I’m wondering where the days have gone. We’ve not done much of any significance in the past few weeks and now its time to leave Myrtle. I find not working to be quite expensive. And it’s not the lack of funds funneling into the bank account. It’s my contribution to the oil companies and department stores. I can’t sit still. Driving about ‘checking things out’ is an expensive hobby. And then my eye will be caught by a new golf course, a retail outlet that might have something I haven’t yet seen. And if not any of these I can always find something of a chrome nature that needs to be added to the truck. But a new diversion made it’s way into the foray just the other night. Neighbors Jack and Dottie invited us to a buffet on the Big M riverboat casino. We made the half hour drive over to Little River, boarded, and made our way to the dining room. While dining the boat makes its way north and east through the Intercoastal Waterway out to the Atlantic Ocean. South Carolina laws prohibit gaming so machines and table games are idle untl we reach international waters. After forty-minutes and about four miles out, machines are lit, and an announcement comes over the intercom that we can now dole out our money. By now, Myrtle Beach is a tiny twinkling of lights in the distance. Traversing about the three decks we found Dottie breaking even, Jack to the good for about a hundred, and the Atantic an ominous and forboding venue on a cool and windy December eve. I’ve never had problems with waves rocking a boat but at twelve miles out, my shrimp creole was nudging my stomach, beckoning the bowels that they needed to come out. I could feel that swell of excess saliva. Walking toward the head, I noticed Robin’s pale face leaving the ladies room and I could tell that the Dramamine had no positive effect on her.
She wished me luck as she laid her head on a nearby table. For the next hour we wallowed in our misery until we were nearing the intercoastal once again upon our return. Jack and Dottie rejoined us once Dottie lamenting her losses and Jack reveling in his winning. We listened to a great cabaret lounge singer and traded stories. By the time we returned to the Little River dock, any semblance of sea woes were an afterthought. We spent our last full day here watching football, finalizing Christmas purchases, and bidding goodbye to our neighbors over a glass of wine. We head north today to visit with the children, yearning to get our hands on Xavier, and see how much the little one has grown in the last six weeks. Grandchildren do make adjustments to the wanderlust life a must.
