Nine Hours To Statesville, NC

6:45

Wind Blown Leaning Tower of Carirn

We are both up early, ready to hit the road for the first time in 2016, not that we were unhappy enjoying a few months straight at the lake.  It looks like wintry weather as we bid aloha to the lake and hope the weather at Folly Beach, just outside of Charleston,  SC, will at least be sunny.  So far, it looks sunny but coolish.  We will take it.

Thursday morning for the most part was typical.  I met the guys for breakfast at an empty Chautauqua Harbor House restaurant in Mayville, a place that used to be overflowing with patrons ten years ago. It was sad to see it struggling.  I then headed to Lakewood for my final yoga class in awhile and one of my friends, who lives in Mayville, gave me a list of 'go to'  restaurants at Folly Beach, what to see in Charleston.  They usually spend a month there in the winter when it's quiet.  I was home by noon and it was packing day, always a hassle, as it's impossible to take 'just what you need.'  There's always something you 'might just want,' even though you may have packed two or three of them. And you can never accurately predict what the weather will be so you have to plan for cloudy days, rainy days, sunny days, even unusually cold days.  And add to that the fact we will be spending five days with our daughter Jill and her family in Virginia after our sojourn in South Carolina and who knows what we might need there, what kind of weather they may have, what kind of fancy place we may hit, right Jill.   So I packed a fleece, a couple of rain coats, for cold or hot weather, shorts and bathing suits (three), a couple of pair or running shoes, sandals for the beach, tee shirts, boxers, socks, long and short sleeve shirts, and pills (no respectable senior leaves home without their pills).  Double it for Evie.  And we are bringing water (not sure why), beer (I can understand that), some goodies from the kitchen for when we want to eat in, most likely breakfast and lunch and beach towels, sun screen, and floppy sun hats. Anyways, the car was packed by 5:00 and we were able to relax with some wine before dinner.

Dinner was just what I wanted, what sounded good, fried egg on home fries, with a salad.  Yum.  We watched THE AMERICANS, our favorite right now, then some Colbert as we waited for American Idol.  We might just be the only golden agers still watching American Idol.  What can I say...we like it.  We went to bed a little early, hoping to get a good night's sleep before our voyage South.