4 days in Columbus.

Columbus

We used the courtesy car to explore down town Columbus (the historic section) which is past the strip mall with all the usually fast food places & chain stores. The historic area has retained the old commercial buildings and are renovating others. They are still operating as regular shops. We came across the Welcome Centre in the Tennessee Williams building which has been shifted from it's original site, restored and repainted as per the era. It had authentic furnishings and a working pump organ (extremely valuable). We had a tour of the down stairs & then checked out the top storey where the life of Tennessee Williams was told as a play – Act 1 Scene 1, Scene 11 etc. as a wall storyboard display. The tour lady was very interested to hear of the loopers & we asked if we could take brochures of the town back to the marina for other boaters to pick up. Our previous boat buddies would be arriving that day & many others so we told her to expect more visitors. We walked in nearby streets to view the many restored antebellum homes.

On arrival back at the marina we greeted our boating buddies Bob & Liz (Knot Sew Easy) & Ben & Jane (Jammin Jane) – hugs all round. It was good for the 6 of us all to get together again. We took the courtesy car that evening & drove out of town to a BBQ place recommended by the dock master Called “Hank's # 1 BBQ it is run by a guy who competes all over in meat smoking competitions & has won many awards. He produces his own sauces & rubs (the flavoured salts that are rubbed onto the meat). The meat was very good and after the meal he spent about 40 mins telling us all the info about rubs, wet & dry smoking, injecting flavours, pork, beef & turkey smoking, tales of hunting & shooting deer/turkey & the secrets to influencing judges; one of which was talking the talk which he did very well. Ben, our boating buddy, is also into smoking meat so that had got Hank going & he only stopped for questions. Us NZ/Aussies had to listen hard as he spoke non stop in a very southern accent (y'all come back now y'here). He provided a great night's unexpected entertainment.

We took the car again next day & showed our boat buddies the same sights & a few more that we had seen the day before. We wanted to view the inside of an antebellum house but some were closed, some only opened on Mondays, others by advanced booking & the best one was still a 20 min drive there & back. But there are plenty in South Carolina that they'll see. The boys went on to look at a gun shop & sports store after dropping us off at “Michaels” a craft store (very much like Spotlight in Australia). Great browsing for me & some shopping for Liz & Jane. (I have to consider that everything I buy has to eventually go home.

There were many other Loopers in the marina so we had the obligatory docktails with about 10 other couples. The 6 of us had a shared dinner on Jammin Jane then had an hilarious night of dice (frackles) & card games (sevenses).

Wet & windy weather forced another day at the marina. I spent the afternoon teaching Jane how to knit. It was Halloween so we all sampled the turkey and admired the Jack-O'-Lantern on the bow of his boat. It was pouring with rain that evening so we cancelled our plans to go trick or treating (something else than sweets). Salty, the 20ft sea dory we met way back many times turned up today as well – far too wet for them at the docks downtown – hugs all round again.

This is a very friendly marina & we (the wives) often track down the men sitting in a circle around the dock master & his assistant entertaining at least 5 – 6 of them up in the office with tales of alligators, weird captains, & boating adventures – enough to fill up 4 days so far without repeating himself. There is a lot of water hyacinth growing in the approach & the marina itself. It is very disconcerting on arrival as it looks like it is growing on solid land but it just floats about.

Today we had another enforced day here so after checking out Jane's knitting progress (which I think she has mastered) the 6 of us took the courtesy car into town for lunch at a Chinese restaurant.