Day 101 - We Say Goodbye to Our Crew

Laurie and I carried on with the laundry at 6:30 am.  We needed more quarters and walked upstairs to the marina office to purchase some.  Unfortunately, the staff member on duty could not sell us any until 9 am (??) and told us we could buy them at the hotel.  So we walked over to the hotel just to hear that we would have to wait until the manager arrived in a half hour or so to buy quarters, if they had any (???).  We returned a half hour later wondering what we would hear this time.  Luckily, the manager was there, sold us quarters, and arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 3 pm to drive us to the airport.  Hooray!  Our plan was to take a ferry over to Fort Sumter at 10:45 am and we wanted to get the laundry finished before that.  Although this was one of the largest marinas we stayed at, they were also the most disorganized.

It was a perfect day, and we got a little history of the area on the ferry.  There are the remains of several forts throughout Charleston Harbor.  Fort Castle Pinckney is pictured below.  Major General Robert Anderson took command of Fort Sumter to defend the Union’s claim on the city.  Most of the residents of Charleston were sympathetic to the Confederate cause.  They demanded that Federal troops leave Charleston, but Anderson refused.  On April 21, 1861, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter and severely outnumbered, Major General Anderson was forced to surrender 34 hours later.  This was the start of the Civil War.  The Union did not reclaim the fort until 4 years later.

Fort Sumter suffered an almost constant barrage of heavy artillery fire over the course of the war and there is not much left beyond the first story and some cannons.  Three shells are still stuck in the fort’s walls.  Just being there, however, is a very powerful experience considering its significant role in the beginning of the Civil War and our national history.

 

 

 

The four of us had our last meal of the trip together on the boat, then cleaned up, finished packing, and walked up to the hotel to meet our cab.  Each of the last 10 days was full yet they went by way too fast.  At the start, we were not too sure how having 4 people on the boat that long would work out.  Turns out, it worked out great.  It was so much fun to share part of our adventure and Laurie and Greg were the perfect "guinea pigs".  They are avid active travelers and have spent many nights in tents and other confined spaces all over the world.  Both expressed an interest in joining us again if possible.  We will miss them on our next leg, which starts May 23rd. 

We were all on the same flight to Atlanta where Laurie and Greg would catch a flight to Phoenix and the Captain and I would catch a flight to Chicago.  However, due to a mechanical problem with the incoming plane to Charleston, we were delayed long enough so that Laurie and Greg had to run to make their connection and Randy I missed ours.  We were unable to get another flight out that night so we ended up at the Quality Inn, courtesy of Delta Airlines, until the next morning when we finally got home.  Connections..........grrrrrr!!!!