Kim’s Misadventures….
It’s been a while since I have posted about my traveling misadventures, but the recent girls retreat is a must for those to see my “only me” traveling moments.
To begin, I wasn’t sure I would make the trip. The recent loss of my mother, serious concerns over my father and numerous other stressors were happening at the same time, all reasons I probably needed the break. I didn’t want to disappoint the other ladies so I chose to go.
The event began with my packing….and unpacking, and then packing again. I do not know what I thought I could humanly do in 4 days but if seeing the things I packed, would think I was staying a month. This coming from the girl who takes one carry-on suitcase and purse for 3 weeks in Europe….so it’s not like I don’t know how to pack.
As I began packing the truck I was thinking all the things I would like to do, so I pack bike and equipment; kayak and equipment, and just good measure a tent, sleeping mat and hiking poles???? I was heading to the beach, fir heavens sake.
The next morning, I began unpacking the kayak, and hiking items, definitely not needed.
5:30 am and Yvonne arrives at my house. We go to pick up Joy. With all the items I packed it was a hard squeeze: to get everyone else’s items in . THank heavens for a truck…..
In regards to my clothes that I packed in which I randomly stuffed in suitcases I actually compiled the list when it was time to come home …Remember it was 4 days, plus the house had laundry facilities. After packing some stuff up, without checking through house here is what actually made the trip with me.
6 bathing suits, 3 skirts, Leggings, 3 pair pants, 7 bras, , 3 camis, 5 dresses, skort, beach towel, 6 pair shoes and 6 pair socks, Scarf, 2 sheets, blanket,
Pillow…then 18 panties, 21 shirts, 18 shorts plus pair biking shorts,….and all toiletries, makeup, curling iron, food drinks, heating pad!!!!
The plan was to meet all together after I picked up Joy; however we kept missing .the turn off due to understanding of the meeting place…I actually I completed all 4 leaves of the highway clover for the I81 exit….twice.
5 pee stops and and a walmart stop we completed our 6.5 hour drive to the beach house where we met the rest of our party. They decided to go shopping while I lounged on the beach. Later we met for food and chilling out.. I guess I was ADHDIng when time to leave for food was discussed…because I was in my bedroom exploding, chit chatting on phone, when I walked out on to the porch to see everyone clean and dressed up….I ask whats up?…”just waiting on you,” was the response….oops!…
Nice dinner then sleep…except for yvonne who was drinking a few glassesof wine when we decided to go to the beach..The beach house was across the road from the fairly private beach. No lights enforced for the baby turtle hatchings…So armed with my phone flashlight we started strolling down the beach with wine glasses, barefeet and my phone flashlight. Watching the nearby kids in the pitch blackness use little flashlights and a net to catch crabs…wait…crabs? Those white long legged, fast as hell, things that look too much like spiders for me…but then I saw them…popping up everywhere!…My phone jerking left to right making sure I didn’t see or feel one….squeeling everytime one crossed my path…bouncing around like I’m walking on nails….I seen huge palm size ones flying along the shore….as I continue to squeel and flash the phone around I thought to myself,”so much for the light and noise pollution ban to protect the baby turtles!!!” During my crab dance; Yvonne keeps on walking ahead without a light, in pitch darkness, wine glass in one hand, bottle in other….the crabs did not bother her at all, and yet I’m the one some people call fearless!!!!!
As we start making out way to the pathway to our house, it is then we realized there is really no distinguishable signs to let us know which path we took., We passed it twice and going as almost mile back and forth (which isn’t easy in sand, barefoot, jumping and dodging crabs)…I realize I had my phone and GPS!!!! Geez.
Day 2 July 13
2nd day after my suitcases explode all over my bedroom,, we were heading to Myrtle beach to spend the day at that beach, check out the scenery, and also for Marilyn and her daughter Gabby to pick.up Gabbys friend at the airport. So with them in one car and us other 3 in my truck we head out to Myrtlw. It was over an hour away, but it would be fun. Of course we couldn’t make it without stopping at least twice, had trouble finding a gas station that had gas….go figure?! As the GPS was trying to find our way from or destination, we actually didn’t really know where we were meeting , but we finally made it to the strip. I thought we were going to meet on 10th street, so I found a nice parking garage to park in at no cost…it was really weird how there were so many open spaces….lucky us!!!!
