Week three in Wilmington, N.C.

A cute shot of my little Debby at Snow’s cut.

Wow three weeks in Wilmington, didn’t think we would be here that long!  It has been a fun time but our visit here is just about over.

Bogie showing his seasonal spirit!

First a bit about the buns.  I haven’t posted a whole lot about them this leg of the trip because .. well there isn’t that much to say, the gang is settled in very nicely and there has been peace in the trailer!  There are some changes though in how we have them set up.  Since Zoe is our biggest PITA she gets to come with us almost everywhere and since Halle and Zsolt are the the most crowded in their cage we have taken to pulling Zoe’s cushion and blanket out of her cage and transferring the buns into that cage.  Zoe’s cage is at least a foot longer and 6 inches wider than the buns cage so they have quite a bit of extra bouncing room when we are out.  It is kind of funny though when we get home, Zoe knows the buns are in her house and she gets a little jealous about them being in there, it’s not a problem though and she sits by patiently as we move the buns home. Now that we have been here awhile and are comfortable with the park we are not moving the buns inside anymore.  There have been no problems with the cats or dogs, the park is safe and quiet and the buns are comfortable so we bought some little locks and are now locking up the cages and covering them with a blanket and closing up the outside room tightly.  I really think the buns prefer this routine because we don’t have to get them all worked up moving them and their cages into the trailer, it is working very well but we will go back to moving them inside at our next stop until we feel as safe there as we do here.

Mr. Bogart hanging in his litter box at the BunFest!

Doc making his guest appearance At the BunFest.

Bogie is getting a bit bored, he was in a very high traffic area in our house in Kanab so he got TONs of pets and love and he went on lots of walks in Kanab. He was also out and about a lot as a Humane Education Rabbit with Best Friends but he hasn’t had that kind of stimulation on this trip.  He has taken to chewing on the bars of his cage when it is time for dinner or he wants a cuddle.  We are going to give him a treat tomorrow and bring him downtown for a stroll along the Farmer’s Market and the streets of Historic Downtown.  I think he will love it and we are going to put a tip jar on his buggy to see if we can raise some money for the next leg of the trip.  Joey Bishop is really blooming and is acting and treating me like he was before we bonded him with Angie Dickinson, he is loving getting petted and has been letting me sit with him in my lap and carrying him around!  Angie is still a bit put off by this whole trip business but is doing fine, letting us pet her and is eating, drinking, peeing and pooping like she should.  Halle and Zsolt are the same characters they were at the beginning of this sojourn and are doing well. Good old Doc is doing great, being the sweet little guy he has always been!

I also wanted to talk about hay, hay from stores like petSmart and petCo and other pet supply stores can cost a bundle and the bags are tiny.  We have found a much better way to get hay while on the road.  Since we are pulling and staying in a travel trailer we are usually (OK always) a bit out of town and there seems to always be horse folk living near where the RV parks are, where there are horses there are feed stores.  We have found that most feed stores (well the ones we have been to) have grass hay but none of them will break a bale so we could only buy a couple flakes at a time. Since storing a whole bale of hay in a travel trailer is out of the question we have found that the feed stores will let us collect the loose stuff in the hay storage sheds and on our last visit to the feed store here in Wilmington there was a broken bale so we were able to get 3 flakes.  The price is WAY better than the little bags and the hay is better and fresher, the buns have loved all the stuff we have gotten and since we see what goes in the bag we know there is no bad hay going into our buns!

Now what we have been up to:

Houses on the water at Snow’s Cut

On Monday, 11/12 we went down to Snow’s Cut to have a little hike.  Snow’s Cut is an artificial canal that connects the Cape Fear River with Myrtle Grove Sound just north of Carolina Beach and is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, it is within walking distance from our RV park.  The canal was completed in 1931 and was named for Maj. William A. Snow who supervised the $5.3 million dredging project. Although the name is unofficial, it is called Snow’s Cut by the locals because of the Majors efficiency. (Snow’s engineering was apparently so good that a lock, originally included in plans for the project, was found to be unnecessary.)

Victor walking along the drop-off at Snow’s Cut

A tug pushing a barge through Snow’s Cut

There are amazing houses by the water, beautiful marshes, several nice parks with picnic tables and grills, nice beaches for fishing and a very easy path that goes on for at least two miles along the water on the north side of the channel.  The banks of the trail are pretty steep at times but the path is level and it was a very nice hike.  Zoe loved the walk but still cannot get used to the idea that the water around these parts is either salty or brackish so it all tastes like crap!  We lucked out on our hike and saw a pod of dolphins swimming in the channel as the sun was setting and we watched as a tug boat pushed a barge through the water. Great day!!!

