An Improper Burial

We were awake by 6:15 am.  Today is an exciting day for us.  Today is the day we are going into “The Dismal Swamp,” a place that has been described by many a Looper as a highlight on the circumnavigational route.  In our excitement, Brenda’s got fresh bread in the oven (to accompany shrimp gazpacho which is cooling in the refrigerator), Mike’s washing down the boat (lots of bugs around here!), garbage and mail are taken care of, we’ve got all the provisionings we need for the next couple of days, and the bikes are on board. We’ve only the dinghy and motor left to load.  We’re aiming for an 8:30 am take off to make the 11:00 am. South Lock opening of the canal. 

We’ve appreciated free dockage along the Pasquotank River near downtown Elizabeth City, NC. While here Mike replaced two fuel filters on the generator (which was complaining and refused to work on command); sleuthed to find and fixed a diesel leak that tormented us with its odor; remounted our computer rack that had fallen away from the wall; replaced an empty propane tank with a full tank…which (after 3 attempts to get bread in a hot oven) also needed a leak resolved; and explained to Brenda (again) why the circuit breaker snaps when drawing too much power.

In between the “fixin’s," we explored Elizabeth City.  On Sunday, we enjoyed a lovely evening sitting on our lawn chairs along the river under the shade trees with Loopers Jay and Barb, MV “The Blessing,” from Winnipeg, Manitoba.   We look forward to catching up with them as we continue north so that we can once again share in easy and open conversation.

Why the title “Improper Burial”?  We encountered one problem that Mike couldn’t fix and so had to say goodbye to….

Velsignet docked near the Pasquotank bascule bridge, close to downtown Elizabeth City, and in sort-of a park-like setting next to Jennette Brothers Food Supply (They locked their gates each night at 10 p.m.--nice, safe place to dock!  They were also generous to provide us with all the ice we wanted, a place to mail letters and discard our garbage.
What more could we ask for?)

As we neared Elizabeth City, NC, we saw this "Blimp Barn."  It is the Old Navy Blimp Airdock and this is what remains of a WWII-era naval base which was used to house blimps that would patrol the coastline in search of German U-boats.
 If you look carefully to right, the second (little) white spot is a blimp.

When we arrived on Sautrday, the "Potato Festival" was taking place along the waterfront of Elizabeth City.  Potatoes?  Here in NC?  What?!!  Surely it is too hot to grow potatoes  here.  We asked more people about potatoes in North Carolina and have yet to get a satisfactory answer.

We enjoyed the "Abemarle Museum" yesterday.  Wonderful artifacts to help tell the story of the area.

The Abemarle Museum is located in the Elizabeth Conference Center, which also houses the Visitors Center.

This is a confederate flag that looked unusual to us.

This displays an early fire engine.

The temperature soared to 90 degrees and we so appreciated the shade trees.

This is our motor mount without our motor.  After many years of swearing at it for refusing to start or run as we needed it to, it seemed to have found happiness on the Loop.  It has been starting with one pull and running like a charm.  This morning as Brenda was hoisting the motor from the dinghy up towards its mounting station on our upper deck, its harness failed and, alas, the motor plunged into the dark reddish-brown water of the Pasquotask River.
Goodbye to our 1972 7.5 horse Mercury motor.  You joined our family when we purchased the old Lund fishing boat in Minnesota all those years ago.  We leave you now in North Carolina.