Homer Smith - Provisioning at Lowes

 

A really nice courtesy car! One of two at Homer Smith - at no charge.

Homer Smith took an extra step for boaters and now has two courtesy cars! There is no charge for their use except you ought to replace the gas you use. We took advantage of the cars with a provisioning trip to Lowes supermarket. It is a first rate store with first rate groceries. Instead of rotisserie chickens, they had smoked, whole chickens, very good!

Home Smith is growing! The planned new clubhouse is the square shape at the bottom right.
There are new docks planned in front of the clubhouse. 

We loaded up since we intended making this our last provisioning stop but I forgot the ice cream, an other trip tomorrow or the next day. Meanwhile, Home Smith is expanding. They are adding dock where the shrimp boats used to dock. The seafood business pretty much went bust when the restaurants closed down due to COVID-19. They also plan a clubhouse for transients that includes two washers and two dryers, new restrooms and showers, a captains' loungue, and a work area for boat projects. The plans for the docks include pumpout connections and fuel at every slip. I'm familiar with pump out along a dock but I've never seen fuel availability at every slip. They have big plans.

The big discussion on the boat is when to leave. We need to cross the Neuse River but that's not a good run with the wind is out of the northeast - which is predicted for the next three to four days. I remember the couple that had a catamaran powerboat that went to the Bahamas and back. They reported that the worst experience they had on their 6 month cruise was going up the Neuse against a northeast wind! We are in no hurry to had that experience to our repetoire. We'll take it day by day.