Tuesday we went into town and got our resumes printed along with some pictures, we dropped some at EUE ScreenGems Studios to see if we could become famous movie stars but the guy said there wasn’t anything going on until after the first of the year so I guess we won’t be moving to Hollywood any time soon!  We also went to the campus of the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) to look around and so Debby could get a sweat shirt.  Debby’s Grandson just signed for a four year full ride basketball scholarship so she wanted to show support!

It was rainy on Wednesday so we hung around camp, I practiced on my guitar, ukulele and flutes.  I need to keep my chops up for the next time I am able to play on the streets.  I am also learning a new song on the uke, “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen, I’ll try to get a video up on youTube when I get it down and will link it here in a future post, Maybe I can get Debby to record a video of me playing it on the streets!  We also did a cage and litterbox cleanup. It was still raining on Thursday but Debby had a fitting for her role as Army Chaplin Seymour on the network series “Revolution” (nope not kidding) the fitting was canceled because the costumes had not come in yet so we went to the store and then back to camp to hang out and stay dry and warm.

Debby on set for the network series “Revolution”

See, I wasn’t kidding! Today Debby was filming!!!  Michael Hand told me about this Facebook page that advertised for the extras for this series so I has been following it and sending in for every possible extra part I could fit, we saw one for “one female professional type” so we immediately sent in Debby’s info and received a reply that she was booked within 10 minutes.  She filmed today and she was the only extra in her scene, pretty cool if you ask me!  Her episode won’t air until March and is episode 12.  I have been watching the series and I really like it.  I got called for a “townie” spot and while Debby was filming I was at the studio in wardrobe getting fitted, I film on Monday!

That was our week, it was a lot of fun but  we are planning on heading further south on Tuesday morning, probably Charleston, SC for a couple of days, then Marietta, GA to visit the folks at the North Georgia HRS.  I worked with this group on their website a couple years ago and made some friends in the chapter so it will be nice to meet them in person.  We have reservations in Panama City, Florida on the 24th so that is our first deadline for The Sunshine State.  We have applications in at an RV park on Grassy Key to see if we can work at the park for some money and a free full hook-up site, keep your fingers crossed and send good thoughts that we get the gig, it would help tons to have a steady gig while we were there!

Hope you all are doing well and I’ll post again soon.

Victor

Wilmington, N.C. ~ Blues Night, Wrightsville Beach, Busking and more!

The private fishing pier at Wrightsville Beach (You have to pay to get on it, and no dogs)

I can’t believe it has been a week since my last post, sorry it has taken so long but we have been having fun here in North Carolina, well for the most part, still need to make some money but I’m working on that.  I’ll try to post more often but most nights we are ready for bed pretty early, with the daily activities, the time change, no TV and it getting dark earlier that memory foam remembers my tired butt and it’s dreamland WAY earlier than I have been hitting the sack in a very long time, it’s kinda nice!  I forgot to mention that Debby and I had the pleasure of meeting Paula Wakins of the Cape Fear HRS.  We had a nice visit at her house and met her buns and husband (also a former Marine).

So here goes, kinda a week in review:

Monday 11/5 Debby and I went into town so I could apply for a gig with a caterer and Debby hit a Hobby Lobby to get some jewelry findings.  I haven’t heard back from the catering company o I’ll keep hunting.  It was a cold, rainy and pretty miserable day so went hung out at the trailer for the rest of the day,

Mike on stage at The Rusty Nail!

The second time Mike went up on stage, this combo was even better than the first!

The evening of 11/6 I hooked up with Mike at his house, had a nice visit with Make, his wife Jessica and their wonderful little girl, Stella. It was a very nice visit, I had a very nice conversation with Jess and Mike and I hadn’t seen Stella since she was a little baby and she is growing up to be a little darling!  But Mike and I were on a mission and soon we took off to the “The Rusty Nail” for the weekly Blues Night!

 

Mike doing a set at The Harp

The Rusty Nail is the classic Juke Joint, a short bar, a pool table some tables and chairs and a stage, about the only thing it was missing was cigarette smoke! The Cape Fear Blues Society puts on this gig every week and they do a spectacular job, all a blues artist needs to bring is an axe or a voice and they can join right in.  It was amazing, I haven’t heard live blues that good in years and years!  This venue was all electric so I sat and listened to the remarkable music, Mike played a couple of sets and man oh man he is getting better and better, his solos were super sweet and he blended perfectly into the mix when it was his turn to provide rhythm for the next soloist, I was impressed!

