Tuesday 18 February 2020
Today was a sort of reverse day. We spent most of it getting our rental car and packing to leave. The packing included groceries which will spend a day or two in the fridge in the hotel room. There is nothing like packing to test a marriage, is there? Barb tends to jam as much stuff into a bag as possible regardless of the steadily increasing weight or what can possibly be contained within the dimensions of the bag. I tend to get frustrated and pissed off with trying to jam a ten gallon load into a five quart bag and am perhaps not the nicest of fellows. Hard to believe, but true.

Yesterday, Onna, one of the co-owners of this marina, heard from us that the Enterprise dispatcher had told us that they don't pick up customers from distances greater than ten miles. She told us that the Gloucester site did and called them to arrange a pick up for us today.

The shuttle driver arrived at nine-thirty and we roared off to Gloucester to pick up the car and to get some additional antifreeze to winterize the boat. Barb also got the idea to get some of the vacuum seal bags for the clothes we have packed to make more room and so that the bags won't be so stuffed.

I can't remember if I have mentioned this in past posts, but if I have it bears repeating. I am constantly astounded at the crappy cell coverage US citizens have unless they live in a major city. Here in Deltaville they are lucky, I guess, as they have one bar of coverage. We have been places like Oriental, NC, that in some parts of the community there is no cell coverage at all! Remarkable! I have tentatively mentioned this to some US folks that we met and they agree. One of them even went so far as to state that third world counties have better cell coverage than the USA has. That's quite a comment. Here we are at Stingray Point and neither at the marina nor at the motel is there a cell signal strong enough for us to make a phone call.

By one thirty we had winterized the engine and the fresh water tank and had run antifreeze through the fresh water pump and emptied the tank. We have packed what we are taking home with us in three checked bags (we are entitled to one each so we will be paying for the third) and the allowed two carry-ons each. We have emptied the fridge and freezer and brought the contents over to the motel until we head off to Peter and Lynn's. They, in turn, have graciously accepted our arrival and departure a day earlier than originally planned.

As for us we went looking for a place to have dinner only to discover that many of the eating establishments are closed Monday and Tuesday. I guess we'll have to make do with a place called the Galley which from the outside looked pretty seedy but once we got in it was quite pleasant. Made so mostly by the lady that waited on us. Interesting to hear the staff talking to each other. Subject? Their dogs, puppies; hair dressers; who was running after who's husband; when their surgery was scheduled; who didn't come to church last Sunday...... I felt like we were listening to the heartbeat of the community. Fascinating!

Barb laughed at me for eves-dropping. Not fair!

We were debating whether we should leave tomorrow after Nelleke is hauled instead of the next day or hang about. Hang about won. We have the room booked and there are lots of things to do in the area. So, we have decided to go to Gloucester and stop first at their visitors centre and see what is available. From asking Dr. Google we can see that there are a number of museums and exhibitions that we might take in so we are likely to be busy. And, there is a Starbucks so Barb will be happy.