Please say HELLO to Bobbi & Brian Finigan.Bobbi and Brian, from the Florida Panhandle near PENSACOLA, are my new landlords. SPIA and I have been invited to take up residence in the driveway / carport of the RODANTHE home of Bobbi and Brian until approximately February 2012. Electricity - for SPIA- and HOT water for some luxurious baths - for me - is now available on demand.
In return, a few chores have been given me, which will keep me occupied for a bit.
The right-rear side of SPIA... the wood-screw connection... has rotted/rusted away, allowing the wall to pull away from the entry step-up, Daylight is clearly visible from the bottom of the side panel for a full inch wide for 10 inches or so high. The panel is being held in place by the gas tank filler pipe sleeve which is bolted to the outside aluminum skin...an unacceptable but not unexpected event.
The Dinette seat - a plywood "box" - must be removed to get at the inside of the wall panel to install more steel "L" braces to the Floor / Side Panel to pull the wall back into place and make sure it stays there. Of course, the entire connection will receive adhesive-type Silicon to seal the failed area.
As for now, cold air - and "critters" will have their way with the big separation crack because I am no longer at RODANTHE. Repair must wait until I return next week.
At noon, Karen, together with Sons Noah, 17, and Carson, 13 , arrived at DEJA VU to pick me up. I have been invited to visit their COLUMBIA, NORTH CAROLINA - also lovingly known as MAYBERRY, home for the next few days. Husband / Father Craig was busy supervising repairs to their home damaged by Hurricane IRENE...
Two months ago IRENE spun her way North up the coast of PAMLICO SOUND, flooding MAYBERRY and forcing evacuation.
After recovering a few items from DEJA VU, Karen treated Noah, Conrad and I to lunch at LIBERTY Convenience Store - where I applied for work -, and drove her Toyota SUV North on SR 12 through new territory - for me - . We crossed over the "Bailey"-type (6-mile) bridge, passing mountainous sand barriers freshly thrown up guarding the narrow OUTER BANKS Island from the Atlantic Ocean.
A few miles further on we crossed the gracefully arching concrete bridge spanning OREGON Inlet, PAMLICO SOUND waters rushing - much like DECEPTION PASS in WASHINGTON STATE - beneath the bridge and out to sea. Row upon row of elegant Mega Fishing Boats filled the large Marina at the North end of the bridge...awaiting return of Vacationers to fish the near-by GULF STREAM for giant Sword Fish.
We drove through the village of SAG HARBOR, passed the entrance to the KITTY HAWK Memorial dedicated to the Wright Brother's first flight of their powered airplane, and on to K-MART for a bit of shopping.
Karen then drove South on the Old SR 12 to show me the road I should walk through this expanding community of new 4-lane highways, unending Malls and hundreds upon hundreds of homes snuggled together on spindly legs... each home trying to peek at the near-by ocean over their neighbor's rooftop.
Leaving the OUTER BANKS, one can drive North into Virginia, or take a Causeway and bridge over ROANOKE Island...then another of those bridges gracefully arching high over the INTER-COASTAL WATERWAY... and mile upon mile of roadway on stilts above the shallow waters below, finally reaching solid land on the Western Shore of PAMLICO SOUND...
Karen took the Causeway.
A water-filled canal guides the narrow roadway much of the way across endless mesmerizing marshes and treeless flat-lands. The canal recently received a guardrail to prevent drowsy drivers from wandering into the deadly waters...once in the water, doors or windows cannot be opened, trapping passengers inside the slowly sinking vehicle... (see photograph above)
and, we finally have crossed the 30 miles from the OUTER BANKS to the wee village - 500 or so Souls - of COLUMBIA, a.k.a. MAYBERRY, where I finally shake hands with Domesticated Craig, Husband and Father of the Estey household.
It is now 6:00 am. Having put off creating this update after the yummy dinner magically produced by Chef Karen - Karen is a professional chef - and able assistant, Hubby Craig, plus the inviting oversized bathtub and four poster bed awaiting my abused body, blogs played second fiddle.
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