After hanging at the Nail for a bit we moved to a place called The Harp for the Acoustic open mic that was hosted there and I got me some stage time, Mike got a set in as well, playing my Martin!!!  The Harp is an Irish Pub in Downtown Wilmington and I had a great time, I was able to do a couple of sets, it was slow being election night.  I had a great time, met one of Mike’s guitarist friends and I was well received by the folks that were in the bar. This was a great night, it was the first time I got to play out on the trip and I got to catch up with a good old friend!

Henrietta III

Tuesday 11/6 was a day spent getting the rabbits set up for us to be out and then go drop a resume for a part time gig with a caterer, so far no reply. we shopped for groceries and went home, I practiced for some busking and Debby rested.

There is a major studio here and on a whim we went by to see if there were any temp gigs for us there and got the lowdown on what we needed to do to apply so we went home and worked on our resumes, we will print them out this week and drop them at the studio.  On 11/8 we went back downtown to scout pitches for me to busk on Saturday. I was looking for a place not to far from the Farmer’s market but with some Saturday shopping foot traffic, we noted a couple of spots and headed home.

Debby caught this shot of a surfer and seagulls.

Debby on the beach shooting pics.

We went to Wrightsville beach for a picnic and a walk on the sand on Friday, it was chilly but the beach was beautiful and there were locals walking, fishing, enjoying the open beach and there were three very dedicated surfers out in the water. I say dedicated because I am used to the surf in Hawaii and the surfers there would be in the bars on a day like today, heck the surf in Waikiki isn’t ever this low!

On the streets of Wilmington, playing my guitar

On the streets of Wilmington, playing my flute

On Saturday Debby and I headed downtown so I could finally hit the streets.  I found out by talking to the local music guys I met through Mike and a guy at a music shop downtown the rules for playing on the street had changed (my info was from 2009) and it was OK to play just about anywhere downtown as long as there was no sign asking for tips.  I brought along my guitar, ukulele and a selection of flutes so I could give a pretty diverse show.  I played for around two and a half hours and did pretty well.  I’m planning on heading out again on Monday to play in the afternoon, see if I can’t get some office folks to support music on the streets!

Today Debby and I went to Carolina Beach State Park to do some hiking.  it was an absolutely fabulous day with a high temp in the low 70s!

Debby Loves these pics, we have one from almost everywhere we have been together!

Me and Zoe on the walk over a march area in CBSP

We did a hike called the Sugarloaf Dune Trail that went to a 50-foot sand dune near the bank of the Cape Fear River that has been an important navigational marker for river pilots since 1663. The dune was also of strategic significance during the Civil War when, as part of the Confederacy’s defense of the Port of Wilmington, about 5,000 troops camped on or near Sugarloaf during the siege of Fort Fisher. This park is also home to several interesting carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants, bladderworts, sundews and butterworts, but the most familiar is the Venus flytrap. Venus flytraps are native only within 60 to 75 miles of Wilmington. Unfortunately our visit was outside of the growing season for any of these plants so we didn’t get to see any in the wild.

The sign with the info and history of Sugarloaf Dune

Debby on the elevated walkway over the marshes on the Sugarloaf Dune trail

This trail was great for bird watching and watching fiddler crabs crawl over the mudflats. The trail started at the Marina, goes along the Cape Fear River through a marsh and a pine forest. There are 3 limesink ponds are along this trail. A short spur goes to the Sugarloaf Dune

This has been a great week,we have had the ocean, the woods, the mutt and the buns don’t think I can ask for a whole lot more (well money would still be nice!)  I’ll close this for tonight and might spell check it tomorrow but for now it’s getting published.  see you all later!

Victor

Wilmington, North Carolina

Our new home in NC!

So Here we are!  As much as this campground is pretty funky you can see that our site is pretty darn good!  We have a ton of space on either side so we can have x-pens out when ever we want!  It is quiet, with only a few dogs and they have been no problem so far!  There are a bunch of feral cats here and we were warned that some of them can be pretty aggressive so we are happy to have Zoe here to keep them away.  Some of the neighbors have come over to visit with the buns and every one of them have been shocked by Bogie’s size!  The site is very level so setting up the trailer was a breeze and it is a full hook-up site on the cheep, couldn’t ask for a whole lot more!