Joy thank goodness remembered to bring a cart to haul our beach items down to the next street and onto the beach…next we found out our group is on 8th street . So just 3 streets, how hard couldit be?….3 chairs, bags coolers and we are ready…yes the cart had wheels however; it took all 3 of us to take turns pulling it then a combination effort on the sand. I was actually working up a sweat. ..as we arrived onto the middle of the beach, Joy is asking to Marilyn on the phone….they were on 8th street north where we were 8th street south….hmmm, well I got a decent tan on south 8th street….
As late afternoon came, we start getting hungry and thought we needed to catch up with our group, for a fun evening. Loading up the wagon and trudging through the thick sand onto the street and up those 3 blocks….as we walk into the free parking garage, I noticed there was a hotel on top, and a security officer walking around…yes, it was the hotel garage with signs stating , cars would be towed…..we wasn’t towed but o e way to get the security guards attention is to accidently set the.alarm of on the truck.
.twice.
As we head to the north part of Myrtle to meet up with the rest if the gang, it seems we could not find a public bathroom nearby where we could wash a little and change clothes. We parked in a legit parking lot and paid the gentleman, Changing our clothes was a feat in that truck, easy for little Joy and Yvonne…to say changing into a bra, and shirt behind the steering will was quite problematic….I gave up on the bottoms and just stepped out of truck to put shorts and panties on….I only wished I had seen the restaurant behind my truck….
We headed out to the strip and checked out a few shops while waiting on group…deciding to eat at a restaurant was deciding to spend 3 hours of your life waiting….so we sat at the bar and a couple of us tried out several of their delicious frozen drinks….3 on an empty stomach set my chatter box off….for the next hour and half I spent my time trying to convince anyone in my party to ride the slingshot with me…sort of like a reverse bungee…but I wasn’t very successful. After our dinner we walked around and yes we walked around where the slingshot was. This is a ride that had been on my bucket list for a while now…I really wanted to ride it, the other girls told me the price so I jumped in line like a little kid….
Whether it was fate or what there was a man in line trying to convince either his wife or kids to ride with him, when Marilyn heard this she volunteered me to ride with him, because the ride required 2 riders….his wife was thrilled she had been saved….an hour wait and my continue chattering, it was now our turn….It was exciting and definitely lived up to my bucket list wish.
DAY 3 July 14
Another day to relax on the beach, walk the beautiful streets of holden beach, admire the houses, cooked dinner, and ride my bike…just to relax, a beautiful light rainbow peaked between the clouds illuminating the open space. I’d like to think that was my mom and daughter telling me they were together and all is okay.
Day 4: Today was another day of first for me…we started out the morning by doing a photo session of all 4 ladies with our matching tanks that said…”Girls just wanna have guns (meaning muscles) and buns. His logo was in referencing the fact we all met through our personal trainer and friend Mark Isaac…it was adorable shirt, bit I would like to point out, I don’t wear tanks. My top is not made for tanks…I have too much that just hangs out everywhere. It especially doesn’t help that I had packed on about 10 lbs since my mom died…..but I was still game for the pictures. That afternoon Marilyn and Joy went back to Myrtle to go parasailing; Yvonne and I decided we would explore Oak Island about 30 min away.
The red flag should had been when we were.getting into my truck.to leave the battery is dead. So being me, I just walk over to a house and asked a gentleman if he could boost me off, I was not expecting the first person I ask would say yes, bit he did.
