Bye Bye Ana

Days 179 and 180
Miles: 67         Total Miles: 3,536

Now that tropical storm Ana has moved on, so have we. Sunday was our last day in beautiful Charleston. We went to church with friends and then had a potluck on Mara Beel with 9 of us. After dinner, the men cleaned up and the ladies went shopping at Steinmart- all great things to do on Mothers' Day.

Monday found us waiting on the tide again. We pulled out of the Maritime Center Marina around 10:30 AM and were soon joined by friends on Fruitcakes. The 3 of us boats - Serenity included- traveled to McClellanville where we tied up to a shrimping dock. We ladies immediately borrowed a dockhand's SUV to buy shrimp at the local shrimp market. We could have easily walked, but it was about to rain. The vehicle was definitely a mess, filled with miscellaneous dirty socks, crushed Coke cans, stray tools, unidentifiable mechanical parts, papers, food wrappers, etc. A fairly typical marina loaner- no problem. We gingerly moved things aside and took off.  Before buying shrimp, we toured this small village (maybe 8 streets total) looking for its famous Deer Head Oak tree, reputed to be impressively huge. It wasn't. We drove past it 3 times before noticing a small sign next to the tree. Having just seen the Angel Oak the other day, the Deer Head tree was a disappointment.  Oh well.

During the drive I noticed an unfamiliar object on the dash in front of me. Directly in front of me. Realization hit me like a lightning bolt- this "thing" recently resided on the back end of a rattlesnake! A large rattlesnake. EEEW! I was suddenly feeling queasy knowing that this snake could silently sneak up on me if it wasn't dead. (Almost certainly dead). My third snake encounter in the Low Country.

Sickest thing ever!

We calmed down, finally found the shrimp market and subsequently enjoyed crab dip and a shrimp boil on Mara Beel. 

Today we cruised to Georgetown, SC, a pretty little town filled with restaurants and shops. Our travel time together is drawing to an end, since Fruitcakes will finish their Loop at Little River in a few days. Serenity will head north to Vermont. Mark and I will be putting our boat on the hard in Wilmington, NC, while we go home for a few months. We are anxious to reunite with our family, but hate to part company with our friends. Going home is bittersweet, as every Looper discovers.