# 50 A Mile Marker?

50 blogs! Who woulda thunk? Anyway, we got up to the alarm clock & decided we would keep our plans for the Harbor tour. Now we will have seen Charleston on day 1 by land & day 2 by sea. HA HA get it? 1 if by..... oh well. The weather forecast was for rain later in the day so in spite of the overcast sky we took the bikes. We remembered our rain gear which we figured was a sure sign that it wouldn't rain. HA! As we approached the Maritime Center it started to sprinkle. We hoped that by the time the boat ride was over it would stop. The tour gave a different view of the city. It took us out near Ft Sumter, Ft Moultrie, & past The Battery. On the return we were passed by a large cargo ship & fuel barge, & then we passed by the USS Yorktown. Then under the bridge over the Cooper River, & along just a few of the large cargo & freight docks that make Charleston one of the busier sea ports on the east coast.



Anyone who knows about our motorcycle adventures & the weather know that into our lives at least a little rain must fall. After the Harbor tour the rain had stopped but by the time we made it out to the bikes the sprinkles started again. On with the rain gear & just a few miles up the coast to the old Navy Yard. This is the site of the Warren Lasch Coservation Center. If you have watched the National Geographic channel in the last 10 years you might have heard about the CSS Hunley. This was the Civil War submarine that was found off the coast of Charleston in 1995 & raised in 2000. The Hunley was the first submarine with a successful war time mission. The Union ship, The Housatonic, was sunk by the Hunley February 17, 1864 with an explosive charge that was planted below the water line & detonated. The Hunley ultimately sank after completion of it's mission & was not found until 131 years later. The Hunley is in the process of being cleaned & analyzed so that it's history can be accurately told. Artifacts & replicas show how far advanced the technology was for the time. At some time in the future the Hunley will be moved to a proper museum for display.



Well, we have seen the city of Charleston to our satisfaction & have decided to head home before the rain really hits. We have pushed our luck as far as we felt we should. The ride home was interesting. The Hunley is not in the best of neighborhoods, mostly industrial & the kinds of homes that are found in industrial areas. None of the roads goes straight & after 3 times around the same area we found the main road back home. By the time we got home there was no sign of rain, but with the forecast calling for rain overnight & all the next day we thought it prudent to put the bikes in the trailer. Rain Saturday & Sunday, & departure scheduled for Monday wouldn't leave much riding time. Tomorrow we will take the truck past some of the plantations in the area & see what we can see. After that we will start getting ready to leave.



The next blog from "Casa Maniaci on Wheels" should be from our new home some where near the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virgina. That will be our home for the month of May because...



Home is where we park it,

Frank & Mary