Brunswick
Karen:
Bikes
I really love getting around by walking or biking. That is ALWAYS my preferred method. I do also love public transportation, but there isn’t any here! The first few days we went on epic long walks, getting to know our surroundings. Through poor neighborhoods with living oaks lining the streets, others with ‘bygone era’ aging Victorian architecture, a charming downtown, more affluent college area with golf courses and the hospital, and then up through the big box store soulless streets that could be any American town. We then discovered the free marina bikes, and started using those. Cruising along the same streets, but a bit faster and with a wind in your hair. Gladly Flo fits the bikes. She still has her Christmas money to spend and had her eye on some shoes that convert to roller skates. So I set off with the kids to bike to Walmart. It took us an hour to get there, with lots of mini breaks. Unfortunately, they only had those shoes online, so the trip was unsuccessful, and I decided we should try another route back. Google took us on some very busy streets with no shoulder that then took us out a road with few buildings – an abandoned police car parkade, a few shackish places in between the marshy areas with the large weeping trees. Chrisian gamely proclaimed ‘this looks like something out of a horror movie!’ I just told them to keep pedaling faster! I could see the sun edging toward the horizon and DID NOT want to be out here past dusk.
We then continued along a long stretch parallel to a train track – good, our marina is also parallel to a train track. By this time Christian was quite far ahead and Flo was lagging behind, running out of steam. I was feeling on edge, trying to get her to keep up. Then from my left side, I see two reddish pitbulls run around a chain link fence and turn and run toward me!! Barking loudly!! I screamed, not knowing what to do. They barked louder. A truck honked twice and the dogs fell back. Relief, Thank you!! I turned around to see Flo coming up behind me, catching up, and I just told her to keep going, we had to keep going!!
We were getting closer to the marina, but still had a ways to go. I had to motivate Flo to keep her going, counting out the streets for her so she knew how many we had left. As the final turn came up, we were so relieved. We made it, before the sun set and in one piece! A bike adventure indeed!
Radio
We didn’t really listen to much music in the first few weeks onboard. I guess its because all our music was internet based, and the only internet we had was my new data plan from my US number. And we hadn’t figured out the stereo yet? Not sure. But then one night I just decided to turn on the radio and discover the MOST AMAZING RADIO STATION. The bridge – Golden Isles radio station. Awesome mix of southern rock, blues, British bands from the 80’s and 90s, plus some more bluegrassy stuff I haven’t heard before. I love it. Just a few repetitive local adds that get stuck in your head but are charming. Its made my boat nights even more cozy.
Living at the marina was a lovely experience, but as Don says, we didnt want to get stuck in this comfy life and needed to get out there!! So we started looking forward to our next leg.