There were some college kids in the campground over the weekend, in town from Raleigh, NC for a rugby tournament and a pair of the girls came over to visit.  One of the girls was from New York originally and had a House Rabbit in the past so she was interested in Bogie (for his size, she thought her 8 pound rabbit was big!) the trip and the blog.  People cannot really believe that we have the herd with us and we really are showing how it is possible to travel “Roam With Rabbits”!

The Riverwalk and board walk on the Cape Fear River, Wilmington, NC

On our first day in Wilmington, 11/02, we went into the Downtown and Cape Fear River areas (I’ve been keeping my eye out for both Robert Mitchum and Robert De Niro just in case), there is a boardwalk with shops and restaurants along the river.  We brought Zoe along but had to leave her in the truck when we were on the boardwalk. This town has a ton of history, it has been around since before the Revolution (it was incorporated in 1739) and as a major port it played a critical role in opposition to the British in the years leading up to the Revolution. During the Civil War Wilmington was the major and busiest base for Confederate blockade runners delivering badly needed supplies from England. It was captured by Union forces in the Battle of Wilmington in February 1865.  We were quite impressed with the old houses in the neighborhood around the Riverwalk area and the downtown architecture was beautiful as well.

Debby found a cupcake shop while we were window shopping in Wilmington, NC

There were a ton of shops, we have little room to store stuff in the trailer so our “shopping” trips are pretty much window shopping but there was plenty to look at and good chow to munch on.  Debby found a cupcake shop and got a red velvet cupcake and was in heaven.  We found a seafood / oyster bar for me but I had crab cakes on smokey lima beans instead of oysters and we both had a nice pasta dish, mine with fresh flounder grilled to perfection.  It was a great day and we really enjoyed Wilmington, the little bit we saw.  Since we will be here at least for the next two weeks I am sure we will get to see more of the town.

 

Zoe and Victor, playing on the beach at Kure Beach.

Zoe was a hoot playing with the water!

The weather has been very good to us after the fiasco in West Virginia and on the 3rd we had a chance to get out and see more of the area.  Debby, Zoe and I went to Kure Beach and Zeke’s Island Coastal Reserve for a hike and to get to the ocean for the first time this trip.  The hike was fantastic!  This was the first time Zoe had ever seen the ocean and being a desert gal she wasn’t quite sure about the place.  The first thing she did was smell the water, seems the brine of the sea was a shocker!  She also gave it a taste, not at all what she was expecting.  Zoe has always been a sprinkler chaser and she had a blast playing with the waves as they rolled up onto the shore but she didn’t drink a whole lot and needed lots of fresh water when we got back to the truck to get the salty taste out of her mouth!

Boardwalk across a marsh in Zeke’s Island Coastal Reserve.

Debby and I had a nice picnic on Carolina Beach

My Picnic partner!

Yesterday, 11/4, we headed to Carolina beach for a picnic in the sand! Carolina Beach is a long stretch of beach that was dotted with off-season folks enjoying the nice autumn day, a guy was flying a stunt kite, a couple was getting married on the sand and there were plenty of fishermen.  I asked one kid that was setting up his gear what he was fishing for and he said “anything that bites”!  I do know that they have beautiful flounder in the waters around here as well as red drum, speckled trout, whiting, spots, bluefish and pompano. there are local oyster and clam beds near here too, a seafood lovers delight!!! (Heaven, I’m in heaven!) We have had a wonderful start to the North Carolina leg of the trip.

You might be wondering what happens to the buns when we head out to sight see or hike or bike or what ever.  Well sometimes we take them with us in the truck, just pack them like we do for the road legs of the trip.  If we will be out for too long a time we set them up in the trailer.

This is part of the set up for then buns when we go out to tourist!

This is the other part of the set up for then buns when we go out to tourist!

This is a pretty major deal because the cages are too big to fit through the door of the trailer while set-up!  The way we get this done with minimal impact on the buns is we set up our two x-pens and transfer the top two guys (always Doc and Bogie) to the pens.  We then pull everything out of the cages and either refresh the litter boxes with fresh hay of clean them out completely, depends on the changing schedule.  If needed we change out the blankets and the cages get broken down, I bring the cages into the trailer and set them back up, we move Doc and Bogie to the cages and repeat the process for the two pairs on the bottom.  We put Doc, Bogie and Szolt / Halle on the bed (on a sheet) and Joey / Angie’s cage gets set up on the table.  This has worked out and everyone gets time in the great outdoors in the process!

Well it’s off to bed now, tomorrow I am out looking for a short-term gig to help fill the coffers for the next leg of the trip, tomorrow night I am meeting up with my friend, Michael Hand and will be headed out to a Blues Night at one of the local clubs, its open mic so I might see some stage time, looking forward to that big time because there are some strict rules about playing in the street in this town. 😦

I’ll post again soon, if you have any questions about the buns just follow the blog and ask in the comments!

