Checkin out the hood.

The first thing I needed to know was where the heck I was going to get a meal. Second was where to get my groceries. I needed to know those things even before I looked at the beach or the town of Brunswick. Yes that was the name of the town where I found myself. The beach was actually about eight miles outside of town. From the campground it was 12 miles. At least that is what the website told me.

I put the two 12ah batteries in the holders of my homemade ebike only after I had unlocked it from the frame of the travel trailer. It tested out okay, so I took off.

I didn't get very far because the office of the mobile home park/campground was only a couple of hundred yards from my trailer space. I pulled the bike near the office so I wouldn't have to lock it. The office was over a storage area. Lots of low lying building were made that way to minimize flood damage I supposed.

"Hey there," I said to the slight past middle aged woman behind the desk.

"Good morning," she replied in a non committal voice.

"I'm in one of the travel trailer spaces,"

"Ah? So what can I do for you?"

"Could you tell me where the closest grocery store is located."

"There is a convenience store down the road about half a mile," she replied with a smile.

"I plan to be here a little longer, so I need a complete grocery," I suggested.

"The food lion is on hwy 17 about three miles south of here. It's in a small shopping center."

"That sounds good, how about a restaurant that serves more than burgers and fries?"

"For that you need to go into Brunswick. There are three or four family style places. Just drive into town and ask anyone. I'm sure their directions will be better than mine would be."

"Thanks for the information." I was about to leave when she spoke again.

"So you aren't here for the fishing?"

"No just on a sight seeing trip." I could see the question in her eyes. "I sight see very slowly so it will probably take me a couple of months to see everything." I smiles as I turned to leave.

The homemade bike had a pusher motor with the batteries on the trailer. That configuration left me enough room for a basket on the rear and another on the handlebars. I could in fact carry quite a few things.

I found the Food Lion store right where she said it would be. Instead of stopping I rode the half mile farther and into downtown Brunswick. Brunswick had been build in the late seventeen hundreds. It was actually six or seven miles inland and on a river. It had been a safe place for the merchants to build a transfer point for good to be shipped inland up the river. In other words the town was old, very old. I liked that about it at first sight.

Since I had only been about five miles I had plenty of juice in the batteries so I stopped at the riverside park. It was beautiful and surprisingly empty. I sat on a bench and looked at the wide expanse of water. There was also a view of traffic crossing the obviously new river bridge. It was peaceful and I would have continued to sit in the sun but I had things to do.

As I passed through the downtown I spotted a small cafe. It obviously served the working people of the downtown area. It lacked the large parking lot of a fast food restaurant so there would be no truck of trailer customers. I decided to give it a try.

"What'll it be?" The teenaged waitress with the bad teeth asked.

"What's good?" I asked in return.

"Most everything, what you in the mood for?"

"The grilled cheese with bacon sounds pretty good."

"Fine what to drink?" She was all business.

"Make it iced tea." I replied.

"Sweet or not?"

"Sweetened tea."

The sandwich was good but it was also too expensive. On the way out I got directions to the goodwill store from the cashier. I did that because usually the goodwill has all kinds of small appliances. You know those oddball things we are all given at one time or another. The toasted sandwich makers ect usually found their way to the Goodwill store.

I stopped by the Goodwill store but had no luck in my search for an electric frying pan. I did find a book or two that caught my interest. Since I had brought my dishes and some clothes from home, there was little else of interest to me. I planned to keep an eye out since I never knew what might turn up.

I stopped at the grocery for heat and eat can food and frozen dinners. I didn't get much since I couldn't carry a great deal. I limited myself to two bags half filled.

I bought half a dozen cans of cooked navy and pinto beans. Those could be eaten as a complete meal or easily turned into soup. I bought a pound of pork sausage and three dry mac and cheese dinners. I bought a small bag of coffee for my small coffee maker. I found that the Food Lion would sell half a dozen eggs in a small carton, so I bought one of those and a bag of hamburger rolls. The bill was almost twenty dollars for those few items.

Once back home, I put the groceries away. Most went into the Rubber Maid storage box I called the pantry. Some things went into the dorm refrigerator and some went into the shelves of the cabinet currently being used as a dry sink as well.

It was after lunch so I took a nap. Why not I had nothing else to do.