adhere to.  I have 3 stitches and my mouth is very tingly.  Tomorrow morning we are hitting the road to go visit my family and introduce Tawanda to some of them.  My brother’s birthday is Saturday so Mom is gathering us together.  It will be good to see everyone again!

Life is what you make of it…so make it count!