30 minutes later and plenty of time for the battery to build we found Oak Island lighthouse and after reading the information on it discovered that there were 3 more somewhere nearby. We had our mission now, light house visiting…but my car had its own mission and that was to have another dead battery moment. Surely I would have the same luck again, after asking several people no one had booster cables….not even the Hispanic roofers 3 doors up. Yes I could call auto service or I could call 911 which was suggested by someone….the dispatcher told me she would send the officer out. About 10 minutes later I got a called from the said officer that by law they ate not allowed to boost anyone off, but she would come to me and see what she could do. She actually went to other places trying to get me cables. When she came back she had no luck…she offered to give me a ride to somewhere I could buy canlesand this is where my first came into play…I got to ride in the back of a police car behind the cage 1st time in my life….
The officer took me to the auto store and I believe I met a very special salesman, (notice the sarcasm dripping from my words) My question is if they had a booster pack or our something similiar….it appeared that his eloquent language included one word every other sentence…”Gotcha” yet he could not tell me if what was beside him on the shelf was a battery booster or not…whether you could use it before charging or not, or even how it worked…I simply said I’ll take the cables….however he did not miss the opportunity to attempt to sale me the higher better quality brand….Gotcha!
Getting back in the patrol car, I told the officer that the special salesman didn’t know if they had booster or not….but O bought cables. She was as stunned as I was….I told her that when I get back to my car I would flag down someone to boost me off. However, when we got back to my car, she said she wasn’t going to leave me stranded so she boosted me off…I thanked her, offered her money (a big no no) but she was so helpful I just couldn’t thank her enough. Once we got it boosted off we headed back to the auto store to test battery. It appeared the special salesman had left and now I had the conman manager. He placed the tester onto .y alternator and said it passed therfore it must be the battery….he asked something about the lights then showed me a number on the tester and said that the number was too high…he then said, “it’s the alternator”. My heart sank into my chest….I asked him to recheck, he did another test and the test said the alternator was good, bit his opinion it was bad…..”hmmmmm. can you now test the battery ?” I asked. Well how about that, it was the battery that had a dead cell….but, don’t let the conman be outdone. After a few questions about the truck, I was so surprised when he said, “well we got 1 option” of course you do I thought. ” The battery for your vehicle will be $182.00″ so my gold plated battery is now in my truck and it runs ok. Yvonne and I attempted to see another light house but just wasn’t gonna happen, instead we went by a park that had some live music and we listened to a few songs and took pictures of the sunset. Since the concert ended at 9pm it was time for dinner. Oak island must eat with the chickens, because every place we found was closed. We walked on to pier and the restaurant there said the only place was a little deli up the road. Pulling into the dinkiest dive in the area turned out to be the best grilled chicken sandwich that I ever ate….pretty good long Island teas too. Heading back to the house on our last night to crash on my exploded bedroom and bed, I fell asleep for about 3 hours. I started dreaming about having to pack up all that stuff…so at 4am I’m up, packing up the monster of a mess, just in time to get beautiful sunrise pictures.
Final day: the ride home….up and out by 8am. Suppose to be on the road to get back in time for a concert that I found out later was next week.
Yvonne rode with me and Joy rode back with Marilyn. I always take a side trip when I am on a trip, I will look along our route back to Tennessee if there is any waterfalls to see, not a big hike or anything, especially since I unpacked the hiking gear. The one I chose was an abandon mill remains in Rockingham N.C. only a few minutes off the path.
One or two stops along the way as we followed the GPS to our destination. If you blinked you would miss it….right off the road, no pullovers or parking lot. I drove around .the block until we found what possibly could be a path. Climbing through brush, knee deep in kudzu. Rock climbing in our beach shoes, cool remains and a waterfall coming out of the vandalized graffiti filled wall. Picture time and fun little stop. Traveling home. That little detour only took about 20 minutes still giving us plenty time….that is until the what should had bern4 hours took 7 hours. 10 slowdowns and detours. Going from N.C., to VA finally to TN. More winding country roads than we should ever have to travel on. Through Andy Griffens neighborhood, to Fancy Gap, Joe’s gap or whatever gap there is. .
The week gave my mind a chance to rest, to reset my thoughts and find courage in doing things I needed to do.
Great time
First time in back of a police car 
travelingwithkim 