The Junior Dunlaps

Since leaving you, I have spent a long Thanksgiving weekend just southeast of Raleigh, at the Crosswinds Campground at Lake Jordan.  Crosswinds is a lovely, heavily wooded, deer populated campground right on the shore of the lake, but with a ridiculous wintertime policy of locking its occupants in at 6pm and not letting them out again until 8 the next morning.  Due to the lack of available “camping” in the Raleigh area, this was my best choice and I had to arrange my activities accordingly.

I had lots of fun visiting my sister, my great pal, Rusty, his father, my friend Surry, and the Dunlap clan.  Unfortunately I kept leaving my camera elsewhere, so I don’t have too many fun photos to document these days.  I wanted to take a picture of the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner Elo and I enjoyed out of compartmented styrofoam containers purchased at the K&W Cafeteria in Cameron Village.  You think I jest.  I do not.  It was wonderful.  Just as I remembered.

Had I had my camera, I would also have taken a photo of Joyce, the waitress Rusty and I had at Barbque Lodge.  She was quite entertaining as were her stories of her life in general and of her now deceased brother, Peanut, the alcoholic, award-winning, pool shark of the 70’s.  Joyce was kind enough to sit down with us in order to better tell of her heart and its recent tribulations, but have no fear, she has hope that it will soon be “turned loose from that man who took hold of it three years ago now”.

In addition to Joyce, I would have taken a photo of the lovely table and its occupants at the Dunlap house on Stone Street where Billy and Shawnee  treated nine of us to another amazing dinner.  It seems that whenever I come or go from Raleigh, Billy is saddled with preparing a feast for all comers.  It is always delicious and always appreciated.  Thank you Billy!!!

During my stay in Raleigh, I was able to catch one thing on film and am so happy it was the Junior Dunlaps, Willie, Fletcher, and Wickie.  You see, they really didn’t even exist when I left.  My friends Marshall Dunlap (Billy’s son) and his lovely wife, Nicky had yet to produce offspring when I departed to the Far North, so it has been wonderful meeting them and getting to know them a bit.   Before leaving Alaska, Marshall let me know that for some unknown reason, his two sons (Willie and Fletcher) had become somewhat obsessed with RV’s so were anxiously awaiting my arrival in the Raleigh area.  Once here, we made plans for them to come out for a visit, a tour, and a ride in Dora.  What fun we had and of course, once the tour of Dora was complete, Willie gave me a full tour of his minivan, which I found most enlightening.

Please say hello to the Junior Dunlaps.

That’s Wickie on the left with the killer shoes and the haircut Fletcher gave her,Willie playing the monkey or some such thing, and Fletcher the Pirate.

Here they are again with their Dad, Marshall who is still going fast and having fun.

And lastly, a solo shot of Fletcher the Pirate eyeing you through his telescope.

How cute are they?

I’ve just this afternoon arrived in Rodanthe located on the Outer Banks of NC.  Remember that movie with Richard Gere and Diane Lane called Nights in Rodanthe?  Well, I’ll be on the lookout for Richard since I’m sure he’s still around somewhere and dying to meet me.  I’ll let you know if I see him.

Misty, Mosely, and I are staying in a wonderfully deserted campground right on the ocean.  Here are some shots I took this evening after setting up “camp”.

As I suspected, Mosely was incredibly happy to be back at the beach.  He automatically reverted to a 2 year old.  What fun we’ll have over the next several weeks.

I’ve got good internet access here, so hopefully blog posts will be more frequent as a result so stay tuned.