Alligator River Marina

Our travels have brought us close enough to home to make it feel like it. Yesterday, it was sunny again. We did not miss the cold, raw feeling from the previous rainy day. But, Dear Readers, it is still cold. We have been reduced to hunting out our sweatshirts and socks! Actually, that would be most of us. Mike is still resisting the socks. But, you can tell it is cold, even for him. This morning, he has on a flannel shirt AND a flannel lined jacket! He also has his hands in his pocket. For us, this is a greater predictor of the temperature outside than even the thermometer.

And now, it is time for our sad tale of woe. Yesterday, we set off for one of our favorite spots- the Alligator River Marina.

We do so love our gas station/marina/restaurant. And its proprietor, Miss Wanda, is quite the character. Others have spoken unkindly of her, but we do not see that. She runs a nice marina, even if the pump out stays broken! Annette, her cook, makes fabulous fried chicken and shrimp. It is our sincere belief that others may be getting back only what they give. In other words, Miss Wanda does not tolerate rudeness or inappropriate behavior.

Our taste buds were all set for the fried chicken and shrimp with the accompanying hush puppies. We arrive. Logan, Miss Wanda's son, greets us. He gives us the bad news. It appears that the gas station/restaurant side of the business is closed for the winter. It will not reopen until Easter weekend! OMG! No fried chicken! No fried shrimp! We were distraught. We were going to have to eat more of Gee's cooking! Would these trials never end!

Actually, we were fine with it. There's lots of food still on LUX. We just had to decide what we wanted. But still, the idea of the fried chicken lingered. Then, a break occurred in our gloomy clouds. Miss Wanda showed up at the boat to ask if we wanted to go to the grocery store. We demurred, having enough on board. Miss Wanda persisted. "I thought you would want to go for a ride," said Miss Wanda. So off went Peggy and Gee. It was more than worth it.

Miss Wanda took us - and another boater- on not only a trip to the grocery store, but a tour of the town of Columbia. The tour was ably narrated by our hostess. My favorite tale is that the locals claim to have two malls - the north mall and the south mall. The north mall consists of a Dollar General store. The south mall has the Family Dollar. Yes, it is a small town. At this point, we figured out why Miss Wanda laughed when we asked if there was a KFC in town. It is a small town. The biggest chain business is the large (and new) Food Lion. The biggest private business appears to be  the winery/coffee shop. We were privileged to hear tales about the buildings as well as the local characters in Columbia. And, we bought fried chicken for dinner. A good day for everyone.

This morning, we are taking a short hop to Elizabeth City across the Albemarle Sound. The great news is that it is a good day on the Albemarle Sound. We are barely rocking. That is not generally the case with this section of the trip. The Albemarle Sound has a reputation for turbulent waters. We are glad to miss that today.

A final note about the Alligator River Marina: Although we were ahead of the season, the marina is gearing up. The pump out is supposed to be fixed this week. The marina itself is going to be dredged to fix some depth issues. And, the delivery trucks with goods and foodstuffs for this season were arriving. In fact, the new tee shirts were already hanging up.