Victor

Beckley, West Virginia

Well we are now in Wilmington, NC and more than happy to say it! I’ll tell you about where we are later, maybe in a new post, maybe here, depends on how long I can go tonight.  This post is about the blizzard we got stuck in.

We left Columbus, Ohio on a cold, rainy and totally overcast morning, October 29, 12012, looking to skirt the Frankenstorm by heading south through West Virginia and Virginia into North Carolina somewhere, probably Winston-Salem, well that was the plan but as is usual for this trip, the plan didn’t happen!  After driving through rain all day we made it as far as Beckley, WV and as I’ve posted already we holed up in a Microtel.  When we got into our room we briefly thought about hitting the road the morning of the 30th and try to get further south but since high winds were forecast and we are pulling a 24′ travel trailer we thought better of it and booked another night hoping that we could get out the 31st, this is what we woke to:

Snow accumulation on a table outside the breakfast area in the hotel!

Well we knew we would be in it for the long haul so we started making plans for the mutt and the buns.  I also posted earlier that we had missed the exit where all of the hotels were in Beckley and took the Microtel in a pinch thinking we could either get further south or move to a pet friendly place, but we now had to make do and get the buns and dog as warm, dry and comfortable as possible.

Debby in the door of the trailer.

Evidence of the winds that blew during the night.

We went out to the truck first thing to clear it off so we could get to the buns and to let Zoe out, on one of my visits to the herd I grabbed the winter duffel se we had warm clothes to wear. I cleared the truck so I could empty the dog and she was VERY VERY happy to see me! While I was walking her around the hotel Debby got into the trailer to get out the food, extra blankets and tarps so we could set the buns up and add as much additional insulation and wind protection we could.

Zoe getting ready to play in the snow after I get her out of the truck.

After I got back with the mutt I let her off leash, since there was no one around, and she had a great time helping out and playing in the snow.  I got to work getting the buns set for winter weather.

Getting the cages set for the weather.

getting ready to close up.

We  changed all the litter boxes and put extra blankets in each of the cages so the buns could either sit on the extra layer of they could cuddle into the blankets.  We then placed a moving blanket across the  top of the cages and bungied it down for warmth and wind protection.  On the side we bungied tarps to hold the warm air in and to Block the wind.

We wanted to keep some of the ventilation open so there would be some wind getting into the bed of the truck, so we placed our outside rug between the window and the cages to baffle the wind and to stop and snow from reaching the buns. We then fed everyone and gave them water.  All the buns went right for the food like they had missed a week of meals even though they all got a nice dinner and greens when we got into the hotel and I gave them treats on my last visit with them the night before (it was only about 10 am when we went to take care of the kids)!

There were many visits to the truck throughout the day and everyone did just fine!  Zoe was fantastic and handled the entire event without any fuss at all, I was amazed after all the crap she had given us at the beginning of the trip.  Zoe stayed in the cab of the truck with her huge pillow, her food and water, a rawhide bone and a couple of her favorite toys.  She slept and when I was seeing the buns I let her off leash in the parking lot or take her on a short walk before I headed into the room to thaw.

This is how we will get out on Nov. 1

We stayed the 30th and 31st hanging in the room, there was nothing to do in walking distance so we were pretty tied to the hotel. There was a little diner next to the hotel and we took a couple of meals there but mostly had the free breakfast and grabbed enough to munch on in the room for the rest of the day.  The critters all just went with the flow and we made it out none the worse for wear! The snow and wind had died down pretty well by the morning of Nov. 1 and the roads were clear but wet so we got the heck outta there!  We made it through the rest of West Virginia and the little piece of Virginia and got as far south as Raleigh, NC.

We stayed the night of Nov. 1 at the State fair grounds in the RV lot there, cheep and full hookup so we had a bathroom! We then headed to Wilmington the morning of the 2nd.  We found our park and .. well remember Enon Beach in Ohio?  This place makes that place look like the Hilton!!!  I would guess that over 70% of the trailers here are long-term folks and some of these trailers look like they haven’t been moved in years.  It is comfortable, with full hookups and it’s cheep!  I actually kinda like it because it feels safe, the folks are real people and it is funky. We will be here for at least two weeks.  I’m gonna try to see what it takes to busk here and if that doesn’t work out I’ll get a temp job to restock the coffers!

Well I’m beat so the talk about our new digs will have to be my next post, until then!

Victor