Not feeling like I had really explored Charleston to its fullest, but not really knowing what else to do or see there, I decided it was time to move on. It was going to take me 2 days to get to a town big enough to have a hotel, and the storm was due to hit in 2 days, so it seemed it was now or never. I left the house early and headed for the library yet again. While I was in the library, I got a call from Sue, who is good friends with my aunt. She and her husband Andy have been living on a boat for the last 5 years and had been docked in Charleston while they were having a house built for them nearby. She wanted to know if I wanted to come visit them and see the boat? Of course!
After I was done at the library, I decided to get some lunch at this fancy bakery place nearby, before heading back across the second confusing bridge back into downtown Charleston. The wind was really picking up and I had to walk it across as I was being pushed around all over the place. After a quick stroll around Battery Park again (it really is a good place to waste some time), I headed to the marina and met Sue!
I've been on a few boats in my day, but never one like this. Cruise ships and shrimping boats and ferries are completely different from one that was designed to keep a couple comfortable for years on end. It was like a RV meets fancy resort, with it's beautiful woodwork and granite counter tops (the same granite I wanted but couldn't afford when I wanted to redo my kitchen).
I got settled in and then we took a walk down to the mega dock to look at the really huge fancy boats (that require a crew to help run it) before dinner. We went to the Blind Tiger, which I highly recommend simply because of the beautiful garden seating all the way in the back. The food and service weren't bad either.
Later in the evening and back on the boat, Andy and I got into a conversation all sorts of things: about some of the darker reasons for my trip and about life in general, politics and unions and the economy, and the have/have nots vs the did/did nots. Eventually I asked him, "Back then did jobs just fall into your laps?" He replied with, "Yes, they really did." We didn't get to bed until after midnight, which was quite late for me on this trip, and the gentle rocking of the boat in the wind helped me sleep like a baby, just like if I was sleeping in my hammock.
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