New England Odyssey (Day 9)

Wilmington, NC (7/18/17--Happy birthday, dad!  Miss you tons!!)

Woke up to an amazing thunderstorm & downpour.  Took our time getting ready before heading back to historic/downtown Wilmington, so I could dig around in the records office:

New Hanover County Courthouse, Wilmington, NC

in search of any leads on the identity of my great-great grandfather, William Burrell Mobley's parents.  Unfortunately, I didn't come up with anything.  We did find a recording for a deed of land from an Allen Mobley who died in 1840 or 1841 and left his property to James Bond (not 007)!  Got a copy of that to read in case it might yield some clues (so far it hasn't). 

Discouraged, we headed back to our hillbilly RV park and Noah cooked us some lunch.  After a bit of a rest, we drove over the Snow Cut Bridge to investigate Carolina and Kure Beaches.  They were typical southern beach towns--lots of pastel houses on stilts. 

The beach was accessed by wooden boardwalks that were apparently designed to aid visitors get through the sea grass to the sand.  The water was brown and turgid from the high waves being thrown up by the strong wind. 

We walked along the beach to the Kure Pier:

Kure Beach pier, Kure Beach, NC

 which was accessed through a shop selling bait and tacky gee-gaws and bait for the fishermen & women who fish from the pier for mackerel, flounder and sheepshead.  The entire pier was moving and shuddering under us as we walked on it…wouldn't have been surprised if the whole thing had collapsed and dumped all of us into the water.

 Birds included some kind of black-headed seagull and loads of pelicans.  One old pelican was perched on the rail of the pier begging for fish.  He posed for pictures, 

Pelican

but flew away when a fisherman got too aggressive throwing him some fish.

After the beach, we returned to Camp Deliverance & hung out until bed time.  We ate in again & made it official:  the first day of the trip without spending any $ (except 30 cents for my copy at the courthouse).  Amazing!

Tomorrow we head up to Norfolk, Virginia to visit my bro & his wife (they don't have aliases, so their names will not be mentioned to protect their privacy).  Anyway, until next time, hope you have a good one!

With love,

Buckskin Lily