Not the adventure I was looking for today

My plans for today included finding a good sized grocery store to restock my supplies.  How exciting could that be?  I did plan to kind of wander my way over to Nags Head to re-familiarize myself with the area.  It’s been five years since I’ve been here, and there was a hurricane that came through the area last August.  That’s why staying at one of the RV sites on Pea Island was not an option.  Those sites, the small office building, and the intern bunkhouse were washed away!

I took a few of the gravel roads of the refuge as I slowly made my way to the coast.  I looked for the huge eagle nest near one of the bridges over the bay, but it too was gone.

I had a little something in mind as I visited the Outer Banks (OBX) Visitors Center.  You see, the last time I was here I took myself out for a celebratory 60th birthday dinner.  Well, it’s five years later, and this Sunday marks my entry into the age of Medicare/Medicaid.  What better reason to take myself out for a ritzy dinner?  I knew they’d have plenty of suggestions, and I now will spend some time going over all of my choices. 

I took a short jog south down US 12 to the first of the three lighthouses found on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  I’ll probably visit them all again while I’m here, but it’s a long trip to do that, and my main goal today was to get some milk, etc. 

I stopped briefly at the Bodie Island Lighthouse.  Today’s view is on the left.  The view on the right was taken in July of 2007.  I found out that the work to refurbish the lighthouse will take until next May, so I’m glad I toured it back then.  The RV site I chose not to stay at is about a half a mile away.

After stopping at the lighthouse, I turned around and made my way back to Nags Head.  Eventually I found the Food Lion grocery store that I was looking for.  As I got out of the car and leaned over to get my fanny pack and cloth bags ready, the lady parked next to me wanted to get out.  So, I stepped back and the front door slid closed so she could get into her vehicle.  I thought I was being helpful.  She smiled, got in her vehicle and pulled out.  Oh, oh.  My fanny pack with my money, phone, and keys were on the front seat, and the door slid shut and locked.    Awe shucks!  What a revolting development this turned out to be!

Now what do I do?  I went into the grocery store, and was lucky.  I explained to the young woman at the customer service desk what had happened, and as it turned out, she had recently done the same thing.  She wrote down the name and number of the locksmith she had used and handed it to me.  That would be great if there were any phone booths left around, and I had the money (which was locked in the car) to use it.  She took pity on me, phoned the Pop-A-Lock company, and they arrived within ten minutes!  It took them less than two minutes to break into my car.  That made me think a little. 

Then it came time to pay the bill for this service.  The woman inside said it was $25 or so.  Hah!  That must be for locals.  The price quoted to me was $60 for a service call.  I related the price from the grocery employee, and they knocked it down $10 for cash.  A costly lesson learned.  As the lock guy said, “If you try to be nice and help someone out, it will bite you in the butt!”  Now that’s a sad way to look at things in my opinion.

Perhaps some of you may wonder why I didn’t call my road-side service number.  Well, I really didn’t think about it until the guys were already on the way.  The number was also locked in the car, and I just normally only think about that when the rig is involved.  Oh well, I suppose I could get the number tattooed someplace on my body.

A huge storm rolled in as I finally made my way home, and it has been raining ever since.  I sure hope it cools the temps down some.  On my drive along the back roads this morning, I did catch a fleeting glimpse of a bear.

                                                                              THE END!!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy