I don't know how well I'd do as an over the road trucker at this point in my life. Cape May to Bluffton is about 750 miles and 11 or so hours. For me that's a long trip. I can't stand still and concentrate for that long. I got so bored on the trip down I gave myself a haircut while driving. At least I wasn't texting.
We drove down to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, which was about 7-1/2 hours before checking into a Residence Inn by Marriot. We had reservations and when Theresa checked in she asked about Luke, and their Dog Friendly Policy. The lady at the desk looked at Theresa and said, "You're service dog is no charge...", and we left it at that. Truth is Luke needs a service dog way more then he could ever be one.
He's not a fan of car rides and needs coaxing to get into the back of the Suburban whenever we go somewhere. It's all been a lot for him and we have tested his good-dogness since the chaos began in say April before all the moves. Now he has to get used to the real-feel 105 degree temps down in the Lowcountry. He didn't have much room to stretch out since both vehicles were
packed to the gills. We also had stuff outside, like our matching bikes which we'll need daily when we begin our new lives on September 1st, a little less then a week away.
Our first stop was at the-formerly-known-as The Boat House to unload both stuff that I need, and of course don't need. To say the last few days before the closing was a shit-show would be putting it mildly. But thank God we were able to but it because I don't know where I would have stored the boats and all of my stuff, both fishing and Man Cave related.
So that brings me to the new name of The Boat House. After thinking about it The Boat House worked, but then it didn't. Yes, it a great place to store the two boats but it's more about just storage. There's a building, or shed, room, tiny house, attached so it'll be more about a hang then just storage. And with the hopes of guiding down here my thinking made me rethink the name, and then The Guide House hit me. I'm sure there are other guide houses across the world so it won't be original to this one. The closest thing that came to mind was the reality show that ran during the early 2000's.
Guide House was a show that was brought to life by Jason Puris and guide Brendan McCarthy. It was set in Montauk, shot in 2006, and featured guides, Paul Dixon, Amanda Switzer, Brian Goulart, Brednan McCarthy, and Matt Miller. While there was no "The" in front of Guide House it's still The Guide House, so maybe I'm copying it a bit, but it fits.
The Guide House, in Ridgeland, will be a place for me to do all things boat and fly fishing that will be open to the guides down here if they let a Yankee in to join the ranks. I can just imagine working on skiffs and boats, having fly tying sessions, and campfires and barbecues sometime in the future. I know you just don't show up into other peoples backyard so I'll have to learn and earn my way in, but time is ticking.
For now it's just a storage place and after I get a handle on our real house I'll have to come up with a plan and get to work up there. Right now I have to keep the grounds up and have it look like it's inhabited and not just a dumping ground. This first thing I have to do is move the fence that surrounds the property. On one side the fence is way over the property line and almost into the street.
I have the name of the contractor who installed the town approved, but out of compliance, fence and am going to let him deal with the move. I'm not lazy but I just think that'll be something be worth paying for as I deal with other things that need to get done.
The town also gave them a permit which stated the previous owners were installing a six-foot high fence, when really the neighborhood allows for a four foot high one. So I am going to take a
little off the top and duplicate the scalloped design. That'll be a chore but it will look good, and more neighborhood friendly, when I'm all done with it.
The early plan is to gut it inside and out and replace the T1-11 siding with Hardie Board and do a board and batten siding, which fits into the neighborhood and the Lowcountry. The doors and windows will be replaced and some type of air conditioning will be installed. I've never delved into mini-splits but this may be the place that I do.
I'm going to resist my usual ghetto-half ass projects and really get this planned out and sketched on paper before I start construction. The covered area to the right sports a ceiling fan and wall mounted television, which is a great hang, but I wonder if I shouldn't expand the structure past it's 13 x 25 foot current footprint. Erin is midway through her design studies and is pretty handy with CAD and computer based modeling and concepts so I'll give her something she may be able to have for her portfolio. and if her design wins I'll throw her a couple of dollars for her time, and brain.
Back home we'll begin the torturous task of unloading and figuring out what to do with all of this stuff that's filled the two car garage. Needless to say we could have done with far less but it is what it is. Luckily some of this is going to make its way down to the kids and my Mom in Florida so it'll lessen the pile in the garage.
It took us 58 and 60 years to get here and it's going to take us a bit to unwind it all.