Jan. 3

At about 6:30 a.m. I had managed to get out of the tent to check the boat fearing that I would find ever life jacket and boat cushion chewed up and distributed all over the place but was pleasantly surprised to find that the dogs had only found the foam “noodle” we use to roll the boat up on ramps or beaches. The boat had stayed in place and only a few muddy paw prints needed to be washing off.  The noodle was well chewed at one end but still could be used.  Heather had packed up the sleeping bags and air mattresses by the time I had the boat ready to go.  We loaded everything in and pulled it across the muddy beach to get in. Our canine friends wanted to come too.  Heather had to push one away as it tried to climb in. I pulled away from them slowly and they started swimming.  I was concerned that they would follow us instead of swimming to the other side of the cut where they had come from but soon they gave up on us and turned to the other shore.  A tug pushing a large barge came down to turn into the cut and I waved to its captain to show him the swimming dogs. There was no way the huge barge could slow down with such short notice! We waited a bit and saw that the dogs had made it to shore.  I must say I was actually sorry in a way to leave these two friends to an uncertain future. Whether they had a home we’ll never know.

I had anticipated getting the supper we had never eaten but somehow the thought of eating was forgotten.  The flat water and the swing of my strokes took us further and further from the cut and memories of the two-dog night.  We rode a favorable tide through two more cuts into the Coosaw River at the upper end of St. Helen Sound. This wide body of water was absolutely flat like a mirror as far as the eye could see.  We headed toward Sam’s Point; the first place there was a boat ramp to land on.  This was about 15 miles from our campsite at Fenwick Island.

Here we had agreed to meet David and Kim from Beaufort Kayak tours, a couple that had met our Beaufort Habitat for Humanity contact on a kayak trip. They had been told about us and had offered to take us in.  Shortly they both arrived and were extremely friendly and interested in our boat and all that we were doing. David pointed out that we had landed in a historic location. Forrest Gump had been filmed here and the boat house across from us had been Bubba Gump's boathouse. They offered to drive one of us back to our car, a long way away. (See Gifts of Kindness for more information on them.) Heather suggested that she go and I could continue rowing to the next landing at Brickyard point.

So after they left I pushed off alone for the first time on our trip. I have become so used to having Heather tell me where I should be heading I found it awkward to have to turn around every once in a while to check my course.  I managed to find the channel and made pretty good time to Brickyard point. The next landing was around a few turns in the river in Beaufort at Pigeon Point. I figured I could make it and save her some driving time so I rowed by the ramp at Brickyard Point and committed to another four miles. My cell phone rang and I was able to tell her where to meet me. Oh, the wonder of cell phones!

I was exhausted by the time I pulled in and very ready for a shower and a meal. We had agreed to meet Kim and Dave for dinner. Staying with them in my condition would have been a major imposition. We needed to do laundry, sort our stuff out and repack. So we went to the Outback Steakhouse in Beaufort and I made up for all the meals I had skipped.

It took little time to get to sleep when we got to our room at the Comfort Inn.  It had been a 23 mile day.